Our Lady of the Lake Church to relocate

Our Lady of the Lake Church in Morson recently was granted permission by the Diocese of Thunder Bay to build what its members have been waiting more than five years for–a new church building.
The parish has been planning to replace the present deteriorating building, located along Highway 621, for some time now.
“Construction on the church should begin by [this] week,” said Albert Bernardi, chairman of the Building and Finance committee. “Weather permitting, it should be finished by Oct. 15.”
Jim McKinnon of Quality Builders has been contracted to build the new structure, which should measure 52’x36’. The church will have a charming “log-cabin” appearance, and will overlook Lake of the Woods.
“It’s going to be a lovely church in the woods,” noted Rose Bernardi, describing the appeal of the new site.
Funding for the construction was donated entirely by the 30-50 seasonal parishioners of the Catholic church, with one of them even purchasing the lot it will stand on.
(Being a seasonal church, Our Lady of the Lake only holds Sunday services from May 15 to around Thanksgiving weekend).
Nine of the church members, who were on hand for a sod-turning ceremony last Wednesday, seemed excited about their new building.
“We’re elated, excited, and relieved,” said Barb Zebleckis. “Those people have done so much work on getting this done.
“I am a little sad, though . . . I went to the old church for over 20 years.”
But Father James Panikulam, who also serves at Our Lady of the Way (Pinewood), Our Lady of Good Counsel (Stratton), and St. Patrick’s (Emo), stressed the building’s location would be better than the current one.
“It will be much more pleasant–people can access the church from water or land,” he laughed.