INNISFAIL – Members of Our Lady of Peace Parish are rallying to raise needed funds for a new church roof.
One of several fundraisers planned for this year was held on March 17.
“We’re raising money for the church roof fund today,” said Michelle Wright, president of the Catholic Women’s League.
The fundraiser was held following Sunday mass and was organized by the women’s league. It included soup and sandwiches, popcorn, baked goods, a toonie draw, raffle draws, games and face painting.
“All of the women from our Lady of Peace Parish are the ones who made the soup, the sandwiches and baked all of the baked (goods),” said Wright. “It’s a full house. There’s lots of support.”
Last spring the church members looked at repairing the roof but later discovered they needed to replace it entirely.
The new roof will cost a substantial amount of money, noted Wright.
“When they went in this fall we thought we only needed to have $100,000 to just re-tar the roof,” she said. “We recognized that (the roof) had deteriorated and in order for it to be safe we actually have to change the whole roof, which is $600,000,” explained Wright.
Patrick Doll, one of the church's two maintenance personnel, said the church was built in 1961 and today is only one of two buildings in Alberta with a hyperbolic roof, which is described as having a doubly-curved surface that resembles the shape of a saddle.
Construction on the new roof is expected to begin at the end of April.
“It’s going to change the look of the church. It’s not going to be the same as it is now,” said Doll, following a fire at the church last December.
Wright noted that the church recently invited architects to create two new designs for the church roof.
Parishioners took a vote.
“Parishioners voted on the two choices about six weeks ago and they have chosen one design for the roof,” she said. “ (Construction) is going to start after Easter.”
Once construction has begun, said Wright, all masses will be held in the gymnasium at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School for several weeks until the roof is completed.
In the meantime, the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church will continue to fundraise for the project.
“We’ve been holding little fundraisers. We raised the $100,000 when we thought it was just a quick repair,” said Wright. “To complete the roof we’ve recognized that we need to have more fundraisers.”
