«After years of waiting, English-speaking Roman Catholics of Kapuskasing today have their own Church, Saint Patrick's on Cedar Street, Northfield, which is just getting the finishing touches this week. The Rev. Jean-Paul Laurin, Saint Patrick's first priest, celebrated first Masses last Sunday...»
If you paid your nickel for the Thursday, July 19th, 1956, edition of THE NORTHERN TRIBUNE, this is what you would have read on the front page.
According to one of our founders, Frederick Campling, in a letter sent to the parish... «Father Laurin was sent to Kapuskasing as a missionary priest to start a new parish that was to serve the English-speaking community and all other ethnic groups that had ties to the Roman Catholic Church. At that time Immaculate Conception Church was operated by the Oblates. They allowed a small chapel to be established in the basement of their church for the use of the unnamed parish. This was in 1953. Early in 1955 the decision to build a church on property donated by Spruce Falls was made and Wally Finley and myself were part of a committee to build a new church. We spent the spring, helped by a number of other engineers at Spruce Falls, drawing the plans and specifications for the building. George Knowles was awarded the contract after competitive bids... In 1954 a meeting was held to pick a name for the church. A lot of people, including Father Laurin, thought it would be St. George's. However people thought that was too English and Mrs. McSweeney proposed Saint Patrick's, and most people related favourably to this name. Father Laurin told me years later that he had sent back Saint George's relics and exchanged them for Saint Patrick's!»
This is how we began, and now over 50 years later, we have enjoyed the leadership of Father Jean-Paul Laurin, Father Grégoire Desfossés, Father Gilles Gosselin, Father Lucien Bouillon, Father Sébastien Groleau, Father Léo Papineau, Fr Roger Pronovost, Fr. Fernand Villeneuve and Fr. Herve Sauve who has been with us for the last 3 years. Our parish has undergone many changes over the years.