For every word written in the annals of a parish’s history, someone had to do the writing, whether it’s a pastor, parish secretary, or parishioner. At St. Mary’s in Vancouver, the chronicler of the parish’s 100-year history is its librarian, Bill Murphy, who worked with volunteers to create a commemorative book for the centenary being celebrated this year.
Murphy wasn’t quite there at the parish’s beginnings in October 1923, but he was pretty close. And even though he’s been a parishioner since construction on St. Mary’s first church building finished in 1949, he says his research taught him much about his parish.
“The parish has changed over the years, very definitely since I was a kid,” he told The B.C. Catholic.
The St. Mary’s community has come a long way since its humble beginnings, gathering in Scott’s Butcher Shop at 5437 Joyce St. (then Joyce Road). Over the years the predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon people who that Murphy says built the parish have been joined by people from more than 80 nationalities, creating a vibrant and diverse parish community.
The need for a parish in Vancouver’s Collingwood neighbourhood was identified early in the 20th century.
Families would walk or take horse-drawn carriages to Sunday Mass at St. Joseph’s in Vancouver, but the trip was lengthy. The parish history book notes Father Malcolm William MacKinnon telling his parishioners at St. Joseph’s in Vancouver that Mass will only commence “when the Collingwood people arrive.”
After being petitioned by locals for a new parish, Archbishop Timothy Casey agreed. St. Mary’s was officially dedicated on Oct. 12, 1923. The first official location for the parish was Scott’s Butcher Shop.
Father Adrian Beausoleil, the parish’s first pastor, purchased three acres of land. After a fundraising spree in the late 1920s, a four-room school was built and opened in 1931; classes at St. Mary’s Elementary were taught by the Sisters of the Child Jesus.
The 1930s and ’40s were spent fundraising for a new church building. Archbishop William Mark Duke granted permission to build in 1936. However, hard financial times and the Second World War made building difficult.
Before Christmas Mass in 1949, St. Mary’s parishioners finally processed down the street from the butcher shop to their newly constructed church building.
Murphy highlighted some of the difficulties of keeping accurate records. “Don’t believe 1948 if you read it! Somewhere along the line, someone said ’48, and it went into publications,” he said.
“I was there! I was a little six-year-old kid at midnight Mass when we processed down to the new church. [The building] wasn’t finished, there was no heat – it was cold,” he said with a laugh.
Since completing construction of that first church, the St. Mary’s community has had many accomplishments through “a history of construction and building,” said Murphy.
The parish donated land to Columbus Homes in the 1960s for construction of Columbus Tower seniors’ residence. A new two-story school was built, and in 1988 Archbishop Carney dedicated an official shrine at St. Mary’s in honour of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
The current church building was dedicated in 1995 by the recently deceased Archbishop Adam Exner and since 1996 has been in the pastoral care of the Dominicans, who Murphy says have been a boon to the parish and its community.
“It was a good parish, but they have made it better!”
Archbishop Miller brought congratulations to St. Mary’s at a Sept 22 Mass celebrating the centenary.
“The Lord has been present in the sacraments … that have been celebrated here without interruption for a hundred years,” said the archbishop in his homily.
“Building on the zeal and commitment of the founders of your community,” he said, “I urge you to let the Lord guide your exciting plans for the future of the parish along the path where he wishes to lead you.”
Above all, he told the parish, “read the signs of the times, adapting to them in light of the Gospel and remember that your renewed vitality depends on the rediscovery of the vocation of the baptized as disciples of Jesus Christ and as missionaries of the Gospel.”
The Mass began with St. Mary’s annual celebration of cultural diversity, with more than 80 flags representing the nationalities of the parish placed before the altar.
Concelebrating with more than 10 priests from the Archdiocese of Vancouver was Bishop Gary Franken, who grew up in St. Mary’s and is now Bishop of St. Paul’s, Alta, and Fr. Yves Beriault OP, the Provincial of the Dominicans in Canada.
Several political figures brought congratulations and spoke about St. Mary’s contributions to the community, including B.C. Premier David Eby Health Minister Adrian Dix, whose Vancouver-Kingsway MLA office is just down the street from the church.
(An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the priest in the main photo.)
