The History of Our Church

The Polish Catholics living in St. Catharines begin worshiping in the first years of the last century.  Polish priests sporadically celebrate Masses and Devotions.  They use the Irish Church of St. Catherine in downtown.  The priests’ names and the timing of their visits are not recorded.   In 1914 Fr. Boleslaw Sperski initiates a continuous Polish ministry at St. Mary’s Church located at the crossroads of Niagara, Garnet and Currie streets.   St. Mary’s Church also serves the Italian Community. The year 1914 is recorded as the beginning of Polish pastorship in St. Catharines.  Fr. B. Sperski is followed by nine diocesan priests up to the year of 1949.    In 1937 St. Mary’s Church passes officially under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.   In 1946 the first wave of Polish demobilized soldiers arrives in St. Catharines.  In 1949 Archbishop James McGuigan of Toronto Archdiocese charges the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate to undertake the Pastoral ministry of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.  In 1950 the core Polish membership reaches 70 families.    On January 17, 1951 by decree of His Eminence Cardinal McGuigan, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Community becomes a new independent ethnic Parish.  The same year a sod breaking ceremony blesses the ground for the parish church to be build.   Two priests are involved in building it: Fr.  Władysław Golecki, omi and Fr. Wojciech Golus, omi.   In 1953 the membership of the Parish totals 150 families and is growing dramatically.  In 1954 a beautiful grotto is built.   From 1968 to 1979 the parish reaches 1250 families.  At present time approximately 1000 families  are registered. In the 1980s and 1990s, the labour market changed in St. Catharines, with the closure of GM and other related companies, resulting in the shrinking of the parish.  Relentless lack of jobs in St. Catharines and the surrounding vicinity motivated young Poles (our children and grandchildren) to seek employment in remote cities – Toronto, Woodstock, Cambridge, where the labour market developed.  The city of St. Catharines became city of retirees.  Our parish is mostly supported by retirees, families who came to Canada from in 1950s  and families, who came to Canada from Poland in 1980s.  Young Polish and mixed families prefer to belong to a territorial church, where they live, where their children attend school.  They visit the PolishChurch at Christmas and Easter, to participate in traditional ceremonies.  At the present time approximately 1,000 families are registered, of those approximately 500 families attend weekly Sunday services and financially support the Church.  Despite the decrease in the number of parishioners, their religious way of life and Polish awareness are very much alive.

  Priests serving at St. Mary’s Church (since 1937)

Present Time: 

Ojciec Sławek urodził się dnia 13 listopada 1963 roku w Skarżysku-Kamiennej (woj. świętokrzyskie). Ze świadectwem ukończenia szkoły średniej w zanadrzu rozpoczął wędrówkę po świecie szukając swego miejsca i powołania życiowego.

Pierwsza obediencja – jeszcze przed otrzymanym sakramentem kapłaństwa – oddelegowała go do prafii św. Stanisława Kostki w Toronto, do pomocy duszpasterskiej. Głównym zadaniem, które postawiono wówczas przed Sławomirem, były studia w Regis College Uniwersytetu Torontońskiego, na wydziale teologii pastoralnej i teologii duchowości. Święceń kapłańskich udzielił mu biskup Terrence Prendergast w dniu 12 czerwca 1998 roku.

Posługiwał jako wikariusz w parafii św. Maksymiliana Kolbego i kontynuował naukę na Uniwersytecie Torontońskim w zakresie teologii systematycznej. W roku 2001 został mianowany asystentem dyrektora Domu Rekolekcyjnego Królowej Apostołów w Mississaudze. Po sześciu latach został mianowany proboszczem parafii św. Henryka w Melville, Saskatchewan, gdzie posługiwał przez okres dwóch lat. Od 2008 roku do sierpnia 2011 roku sprawował posługę proboszcza w parafii Matki Bożej Królowej Polski w Edmonton, Alberta. Od wrzesnia 2011 roku jest proboszczem parafii św. Kazimierza w Vancouver, British Columbia do 31 sierpnia 2020.  Od  1-go września  został mianowany proboszczem w Parafii Matki Boskiej Nieustającej Pomocy w St. Catharines, Ontario.

Fr. Slawomir Obłąk

Father Slawek was born on November 13, 1963 in Skarżysko-Kamienna in Świętokrzyskie province. With his secondary graduation certificate, he began his journey around the world looking for his place and life’s vocation.

He spent four years in Greece. He arrived in Canada in 1992. Having made contact with the Congregation of Missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, he decided to join the prenovitiate at St. Albert (Alberta). In 1993, he was sent to novitiate at Godfrey, USA, where he made his first religious vows. He graduated from Newman Theological College in Edmonton in 1997 earning two degrees (B.Th/M.Div.). This was the next step in his path to priestly ordination. He had previously completed his  pastoral year in the parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Mississauga, where he also took perpetual vows on May 21, 1997.

The first obedience, before his ordination , was to St. Stanislaus Kostka in Toronto for pastoral assistance. The main task that was then placed before Slawomir was to study at Regis College of the University of Toronto, the faculty of pastoral theology and theology of spirituality. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Terrence Prendergast on June 12, 1998.

What we believe:

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