Representatives of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador were conspicuous by their absence at a community meeting in Sheaves Cove Thursday evening.
And it was apparent citizens of the community weren't happy with the lack of representation at the meeting to address concerns regarding the rebuilding of St. Joseph's church.
Nearly 50 residents of the community with a population of 95 turned up to find out why the rebuilding of the church is being delayed and why the allotted insurance money is being held by the diocese.
In September of 2010 the church was completely destroyed in a fire that RCMP believe was arson. No one was ever charged.
Travis Young, chair of the local service district of Sheaves Cove, said Msgr. Edwin Gale, diocese administrator; Msgr. Jim Robertson and Richard Kelly, financial administrator for the diocese had all been invited to attend the meeting along with parish priest Rev. Anthony Nwaohiri.
Representatives of Our Lady of The Cape Parish Council were invited as well.
Mr. Young said there was no response to any of the invitations he sent out, so he had assumed some representative was coming
He said Rev. Nwaohiri's absence was especially disheartening since he had been quoted as saying after the fire, "In spite of the fact their church is burnt down and in spite of the fact of whatever has happened, we wouldn't give up on them."
"He said he would never turn his back on us, but where is he tonight? He never showed up," Mr. Young told the crowd.
He said it seems like the diocese doesn't want to know their concerns.
"They should use at least some of that money to build us a little chapel that we could call our own." - Travis Young
He said it is not known how much insurance was carried on the church because the policy – paid for by the community – is held by the diocese and the community has no access to it. Young said parishioners need a place to worship and want the insurance money to be used for a new building.
"They should use at least some of that money to build us a little chapel that we could call our own," he said. "We would take care of it, and the diocese wouldn't have to worry about any of the costs of maintaining it."
He suggested sending the diocese a bill for using the community centre for church services, which was met with a warm response from the group on hand.
"If they don't pay, then we'll take them to court," Mr. Young said.
Resident Marilyn Rowe said she fears Msgr. Gale's statement a decision would be made after a new bishop is put into place is a stall tactic.
"He's acting bishop and he should be able to make a decision on this," she said.
There were suggestions the insurance money was going to be put towards fixing up properties at Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Cape St. George, which is 14 km away. According to Mr. Young, both the church and the rectory are badly in need of repairs.
"We've always supported Cape St. George when it came to issues with the parish and now it seems like when it comes to Sheaves Cove, we're all on our own. We were even told we weren't invited to a parish council meeting they held recently," Mr. Young said.
