Former chapel at The Mount renamed
The former chapel at The Mount Community Centre has been renamed after the woman who founded the Sisters of St. Joesph’s in Peterborough.
Austin Doran Hall is the new moniker for the former convent’s chapel.
The renaming ceremony took place Thursday in the former chapel that’s now referred to as a hall. It was decommissioned not long ago, so it’s no longer considered a holy place. Many of the Sisters of St. Joseph attended the ceremony, along with local dignitaries and community members.
Mother Austin, born Catherine Doran, was the first General Superior of Sister of St. Joseph Peterborough. She started the congregation in 1890, at the request of the bishop.
Not long after, Austin arranged to buy the Inglewood farm on Monaghan Road. It was renamed Mount St. Joseph and is the same property where The Mount Community Centre sits on 10 acres today.
In 2013, the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network (PPRN) purchased the property with the goal of converting into affordable housing with a commercial kitchen, where people could learn to cook.
PPRN then created the The Mount Community Centre, a nonprofit organization, leaving the property to The Mount board of directors to run.
Stephen Kylie is the chair of the board of directors.
He said the board wanted to dedicate the hall to Austin to honour the Sisters’ dedication to the community and The Mount.
“We wanted to honour the sisters in some way that didn’t highlight the fact that it was a chapel,
so we thought the best way was to honour their history here and what a better candidate than the lady who brought them here Mother Austin Doran,” Kylie said.
Kylie pointed out the similarities between the work of The Mount and the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The Sisters have always been dedicated to caring those in the community who might not have the supports that many others do, such as orphans, low-income families or refugees.
Likewise, The Mount’s goal is to provide affordable housing, helping low-income earners have a space to call their own.
“What The Mount is about is providing affordable housing to low-income families, so as a matter of fact those two missions mirror one another,” he said.
Sister Joyce Murray, assistant congregation leader of Sisters of St. Joseph, said she thought renaming the hall after Austin was very fitting.
Austin was a forward thinker, who thought outside the box, she said.
“That’s exactly what The Mount Community Centre people have been doing,” said Murray.
Sister Margo Ritchie, congregation leader of Sisters of St. Joseph, said the Sisters have supported The Mount from the beginning because it touches into who the Sisters are, which includes building community, meeting needs that are unmet and also the partnering with other people.
“It was a wonderful experience for the sisters, as I’ve heard them say it, knowing that their former mother house was going to be used for this purpose – it just felt like a continuation of who we are,” said Ritchie.