L'ARDOISE - This Richmond County community had multiple elected officials from the past and present, as well as several decades' worth of retired and active Roman Catholic clergy, joining this month's 200th anniversary celebrations for one of the longest-running parishes in the Diocese of Antigonish. 

Holy Guardian Angels Parish, which held its first baptism in 1823, officially reached the two-century mark with a special Mass service and community dinner held in L'Ardoise on the afternoon on Sunday, September 3. 

Among those in attendance were Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau, only days away from receiving his first cabinet posts in Premier Tim Houston's PC provincial government, and Richmond District Five councillor Brent Sampson, a L'Ardoise native who has served for the past year as Deputy Warden of the municipality. 

A long-time former Richmond councillor, Steve Sampson, who served as warden for two years prior to his departure from municipal politics in 2016, was the committee chair for the 200th anniversary celebrations and provided a detailed history of the parish following the opening hymn of the September 3 Mass service. This event took place at the 47-year-old Holy Guardian Angels Catholic Church, which replaced an earlier structure that was destroyed by fire in 1972.   

Also in attendance were the priest currently presiding over L'Ardoise and three other communities within the diocese's operations in eastern Richmond County, Rev. John Yake, who officiated the afternoon's Mass service. He was joined by Antigonish Bishop Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick, who provided the homily for the afternoon, and several priests who had previously served at Holy Guardian Angels Parish over the past six decades. The oldest of these Catholic clergymen, Rev. Stanley "Stumpy" MacDonald, 92, is the only living priest to have served in L'Ardoise prior to 1983. 

Following the anniversary Mass service, community residents were invited to a free catered three-course meal at the nearby L'Ardoise Community Centre, which previously served as the official parish hall for several decades.