Quebec Archdiocese kicks off campaign to build archival center

Published: 2004-04-05

MONTREAL (CNS) -- The Quebec Archdiocese helped officially kick off a $70 million (US$53.3 million) fund-raising campaign to build a historical archive and genealogical center in Quebec City. The Foundation for the Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Quebec has already raised $12 million (US$9.1 million) for the project. Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Abdou Diouf, former president of Senegal and now secretary-general of Francophonie, the international organization of French-speaking countries, initiated the campaign in mid-March during a ceremony at Montreal's city hall. Both men are patrons of the foundation, which seeks to restore and preserve 350 years of church records. Andre Noreau, founding president of the foundation, told a Montreal press conference that "some of these archives are in a very precarious state and, if nothing is done soon, they will be completely destroyed within a few years."

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