Now in the ninth year since taking ownership for the former Saint-Antoine Church in the heart of Downtown Lennoxville, the people of Hope Community Church finally got to move upstairs for worship this past Sunday. “We’ve been meeting downstairs the whole time,” said community member Jackie Lougheed, “and we’ve used the basement very well.” Lougheed explained that the last nine years have been committed to gradually transforming the 66 year-old Catholic church building into the multipurpose meeting, performance, and worship space the elders envisioned when they put a bid in back in 2011.
“The church community as it was really wanted it to go on as a church, but we never thought we would get it,” she added, noting that once the details were settled, the long road to preparing the space began. While finally being able to move worship into the sanctuary marks a significant milestone for the community, it is only the most recent in a massive list of repairs and renovations that have taken place. Almost any renovation job a person can think of, from changing the heating system, to rewiring the building, to replacing the roof, has been carried out in the name of ensuring that the building remains a solid and useful resource to the community long into the future. See full story in the Monday, July 22 edition of The Record.