the Sainte Rose Grotto

BACKGROUND ON THE GROTTO

In 1955, Father Isaie Desautels, then pastor of Ste Rose de Lima Church, initiated the construction of a “grotto”, intending that it should be completed for the 100th anniversary of St Bernadette’s visions of Mary in Lourdes, France.

(One must keep in mind that the 1950s was a period of intense Marian piety. The rosary was widely popular, both as a religious and political devotion—Marian prayer was understood as a weapon against the much-feared threat of Soviet communism. Also, Pope Pius XII had dogmatically declared the Assumption of the Virgin only a few years before in 1950, an remarkable act of papal primacy that would certainly have brought to mind Pius IX’s declaration of the Immaculate Conception in the years following the revelations of Lourdes. The Grotto of Lourdes was a major pilgrimage site, and many pilgrims to Lourdes were inspired to bring some memento of Lourdes to the people of their own towns. Fr Desautels was by no means the only one to begin a grotto project in the 1950s.)

The Grotto project was welcomed by the parishioners of Ste Rose. Parishioners provided stone and volunteered their labour, working under the supervision of Mr Jean Brunen, foreman. The project was not finished by 1958 as Fr Desautels had hoped—it was delayed by the size of project and then also by the burning of Ste Rose Church. On September 17 1961 the new church and completed grotto were blessed together, and in 1962, on February 11th (the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes) Archbishop Flahiff declared the Ste Rose Grotto open to pilgrimages.

Concerns about the upkeep of the grotto go back to at least the early 2000s, when an engineering firm was hired to assess its condition. At that time it was noted that some of the grouting between stones was crumbling, and that some vegetation lodged in the grouting (and contributing to its crumbling) ought to be removed; otherwise the grotto seemed stable. 

GROTTO RESTORATION 

In 2017 a Grotto Restoration Committee was formed in Ste Rose, with the intention to raise money for repairs. By the spring of 2018 the Grotto Restoration Committee had raised approximately 60 000, a seemingly large sum, but not nearly sufficient to pay anticipated costs of grout repair. Moreover the Grotto Restoration Committee feels that their fundraising efforts have reached a local limit. To raise more funds, the Committee believes the most promising approach would be through private and governmental grants. It appears, however, that such grants are not accessible so long as the grotto is the property of the church (or, as it happens, of the Archdiocese; by an old oversight, dating back to the gift of the grotto property by the Maillard family to the Catholic Church in the 1950s, the grotto property is legally the property not of Ste Rose de Lima Church but rather of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg). If the grotto were the property of the municipality of Ste Rose du Lac, on the other hand, it appears that the grotto repairs would at very least be eligible for some grants. For this reason the Grotto Restoration Committee has petitioned Ste Rose de Lima Church and the Archdiocese of Winnipeg to hand over the grotto property to the Municipality of Ste Rose du Lac. The transfer is in progress

QUESTION 1: WHAT NEEDS TO BE REPAIRED?

Partly unknown. The answer to the question depends on the stability of the grotto structure. An engineering firm was tentatively approached to do a seismic study of the grotto, but the cost of such a study (tens of thousands of dollars) has proven prohibitive. That said, the grotto does not appear to have shifted, and Mr Brunen is reported to have said that the foundation stones of the grotto were lain on bedrock, that indeed there is more stone under ground in the grotto construction than there is above ground.
The more obviously necessary repairs are to the grouting between stones, to the cement of the steps, to the altar and tabernacle, and to the statues.

QUESTION 2: HOW EXPENSIVE ARE THESE REPAIRS?

No detailed estimate exists, but it is expected that these repairs will cost not less than $150 000, possibly considerably more.

QUESTION 3: WHAT IS THE ISSUE WITH HANDING IT OVER TO THE MUNICIPALITY?

The Archdiocese is generally reluctant to hand over property, even property that does not involve a religious shrine like the grotto. The Archdiocese worries that maybe sometime in the future, in some circumstance that is now unforeseen, the parish of Ste Rose de Lima might need that property.
More than that, there are dangers involved in handing over a Catholic religious shrine to a non-Catholic owner. The municipality of Ste Rose du Lac, it should be said, has a long history of being supportive of Ste Rose de Lima Church and of the religious meaning of the Grotto—there is no apparent reason to suppose that the municipality, having accepted ownership of the property, would have any intention of damaging that religious meaning. Nevertheless, the town of Ste Rose du Lac is becoming less Catholic in its loyalties. The younger generations are only weakly attached to their traditional Catholic faith and at best weakly committed to the grotto’s Catholic identity. It might happen in the future that the town might see fit to use the grotto property for some purpose incompatible with the grotto’s religious meaning—it might happen by accident, simply through the town’s failure to understand the force of Catholic precepts.
One particular concern is around the using the grotto property for marriages. As you may know, if a baptized Catholic contracts a marriage without the explicit permission of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considers such a marriage invalid. As you no doubt also know, it is extremely common for baptized Catholics to contract such marriages. The Catholic Church in Ste Rose would find it problematic is the grotto property (which offers the sort of picaresque view that might conceivably appeal to a couple) were used to contract marriages whose validity the Church did not recognize.

Question 4: Does the grotto property have any commercial value?

Probably not.
It is admittedly a large piece of property, some five acres.
The use of the grotto property for some other purpose than its present service as site of the grotto and as Dollard public park is constrained by the property being on the river side of the Ste Rose flood embankment. When the river floods, all the grotto property is in danger of being flooded; moreover the severity of any flooding is increased by the pressure of the embankment. Such flooding has happened in the past. Since Dollard park and the grotto are liked by townsfolk, and since any developer would be discouraged by flood risks, it seems unlikely that the municipality would sell the property in future.

QUESTION 5: IN WHAT SENSE IS THE GROTTO A RELIGIOUS SHRINE?

The grotto was built as a religious shrine, as a memento of the grotto of Lourdes, France. It has been blessed and officially recognized by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg as a pilgrimage site.
That said, it is a fair question to what it extent the religious character of the grotto is recognized by the people of Ste Rose du Lac. The younger generations do not know the same devotion to Mary as their parents or grandparents. A quick inspection of the grotto will prove that the altar and tabernacle have fallen into bad repair, even thought these could have been kept in good repair at relatively minor expense; it suggests that the grotto is no longer used for its original purpose, and it is not obvious that repairing the grotto would result in that original purpose being recovered. It is more likely that the restored grotto would be seen as a historical landmark than as a functioning shrine.

Question 6: On what terms would the Catholic Church hand over the grotto property to the Municipality?

The Archdiocese of Winnipeg has drawn up a caveat, a statement indicating how the Grotto cannot be used. The Municipality of Ste Rose has agreed in principle.