beginnings

The Growth of the Mustard Seed

From our Spiritan Archives, the following report written in 1979 looks back over the growth of the TransCanada Spiritan Province:

The full account of the events leading to that fateful (!) day in October of 1954 when the group of 5 (not at all as artistic as Canada's Group of Seven!) landed at 904 Dundas St., Woodstock, is available in the 5 part "History of the Beginnings". Copies of this short history were sent to the houses. The original is still at the provincialate and can be used again if needed. Right now, I shall content myself with a quotation from the first TransCanada Journal:

"On Monday, October 18, 1954 at 11:35 am., the following Fathers arrived from Ireland: Frs. McCormack, Walsh, McGoldrick, Hudson and McCarthy. The Redemptorists gave us our first meal. at mid-day; Fr. Phelan (pastor of St. Mary's in Woodstock) gave us supper, and from then on we were on our own ... "

So, let us look at what we have been doing on our own (if we should use the phrase ! ) for the past 25 years.

1956-7: "During the summer our Superior General appointed Fr. Clerkin for the parish in Guelph." This sentence was written by Fr. Brolly (our first District Superior) to Bishop Ryan of Hamilton in October, 1956. This letter concluded a series of such epistles between Fr. Brolly and the diocese of Hamilton that began in late 1955, and which ultimately gave birth to Holy Rosary Parish, officially established November 1, 1956.

1957-8: In June of 1956, Fr. Brolly received a letter from the then pastor of St. John's Parish (Toronto), Monsignor O'Connor, in which he outlined the hopes, etc. of the parishes in the east end of the city to have a Catholic High School. (At the time of his writing there were only two Catholic High Schools for boys in Toronto - St. Michael's and de La Salle.) Suffice to say that the longings outlined in Monsignor's letter became a reality in September of 1958 when Neil McNeil opened its doors to four grade 9's and one grade 10. To avoid chronological monotony I thought I would include here an excerpt from a letter written by Monsignor Fulton (who was then Chancellor of Toronto Archdiocese). The letter was written on March 8, 1957.

"As far as other activities are concerned, you would enjoy the same privileges as other religious communities within the archdiocese. They are permitted to seek vocations freely, and to promote their missionary activities within reasonable limits. Naturally, it is expected that vocations to the diocesan priesthood would be encouraged as well, particularly through the high school ..."

We experienced a few years of relative inactivity while the new pitcher was warming up in the administrative bullpen!

1964: This year saw the District look towards western horizons. The original contact and request came from Archbishop Jordan, OMI, and as a result of further communications, Frs. Keena and McCarthy headed off to scout the promised land. The original request was for a Father to administer an as-yet-to-be-built high school. Pioneering this project were Frs. Troy and Corrigan who signed contracts with the Edmonton School Board, and began, in 1965, to teach in separate schools for one year. However, when McDonald High School was built in 1966, the school board's plans had changed. It was a Vice-principal who was needed; Fr. Troy accepted this. In 1967, Frs. Troy, Corrigan, Kennedy and Cassidy were on staff.

Negotiations had begun regarding the possibility of the Spiritans accepting a parish. In September, 1966, Fr. Cunningham was appointed pastor of Holy Spirit Church. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on March 17, l968. That was not simply a coincidence. Had it been postponed it might have clashed with the Grey Cup date ... and who knows where Fr. John would have been ...!!

The complete list of personnel in the diocese of Edmonton from '65 - '70 reads:

Parish: Frs. Cunningham, Jackson, O'Donoghue, McCabe, Smyth.

School: Frs. Troy, Corrigan, Kennedy, Cassidy, Nolan, Meagher (assigned but did not actually teach).

Almost from the time of our arrival in Woodstock in '54, requests for personnel found their way into the office (?) at G.H.Q. Because of the few confreres available most of these had to be refused. However, as the years passed and more people became available, the administration was able to reconsider those repeated requests that came from dioceses that did not easily take no for an answer. Calgary was among the most persistent. Bishop Klein was the first to appeal. His successor (and still Bishop), Bishop Paul O'Byrne, renewed the request and finally, in 1969, the District Council informed the bishop that Frs. O'Donoghue and O'Riordan (RIP.) would go to Calgary to examine the possibilities first hand. Resulting from this trip was the acceptance, in 1969, of the two parishes of Claresholm (Fr. O'Riordan) and Vulcan (Fr. O'Donoghue). Later, in the same year, Raymond (Fr. Cassidy), was added and, in 1970, Fr. Mick Clifford became pastor in Coaldale. (We should add here that it was in the spring of '72 that the Province entered seriously into the question of becoming part of the missionary endeavour of the Calgary diocese. The Malawi project resulted from this.)

1970: From the time we accepted our first apostolate (at Neil McNeil) in the archdiocese of Toronto, the District was anxious (for obvious reasons) to become a part of the parochial scene. For quite a few years prior to 1970 much had been said about the shortage of sacerdotal help for diocesan needs. This fact seemed, however, not too important when, on more than one occasion, we asked for a parish. (We had specifically asked for a location in a poorer part of the city.) Finally, however, in a letter written under the signature of Bishop Fulton, we were offered St. Joseph's, Highland Creek. This offer we accepted and in January of '71, Fr. Keena moved in as first pastor.

Hamilton Diocese seemed always to be 'in the market', as it were, for help and assistance in the educational and parochial fields. We won't be surprised then, to note a few additions. St. Joseph's Parish, Port Elgin, under the pastorship of Fr. Brennan, was accepted in 1970. Port Elgin included Southampton and Kincardine. This latter was restored to its original status as a parish in 1974 when Fr. Grogan became pastor. In the same year, Fr. Garvey became head of the Religion Department in Bishop Macdonell High School in Guelph.

A 'branch' of another kind was grafted onto, or grew from the parent trunk in 1970. Within the District, from time to time, mention had been made of a 'mission centre'. But it was only in 1970, under the directorship of Fr. McGoldrick, that it became a reality. At the beginning, there was some opposition from the diocese because the authorities feared it might interfere with existing diocesan missionary efforts. However, all this was ironed out and, by 1971, it was onwards and upwards for V.I.C.S.

Since we are into what we may call our specifically missionary endeavours, this might be the appropriate place to bring ourselves up to date on our further growth. It was in 1969 that the first confrere, Fr. Shea Meagher, went to Brazil. (Later, he joined that jurisdiction.) In 1973. as a joint venture with the diocese of Calgary, Frs. O'Donoghue and Cassidy set out for Malawi. In 1975, Fr. P. Boran felt the urge to return to Kenya, and he did return there as a member of our District. Finally, in 1977, Fr. McCarthy left for the diocese of Idah (Nigeria) to work with our French- Canadian confreres. And, since we began this section with V.I.C.S., it is only fitting that we should conclude it by saying that, at the moment of compiling this rather brief history, there are 40 V.I.C.S. volunteers working abroad.

I would like to complete here the parochial list. In 1973, Crows Nest Pass, in Calgary Diocese, was put into the hands of Fr. Connally; and rounding of f this diocese, in chronological order, are the following:
Holy Cross (Ft. Macleod) - Fr. Maguire, in 1977
St. Joseph (Vauxhall) - Fr. Garvey, in 1977
Sacred Heart (Strathmore) - Fr. Connally, in 1977
St. Mary (Beiseker) - Fr. O'Donoghue, in 1978

In the Hamilton diocese, Fr. Carragher undertook the guidance of St. Lawrence Parish in 1976. And in Edmonton, Fr. Cunningham was appointed parish priest of St. Peter's Parish (1973) while our most recent one there is St. Agnes, with Fr. Agnoli as pastor (in 1978). Our one venture into B.C. (though we had been asked more than once for help) took place in 1975 when Fr. McGoldrick became pastor of All Saints in Coquitlam.

CHAPLAINCIES: Over the years, requests came our way for chaplains. As far back as 1964, there was a petition from the Canadian army for at least one priest, but since our 'farm system' was quite depleted at the time, we had to decline. (We never did hear from the Forces again). However, the bishops persevered in their many requests and you would be right in guessing that Hamilton would be amongst them. Fr. J. Breen became our first hospital chaplain in 1969, at St. Joseph's in Hamilton. Unfortunately, he was unable, because of poor health, to complete the original two-year contract. He died within the first year. In 1970, Fr. E. Flood was appointed to St. Joseph's Villa (Dundas). This was a recently completed home for the elderly. In the west, Fr. Nolan was our first representative - also with the St. Joseph's Sisters, in 1970. Two more full-time chaplaincies were accepted - this time on the university level: Fr. Tannam, at York (1974) and Fr. Byron, at McMaster the following year.

In the same general area, I hope I will be allowed to include the following: Fr. Corrigan, in 1973, at Cardinal Newman High School, Fr. P. Smyth, at St. Mary's High School, Kitchener, in 1974.

EDUCATIONAL ADDITIONS: In 1974, Fr. Forde assumed a teaching role at St. Joseph's College School (for girls) in Toronto; Fr. Knox accepted the post of Religious Education Resource Teacher in 1976 and, in the same year, Fr. Geary, as Principal, opened the doors of the new Libermann High School in Agincourt.

Before leaving the world of education, we must make reference to another first - not so much in the calendar sense, but in nature and location. In the fall of 1968, Fr. Doyle assumed the role of Director of Student Affairs at Centennial College, Scarborough. This was, for us, a new field of activity though, at meetings, we had occasionally spoken about the usefulness of looking for teaching (or other) assignments in public schools.

Finally, to complete our educational works (though, in this instance I have not followed the chronological order .. but the order of a bad memory!) I should say that Fr. B. Kelly was part of the seminary staff at St. Augustine's, Scarborough during the years 1964 - 68. Our first two scholastics, John Kelly and Arthur Guimond, attended St Augustine's.

Two more buds appeared on our growing tree. In 1975, Fr. Paschal (from Trinidad) came to Toronto, and under the auspices of the District, undertook the shepherding of the Caribbean immigrants. (It is now known as Can-To.) And, in 1977, Fr. A. Pereira joined us from Portugal to undertake a similar apostolate with the Portuguese community in Toronto.

Another first was the establishment of Ashling House as an official 'associate house' of the Province in 1975. The origins of this new venture in our Spiritan history are already set out on page 6 of the Provincial' s Report.

CONCLUSION: Our special purpose in coming to Canada in 1954 was to pool our resources (of all types) towards the founding of a Province in English-speaking Canada. This was done in 1976, in February. At one time, we had hoped that we would be able to count among our number many Canadian young men. As we well know, this has not been the history of our growth. It is not for us to judge or even try to assess the reasons for this. Let us, instead, be joyful in the fact that with us at this Chapter are Brother George, Pat Callaghan and Steve Pitre. We hope and pray that the road they have begun to travel will be dotted by many more fellow Canadians.

August, 1979

G. McCarthy, C.S.Sp.