Happy Birthday, Toronto!

In honor of Toronto's 180th birthday, we went into the Archives to see what the Catholic Church in Toronto was like in 1834. We found the following report written for Archbishop McNeil in 1934:

"In 1834 St. Paul's was the only parish in Toronto. The church was then near the Don River bridge. The Reverend Peter MacDonald was Pastor. Bishop Macdonell of Kingston had jurisdiction in Toronto at that time, and he served as Pastor of St. Paul's during the first part of 1834, assisted by Reverend William P. McDonough and Reverend Edward Gordon. The number of parishioners was then nearly two thousand."

In 1834, there were 2000 Catholics and one parish in Toronto. 180 years later, there are over 1.9 million Catholics and 225 parishes in the diocese. We've come a long way!