Under the direction of His Excellency Archbishop Duke, Rev. Francis Sutherland OMI of St. Peter’s Parish in New Westminster, celebrated the first Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, 1933 in the new parish of St. Francis de Sales.
Fourteen families attended in a cabin of the Lily Auto Court on Kingsway. An Overflow crowd stood outside on that chilly December morning. The building was across the street from where A & W is today. A few months later the fourteen families had grown and they requested permission to build a church and have a Pastor appointed. A site on the south side of Kingsway was soon purchased under the supervision of Mr. Frank Dwan and Mr. Mckee.
A new church was constructed, with many of the parishioners volunteering their time and labour. In 1934 the depression was in full swing and money was scarce. The first rectory was a small room, with a cooking stove behind the altar. Upstairs there was a sleeping room and this served as the living quarters for the priests.
Archbishop Duke appointed an elderly Australian priest Fr. McDonnell as the first Pastor. This location was occupied until the early 1950’s. In 1936 Fr. Trainor became Pastor, when Fr. McDonnell returned to his native land, he was followed by Fr. Csaki in 1940, and by Fr. Defoe in 1946. In 1947 Fr. Defoe extended the original church and added a new rectory. By 1951 it was soon apparent that a larger church and a school was needed to serve the growing parish. Fr Peter McGuire was appointed Pastor and devoted himself to his work.
By 1954, the parish school with an attached auditorium ( to be used for Sunday Masses until the Church could be built), was completed on the present Balmoral site. The Sisters of St. Joseph, who lived at St. Patrick's convent on 12th Street in Vancouver, taught at the school. They continued teaching until the new school was built in 1967. In 1958 with the untimely death of Fr. McGuire in June, Fr. James Edward Brown was appointed Pastor and he took up the task of completing the new church, from the foundations of his predecessor. Our present church was blessed on November 29,1959, twenty six years after the first Mass in the auto court. Shortly after the start of the new term in October 1967, the school and auditorium were burned to the ground and parishioners arriving for Mass on Sunday morning were stunned at the sight of the grey smoldering ruins! Before the day was over plans were being made to replace the old school with a better one.
A quick settlement of insurance claims and diligent work by a “re-building” committee facilitated the erection of our present St. Francis de Sales Christian Education and Parish Centre in time for the new school year of 1968. It was dedicated to Archbishop Martin Johnson. An addition was added to the school in 1993 to accommodate the Kindergarten and Pre-school, which until then was held in the church hall. also added was another classroom and computer room. Fr. Brown became a Monsignor and remained Pastor until 1971. he was followed by Fr. John Swinkels. In 1982 Fr. Nicholas Boomers became the Pastor followed by Fr. Ken Bernard in 1991. during those years changes were made in the vestibule, the choir loft and the front of the church with the addition of a new organ. The Sanctuary was modified and new carpets, a new sound system and some stained glass windows were installed. Fr Anthony Boniface became Pastor in 1996, followed by Fr. Gary Franken in 1998 and Fr. Terry Bileski in 2003. In 2007 the expansion for the vestibule of the Church was undertaken. This gave us another washroom, more meeting space and a larger gathering area to accommodate our growing parish.
Fr. Thomas Smith became our Pastor in 2009 and in 2019 Fr. Mario Marin took over as Pastor. Fr. Mark Gazin, CSB, joined us in July 2021 as Assistant Pastor. Fr. Vincent Hawkswell is serving as Administrator Pastor while Fr. Mario Marin is on medical leave. And since 2022, we have Fr. Mark McGuckin as our pastor. We have two Deacons who reside in our parish. Deacon Patrick Dwan a long time parishioner and Deacon Paulos Teckle who also is Refugee Advocate, for the Ministires and Outreach Office for the Vancouver Diocese.
During the past decades we have welcomed St. George’s Melkite Greek Catholic Mission and Fr. Maximos Basha. Their first Mass was celebrated at St. Francis de Sales on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1977. Father Basha passed away on April 12, 2013. Fr. Edward Ibrahim replaced Fr. Basha in 2013.The de sales Ministry for the Deaf was established in March, 2002 and was with us until May, 2022. The Catholic Woman’s League was established in the parish in 1953 and the knights of Columbus Council #8853 was established in November 1984. They have along with Couples for Christ served our parish community faithfully for many years.
St. Francis de Sales continues to be a vibrant parish. Over the years we have grown from those first few families who had vision, determination and who put in hours of volunteering, to give us the parish we have today. Today some of our parishioners are the great grand children of those first parishioners who were new comers to our country. Our parish organizations, along with various devotional groups and religious education opportunities, present a wide choice of activities for everyone. Looking to the future, we look forward to many new members joining our parish, to new activities and most importantly to a continued spiritual growth.