With the departure of the Paulist Fathers from our parish, we have had to make some changes to our web and email addresses. While the old “paulistfathers.ca” emails & links will continue to work for the next few months, please update your contacts and bookmarks sooner rather than later to avoid any future issues! Continue reading
Author Archives: stpeters
A Vision for Parish within the Archdiocese of Toronto
The human hand is an amazing thing. It is made up of 27 bones and can perform incredible tasks. It is a marvel that human engineering can barely imitate. The same can be said for the foot, a similarly complex organism. If we turn our attention to some of the more complex organs in the body, like the brain or the eye, their awesome capabilities become even more profound. And yet, as amazing as these parts are, there remains one fact that is indisputable— separated from the body they become useless and loose their ability to function. Even when attached to the body, if they do not work in harmony with it, they can actually become a liability to the well-being of the body. If a part of the body becomes infected or no longer works in harmony with the whole, it can weigh the body down or actually turn against the body. This is the reason that often the best way to deal with an infected or cancerous organ is to amputate or remove it before it does harm to the whole.
In his First letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes beautifully about this phenomenon of the different parts of the body and the importance of their functioning together in order for any of them to have value. He does so in order to speak of the Church and the importance of the different members of the Church working together to build up the one Body of Christ. In chapter 12, verse 12 to 27, Paul writes: Continue reading
St. Peter’s Parish and the Paulist Legacy
As I am sure many of you know better than I do, the Paulist Fathers ,who served this parish for more than one hundred years, were founded in 1858 by Father Isaac Hecker. Father Hecker was a convert to the Catholic Faith and was not baptized until he was 25 years old. He was first ordained a priest as a member of the Redemptorist Missionary Priests, but later founded the Paulist Fathers with the particular mission of bringing the Good News to those who had not yet heard it. Most of the priests who joined this new community were men who had converted from other Protestant denominations. The Paulist Fathers were the first religious order that was founded in the United States and one of their community’s main charisms was to attempt to bring the Catholic Faith to the mainly Protestant population of the United States of America in a way that was both exciting and new by using new methods of communication and focusing their preaching on the Bible. After the Second Vatican Council, which took place in the early 1960’s, the mission of the Paulist Fathers centred more specifically on evangelizing all people and using the modern methods of communication to do so. The Paulist Fathers came to Toronto in 1914 at the invitation of Archbishop Neil MacNeil and began their work here at St. Peter’s Parish and at the Paulist Centre. Other then their parish in Rome, this parish was their only house outside of the United States. Continue reading
Latest Bulletin
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Bulletin for week of July 5, 2015
Happy Canada Day!
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Canada Day Holiday Schedule
Mass will be celebrated in the Paulist Centre on Wednesday, July 1st at 10AM.
The Parish/Paulist Centre Office also will be closed on that day.
“Of Movies and Missionaries” – Fr. Tom Gibbons, CSP
During the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the outdoor movies we were able to show last summer: Mary Poppins.
Not that I was ever expecting a Disney musical about a British nanny to have spiritual implications for my life, but when I was watching the end of the movie last year it struck me that in many ways the life of Mary Poppins has a lot in common with the life of a missionary. In the film, Mary Poppins comes from a faraway place in order to help two children connect with their father and to help their father connect with them. Missionaries do the same thing… except instead helping people connect with their individual fathers we strive to help people connect with Our Father.
For the past 102 years in Canada, the Paulists have sought to help the people we have come across do just that. In Montreal, in Vancouver, in countless missions across the continent, and of course in Toronto. With the establishment of the University of Toronto Newman Centre, through Fr. Frank Stone’s brainchild the Paulist Information Centre, and through and with the people of Saint Peters, we have sought to give the people of Canada an experience of God through our ministry. In the process, the people of Canada have also provided us with a constantly unfolding experience of Emmanuel, of “God with us,” through your hospitality, kindness, faithfulness, and love.
St. Michael’s Cathedral Temporary Closure
St. Michael’s Cathedral, mother church of the Archdiocese of Toronto, is temporarily closing its doors as part of its extensive restoration efforts that have been ongoing for the past three years. The next phase of restoration will require its closure full-time to allow for work that will preserve the cathedral for years to come. Daily Mass will continue to be celebrated in St. John’s Chapel, a small worship space accessible from 200 Church Street. Nearby, St. Paul’s Basilica will provide additional weekend Masses beginning in July, featuring music from St. Michael’s Choir School to accommodate the cathedral closure. Please visit www.stmichaelscathedral.com for additional resources.
A timeline has been forecast as follows:
• June 17, 2015 – mid-December 2015 – full closure of St. Michael’s Cathedral.
• Mid-December 2015 – January 2016 – cathedral will open briefly pre/post-Christmas.
• January 2016 – March 2016 – full closure of St. Michael’s Cathedral.
• March 2016 – September 2016 – cathedral will open prior to Holy Week and Easter, remaining open while work continues through September 2016.
• September 29, 2016 – goal to complete this phase of restoration. This date is also the Feast of St. Michael, patron saint of the Archdiocese of Toronto
Congratulations John Bertolo!!!
Long time parishioner John Bertolo has just been accepted into the Archdiocesan diocante program this past month! John will begin his aspirant year—otherwise known as a “ perpadeutic” year—within the next few months as the beginning of his journey towards becoming a deacon. Let us all congratulate him and offer him our prayers as he begins to serve the church in a new way.
Summer Camps – St. Vincent de Paul Society
Marygrove: Girls 5-13 yrs.
Ozanam: Boys 6-13 yrs.
Our parish – St. Vincent De Paul Society conference is taking requests for the registration of children who would like to attend summer camp. This is a one-week excursion – free of charge – for those children who would not otherwise be able to afford a summer camp experience. For registration and further information, please call (416) 534-4219, ext.229 (SVDP), and leave the appropriate information (including a phone #); then a member of St. Vincent De Paul will contact you.