Brief History of The Chinese Martyrs Catholic Church
我們聖堂中安放了二十位中華殉道聖人的聖觸:聖徐德新主教 (Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, MEP) 的聖觸安放在祭臺下;聖堂座位後面的聖觸座内放有十九位中華殉道聖人的聖觸。
There are 20 Chinese Martyrs Saints relics placed in our church: the relic of Bishop Gabriel Taurin Dufresse MEP is placed beneath the altar; a reliquary behind the pews in the church contains 19 Chinese Martyr Saints relics.
In July 1987, the Archbishop of Toronto approved the plan for a new parish to be built in the north-east of the Greater Toronto Area. On October 4th, 1987, the first Mass was held at the hall of the Divine Infant Catholic School in Scarborough, celebrated by Fr. Paul Tang, who was the Pastor at that time; the acting parish council chairman was Mr. Stephen Wang and Ms. Theresa Chiu. The first official parish council was not formed until April 1988 when Ms. Theresa Chiu was the chair, Mr. Raphael Wu was the vice-chair and Ms. Theresa Wang was the secretary. There were only about 200 parishioners at that time. Not long after that, the Faith Development Ministries (including RCIA/C, Sunday School, and Children Liturgy of the Word), and the Liturgical Ministries (including Altar Boy Society, Choirs, Ministry of Word, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion), and the Parish Support Groups (including Library, Information Team, and Recreation Team) were formed. Later on, different parish groups including the Mandarin Group, Women's League, and Youth Group were formed as well. The Sunday Café was also in service by the courtesy of the Women's League, providing parishioners with breakfast after each Mass .
As the number of parishioners increased, space was running out at the school hosting the Sunday Mass. In August 1989, a Parish Building Committee was formed. Between October 1989 and 1992, the parish also borrowed Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School as an alternate venue to celebrate Masses. In February 1992, Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School was used to replace Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School to celebrate Sunday Masses.
In 1990, representatives from the parish met with the Archbishop to request for a piece of land to build a new church, and it was finally approved in July 1991. Thanks to the work of Mr. Tony Ma, chair of the Church Building Committee, all the committee members and secretary, the four consultants from the parish, and the parish council chair, the ground-breaking ceremony was held on November 10th, 1992, and the actual project began in January of the following year.
During all these years, various fund-raising events such as 'Singathon', Bazaar, and Chinese Opera shows were held. Thanks to the support of all the parishioners, the new church with a capacity of 900 was completed. The first Mass was celebrated on January 9th, 1994 in the newly built church. The shuttle bus also came into service to transport parishioners to the church.
The official church blessing ceremony hosted by the Most Reverend Bishop Mikloshazy was held on October 15, 1994, and the 10th anniversary was celebrated on October 3, 1997. The first decade album (1987 – 1997) was published in April, 1998. The 20th anniversary album (1987 – 2007) was published in 2007. During the last two decades, the number of parishioners kept on increasing, and a very energetic parish was formed.
The founding and the stabilizing of this parish must be attributed to Fr. Tang. He led the parish with an optimistic and hard-working attitude. On August 2002, Fr. Peter Leung became the replacement Pastor for the parish, blessed by then-bishop, Most Rev. Nicola De Angelis.
During Fr. Leung's five years term, all parish activities were in order, and the spiritual activities have strengthened the faith of all the parishioners. He paid special attention and emphasis on children and youth, highlighted by the foundation of the Children Formation Group. The Social Justice Group as well as the Pro-Life Committee was formed to take care about our neighbors and the community.
In 2007, the Archdiocese of Toronto officially entrusted the pastoral work of the Chinese Martyrs Catholic Church to the priests of the The Congregation of St. John the Baptist. From 2007 to the present, led by our current Pastor Rev. Andrew Jianwei Deng, the parish continues to grow and expand, with faithful from mainland China continues to increase. Our parish slogan is "Be you, Be me, Be part of it; Unity in CMCC".
Let us give our heart-felt thanks to our Lord. Without His blessing, there is nothing we can do. As we enter the 3rd decade, let us put everything in the hands of God.
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國粵語講述【20位中華殉道聖人記載事蹟 】- 視頻
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