Rosemere Memorial United Church
Rosemère QC

Protestants living in Rosemere used to travel to Ste. Thérèse United Church for worship, but after World War II, the community began to expand. In 1946 the Official board of that church decided to hold alternate services at Ste. Thérèse and the Protestant School’s assembly hall in Rosemere. When school expansion ended this arrangement, the Rosemere Citizens’ Association offered space in the Rosemere Community Hall and in this new location the Rosemere service became a weekly occurrence.

The Montreal Presbytery of the United Church of Canada voted in 1948, to recognize Rosemere Memorial Church and on December 12th the Rev. R. DeWitt Scott, Secretary of Presbytery, formally brought the church into being. The Rev. George A. Norman was the first pastor, with W.B. Pat Earl and Stewart Haward serving as the first Elders.

The need for a building that would contain not only the place of worship but space for related activities resulted in a fund drive in 1949. The original projected cost was $45,000, of which $15,000 was raised locally, with the balance coming from Montreal Presbytery’s Finance and Extension Board and a mortgage with McGill University. A Sunday School registration of 65 children in 1948 was a major motivating factor. The site was chosen as a result of land donations by Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Mason and the Tylee family. The original building was formally opened on June 19, 1952. The church’s name, Rosemere Memorial, was chosen not only to acknowledge the many memorial gifts of furnishings and equipment which graced the new sanctuary, but also to acknowledge that this was originally a community church that had formal links with the United Church of Canada but which numbered among its worshippers Anglicans and people from several Protestants denominations.

The new suburban church thrived, its Sunday School reaching an enrolment of 170 children and 22 teachers by 1955. There has been an active Women’s Association, now known as the United Church Women, from the beginning. The church has always been community minded, both in the offering of space for community activities and needs, but also in mission outreach. The church has a proud history of lay involvement in the work of the wider church as well, and has provided a training base for a number of theological students and interns, as well as being the home church of several candidates. The church has been blessed in its active and dedicated pastors: Mr. Norman, Jack Cooper, Lawrence Pushee, Neil Wallace and George MacDonald, each bringing special gifts which have enriched the life of our pastoral charge. The initiatives of the present pastor, the Rev. Tom Kurdyla, in motivating various small group fellowship initiatives and in his encouragement of the participation of younger families in the life of the church is much appreciated.