Though the faces have changed over 100 years, St. Ann’s continues to be a home for those people away from home.
Fr. Wilson Andrade is the new pastor at St. Ann’s, installed by Cardinal Thomas Collins at the parish’s 100-year anniversary Mass July 27. He takes over a parish that has changed constantly over the past century.
The parish opened on Sunday, July 26, 1914, six years after a fire destroyed nearby St. Joseph’s parish. Archbishop Neil McNeil celebrated the first Mass.
Irish immigrants built the church, said Andrade — today, a stained glass window of St. Patrick recalls the parish’s Irish roots — but the parish on Gerrard Street just east of the Don Valley has seen many changes over the years, accommodating the many Catholics who settled in the city. St. Ann’s has served the waves of Spanish, Filipino and other Asian immigration. The parish’s theme: unity in diversity.
In addition to immigrants, the parish also serves Canada’s first peoples. In the 1980s, in response to the influx of First Nations people moving from reserves to the city, St. Ann’s housed the Native People’s parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto. The Native People’s parish was run by the Jesuits and Oblates until the Congregation of Holy Cross — the order that has been running the parish since 1979 — took over care of the Native People’s parish in 2007.
“The Native People’s parish, St. Ann’s, is the only place (in the archdiocese) native people come and celebrate the Catholic liturgy with native symbols,” said Andrade.
The Native People’s Mass is held every Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and always begins with a purification ceremony, which the parishioners also performed for the anniversary Mass. The weekly Mass incorporates native culture into the liturgy, with most of the prayers being said in the Ojibway language.
Today, the church has two side altars for Canadian saints: Br. André canonized in 2010 and Kateri Tekakwitha, the country’s first aboriginal saint, canonized in 2012.
St. Ann’s is celebrating it’s centennial with the theme “journey forward in God’s household.”
“In the 100-year history, a lot of things have taken place at St. Ann’s, but faith remains the same and faith in fact helps through these changes that come, even within the Church and within the world, from Irish immigrants to now, (the) latest from China, the faith is always centre, which helps during these immigrant changes,” said Andrade, who has worked at the parish since he was a seminarian in 2007.
“The Church is home for all these people.”