Callander Catholic church welcomes parishioners from neighbouring Anglican church

Fr. Daniele Muscolino, left, pastor at the St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, chats with Fr. Kevin McAllister, of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Callander. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

North Bay -

When structural issues closed St. Peter’s Anglican Church two weeks ago, parishioners were left without a place to celebrate Christmas service.

“We ended up having an engineering report done on the building and it was deemed unsafe,” said Fr. Kevin McAllister, who is the incumbent at St. Peter’s.

So McAllister turned to Fr. Daniele Muscolino, pastor at the St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, for help.

“It was actually the first time Fr. Kevin and I met," said Muscolino. "He was sharing with me some of the issues the building at St. Peter’s was having."

The Catholic congregation was told of a plan to share the building with the Anglican congregation and they happily agreed. They opened their doors to members of the Anglican community so they could hold their own Christmas service.

“At one point it looked like we were going to have it in our living rooms, so this was far better,” said McAllister.

The St. Peter’s Anglican Church structure is more than 130 years old and it’s been temporarily closed. It is currently unknown if or when it will reopen.

“It’s up to the congregation and the Diocese of Algoma to try and come up with a resolution concerning the building and what the future of St. Peter’s might be,” said McAllister.

Muscolino said the faith community in Callander is tightknit and helping fellow Christians in need is the right thing to do. He compared the situation to the nativity story.

“It’s similar to the Christmas story -- Mary and Joseph had no place to go,” he said. “But here in Callander, it’s different than Bethlehem. Our neighbours had somewhere to go.”

For the time being, Anglicans will continue to celebrate their own service at St. Alphonsus Liguori, separate from the Catholic mass times. While it may feel a little different, both church leaders said it’s all about people coming together and practising their faith.