Save Our Churches Association pleading for a full reopen of St. Patrick’s Church

Chances are you have taken a drive past the historic St. Patrick’s Church in Lethbridge. The building is over a hundred years old, but was closed in 2011 by Bishop Frederick Henry, the previous Diocese of Calgary.

It was only recently reopened for St. Patrick’s Day and the upcoming day of its consecration on September 24 following a ruling by the Vatican.

A local group called the Save Our Churches Association is pleading with Bishop William McGrattan, the current Diocese of Calgary, for the historic church to fully reopen.

Joe Kelenc, the chairman for SOCA talked with us during a public meeting put on by the advocacy group on Sunday.

“And even this bishop, if he reopened it, he’s going to collect a lot more money. For him, for any bishop that’s going to come to Lethbridge, are going to want to have a new church, going to need all of us Catholics to be able to pay for it. Because just half of them, what they have now, they will not be able to pay for it. Especially if the bishop will be honest with the people and tell them how that will cost, even if they only have to borrow $10 million. But I’m pretty sure that it will have to be a lot more than $10 million.”

Staff from the office of Bishop William McGrattan told us he is not available for an interview but they did send us a statement.

“In 2006, the East Lethbridge Catholic Parishes were merged into All Saints Parish. This reflected the changing needs of the community and consideration of practical factors related to church buildings, such as maintenance costs, accessibility, and parking availability.”