qathet Regional District’s (qRD) committee of the whole is recommending the regional board approve installing a church bell at the Powell River Regional Cemetery mausoleum in Cranberry.
At the November 10 committee meeting, directors considered an initiative to relocate the Saint Gerard’s Catholic Church bell to the mausoleum. The Wildwood church was put up for sale.
According to a staff report, on September 10, volunteers removed the bell from atop the former Catholic church. The bell was crafted in Italy and brought to Saint Gerard's shortly after the church’s construction, according to the report.
The Italian community has requested the bell be placed in the mausoleum for display and safe keeping. It has historic cultural significance to the local Italian community, the report stated.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said she recalled a story from Charlie Bombardir, whereby his family was responsible for getting the bell in Italy and bringing it over here.
“When he was telling me this he was concerned because he didn’t want the bell to be sold with the building, and he had expressed interest in maybe having his family repatriate it at some point,” said Elliott. “My question is whether anyone asked Charlie about what he preferred for this bell, or whether that was relevant to our decision?”
qRD manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux said the mausoleum, Saint Gerard’s Church and the bell itself are all important, culturally, to the qathet area Italian community.
“I have spoken with the De Vita family, with some of the Bombardir family, but I did not speak with Charlie himself,” said Devereaux. “They all seem to be on board with moving the bell to the mausoleum. I didn’t hear any other negative comments about moving the bell.”
City director George Doubt said he was happy to see this initiative. He said he knows the congregation took great care to rescue the bell when the church was up for sale, and he hoped the bell would find a good place in the community to be honoured.
“This is a great solution,” said Doubt. “It looks like it is going to cost about $80 per year for the regional district to take care of it. I support this motion.”
The committee then voted unanimously to send the matter to the regional board for approval.
