Church History in Vanier

http://vaniernow.blogspot.com/2012/11/church-history.html

Exterior of Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Esprit, now Vanier Community Church (Photo: VanierNow, 2012)

Writing any story about Vanier without making reference to one of the many churches that dot the landscape of this one square mile is a challenging effort at best. Interesting to note, however, is that the first church was not constructed until the end of the 19th century. Until then, the residents of Clandeboye and Janeville, two of the three villages that eventually made up Eastview (now Vanier), had to travel to Lowertown or Cyrville to attend church services. Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes (Vanier’s first church, see #1 on the map) opened in 1887 on the grounds of what was once Tara Hall—a brothel on Montreal Road. St. Margaret’s (#2), an Anglican church, opened further west in 1888 and St. Charles (#3), the second Catholic church, opened on Beechwood Avenue in 1908.


St. Margaret's Choir, early 1900's (Photo: McPhail family; Vanier Heritage Committee; City of Ottawa)

During the same year, in time for the 50th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France, Vanier’s own Lourdes Grotto was completed on the grounds of Notre-Dame.

The roots of Vanier’s protestant churches go back to the early 1900s when congregations met in halls on both Savard and Palace. In 1913, Eastview United (then Eastview Presbyterian Church; #4) opened their second church building on Olmstead, then selling the building to merge with Overbrook to form Eastbrook United Church in 1956. The site of Eastview Baptist (#5) was purchased in 1923 with the current building being completed a year later for a total of $21,000.

As the number of English-speaking parishioners at Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes grew larger, a petition was launched to establish Vanier’s first English Catholic church. Their efforts resulted in the 1931 establishment of Assumption Catholic Church, opened in what had been the vacant building on Savard left behind by Eastview Presbyterian. Assumption’s current building on Olmstead dates from 1940.

In an effort for Notre-Dame church to minimize the loss of French-speaking members due to the centrally located Assumption Church, Notre-Dame opened Marie-Médiatrice chapel in close vicinity of Assumption. The chapel, which opened in 1931, only offered services in French.

The late 1940s and 1950s were years of growth and prosperity for Vanier. As housing developments were constructed, so grew the church communities (See Blake Boulevard post). By the 1950s, St. Charles had grown beyond its capacity and Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Esprit (#7) was established to handle the overflow. Located on Carillon, this modern church building opened in 1958 – and opened amidst some controversy. The large sculpture of Mary that adorned the outside façade depicted the Virgin with bare feet. The sculpture was created by Raoul Hunter, a Quebec artist who was also responsible for the magnificent Mackenzie King sculpture on Parliament Hill.


Exterior of Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Esprit, now Vanier Community Church (Photo: VanierNow, 2012)

Two years later, the Marie-Médiatrice Church (#8) moved into their modern edifice on Cyr Avenue. The nomination of a female vicar, Sister Reine Barrette, (also) caused some controversy.

The forward looking lines (and avant-garde style) of the Marie-Médiatrice Church, however, stand in stark contrast to declining attendance patterns. Reflecting Vanier’s broader demographic shifts, by 1960, the number of baptisms at both Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and St. Charles declined while the number of funerals rose. Families started to leave Vanier for newer and more comfortable homes in the suburbs and broader societal changes started to have significant impacts on church life:

“French-Canadian society before 1960, is impregnated with religion and, at times, with religiosity. However, with the Quiet Revolution, the secularization of society, the Second Vatican Council and liturgical changes, churches are less and less frequented by the faithful” (Laporte, 204).

Yet it was an event in 1973 that had perhaps the most devastating impact on Vanier’s church community. Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Vanier’s oldest church, was destroyed by fire when on May 28 a massive blaze engulfed the soaring building in the middle of the night. Following the destruction and the assessment of the damage, the congregation was determined to reconstruct on Montreal Road.

Notre-Dame re-opened the doors to its new (and very modern) building for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, 1975. The church’s iconic tower, incorporating the original bells saved from the fire, was completed in 1987.


Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Church (Photo: VanierNow, 2011)

Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Esprit never experienced the growth of its sister churches. In fact, attendance started to decrease by the mid 1960s, and the church closed in 1995. The building stood empty for several years until City Church (now the Vanier Community Church) began operating in the facility in 2000. The Bikers Church has been meeting in the same halls since 2010. The two churches merged (while keeping their separate services) in 2012.

Eastview Baptist and St. Margaret’s have also witnessed shifts in attendance. Both churches still offer services in English; however, the former now offers a service in Portuguese while the latter conducts its 11:00 am service in both English and Inuktitut. Also, since 2008, St. Margaret’s has been sharing the building with The Village, a Mennonite church.

As the population of Vanier continues to shift and religious and spiritual practices broaden, the use of these important edifices may change (again). In 2010, a mere two years after its centenary, St. Charles church closed its doors. While it is unlikely that another congregation will move into this space, the building itself is the memory of a congregation and that of an entire community. Depending on its future occupant and use of the site, St. Charles, like St. Brigid’s Church in Lowertown, could once again become a pillar in Vanier and in the broader community.

(Mike Steinhauer)

Cursory timeline of Vanier’s church history:
1887 Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes (Vanier’s first church) opens on Montreal Road
1888 St. Margaret's Anglican Church opens on Montreal Road
1908 St. Charles Church opens on Beechwood Avenue
1908 Grotte de Notre-Dame de Lourdes is completed
1913 Bell tower of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes is completed
1913 Eastview Prespetyran Church (later Eastview United Church) opens on Olmstead
1924 Eastview Baptist Church opens on Olmstead
1931 Assumption Church opens in the former Eastview Prespetyran Church hall on Savard
1931 Marie Médiatrice Chapel opens on Cyr Avenue
1940 Assumption Church constructs its new building on Olmstead
1958 Notre-Dame du Saint-Esprit Church opens on Carillon Street
1960 Marie Médiatrice Church constructs its new building on Cyr Avenue
1973 Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Church is destroyed by fire
1975 Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Church reopens in its new building
1987 Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Church’s new bell tower is completed
1995 Notre-Dame du Saint-Esprit Church closes
2000 City Church is established in the former space of Notre-Dame du Saint-Esprit
2008 The Village Church opens (sharing space with St. Margaret's Anglican Church)
2010 St. Charles Church closes 
2010 Biker’s Church (established in 2002) moves into City Church
2012 City Church and Biker's Church merge to form Vanier Community Church 


Sources:

Association des citoyens de Vanier. La petite histoire de Vanier. Vanier: O.V.U.L, 1975.

Brockwell, Tara. “Vanier Church Celebrates Leather, Bikes and Jesus Christ.” Open File Ottawa. May 23, 2012. Accessed November 3, 2012. (LINK)

Deschamps, Eric R. “Get the Water Flowing; Restoring Our Community’s Rich Heritage.” (unpublished sermon notes) July 29, 2000.

Eastview Baptist Church. “Our Story.” (n.d.) Accessed November 3, 2012. (LINK)

Hunter, Raoul. “Sculptures.” Sculptor and cartoonist. (n.d.) Accessed November 3, 2012. (LINK)

Kavcic, Patty. “Eastbrook United Church.” (unpublished; n.d.) (LINK)

Laporte, Luc. Vanier. Ottawa: Centre franco-ontarien de resources pédagogiques, 1983.

Posted 5th November 2012 by Unknown