St. James Catholic Church 25th anniversary bash

Jeff Green | Aug 25, 2016

Parishioners from St. James Catholic Church were joined by Archbishop Brendan O'Brien as well as 3 of their former parish priests on Sunday afternoon (August 21).

The gathering included the dedication of a new baptismal font, as well greetings from the archbishop and a trip down memory lane by Father John Brennan who served the parish between 1985 and 1992 and oversaw the construction of the new church.

The church was needed because the original one room red brick church (now the home of the Cardinal Cafe), which was built in 1883, was too small and had been earmarked for replacement since the early 1960's.

In his remarks to the happy crowd (lunch was served before the speeches) Father Brennan said that when he was approached to take over the Sharbot Lake and Bedford parishes in 1985, and told that he would be presiding over the construction of a new church, “I said that someone must have made a mistake, an opinion that was shared by members of my family who knew how good I was at building things and managing finances.”

He said that the archbishop at the time told him something that was particularly helpful.

“He said let them take care of building the church, just be their priest.”

He said that he quickly learned how self-sufficient the parishioners in Sharbot Lake were when they began passing hymm books through the windows to the people outside and the collection plate would disappear out the front door each week, and then come back in with money from those who had arrived late.

“I grew to realize that if it took a long time for the plate to come back in it did not mean someone made off with it, but that more money was coming.”

He finished his remarks by making note of the efforts of the building committee.

He talked about the work done by Doreen Onfrichuk, who came up with the idea of selling $100 tickets on a cottage, a fund-raiser that really got the ball rolling, and Leo Enright, both of who have died since the church was built.

He then introduced Marcel Giroux, Theresa Ferguson, and Marg Desroche, members of the committee who have remained active at the church and in the community through the years.

The anniversary celebration, which took 18 months to organize, featured memorabilia from over the years and a video about the building of the new church, which is available for $20.

The organizing committee for the celebration expressed relief that all the work was completed and the celebration had come off so well.

And yes, there was cake, lots of cake and squares, including a delicious carrot cake.