Holy Family Roman Catholic Church (Parkdale, Toronto)

Although a village since 1879 with two Anglican churches, the wealthy Toronto suburb of Parkdale had few Catholic residents until after amalgamation with Toronto. Later, Holy Family would serve the local Catholic institutions on Queen Street (now the Queensway) that had been created in St. Helen's Parish in the 1870s during Parkdale's first period of growth as an independent village; Sacred Heart Orphanage (now St. Joseph's Health Centre) and Our Lady of Mercy Palliative Care Centre originally run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, that first opened in Toronto Architect John Howard's 'Sunnyside' home, as well as Our Lady of Charity convent and school for wayward girls (now demolished) that was opened out of Parkdale founder Captain O'Hara's 'West Lodge' home by the Good Shepherd Sisters.[1]

From 1900, Holy Family existed as a mission church of St. Helen's, Brockton, with the pastor there, Fr. Walsh, travelling to Parkdale on Sundays to celebrate mass. Holy Family Roman Catholic Church was created out of St Helen's, Archbishop O'Connor laying the cornerstone for the new church on June 22, 1902;[2] school was constructed behind the church at the same time. When the church was built, plans were already underway for new parishes to be carved out of Holy Family; St. Leo's (Mimico) existed as a 'mission' church of Holy Family until separating in 1909 taking the independent village of Swansea. Shortly after, in 1914, St. Vincent de Paul parish was created to serve the growing Howard Park (Roncesvalles) neighbourhood to the north of Parkdale.

For many years the parish was led by Monsignor Coyle who oversaw the growth of the parish during a time when Parkdale was urbanising with a continuing influx of Catholic residents as the first high-density apartments were built. Also prominent in the parish was long time organist Evaleen O'Donoghue Ferguson, daughter of politician Daniel John O'Donoghue[3] as well as Parkdale MPP (1948–1951) Lloyd Fell (CCF). A history of the parish was written for its 50th anniversary, also an occasion when the parish celebrated the ordination of one of the many parishioners to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders.

After the death of Msgr. Coyle, Monsignor Brennan (Rector of St. Augustine's Seminary) was appointed pastor; he led the parish during a time of liturgical reforms in the Latin Rite. In the post war years Parkdale lost much of its affluence while it redeveloped as a high-density immigrant reception neighbourhood, leading to an exodus of many older residents and the closure of many Protestant churches because of declining membership. Holy Family weathered the changes which brought a great shift in the ethnic composition of the parish as older families moved out. Today the parish has a very large Filipino community.

Recent History

In 1979, the three priests of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Montreal, led by Fr. Jonathan Robinson, were invited by Toronto's Archbishop to move to Holy Family parish.[4] The fathers of the Oratory also opened a seminary, purchasing many homes along King St to create a complex of connected buildings; this seminary has provided a constant stream of new clergy for the parish. Holy Family parish also works with the needy in Parkdale, opening St. Philip's Centre in the 1980s.[5] In 1995 the Oratorians at Holy Family were given the additional care for the declining St Vincent de Paul parish to which some of them moved for a time. In 1997, a fire destroyed the original Holy Family church and in the following year's funds were raised to build a new church on the site[6] as the congregation worshipped at Holy Family School. The Oratorian priests of Holy Family, having maintained a tradition of the weekly celebration of the mass in Latin since their arrival,[7] in 2007 made the parish one of a small number of churches in the Archdiocese of Toronto to begin celebrating a daily Tridentine Mass.

• Fr. David Roche, C.O. (former Pastor)
• Fr. Martin Hilbert, C.O. (current Pastor)

Priests in the parish

• Fr. Jonathan Robinson, C.O. (Founder of Toronto Oratory)
• Fr. Daniel Utrecht, C.O. (also current Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul)
• Fr. Juvenal Merriell, C.O.
• Fr. Paul Pearson, C.O.
• Fr. Thomas Trottier, C.O.
• Fr. Marco Guillen, C.O.
• Fr. Derek Cross, C.O.
• Fr. Michael Eades, C.O.
• Fr. Philip Cleevely, C.O. (came from Birmingham, U.K. in 2011)

• St. Leo's
• St. Vincent de Paul

• Holy Family Elementary School and Community Centre Founded 1902

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Holy Family Church (Parkdale).

• Parkdale
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto