100-year-old Vita Catholic Church in desperate need of a new roof

It’s been exactly three months and 16 days since the re-opening of the Catholic Church in Vita, Manitoba.

The 100-year-old Saint Isidor church had sat empty for many years, and then last fall, Steinbach resident and member of the Catholic Church in Steinbach took steps to open its doors in order to give local parishioners a place to worship.

Edwin Sonsona says that since they’ve taken over occupancy of the building, they have noticed that repairs needed to be made. "It’s very old. 100-hundred-year-old church. So, the first plan was to put in a well for water. But now we realize there's an urgent need to replace the shingles.”

Sonsona says water has been coming into the building on the south-west side, into the sanctuary area where the priest is. Upon inspection he noticed that the shingles were very old. "Imagine how many years those shingles have been there. It’s like they are disappearing and falling apart. So, I was there two weeks ago to talk to Father Paul, and said “Let's change the shingles.”

Sonsona said they got some quotes from the area and found someone who would replace the shingles for $8,000. When the Father asked Sonsona where the money would come from to pay for them, he said, “Don't worry about the money. The money will just come. We will change the shingles before everything gets rotten inside the church. Don’t worry about the money. The Lord will provide.”

Sonsona notes, prior to noticing the need to replace the shingles on the roof of the Vita Catholic Church, they had already signed up for a food booth during Summer in the City next weekend in Steinbach.

Now with the need for funds for the repairs, Sonsona says they will be selling spring rolls and noodles and having a BBQ with 50% of proceeds going to the shingles project and the other 50% going to the help pay for their youth to go to Toronto this summer, attending a national conference.

Sonsona smiles and says, “No wonder why we planned this fundraising. I mean selling BBQ for this purpose. We will donate to the church in Vita and the Missionary Families of Christ Youth members.”

He adds if people want to make more of a donation, they are able to give tax receipts.

Sonsona says the removal of the old shingles and replacing them with new ones will happen next weekend, Saturday, June 8, which he is very excited about.

The front entrance of the Vita Catholic church (photo credit: Edwin Sonsona)

Sonsona says there are more projects on the horizon for the Vita church, including putting in a well for water, which he says will come at a cost of around $15,900.

He notes that while they are hoping to have the shingles paid for with fundraising, if the monies don’t come in for the well, they will wait on putting it in.

Sonsona says the list of repairs needed for an old building is long, but they’ll start with the urgent needs first. “The roof is very urgent and then the water, then after that, we can fix the rest by volunteerism, like painting inside, washing outside walls. So, yeah that will be very easy to do because the church is not big, so we can easily handle it.”

Sonsona says they already have volunteers in place to mow the lawn around the church and another company dropped off a construction dumpster beside the church.

“And then can we put the old shingles and other garbage in there, and he won’t charge us anything. He will just charge us when he removes it from the property. So, maybe it takes six months or one year to fill up, that’s ok. But now it's so timely because we need to change the singles.”

Vita Catholic Parish with construction dumpster next to it, waiting for shingles and other renovation garbage (photo credit: Edwin Sonsona)

Sonsona asks for help. “I ask that if people can help us out in our community. If you can help us rebuild our church there, please let us know. And everyone is welcome to also come and worship together with us in the church in Vita.”

“Right now, we are repairing the church, rebuilding the church back into a good shape. So, I'm asking everyone if you have some donations that you can share, just give your donation to Saint Isidore Parish in Vita, and thank you so much.”

Sonsona says since moving into the Vita church, new people keep coming to church, about 30 each weekend. “So, it's a good number from our locals and then the Filipino community and other Asian community there.”

He says as they expected with summer holidays, there will be less growth in the church, however, Sonsona says the community of believers in Vita is committed.