About 40 people attended a meeting in Vankleek Hill on Monday night regarding the future of the Catholic Church in the area. The meeting was part of an ongoing consultation process involving the Soleil Levant parish, United Churches in East Hawkesbury, and the local French Catholic school board.
Consultant David Sherwood presented some of the results from the 79 surveys from the area already received. Almost everyone, 99 per cent of respondents, said it is important to have a church building in the community. If it closed, 44 per cent would regularly attend another parish, but 36 per cent wouldn’t, according to the survey results.
The attendees were asked if they attended mass regularly, and if so, why. Many expressed that mass is an important and even necessary routine that recharges them for the week to come. Others said they valued the feeling of belonging to a community which comes with attending mass. Others pointed out that leaving home and attending mass in public is a way to represent the Catholic faith.Only two people in attendance had school-age children, and the general consensus, when Sherwood asked, was that the attendees children and grandchildren don’t attach the same importance to mass as their parents and grandparents do.
One of the goals of the consultation process is to come up with ways to involve more people in the Catholic church, particularly young people. A survey has been shared with the local Catholic school board, which may result in more results from younger Catholics.
Father Gilles Marcil of the “Soleil Levant” Catholic parish is seen here. He said he would just be listening at the meeting, not participating.
