Building Permit Obtained - Deo Gratias!
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
It’s been almost three years since we began planning for our new dormitory to house an
increasing number of boarders. This past year we welcomed fifty-two boarders from Ontario,
Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Alberta, British Columbia, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, New York
State, California, Mexico City and even two brothers from far away Kenya! The blessings of
God are also bearing fruit: this past year, the first of the alumni of our young school to do so
made vows in a religious order, received the cassock at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary and got
married! As the years pass, our graduating classes have been getting bigger. This Summer, of
our ten graduates, five have decided to enter either St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary or the
Benedictine monastery. This should be a great encouragement to us all in our work for
Catholic education and we should pray that all our graduates be convinced and fervent
Catholics.
Back in 2014, we thought that it would be a relatively easy thing to get a building permit.
Providence however wanted us to delay things and the Ministry of the Environment and
Climate Change obliged by taking two and a half years to approve the design of our new septic
system. This delay was providential as it allowed us to go ahead and buy our new church in
New Hamburg, St. Peter’s, which has been a grace for both school and parish.
The delay however is at an end! Last week, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
the Ministry of the Environment approved our septic system, and this morning, I got the
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy Building Permit from Wilmot Township. Our next step
will be to get a beginning date from the contractor. We are cautiously hopeful that he will be
able to commence this Autumn. You have been very generous in your prayers, help and
donations. I thank you and assure you of my prayers at Holy Mass. All of the money raised so
far is safely deposited although some has already been spent on the planning process.
Now that things will soon be underway, we will be communicating regular news of the
project to you, our benefactors. We will also be relying on your prayers and donations to keep
everything going well. For now, I simply wanted to share the good news with thanks to Our
Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Joseph.
Father David Sherry
