St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church (Toronto)

St. Vincent de Paul is a Roman Catholic church in Toronto, Canada, part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. It has been served since 1995 by clergy of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri and St. Philip's Seminary who reside at the mother parish of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Parkdale. It is located on Roncesvalles Avenue west of downtown Toronto.

History

Interior

In 1900, Holy Family Church was created in the Parkdale neighbourhood, out of Toronto's original west end parish of St. Helen's, Brockton at a time when development was already spreading north from Parkdale to the new 'Howard Park' residential district. By 1914, at the end of the first large wave of non British immigration to Toronto, many Catholics had arrived in the city and the population was considered sufficient for a second parish near Parkdale on Roncesvalles Ave^[1] which was developing as a commercial heart of the Howard Park neighbourhood. St. Vincent de Paul Church and School opened in the centre of the Howard Park neighbourhood as the First World War began and immigration to the area came to a halt. After the world wars, many Catholic Polish families arrived in the area and a decision was taken to create a separate Polish Church (St. Casimir's) for them on Roncesvalles Ave. out of St. Vincent de Paul Parish. As the area to the north continued to urbanise, especially after the construction of a subway along Bloor Street in the 1960s, a second parish was created out of St. Vincent de Paul's on that street: St. Joan of Arc. Meanwhile, many older families had left the area and St. Vincent de Paul church began to fall into serious decline as the congregation dwindled.

By the 1990s, the parish had become a centre for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate's work with Toronto's native Canadian community. The site was poorly chosen for this as few native Canadians lived in the area and this work is now carried out at St. Anne's Parish in Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood. In 1995, responsibility for the declining parish was given to the fathers of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in addition to their running Holy Family, a parish they had been given charge of a number of years earlier.^[2] For a time the community considered splitting between the two parishes but this was later rejected and the clergy who serve St. Vincent's today reside at the oratory in Holy Family Parish. With the extension of a general permission to celebrate the traditional 'Tridentine' Mass, weekly celebration of the Mass using the old rite began at St. Vincent's in addition to the new usage. Recently, the Oratorians have begun offering a Solemn High Mass in the more ancient usage.

Pastors

• Rev. Mineham
• Rev. Bennett
• Rev. Driscoll
• Rev. William Burns
• Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
• Rev. Daniel Utrecht, C.O.
• Rev. Martin Hilbert, C.O.
• Rev. Thomas Trottier, C.O.

'Children' Parishes

• St. Casimir's Polish Roman Catholic Church
• St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church

School

• St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School^[3]

Notes

See also

• Roncesvalles, Toronto
• Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Parkdale
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto