Halifax church closing after final mass on Sunday
St. John the Baptist Church has been a central part of the Armdale community for nearly a century, but after mass on Sunday, it will be closing its doors.
Parishioner Alain Godbout gives tours of the church on Purcell's Cove Road in Halifax, but not for much longer.
"It’s got German stained glass, Italian statues, incredible woodwork," Godbout said. "This church, this particular one, has been struggling for a decade."
Combine the dwindling congregation with the pandemic and the diocese didn't have a choice.
The church opened in 1929. Before that, it was used as a powder magazine during the First World War. It has been a significant part of the community since.
"The stained glass windows always tell the story of religion," says historian Blair Beed. "We have a mayor of Halifax who is remembered, who is the mayor of Halifax at the time of the Halifax explosion, and then died when he was a senator."
The church will be sold, but it's too soon to speculate about what will happen to its contents.
"Maybe they can become something meaningful in the community other than a regular church," Godbout said. "So, that could be a community centre, it could be a residential development of this space."
Another parishioner, Brenda Boudreau, wishes something could be done to preserve the church.
"I think it’s sad that it’s going to close," Boudreau said. "Maybe that’s what should happen, maybe it should be kept open as a museum."
The final mass at St. John The Baptist Church will be Sunday at 4 p.m. and it will be filled to the maximum allowable capacity under the COVID-19 protocols.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.