Holy Family Parish / Moncton
Established before 1900
First church in 1964
First pastor in 1963
Although there were scattered houses in Moncton’s west end, along the road to Salisbury, at the turn of the century, the only churches to which the Catholics had access, were either Saint Bernard’s, in the city, or the Irish mission of Our Lady of Ransom (later renamed Our Lady of Mercy), on the Fredericton Road.
Around 1950, a whole new housing development for the Canadian Forces, Base No. 5, in Moncton, was built in the west end of the city and called Acadia Park. From 1961, the priests of Saint Bernard’s, who also served as chaplain to the Forces, celebrated mass a few times a year in the Recreation Hall of Acadia Park, on Athlone Street.
In 1963, the part of Saint Bernard’s Parish beyond Jones Lake was detached to form Holy Family Parish, with Father Angus MacDonald as their first pastor (1963-1968). In a shared arrangement with the French families, mass was already being celebrated for them in the chapel of Sainte-Bernadette’s school.
Father MacDonald took residence at 53 Bissett Avenue; then be bought a house (the present rectory) at 11 Cavendish to which an extension was added in 1966.
In 1959, Father McDevitt, pastor of Saint Bernard’s, had purchased eleven building-lots around Falkland Street. In 1964, a new church opened and the Holy Family parishioners moved out of Sainte-Bernadette’s.
The church had been built so that it could be converted into a hall. Stained glass windows were added n 1984, and permanent pews were installed in 1986. A new parish hall was added in 2004.