St. Kevin Parish

 

At the request of many English speaking Roman Catholics living in the various communities which comprise Valley East, Bishop Alexander Carter canonically established the Parish of St. Kevin on September 1, 1963.  The first Pastor was Fr. Richard Allen.  Masses were celebrated in the gymnasium of a local school (St. Anne), an arrangement which would continue until the worship sites were built 5 years later.

The second Pastor assigned to St. Kevin Parish was Fr. Joseph Graham.  He arrived in 1966 and served until 1967 when he was succeeded by Fr. Steven Clark. He served for only a part of that year, and was succeeded by Fr. Bernard Burns in October 1967.  Fr. Burns (later Monsignor Burns) would serve this Parish for the next 12 years and was instrumental in the construction of its first worship sites.  He remains the longest serving Pastor of the Parish.

On May 12, 1968 a sod turning ceremony and site blessing took place at two locations:  Hanmer, at the corner of Michelle Drive and Regional Rd. 80 (where now is located Lougheed’s Funeral Home), and Val Caron on Main Street West (now owned by the French Catholic School Board and adjacent to John Paul II Elementary School).  Both Churches were dedicated by Bishop Alexander Carter on October 20, 1968.

The fifth Pastor of St. Kevin was Fr. Don Tait, who arrived in August of 1979.  Serving for 7 years, he was succeeded by Fr. Hamish Currie in 1986.  After 3 years, and upon his departure, the Parish was served by Fr. Gerry Sullivan and Fr. Czeslaw Waszczylo in 1989.  Fr. Gerry Copeman was then assigned Pastor and served until 1991. He was followed by Fr. Charles Matthieu who served here for part of 1 year, until 1992, and then by Fr. Donald Orendorff (later Monsignor Orendorff) who served as Pastor until 1994.

For 5 months, at the end of 1994 and into January 1995, the Parish was served by Fr. Andre Tremblay and Msgr. Angelo Caruso.  Fr. Paul Conway was named Pastor in 1995 and, after serving for a little more than 2 years, was succeeded by Fr. Larry Rymes in August 1997.  Fr. Larry served for 8 years and was succeeded by Fr. Pat Woods who arrived in 2005 and served the Parish until 2011.

Fr. Michael Williams served as our Pastor from September 1, 2011 until June 30, 2017.  He was followed by our current Pastor, Fr. Jackson Arul.