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Testimonials:
“Although I was baptized, took 1st Communion and was Confirmed, my parents were not practicing Catholics so it held little meaning for me until my husband and I began dating in high school. He and his family were very strong Catholics and as the years progressed and we were married I too began attending weekly mass. I won't say I had a sudden revelation, I didn't but gradually my faith grew and now 40 some years later I consider myself a strong, practicing Catholic. Indeed, it is my faith and belief in God that has carried me through everything that life has so far thrown at me and He has given me the gift to realize what miracles he has bestowed upon us. Without Him we would have nothing. We are blessed and I thank him every single day.”
-married, mother and grandmother
"So my faith journey became as it should, the most important aspect of my life and I began to attend daily Mass at St. Catherine of Siena parish. I find that I long for the daily spiritual nourishment of the Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus! I seek the strength to move forward along the narrow road and to grow in love and holiness. I have so far to go!! I have beloved companions in the parish who walk the road with me and a priest who seeks to nourish and teach us. Through the Polish Saint, Faustina Kowalska, we have been made aware of the ocean of divine mercy that Jesus has for us if only we trust in Him and seek His mercy - and now we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy on the second Sunday of Easter as requested by Jesus and instituted by Pope St. John Paul II. All of the above has allowed me to grow as a Catholic and somehow cope with our social and secular environment which, in my opinion, is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of godlessness. A final thought: when Jesus gave the option to his Apostles to leave, Peter said - yes Lord, but to whom shall we go? Indeed!! I am a convicted Catholic because I believe with all my mind, heart and soul, that my Catholic faith provides the surest means to eternal salvation."
-married, father and daily Mass goer
The beginnings of Saint Catherine’s Parish can be traced back to a small clapboard chapel built in 1838 about 2 kilometers west of the present day church. The property was part of an allotment given to United Empire Loyalist, Catherine McDonell, wife of Colonel Archibald McDonell, who himself fought loyally for the British in the War of 1812-14 and was rewarded with a large allotment of forest land to become a founding family in Osgoode Township. In 1840 the chapel was deeded to the diocese of Kingston, and became known as “The Mission of Saint Catherine of Osgoode." In April of 1848 the mission had become part of the diocese of Bytown. In 1859 a new building was erected at the present location in the heart of the town of Metcalfe. On January 16th, 1860, on Sunday the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, Bishop Guigues solemnly blessed the church under the invocation of Saint Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine’s was elevated to parish status in 1898 by Bishop Duhamel.
Today, Metcalfe is a small bedroom community southeast of Ottawa in the midst of a larger rural area. The parish includes several surrounding hamlets such as Vernon, Kenmore, and Edwards. Although for a time, St. Catherine’s was a bilingual parish, it is now an English community. Ethnically, we have many solid parishioners who have descended from Holland, but we also happily boast of our French, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese, and Spanish speaking parishioners. Descendants of the early Irish and Scottish settlers are also well represented.
We have chosen to take up the duty to evangelize with a new vigor, and we are seeing some measurable fruits from laboring in this little part of the Lord’s vineyard. We continually put out the call to non-practicing baptized Catholics to come home and worship. We have beautified the inside of the church so that the atmosphere provides a certain respite from the frantic demands and noise of the world. We are reintroducing some traditional devotions and taking away those things that have mistakenly enabled so many in today’s culture to fall away from regular practice of religion. In faith we are putting those crutches aside and saying, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, stand up and walk!” The Catholic Women’s League dates back to 1925 at St. Catherine’s and continues to be a great asset to the parish. We are proud to be the first parish in Canada to have a Men of Saint Joseph Chapter to “Put the family in the hands of the Father.” We envision a bright future for the entire community as the parish revitalizes through prayer and outreach. The hope and vision of a transforming spiritual renewal in this age of consumerism and secularization might seem lofty and unrealistic to some, but we are witnessing the beginnings of it firsthand, before our very eyes. Come and see!
