St. John Chrysostom Parish
Newmarket ON

St. John Chrysostom Parish is a large and vibrant parish located in Newmarket, Ontario north of Toronto. We have about 4000 registered families and serves five elementary schools and one high school. Established in 1841, it is one of the oldest parishes in the region, predating the existence of the Archdiocese itself by one year. by visiting the pages on the menu, you can learn about us including our parish patron, our crest, and our history.

 

https://stjohnchrysostomne.archtoronto.org/  

 

St. John's Parish was established in 1841. It is older than the Archdiocese itself.

The Beginnings of the Town of Newmarket

In June 1800, Timothy Rogers, a Quaker from Vermont, came north to explore the area around the Holland River and up to Lake Simcoe. He sought to create a new home for the Quakers fleeing persecution after refusing to participate in the violence that accompa-nied the American Revolutionary War. The fol-lowing year, "in the dead of winter," Rogers moved his and several other Quaker families by sleigh from Vermont to settle in the 8,000 acres of land which had been granted to him around Yonge Street. The Yonge Street settlement eventually grew to become the town of Newmarket. The original Quaker Meeting House still stands on Yonge Street just south of Eagle Street to this day and is home to a practicing community of Quakers (Religious Society of Friends).

By Christmas of 1801, Joseph Hill had constructed a mill on the Holland River, at what is now known as Fairy Lake. Soon shops started to spring up just north of this mill, as it was a natural location for trade and commerce to take place. This became Newmarket’s Main Street. By 1820, Main Street had fourteen buildings: three stores, an inn, a doctor's office, a blacksmith’s forge, a shoemaker, a hatter, a number of mil-lers and a meeting house.

The town continued to grow, and in the 1830s it became a hotbed of political dissent. William Lyon Mackenzie, who had been elected as the first mayor of Toronto in 1834, organized a number of reform-movement meetings in an attempt to both overthrow the old order of the Tory establish-ment and reject the Family Compact, the name given to a small group of men who exer-cised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada. One of the first of these meetings was held on Main Street in Newmarket. York County was to be-come renowned as the birth-place of responsible government. The outcome of this was the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 or a time, this small Irish Catholic population relied on itinerant, missionary priests from St. Paul's Church in Toronto (then known as York). One such priest was Fr. Edward Gordon who rode on horseback from town to town car-rying all that he needed to administer the sacraments (including an altar stone on which to say Mass). Just some of the territory covered included York, Brampton, Markham, Scarborough, Holland Landing, Georgina and Niagara. When poor Fr. Gordon literally wore himself out, Catholics in the area were without pastoral care for three years. Reli-gious practice was so important to these early residents that many considered moving to the United States where there was not such a clergy shortage.

In 1938, the bishop of the time, Alexander MacDonnell decided to consider the possibil-ity of establishing a church for the Catholics of Newmarket, Holland Landing, West Gwillimbury, Brock, Mara and Thorah. At the time there were "fifty six Catholics, of whom thirty-four were old enough to go to communion." That November, six men met at storekeeper John Walsh's home to talk about building a church. This little group of committed believers began fundraising, but the meagre sixty dollars that they raised was no where near adequate. The next year the group of representatives grew to nine. Gath-ering in the home of a man named William Wallace, they committed themselves to building a church.

The First Catholics

During the period of political turmoil of the 1930s, Irish Roman Catholic immigrants slowly began moving into Newmarket. Although they were a reform minded group and certainly no fans of Britain and its institutions, these Catholic settlers followed the advice of Kingston Bishop Alexander MacDonnell and did not take part in the armed rebellion. Their silence was seen by the government as a sign of loyalty and prompted the British Government to grant approbation for the formation of the Diocese of Toronto in 1840. Previously it had been a part of the large Diocese of Kingston. There was a feeling among the government that a Catholic bishop might be helpful in "quelling that spirit of insubordination and fierce democratic spirit" displayed "in many parts of the frontier line."

A Church of their Own

For a time, this small Irish Catholic population relied for it’s pastoral care on itinerant, missionary priests from St. Paul's Church in Toronto (then known as York). One such priest was Fr. Edward Gordon who rode on horseback from town to town carrying all that he needed to administer the sacraments (including an altar stone on which to say Mass). Just some of the territory covered included York, Brampton, Markham, Scar-borough, Holland Landing, Georgina and Niagara. When poor Fr. Gordon literally wore himself out, Catholics in the area were without pastoral care for three years. Religious practice was so important to these early residents that many considered moving to the United States where there was not such a clergy shortage.

In 1938, the bishop of the time, Alexander Macdonell de-cided to consider the possibility of establishing a church for the Catholics of Newmarket, Holland Landing, West Gwillimbury, Brock, Mara and Thorah. At the time there were "fifty six Catholics, of whom thirty-four were old enough to go to communion."

That November, six men met at storekeeper John Walsh's home to talk about building a church. This little group of committed believers began fundraising, but the meagre sixty dollars that they raised was no where near adequate. The next year the group of representatives grew to nine. Gathering in the home of a man named William Wallace, they committed themselves to building a church.

Construction was completed on the first church in Newmarket in the fall of 1839. It was a barebones, white-frame church measuring 40' by 20' and was situated on a hill in St. Patrick’s Ward, roughly where the current church’s north parking lot is located today. The basement was intended to serve as the first school. The cemetery was located to the west of the church.

For quite some time, the people had a church but no pastor. There was no seminary in Upper Canada, so priests primarily came from Ireland. The life of clergy in these mis-sions was difficult. According to Fr. Dean William Harris, "if he lives to the age of fifty, the priest is practically an old man." Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to find people to serve.

In 1840, St. Mary’s church was formally constituted as a mission. This meant it began to keep formal records of births, marriages and deaths. The pastor was Fr. James Quinlan, originally of Ireland but who had also served in parishes in Saint John, New Brunswick, Cincinnati, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before coming to Newmarket and the Lake Simcoe missions. With the influx of Irish immigrants due to the potato famine, the size of the population grew quickly. It was not long before the little white frame church was no longer adequate. How could this community of impoverished immigrants afford to build a new church? Not only were they able to afford very little, but (by their own ad-mission) the clergy of the time had not been able to properly manage what little funds there were. It was not until Fr. Patrick Keane arrived that the parish became fiscally sound enough to begin thinking of building a larger church. It was 1872.

One struggle ended and a new one began. The priest and the parishioners disagreed strongly regarding the location of the new church. Fr. Keane wanted the existing ceme-tery moved and a church built on top of it. The poor, uneducated Irish parishioners were horrified at the idea for two reasons. First of all, they were superstitious and not at all pleased with the idea of exhuming their dead. Secondly, many had been too poor to afford proper grave markers for their loved ones and they were concerned that their re-mains might be lost in the move. Petitions were signed and sent to the Archbishop. Since a location had already been selected for a new cemetery north of Paddytown, the Archbishop sided wtih Fr. Keane. The bodies were exhumed and moved north. (When the new church was struck by lightening only one year after it was completed, the pa-rishioners read this as a sign that though the Archbishop had sided with the priest, the All-powerful Creator of the Universe had sided with them.)

An Undesirable Minority

Before we look at the building of the new church, let us spend a moment on the community of Irish Catholics in Newmarket. The Irish Catholics were held in distain by their majority Protestant neighbours. Though the men took up jobs as labourers in Newmarket and its surround-ing areas, the Irish Catholics were ostracized - excluded from the public school system and not allowed to live in the town proper. They congregated instead in the area outside of the village just north of today's Davis Drive. The area was known as Paddytown. Here they built small homes out of logs heated with wood burned in the field-stone fireplaces. Gardens and small orchards were plant-ed and barns were built to raise livestock. The Irish dietary staples of cabbage and pota-toes were supplemented with wild berries and venison. They sold excess produce in the village.

The Irish Catholics were not only physically marginalized, they were also excluded from the public school system and offered only the most low-paying employment. This, of course, perpetuated their poverty and associated issues. The situation worsened during 1847-48 with the Irish potato famine. Millions left their homeland and a great many of them came to Canada. The trip was treacherous and many died en route. Those who survived the journey brought with them a disastrous typhus epidemic. Already held in suspicion, the Irish were now regarded as carriers of contagion. Indeed, typhus was known by many as "Irish immigrant fever." (The first bishop of Toronto -- Michael Power -- himself succumbed to the disease after working in the "fever sheds" in Toronto.)

In the 1890s the Equal Rights Association was established. While "equal rights" sounds like a perfectly noble goal, the group was rooted in the fear that the rights extended to the growing minority of Catholics would undermine their own rights and privileges. Un-der the guise of equality, the group wanted to destroy the separate school system, abol-ish the use of the French language outside Quebec, blacklist Catholic workers, boycott Catholic merchants and exclude Catholics from the civil service. This group gained a de-gree of popularity in the Newmarket area, at one point hanging a banner reading "Equal Rights to All" across Main Street.

Well into the 1940s there were still significant barriers for Catholics. For example, priests, unlike Protestant ministers, were denied access to the maternity wards of hospitals. Since Catholics were forbidden to belong to the Masonic Order (both by their own church and by the Masons), they had trouble integrating into community life. It was im-possible for non-Masons to attain prominent work or elected positions.

Over time, this anti-Catholicism began to wane. Acceptance has triumphed over preju-dice. Today, Catholics are equally contributing and respected members of the communi-ty and very little of the old prejudices continue to exist. It is significant that three of the town's mayors - Joseph Vale, Bob Forhan and Ray Twinney - have been Catholics.

St. John Chrysostom Parish's First Church

When it was finally time to build a church suitable for the growing Catholic community, well-known Toronto architect -- Henry Langley -- was commissioned to design the new Gothic style church. Upon completion in 1875, the church was described in the following way:

The beauty of the building adds to the view of Newmarket from passing trains. The exterior is simple red brick with a single slated spire, topped with a gilt cross. The interior remains just as simple, with subdued light from stained glass windows playing over white stucco walls, and a marble white ceiling supported by stained woodwork. The church is very spacious, with an upper gallery near the choir and organ if the lower level becomes too crowded. (The Era, 8 January 1875)

The cornerstone, containing a piece of rock from Lourdes was laid on Sunday, May 10th, 1874 by Archbishop of Toronto -- John J. Lynch. On the same day, he consecrated the new cemetery. The following year, the rectory burned down and the parish had to take on the burden of building a new one. A school was built just a few years later in 1880.

Slowly the congregation enhanced and beautified their new church by adding elements year by year.

1877 - Stations of the Cross 1880 - 800 pound Bell 1882 - High Altar 1898 - Stained Glass Windows of Sacred Heart and Last Supper (created by the es-teemed MacCausland stained glass artists) 1910 - Pipe Organ 1936 - Statue of Our Lady (donated by Herb Cain of NHL fame)

You can see some of these items in the church to this day.