| Written by Carolyn Girard, The Catholic Register,
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MOOSE CREEK, Ont. - Climbing up into the bell tower of Our Lady of the Angels Church in Moose Creek, it’s difficult to ignore its impressive age. The rafters above the ceiling are thick wooden timbers, and the walls, solid cut stone. For a parish that celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, the 100-year old building has certainly stood the test of time. It has also nurtured some faithful followers.
“There’s a lot of faith here and those that come here really support the church,” said lifetime parishioner Ernest Brisson, 79. “What’s good about it is there’s lots of youth — the youth are behind us.”
Moose Creek is a small community southeast of Ottawa in Alexandria-Cornwall diocese.
Two of Brisson’s sons, a daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren make up some of the active parishioner base, helping with the various ministries and committees. A member of the cemetery committee and a eucharistic minister, Brisson is also an active parishioner in a more physical sense. Besides ringing the bell before every weekend Mass for more than 20 years, he also climbs up to the bell tower once or twice a year to oil the bearings — or more if somebody pulls the wrong bell ropes at a Baptism.
Completed in 1908, Our Lady of the Angels still has its original stone walls, although the inside of the church is anything but grey. Rows of paintings look down from the ceiling — representations of the various passages of the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the four evangelists watch over every Mass. These were painted by a local artist in the 1950s.
The central tabernacle sits under a large plaster baldachin guarded by angels and the sanctuary is set apart by a communion railing — a rare element in Catholic churches today.
“Those who came before me — and this is to their credit — they did not dismantle it,” said Msgr. Réjean Lebrun, the current pastor.
As a way to remember the past, Lebrun, who will be succeeded by Fr. Frank Larkin this month, celebrated a Mass this past spring with parts in Latin.
“I wanted the people to have an idea of how we worshipped before the (Vatican II) council.”
On June 8, the parish celebrated the anniversary more formally with a barbecue and a Mass presided by Bishop Paul-André Durocher, concelebrated by four priests with close ties to the community.
Our Lady of the Angels originally served surrounding villages under the Kingston diocese. Priests had been visiting settlers in the Moose Creek region as early as 1830. The original elementary school, now the Moose Creek Mall, used to be staffed by Sisters of the Holy Cross.
While the church, which can hold about 500 people, used to fill, the numbers attending weekly Mass have since dwindled significantly. Today there are 163 registered families.
Lebrun said the parish has an impressive amount of youth involvement, with two teens helping to provide music for the Saturday Mass, and about 10 young altar servers ready to help out on weekends.
Also, Brisson’s daughter-in-law Madeleine leads about 30 children in Sunday children’s liturgy throughout the school year.
“It’s a very viable community. People like to volunteer for many things,” Lebrun said. “We have some very good solid Catholic family life.”
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