The fight is not over to get a Catholic church in the north end of Halifax, that survived the Halifax Explosion, back into full service.

Parishioner John Murphy tells our newsroom, they are making another appeal to the archbishop to get St. Patrick’s back up and running now that it has been deemed structurally safe.

“We have been unsuccessful in our first appeal to the papal nuncio because they ruled on having the church remain closed, as per the archbishop’s edict. But they did not have the final report, so they were still of the understanding there would be a $12 million repair.”

The Archdiocese Halifax-Yarmouth had deemed the steeple and bell tower as unsafe last year, putting St. Patrick’s at risk for demolition and shutting down services with a price tag that could reach $12 million.

However, Murphy says they hired an engineering firm to take another look, and according to them, the cost to fix any needed repairs to the bell tower is about $1.5 million over the next decade.

“That is a tremendous difference in terms of capital outlay of $150,000 a year over 10 years kind of based on what you can raise and what you can reasonably afford.”

Emergency Homeless Shelter

St. Patrick’s was built in 1885 and has continued to stand for 140 years.

It is a heritage building that survived the Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917.

Now, that it has been fixed up, it has been given another purpose serving as an emergency homeless shelter for men.

There are 25 beds, with the capacity to expand to 40, as well as wraparound services that are provided by Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.

Murphy says he does see this as a good thing.

“It’s my understanding that the main part of the church where people go to worship every Sunday is restricted area. They’ll be in the downstairs church hall which is fine. It’s warm, it’s bright, it’s cozy, it’s inviting. They should have all that they need.”

However, Murphy adds, they will continue to push to get services back now that the archdiocese will have all the details.

“We are willing to draw this out so we can’t draw another breath.”