Sacred Heart Catholic Church celebrated its 100 year anniversary on Saturday with an open house and cake.
The first catholic church built in Rossland started construction in 1895, but the current church wasn't built until 1915, and underwent a significant renovation in 2013.
The most notable change was that the interior of the church was divided into two almost equal spaces, with the church on one side and a gathering space on the other, to make up for the loss of the Parish Hall, which the church sold in 2013.
The wall dividing the space was constructed to look as if it was part of the original church, and the result is convincing. Some of those attending the celebration hadn't yet seen the new space, and thought it looked quite nice.
The gathering space was the perfect place for parishioners and community members to mingle, drink coffee and eat cake.
“It's been a great afternoon,” said Ron Cameron, chair person of the Sacred Heart parish council. “A year's planning has gone into the event, and we're really happy to see members of the community—Rosslanders, people who have come from as far away as Kelowna, ex-parishioners—who have come to celebrate with us today.”
Many former parishioners who have moved away from Rossland returned for the anniversary celebration.
Annette Ball and her father Bill Zieverink came from Nelson. Ball was baptized at Sacred Heart and was one of the last babies born at the Mater Miseacordia Hospital, which was run by the Catholic nuns.
“One of the nuns retired, and I was one of her last babies that she delivered, so she sat that night with my mom and held me all night and rocked me while my mom had rest,” said Ball.
Zieverink immigrated with his wife from Holand and used to work at Ted Schmidt's dairy farm. He lived in Rossland from 1955 to 1960, where he and his family attended Sacred Heart.
Dena teBulte, who worked on same farm as Zieverink and now lives in Fruitvale, also came back for the celebration.
Maureen Wallis was another returning parishioner. Wallis is part of the Driscoll family, and four out of the nine children were baptized at Sacred Heart. Her mother, Beatrice Driscoll, was very involved with the church and community, and her photo could be seen by those entering the church on Saturday afternoon.
The afternoon's festivities were followed by an evening mass, and dinner for the parishioners.