Last service said at Watson’s Anglican church, congregation to join Humboldt

While the service was a mixture said Harper of celebration and sorrow, with only four members of the congregation celebrating service at the church, Carboni said they were putting in a lot of time and energy into maintaining the parish.

Margaret Henderson, one of the few members of the Watson church, said it was getting hard to justify the resources being spent on four people.

“In a way, you kind of feel like, all these people that went before us that could fill the churches, you feel like we kind of failed them in a way but it’s like that everywhere with most of the churches having struggles, especially being such a small town.”

First built in 1905, the Anglican church has been prevalent in Watson from the beginning of the community, Carboni told northeastNOW.

“I think one of the first babies born in Watson was an Anglican,” he laughed.

Going through his first and only deconsecration service, Harper cannot help but think about all the people that have walked through the doors of the church and the history that the church has stood through, from world wars to all the highs and lows that Watson itself has experienced, from literally being a one horse town to a booming agricultural centre.

Anglican Bishop Chris Harper officially deconsecrates St. Bride’s Anglican Church in Watson. (Becky Zimmer/northeastNOW Staff)

The closure of the church is a sign of a much larger reality that is plaguing much of rural Saskatchewan, Carboni said.

“Being in a rural area, as our rural communities are getting smaller and smaller, so are the church communities. You can’t expect communities that are shrinking to maintain huge congregations.”

Henderson said the St. Bride’s congregation has always felt welcome at St. Andrew’s and will participate in Zoom services before getting together to carpool for the 30 minute drive to attend service in person when they can.

The church building will now be turned over to the Saskatoon diocese, but Harper told northeastNOW the church is not just the building but the people who will still call it home.

Rev. Matteo Carboni (left) regularly resides over mass at St. Bride’s Anglican Church in Watson, Sask. Together with Bishop Chris Harper (right) and Archdeacon Alex Parsons (not pictured), the three celebrated the last service at the historic church. (Becky Zimmer/northeastNOW Staff)

“This is just a building, and it always will be a building. But the true church is the people, and it’s a living church because they go out and they should express their faith.”

Harper has seen many churches become homes or businesses in the community and he hopes the same happens to the St. Bride’s church.

Though renovations, it can become something that the communities needs and also becomes a way the community can still remember the church’s history itself.

“That’s all I pray for is that it be given another life, and that when people come in, they will still have that remnant, that memory, that, might as well say it, that spirit that something special happened in here.”

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim

by Becky Zimmer

Last service said at Watson’s Anglican church, congregation to join Humboldt

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