Canadian cardinal kicks off fund-raisers to preserve ruins of church

Published: 2004-07-14

OTTAWA (CNS) -- The crumbling ruins of one of Ontario's first Catholic churches provided a movie-like setting to a special Mass celebrated by Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec as part of a two-day fund-raising event to preserve the national heritage site. Hundreds of worshippers attended the July 11 Mass in the roofless ruins of St. Raphaels, a large stone church built on a rise in the green, rolling hills of Glengarry County, the easternmost county of Ontario. The Mass was in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the 1804 arrival of Bishop Alexander Macdonell of Alexandria, Ontario, who spearheaded construction of the church. The church, built to accommodate 1,000 parishioners, was consecrated in 1821. Bishop Macdonell, Canada's first English-speaking bishop, was chaplain of the "Glengarry Fencibles" in Scotland, a disbanded militia regiment who settled the area with other immigrants from the Scottish highlands.

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