St. Peter's Parish

The long-term goal of St. Peter's Parish had been the building a the new parish church. A Building Fund was established very soon after the parish was established and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation purchased a block of land, for the construction of a church, a high school and a primary school. Ed. Meaney, Chair of the Building and Planning Committee for the parish said, 'When O'Donel High School was constructed in 1985 the parish built a chapel, attached by a movable wall, on the gymnasium of the school. This gave the parish a more permanent home, accommodated our growing parish and allowed for the celebration of weekday mass. Shortly after. parishioners constructed a new parish residence.

In September 1991, the parish had paid off the mortgages on both the chapel an the parish residence. The Parish Council decided to focus on the building of the parish church. The Building Fund Committee was tasked with the responsibility of raising the necessary fund for the project. The Parish Council also established a Feasibility Committee to investigate all aspects of building the proposed church. Consultation and communications have been key to the work leading up to the building of our new church. Early in the process the Feasibility Committee consulted with the parishioners through meetings and questionnaires on items such as 'Do you want a Parish Church?' and 'Would you contribute to the construction of a new church?' It consulted with the Parish Council, the Finance Committee and the Building Fund Committee. After analyzing the work that had to be done the Feasibility Committee determined that the parish did indeed want a parish church and that they had the financial support to build and operate a church building.

Following consultations it was decided that on a building that would accommodate approximately 700 parishioners, house the parish offices, classrooms for the religious and sacramental preparation programs, the St. Vincent de Paul Society's programs and a parish gathering center (parish hall). The cost of the project was estimated at approximately $1, 500, 000.00; In consolation with the other major parish committees it was decided that the mortgage should not exceed $300,000.00. Through a referendum the parishioners reaffirmed their commitment to the project and chose the original site at 110 Ashford Drive as the location of the church.

In the fall of 2000, Mr. Eric Jerrett and his team at ISR Architecture Ltd were chosen as the consultants for the design and project management of the new church. On March 6th, 2001, representatives of the parish met with Archbishop O'Brien, his College of Consulters and the Archdiocesan Board of Administration to discuss the future of St. Peter's Parish and to make our request for formal approval to begin the construction of our new parish church.

Ed Meaney, Chair of the Building and Planning Committee said 'We presented our case, detailing the work we had done in preparing for our new church. We told those present that we saw ourselves as a vibrant, viable parish able to carry a reasonable mortgage and to support a new parish church. We discussed the size and projected cost of our church and the fact that we had $1,000,000.00 on hand and that we saw ourselves raising an additional $200,000.00 before construction was completed. We also discussed the future growth of the parish. We were advised, at that time, that we would receive the answer to our request within two weeks.

One week later he said, 'We received the reply in his letter, His Grace stated: 'I am happy to inform you that permission is hereby granted to proceed with the construction of our new St. Peter's Church at the Ashford Drive site.'

The tender for construction was awarded and work began in the spring of 2002 with the official opening held on Dec 1, 2002. In the fall of 2003 we opened the lower level of our building which houses a large Community Centre, 5 meeting rooms, a kitchen suitable for catering and our St. Vincent de Paul food bank.