As the 1980s set in, things were changing. Holy Family had long ceased to be a suburb but was now an inner-city parish. While a number of long-time parishioners remained, their children were moving out of the district to raise their young families in less dense neighbourhoods. A growing number of Sunday worshippers now came from outside the parish boundaries, which had become the practice ever since Fr. Sutton told former parishioners: “You have not left the parish, Holy Family’s boundaries have just expanded.”
Erected as a “territorial parish” under Quebec civil law, the wardens had to reside within the parish boundaries. This was not the case at Holy Family, where its wardens were representative of the congregation, more than half of whom lived outside the territorial boundaries.
Msgr. Neil Willard again offered a solution, proposing that Holy Family register as a corporation under a special provision of the Bishops Act. On Oct. 1, 1984, the Communauté Catholique Holy Family was civilly established by Archbishop Paul Grégoire. Although it operates under the auspicious of Holy Family Parish, it can elect its directors (formerly wardens) from its congregation regardless of where they live.
The deadline to pay down the parish debt was also rapidly approaching once again, but parish revenues had not made much of a dent in the capital owed.
“I thought we would have to declare bankruptcy,” Father Baxter recalled, at a complete loss of what to do. Then, he received a call from Msgr. Neil Willard in 1988, who informed him that St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in St. Henri was closing. With the support of Bishop Crowley, its wardens had decided to donate $55,000 to Holy Family to liquidate its debt.
“It saved us,” Fr. Baxter exclaimed with a great sigh of relief.
Debt-free from the 1990s onward, Holy Family was now able to meet all its financial obligations without checking its bank balance first and could start building a sufficient reserve to meet the extraordinary expenses that normally occur.