Our Lady of Fatima

On the 20th of September, 1947 the Archbishop of Ottawa, Alexander Vachon, decreed the erection of a parish at what was then known as Woodroffe, Ontario, under the title of Our Lady of Fatima. Father John R. Smith was appointed the founding pastor and he immediately began to gather the families that would form the new parish. The next step was to prepare for the building of a new church, which could be converted later to a parish hall. Construction began on October 6, 1947. The first Mass celebrated in the almost finished building was Midnight Mass, Christmas, 1947. The fact that our worshiping community was born when the Church celebrates the feast of the birth of Christ, is a symbol of the faith upon which our parish was built.

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A temporary church, now the Parish Hall, was completed on May 13, 1947. During the next 10 years the parish community grew to include schools, committees, and all the groups that typically make up a parish family. A new and larger church was built and dedicated in 1957. Additions and alterations were completed in 2005. Our church and hall are now completely accessible and air conditioned.

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In 2017 we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the parish, with more than 1600 families registered as parishioners. The brownish-red bricks of our parish church have, for many years, witnessed the celebrations that are a part of all aspects of life: baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages, funerals and, of course, Sunday Eucharist. From Fr. Smith, the founding pastor, to our current pastor, Fr. Bosco Wong, we have been blessed by the presence of many priests, deacons and sisters who have contributed to the life of our parish. All parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima, from the founding members up to the present, can be proud of the part we have played in the lives of those in our community. With God's grace we know that the spiritual and social life of our parish will continue to develop in the years to come.