Development to house women's residence
The planned condo development in the building currently occupied by Le Lyc�©e Fran�§ais de Toronto will soon house a women's residence run by a devoutly quiet sect of Catholicism Opus Dei.
The owners of the building, Promotion of Educational Values (PEV), have sold the sky rights to the developer Aspen Ridges Homes, and will continue to occupy the first four storeys of the 16 storey tower.
As part of the multi-million dollar deal negotiated with Aspen Ridges, PEV will have a residence and cultural and community centre built for them, which will be known as Kintore College.
"Our mission is to foster the education of women of all ages and backgrounds," said PEV spokesperson and Opus Dei practitioner Virginia Nanouris, explaining that the organization will use its main centre to offer a variety of programming, workshops and lectures for women. "We also have community programs like an after school project where we recruit women from university to act as tutors for high school girls," said Nanouris.
The 20-room residence will be separate from the cultural centre so visitors would not be able to enter the residence. Opus Dei will manage the residence.
"We want to provide a Christian family atmosphere," said Nanouris, explaining how the residence will have a curfew and set meal times. "We try to create a home away from home."
Opus Dei has been operating in Canada since 1957; in Toronto, they have operated a men's residence at 156 St. George St. since 1994.
Paul Kilbertus, also a practitioner, helped Opus Dei with the purchase of the building and establishment of the men's residence Ernescliff College. He lives on site as an Opus Dei supervisor at the residence.
According to Kilbertus, Ernescliff College is a quiet place that students who are serious about their studies call home.
"These are students who want to take advantage of their university time in a positive way," said Kilbertus.
Residents are expected to abide by an 11 p.m. curfew on weeknights and 1 a.m. curfew on weekends. There are no televisions permitted in individual rooms, and a shared television is provided in a common room, where residents can request to watch programs.
"By and large people don't watch it unless there is a compelling reason," said Kilbertus. "That's not the kind of house we live in."
The residents are not expected to be Catholic, or even Christian. However, Opus Dei practitioners do attend the chapel in the residence and some, like Kilbertus, practice corporal mortification.
The small and relatively unknown sect of Catholicism was cast into the spotlight due to the enormous success of the novel and movie The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. The fictional depictions exaggerated the truths of Opus Dei said practicing member Paul Kilbertus.
Although corporal mortification is part of the sect's practice, Kilbertus who wears the cilice (a metal spiked belt worn around the thigh) said there has never been any blood involved.
"It causes mild discomfort," said Kilbertus, who also performs a ritual called the discipline, whipping his backside.
"It doesn't cause bleeding, and neither (ritual) has ever caused me any physical harm," said Kilbertus. He said that people make sacrifices for various reasons, and that sacrifices for God are misunderstood. "If this was some sort of wonder treatment to lose weight, there would probably be line ups for them," he said.
He compared the practice to giving blood. "People see the value of giving blood," he said. "It causes some mild discomfort and you sacrifice your time, but you know that someone is being helped."
These rituals are performed privately and residents would not witness them. All religions are respected in the building, and residents are not required to participate in mass. In fact, if Opus Dei is using the residence as a means of recruitment, as suggested in some media reports, it isn't doing a very good job.
According to Kilbertus, only five former residents have become Opus Dei practitioners during their 13 years of operation.
Like Ernescliff, Kintore will be a multi-faith full-service residence offering meals and a cleaning service for students.
"The services will be a little more comprehensive than some dorms," said Nanouris. Construction on the site will begin in about a year's time and an estimated completion date has been set at 2010. Similar rules will apply at Kintore, but Nanouris said potential applicants will be made fully aware of those regulations before they are accepted into the residence.
"It's up to them to decide whether or not they want to live there," said Nanouris. "We want to live in a family atmosphere. They have to ask themselves, do you want to live in a residence like this, or do you prefer to do your own thing."�The development at 77 Charles St. W. was appealed at the Ontario Municipal Board by the Bloor-Yorkville BIA and purchasers of condos at a neighbouring development (1 St. Thomas St.) because they felt the building was too tall. The city supported the development, despite community opposition.
The OMB dismissed the appeal, stating that the building was in keeping with the neighbourhood and plans for intensification in accordance with the official plan. The report stated that a 56-metre building (at 77 Charles St. W) was an appropriate step down from a 106-metre building being developed at 1 St. Thomas St. Ward 27 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) councillor Kyle Rae said the community part of the community supported the development and that the majority of condo owners at one Thomas Street changed their opinion once the building was reduced in height by two stories and was set back from the main road.
"I had opposed it up until then," said Rae. "The residents, and the planning department, were prepared to live with the changes."
The development was "tricky" said Rae because it straddled the University of Toronto jurisdiction as well as the Bloor-Yorkville/North Midtown areas.
