‘Angels on High’ is a mountain climbing adventure to raise money for a church building for St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Chestermere. In August 2014, Angels On High helped raise $81,000 while climbing the Centennial Ridge, the highest maintained trail in the Canadian Rockies. With the success that came from that, it was decided that 2015 should also include a fundraising hike and so that’s exactly what they did.
Angels On High kicked off their 2015 efforts began with a fundraising dinner, silent auction and dance that took place on Saturday June 6, 2015 at the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre. Over those next couple of months, the push was on to find hikers, donors, and sponsors to help them with their fundraising efforts to enable them to build a church building.
On Saturday August 8th, 2015, Rev. John Nemanic, the pastor of the young church community called St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish, joined 26 dedicated climbers, all of whom were eager to see a church building in the fast growing community of Chestermere. Together, the 27 climbers, who have been training for months, made the intense trek up Castle Mountain. They needed 12 hours to traverse the 28km and the 1.4km elevation gain.
To date, Angels on High 2015 has raised $83,000 and the climbers themselves raised $30,000 in personal pledges.
To add to the excitement and pride of the group, a couple of days before the climb, on August 5, 2015, the 133rd Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention recognized Angels on High with its International Church Activity Award. The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization consisting of 15,400 local councils and 1.9 million members. It is the 2nd time that an Alberta council has won an International Service award and only the 7th time a Canadian council has been so honoured.
Angels on High 2015 concludes on Sunday September 13th with a wrap-up party, highlighted by the raffle draw of a J6800 Full Body Robotic Massage Chair donated by Bodo Wellness Technology worth $5000. There are only 250 raffle tickets available and selling for $40 each.
The St Gabriel Catholic community has been in existence since 2005, worshipping on weekends at the St Gabriel school gym here in Chestermere. “We’ve been worshipping in the gym at the school now for 10 years, and I believe it’s time for a space to call our own,” states Rev. Nemanic. He adds, “A church building will help us to relieve the suffering and alienation of people through our worship, witness and by serving those in need.”
For more informationabout Angels on High please email frjohn@saintgabrielparish.ca or call him at (403)813-2957.
