If the provincial and city heritage designations placed on St. Brigid's Church in Lowertown prevent the Archdiocese of Ottawa from being able to sell the building, the archdiocese may move to remove them, Archbishop Marcel Gervais said yesterday.

In addition, Roman Catholic leaders will not be swayed by demonstrations, vigils or legal actions taken by parishioners to save the church, the archbishop said. "If they want to cause a ruckus, they can," Archbishop Gervais said.

"We don't need that church. Even if someone offered $6 million to fix it, I would refuse."

Two weeks ago, Archbishop Gervais announced he was closing the church -- which is recognized and protected inside and out as a heritage site by both the province and city -- over the next year, and would sell it because he could not approve spending on a crumbling building with a bad roof.

But city and provincial officials have said converting St. Brigid's for use into anything other than a church would be almost impossible because of the designations, and it's unclear whether any other denominations would be interested.

Archbishop Gervais said the archdiocese hasn't consulted with lawyers to determine what restrictions the designations place upon the building; that will be left to those who want to buy it. And if the archdiocese can't sell the church?

"We'll have to face that problem when we face it," the archbishop said. "That heritage designation might have to be contested."

The Ontario Heritage Act does allow for heritage designations placed upon a building to be repealed in "rare" circumstances, city heritage planner Sally Coutts said. But over the past 15 years, she can't recall any building that has had a designation repealed except because of fire.

"I have had requests, but we've always managed to convince people that having a heritage building isn't a scary thing," Ms. Coutts said. "Staff would recommend it not be repealed."

Any repeal application would go before the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee, the planning committee and city council. If council denies the repeal, the archdiocese could appeal to the Conservation Review Board.

An official at the Ontario Heritage Trust, the provincial agency that has a contractual agreement with the archdiocese to protect the building, could not be reached for comment.

The archdiocese does not have any interested buyers yet, but Archbishop Gervais said it has options, including potentially selling the church to an Orthodox Catholic community or evangelical group.

While he lauded the hard work St. Brigid's parishioners have put into saving the church, the archbishop said the archdiocese cannot raise millions for a project like the millions collected to restore Notre-Dame Cathedral.

"There is no community supporting St. Brigid's," Archbishop Gervais said. "There are individuals. What is there to do? There is really nothing to do."

Rev. Pedro Arana, who has presided over St. Brigid's since 1994, disagreed.

"We have more of a community here than at the cathedral," he said. "(St. Brigid's) is a close-knit community."

About $140,000 is needed to repair the church's roof, which needs to be done before winter. Parishioners say renovations to the rest of the church, which are estimated to cost between $1.8 million and $2.4 million, can be spread out over the long term.