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Community

St. Mary’s Church built in 1849.

l’hntn hv (inuun. St-nuel Kr (‘ompnny (‘num-sy Mrs G A [turd Reverend Donald Francis MacDonald, 1837-1902 A great many were named Donald Francis after this man who did so much for the Parish.

('uuru-sy l‘u‘turcs ul'lhl- l'zlsl hv [wards

On May 30, 1848 a disas- trous fire destroyed both the church and parochial house just completed by Father Pius McPhee.‘H In six month’s time it was replaced. The builder was Ronald Ban McDonald. This church was eighty feet in length by forty-five feet in width and twenty feet high,”- with a spire a hundred feet high. It had a gallery on both sides and back and was painted white inside.

The next parochial house was built by Father James Phelan in 1862, during his pastorate at the East Point parish of St. Columba.“3

In 1864, Father Donald Fran- cis MacDonald took Charge of Souris, Rollo Bay, and Little Pond. As Souris was his larg- est mission this enabled him to occupy the new parochial house.

In 1901,the old church became too small for the congregation. It was removed and replaced