St Lawrence Martyr Church
Toronto ON

Rev. Roy Francis Farrell  

Pastor  

416-759-9359  

416-759-6725  

Click here to contact Rev. Roy Francis Farrell  

I grew up in a small outport southwest of St. John’s, Newfoundland called Marystown. The first local priest dedicated the town to Mary, the Mother of God. My dad, Bill, was a fisherman and later became a sea captain. My mother was a teacher and, after she married, she was very faithful to her mission of homemaker and was completely dedicated to the education of her children. There were six children, five boys and one girl. Two of my brothers died very early in life. I am the youngest. I have wonderful memories of my childhood growing up in a very Catholic environment.

The first thought of a vocation to the priesthood was when I was ten years old. It began when I started to serve Mass as an altar boy. At home I would always practice saying Mass with my siblings. Even though I was a little guy, I perceived God’s calling. As I continued growing up there was a longing in my heart. God have given me so much, how could I respond with anything other than my whole heart. However, I still had all of the other typical teenage interests.

After graduating high school I attended Memorial University, where I completed my undergraduate degrees. I was certified as an elementary teacher. Teaching jobs were hard to come by, so I headed for ‘da mainland’, as we Newfoundlanders affectionately call Toronto. It was there that I joined the Basilian Fathers. I was sent to Gary, Indiana and Missouri City, Texas where I discerned my vocation with them. After a two year period, I decided that I was more suitably called to be a diocesan priest. I was ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 8, 1999. I served my first three years as an Associate Pastor at the Epiphany of Our Lord in Scarborough, spent two years at St. Isaac Jogues in Pickering, and was the assigned as Pastor to St. Elizabeth Seton in 2004.

I recently read a prayer for vocations on the back of a prayer card. It summarized, for me, the meaning of priesthood. The prayer goes like this: ‘Grant saintly priests to the world, priests who live close to the Eucharist, with deep spiritual lives, who work and suffer, but with joyful hearts; priests who give every moment of their lives for the salvation of souls and the triumph of the kingdom.’ I ask you to pray that I will live out that prayer in my own life.  

Rev. Gervais Yombo - Associate Pastor

Rev. Steven Szakaczki - Chaplain to the Faithful participating in the Extraordinary Rite of the Latin Mass