Portugal Cove South group in fight to keep the community’s church
By Mark Squibb
Charlene Power of Portugal Cove South said that, contrary to rumours, Holy Rosary Church in Portugal Cove South has not been sold.
“We had a community meeting with Father Peter (Golden) this week, and no, the church has not been sold,” said Power, a member of a committee that aims to keep the church ownership within the community.
“Right now, we’re concentrating on making sure our church isn’t sold,” said Power. “Myself and Cynthia Power, the chair of our church committee, composed a letter and sent it to the archbishop stating that we are not happy hearing that our church is still up for sale, and as a committee, and as a community more so than a committee, we are not letting our church go.”
Holy Rosary Church, along with Our Lady of Fatima in St. Shotts, and Holy Redeemer Church in Trepassey, were among church properties listed for sale in 2022 by the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of St. John’s to raise money to settle numerous claims from people who suffered abuse as children at Mount Cashel Orphanage and from some Catholic priests.
Power said that although the building has not been sold, the committee has very little information on the goings on behind the scenes.
“Right now, we’re in limbo,” said Power. “We don’t know if a bid has gone in on the church, and if it was rejected or if the person pulled out and took their bid back. But right now, we’re just going to concentrate on keeping the church in the community. We told the bishop that we will not welcome anybody that buys our church in our community, and we are going to make that known.”
Power said the committee is looking to host fundraisers to pay for the monthly heating and bills of the building. Several years ago, prior to the church being put on the market, the community had raised and spent over $130,000 to complete renovations to the church.
“We were under the assumption that the church would remain ours,” said Power. “Nobody ever expected this coming up, with the churches having to be sold.”
Committee chairperson Cynthia Power said people in other communities have floated the idea of raising funds to purchase churches back from the archdiocese.
That would be easier, she admitted, had the community not already just invested so much in bringing the church up to shape.
“We raised $130,000 to upgrade the church when the church was in deplorable shape,” said Cynthia Power. “At the time, when we did that fundraiser, we were under the impression that the church belonged to the community, that it belonged to the people.”
She added that whether or not Father Peter’s role was filled upon his imminent retirement – he is in his 80s – the community thought it important to preserve the building. In a perfect world, she said, the church will not be sold and remain the focal point of the community that it is today.
“As a community, I don’t know that anything will be welcomed there, other than what’s there,” she said.
