|
|
|
SPIRITUAL
CENTRES
The major Roman Catholic Church in the community is
St. Martin de Porres. Erected in the 1960's and substantially
enlarged in the 1980's, its dramatic architectural style and
placement at the intersection of Morningside and Lawrence make it one
of the most well known features of the West Hill
landscape.
Beyond even the imaginary bounds of West Hill, over
looking Bluffers Park home of the Scarborough Yacht Club, are two
more buildings that directly relate to the spiritual life of the
community.
St. Augustine's Seminary, with its Beaux Arts style
architecture and soaring dome, was once headed by a cousin to
Monseignor John Fraser, Rev. Francis Patrick Carroll, who went on to
become Bishop of Calgary. It was the first English speaking Roman
Catholic Seminary in Canada. Bishop Carroll was appointed Professor
of Sacred Scripture & Homiletics at St. Augustine's Seminary in
Scarborough and pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Highland
Creek.
He took a year off in
1927 to study at the School of Scripture in Palestine before
returning as Vice President of St. Augustine's in 1930. He assumed
the presidency of St. Augustine's Seminary in 1931 where he served
until he was appointed Bishop of Calgary in 1936.
St. Augustine's is still one of the
most noteworthy buildings in the city and one of the largest
in the area. Bishop Carroll was once named, by Saturday
Night Magazine, one of the ten best after dinner speakers in
the country.
On the same grounds as the Seminary rests the
Scarborough Foreign Mission Society where Msgr. John Fraser moved
after his Society out grew the Guild.
It was from here that Msrg. Fraser
left for the majority of his six missions to China and Japan
in a life of religious service that spanned six decades. It
is here that his brother Rev. William Fraser, his companion
on many of those missions, lies buried.
Now completely rebuilt, St. Joseph's Church in
Highland Creek, saw both Bishop Carroll and Father William Fraser,
respectively, as pastor in the early decades of the 20th century,
seeing to the needs of the Roman Catholic community in West Hill.
Nothing of the original church remains.
|
|
