St. Peter's Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It is situated close to Bathurst Street in the Mirvish Village area in

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...

. Until June 2015, it was administered by the

Paulist Fathers The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (), abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded in New York City in 1858 by Isaac Hecker in collaboration w ...

and was their only presence in Canada. Since then, it has been administered by the

Archdiocese of Toronto The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toronto () is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the province of Ontario. Its archbishop is also the ecclesiastical provincial for the dioceses of Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines, and Thunder Bay ...

History

The

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

was originally built in 1906-1907 and was designed by the architect Arthur W. Holmes. He worked on many of the churches in Toronto built around that time, such as the Church of the Holy Name, St. Francis of Assisi and

St. Patrick's Church St. Patrick's Church, Saint Patrick's Church, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church or Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, and similar, may refer to: Australia * St Patrick's Church, Adelaide, a heritage-listed church in Adelaide, South Australia ...

.''Holmes, Arthur William'' i
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950
retrieved 4 February 2014 A Casavant Brothers' organ was installed in 1911; the opening concert was given Jan 12th, the organ played by F. A. Moure and the choir directed by A. Leitheuser. In 1914, the

Archbishop of Toronto The archbishop of Toronto is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province that encompasse ...

Neil McNeil Neil McNeil (November 23, 1851 – May 25, 1934) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver from 1910 to 1912 and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto from 1912 to 1934. Early life McNeil was born in Hillsborough, Inverness County, No ...

invited the Paulist Fathers to the city to serve the

Newman Centre Newman Centers, Newman Houses, Newman Clubs, or Newman Communities are Catholic campus ministry centers at secular universities. The movement was inspired by the writings of Cardinal John Henry Newman encouraging societies for Catholic studen ...

in the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

(which they did until 1936) and the parish of St Peter's. By 1925, the present church was completed to accommodate the growing number of Catholics in the area. In 2011, the bell tower of the church needed renovation because it had become structurally unsafe. The parish raised $400,000 to restore it. In December, 2015, St. Peter's Church installed a lift system at its front entrance. This Garavanta Lift helped to make the church compliant with the

Ontarians with Disabilities Act The ''Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005'' (, AODA) is a statute enacted in 2005 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Canada. Its purpose is to improve accessibility standards for Ontarians with physical and mental ...

Parish

The parish has four Sunday Masses every week, one at 5:00pm on Saturday evening, 9:00am, 11:15am on Sunday morning and 6:00 pm on Sunday evening. The current pastor is Father Michael McGourty. The archdiocese owns St. Peter's Parish Centre, at 840 Bathurst Street, which hosts various functions related to the parish and the Archdiocese.

References

External links

St. Peter's Church websitePaulist Fathers site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter's Church, Toronto Roman Catholic churches in Toronto 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto Paulist Order Roman Catholic churches completed in 1925 1906 establishments in Ontario Christian organizations established in 1906