Church closure brings end to 300 years of Roman Catholic worship in Bridgetown

Vernon Ramesar · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Bridgetown, N.S., will clasp its last wide connected Sunday, marking the extremity of much than three centuries of Roman Catholic worship successful the community.

The religion building, portion of a continuous Catholic beingness since 1690, is closing its doors owed to declining attendance.

"We're truly trying to beryllium thankful for everything that we had," Lynn Main, a parishioner astatine the church since 1992, told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia.

Main's household has heavy ties to the church. Her girl was joined there, her granddaughters baptized, and she adjacent renewed her wedding vows determination connected her 50th anniversary.

Church's history

According to the parish website, the roots of St. Alphonsus hint backmost to the Acadian Mission of St. Laurent, established astir 1690 arsenic a wide location serving Acadian and Mi'kmaw families from Belleisle to Paradise successful Annapolis County.

The archetypal chapel was demolished by English forces successful 1736 and, aft the Expulsion of the Acadians, the Catholic beingness successful the country dwindled to mostly Mi'kmaw and Irish families. For years, wide was celebrated successful backstage homes, including that of Isaac and Euphenia Bonnett.

The existent religion building, constructed successful 1874, owes its beingness to determined parishioners, notably Euphenia Bonnett, who spearheaded its operation but died earlier it was opened.

In 1986, with a emergence successful religion assemblage activity, parishioners decided to grow the church, and the gathering was moved to accommodate the expansion.

Volunteers from the congregation built a basement, a room and abstraction for a Sunday school.

When the building closes, the religion assemblage volition continue, Main said.

 "We volition inactive beryllium members of the parish of Corpus Christi," she said. "It's not similar we're being formed afloat with obscurity to go."

The destiny of St. Alphonsus mirrors a inclination crossed the province as the latest successful a drawstring of Catholic churches forced to adjacent due to the fact that of shrinking attendance.

As a longtime choir member, Main said she volition miss the euphony most, noting that singing is simply a signifier of prayer.

Sunday's last wide astatine 4 p.m. AT volition beryllium a solemnisation of what the religion meant to the assemblage implicit the years, she said.

"You transportation your memories. The religion that you tin nary longer spell to is inactive successful your heart."

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