A profound loss and a joyful revelation

On Tuesday night, a vigil was held across the street from the burntout shell of St. Anne’s Church. Joyous as it was sad, there were tears, but there was also laughter and songs.

- SHAWN MICALLEF

There remains the unmistakable conviction that St. Anne's is still here, Shawn Micallef writes, because the people who lived and loved it are still here, beautiful heritage building or not.

People hugged, the building was referred to as “our beloved” and speeches had moments of defiant proclamation: St. Anne’s will be rebuilt; mass will be held Sunday; the St. Anne’s congregation will still march in the Pride parade in two weeks.

Throughout, there was always the unmistakable conviction that St. Anne’s was still here, because the people who lived and loved it are still here, beautiful heritage building or not.

Poster boards set up to record memories quickly filled up. People wrote of marriages, baptisms and spending Sundays with their mom while staring at the paintings and listening to the sermons. One simply wrote how much they enjoyed walking by.

Others mentioned the parish was family, that Sunday school continuing through COVID-19 provided needed community, or that they went to St. Anne’s on 9/11 to pray. One admitted to just coming on Christmas and Easter.