JULY 1, 2018
Celebrate with us!
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It's a milestone! We're having a celebration in tribute to those who came before us setting strong examples of faith and good works to forge a new parish and build the community of faith that exists today.
The St. Andrew's Parish Council through the Anniversary Planning Committee welcomes one and all to the festivities on July 1st. |
EXPLORE THE PAST
St. Andrew's Parish According to several sources, before 1804, a small chapel had been built at Judique but until 1818, there was no resident priest.
"On August 25, 1817, acting Vicar General, Father Burke wrote to Bishop Plessis to announce he was going to send Fr. Alexander MacDonell to Cape Breton to take care of the Scots..." In February of 1818, according to local tradition, Fr. MacDonell came to his new post by travelling across the ice from Cape Jack. By July of 1818, he wrote to Bishop Plesssis, "I begin to fix my residence in this parish at Grand Judique, 10 miles west of the Gut of Canso." He served the area from Broad Cove in the north to what was then Plaister Cove in the south (Port Hastings). Between the time the small chapel was no longer used and 1820, when a new church was completed, Mass was said at Indian Point in a barn on the farm of Thomas Ban MacDonell. Two wooden church structures unfortunately burned due to lightning strikes and the parishioners decided, after the second occurrence, that the next church would be built of local sandstone. This is the building that stands today. |