St. Peter's Church, Toronto

St. Peter's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated close to Bathurst Street in the Mirvish Village area in Downtown Toronto. Until June 2015, it was administered by the Paulist Fathers and was their only presence in Canada. Since then, it has been administered by the Archdiocese of Toronto.

St Peter's Church, Toronto
43.666065°N 79.411919°W / 43.666065; -79.411919
Location830 Bathurst Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 3G1
DenominationRoman Catholic
WebsiteSt. Peter's Church website
History
StatusActive
Founded1906 (1906)
DedicationSaint Peter
EventsRebuilt 1925, lift installation 2015
Architecture
Functional statusParish church
Architect(s)Arthur W. Holmes
Administration
DeaneryDowntown
ArchdioceseToronto

History

The church 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.[1]

In 1914, the Archbishop of Toronto, Neil McNeil invited the Paulist Fathers to the city to serve the Newman Centre in the University of Toronto (which they did until 1936) and the parish of St Peter's.[2]

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.[3]

In December, 2015, St. Peter's Church installed a lift system at its front entrance. This Garavanta Lift[4] helped to make the church compliant with the Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

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.[5] The current pastor is Father Michael McGourty.[6]

The archdiocese owns St. Peter's Parish Centre, at 840 Bathurst Street, which hosts various functions related to the parish and the Archdiocese.

References
  1. Holmes, Arthur William in Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950 retrieved 4 February 2014
  2. Paulist Fathers in Canada Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 5 February 2014
  3. St. Peter’s turns to community to raise $400,000 to fix bell tower from The Catholic Register retrieved 5 February 2014
  4. http://www.garaventalift.com/en/which-product-should-i-choose/access-my-church.html
  5. Parishes from Archdiocese of Toronto retrieved 5 February 2014
  6. http://stpeterstoronto.ca/main/index.php/2015/06/27/new-pastor-father-mike-mcgourty-is-arriving-june-29/
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