Oratory upgrade hits many snags
Contractors are complaining of non‑payment as many snags plague the project to upgrade St Joseph’s Oratory to make it more welcoming to pilgrims. The cost of the project continues to rise, with all three levels of government chipping in millions, and now some of the issues are in court.
R T 12:52 on 2026-04-04 Permalink
I assume that the provincially-funded renovations to Québec and Canada’s largest church and a pilgrimage site for Catholics worldwide are of an inherently laïque nature.
Chris 16:42 on 2026-04-04 Permalink
It’s number 5 on Tripadvisor for Montreal, so: yes, at least mostly.
DeWolf 18:33 on 2026-04-04 Permalink
The new visitor’s centre is really nice and it makes the journey up much more pleasant, especially in the winter. Last time I went it was very busy and I didn’t get the sense that most visitors were there for religious reasons.
JP 19:07 on 2026-04-04 Permalink
Yeah, I kind of hate to say it… My family is not Catholic or even Christian and we would bring family and out-of-town guests over to the Oratory when they’d visit. I suppose part of the appeal is the view. I personally haven’t been since before the pandemic though.
Curious to know how the visitor’s centre makes the journey up more pleasant. I suppose I should just head over for a visit this spring to see for myself…
Ian 20:53 on 2026-04-04 Permalink
I’m not Catholic or Christian, raised entirely without any religious tradition. I like the architecture though, and see the intrinsic value in it. Of course I would just as willingly visit a mosque or synagogue, and often visit denominational cemeteries.
Kevin 11:37 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
When my kids were young and into princesses and castles, we told them there was a castle in town and went to the Oratory.
Kate 11:58 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
I did grow up in a very Catholic family, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. As a kid I was taken to the Oratory by relatives, roughly once a year, but I think no particular day. I can still remember the deeply creepy feeling I got from that hall with the banks of candles, and the crutches and canes clustered on the walls.
We never went out back where the pool and Stations of the Cross are, which is actually quite nice, and which I found the last time I visited on my own. The pool fills up via a sheep fountain. Lamb of God? I’m not sure about the symbolism. The article suggests they may be changing all that – if they can afford to.
If you want to get a real sense of how big and dominant the Oratory is, creep up on it from the far side in upper Westmount, Surrey Gardens. I don’t know how anyone can stand to live there with that dome looming over them. From other angles it’s always up there in the distance, but from that vantage point it’s IN YOUR FACE.
MarcG 13:54 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
When I quit smoking in 2007 I would bike up there in the evenings when cravings/boredom were difficult and watch the sun set. Not religious but transformational.
jeather 17:19 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
Yeah, it’s good the province is helping save a Roman Catholic building (along with not charging property taxes), because we know the church is just barely hanging on financially.
Kate 17:56 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
The Catholic church as a worldwide entity is not hard up, but here, individual parishes – as we’ve seen with church buildings falling into ruin – are not doing so well. Constructed on a huge scale on the assumption everyone would be tithing forever, now nobody wants them.
Money isn’t sent down from the Vatican for local parishes – I suspect the flow of money was always upward, not downward. I don’t know how non-parish churches like the Oratory fit into this scheme of things, but I’ll bet they don’t get grants from the Vatican either. The assumption has always been that the numerous faithful would pitch in. My mother told me how her mother (a Catholic convert) would donate to “buy a brick” toward building the Oratory. All those massive churches around town were created by funds donated by the working poor, who were probably promised indulgences in return.
But not any more. I suppose it’s fair to assume the Oratory is a tourism draw, along with the two Notre Dame churches in Old Montreal and the cathedral on René‑Lévesque. So maybe they should be partly supported with public funds. But all the big old hulks like St‑Eusèbe are just going to fall down.
jeather 18:07 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
Individual parishes are poor because the Catholic church has carefully set itself up so that it benefits from them but never has obligations to them. I, however, do not feel the need to pretend that “this parish is penniless” is relevant: the church has chosen to make it penniless, and the church could afford not to.
Ian 19:14 on 2026-04-05 Permalink
Oh don’t worry, the Oratory has funding – they are a registered charity.
from 2024:
“The charity is in the process of building a new oratory that will be more modern and accessible. According to newswire, the development project costs $110 million. The Quebec government provided $30.8 million, the Canadian government provided $22 million, and the city of Montreal provided $10 million. The rest of the funds are from public, corporate, and religious donations.
…
L’Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal received $22.3m in donations in F2022.”
My bold. If they got 22.3 million in donations in 2022 alone plus all the “patrimoine” funding I think they’re probably doing ok. By way of comparison the CAQ cut 570 million to education spending in 2025.