Holy Name of Mary Parish | About our Parish

Pastor, Holy Name of Mary Parish, Almonte, Ontario

Hello! Welcome to the website of Holy Name of Mary Parish in Almonte. We are a Catholic community anchored by our faith in Jesus Christ. We gather and celebrate our faith in and around our beautiful church building. We have exciting things to offer as a spiritual community. If you are a visitor to our pretty corner of Mississippi Mills don't let shyness keep you from entering our gentle space. Families find our children's liturgy at the Sunday masses an important faith support. Our parish activities include sacraments, various programs, ministries and socials. Please contact me through the parish office if you would like information or simply an introduction.

Your Parish Council

HNOM Parish Council serves as a representative, consultative body to the pastor. Governed by the parish constitution, its primary function is pastoral planning. Through due process, it is the parish council's responsibility to determine the needs of the parish community, formulate a plan to respond to those needs and ensure that these are met through parish ministries. The Parish Council meets at least monthly from September to June and in the summer if necessary. Minutes from each meeting are available in the church or from links (to be) posted here. To contact your Parish Council, please click here for contact information.

Parish Council Members may click here for access to Parish Council document repository (UserID and password required)

Your Finance Committee

The Holy Name of Mary Parish Finance Committee is composed of the parish priest and at least three other members, one of whom is selected as chairperson and another as vice-chairperson. A secretary is selected who could also be the vice-chairperson.

The parish finance council, through its parish priest, is accountable to the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Ottawa. The parish finance council, in conjunction with the parish priest shall:

(a) Attend to the temporal affairs of the parish: e.g. revenue, expenses, loans, investments, repairs, constructions;
(b) Establish the administrative guidelines for the temporal administration of the parish;
(c) Prepare and approve the annual budget and publish the latter at the same time as the annual financial report; the council shall select the more appropriate means to enable the greatest number of parishioners to be informed as to the contents of the budget and the financial report, as well as of the overall financial situation of the parish. While the finance council establishes fixed and variable expenditures for the parish, once it has set aside funds available for pastoral work, it is not to decide further. Such responsibility lies with the parish priest and the pastoral council;
(d) Prepare the annual financial reports to be submitted to the diocesan administration;
(e) Designate one of its members to sit on the parish pastoral council;
(f) Attend to the proper maintenance of the buildings;

Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm in the church vestry. Individuals interested in attending should contact the Finance Committee Chair: please click her for contact information.

Finance Committee Members may click here for access to Finance Committee document repository (UserID and password required)

The Catholic Women's League (CWL)

Mission Statement The Catholic Women's League of Canada is a national organization rooted in gospel values calling its members to holiness through service to the people of God. The Catholic Women's League of Canada offers women an opportunity for Faith, Fun and Fulfillment in the service of God and Canada. Come, respond to God's call and take your place alongside the other 55,000 members in Ontario.

The Holy Names of Mary Catholic Women's League meet the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 in the vestry of the church after 7:00 pm mass. Our membership fees at present are $20 yearly, to be paid in January.

To contact your CWL Executive please click her for contact information.

CWL Members may click here for access to C.W.L. document repository (UserID and password required)

The Knights of Columbus (KoC)

The Knights of Columbus (KoC) serve Holy Name of Mary Parish from St. Mary's Church in Carleton Place. For information see the St. Mary's Church KoC web page or Knights of Columbus contact information

History of the Parish

The physical site of the present Holy Name of Mary Church was established in 1842. Daniel Shipman made this gift of one and a half acres of land to Fr. John Hugh McDunagh, to enable the building of St Mary's Mission church in the community then known as Shipman's Mills. The 10m x 15m frame church was constructed in 1842.

A quarter of a century earlier, amid an influx of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, Father John Macdonald regularly visited the settlement of "Sheppard's Falls," a hearty walk through the woods from Perth - for his parish was all of Lanark County.

The small community of mills on the Mississippi River started to flourish in the mid-1850's, and in 1856 the town was officially (and quizzically) named Almonte. The famous Mexican general and diplomat who said "No" to los Yanquis was probably never aware of the honour paid him. On Christmas night, 1868 fire claimed the old wooden church. Immediately the faithful of the parish joined to raise a new stone church. One parishioner, William Madden, even mortgaged his farm and home for $2000 to get the work started. The new church was almost twice as large as the old one. On Christmas Day, 1869 parishioners gathered for Mass at dawn. As was the custom, the letters A.M.D.G. were carved into the arch of the entrance. Those letters signal the banner of faith: Ad Majorem Dei Glorian, To the Glory of God! Three years later St. Mary's became a parish in the Diocese of Bytown.

On October 7, 1875 it was consecrated by Bishop J. T. Duhamel. Although the parish has historically and formally been called Holy Name of Mary, with references to such in diocesan material dating to the 1930's, the sign on the front of the church was not changed until after Fr. William Penney took over as pastor, in 1996. He engaged in a dynamic renewal of the parish and the church. Renovations to the bell-tower and restoration of heritage details in the interior of the church began under him in 2002. In 1998 Holy Name of Mary elementary school - a testament to Catholic education - changed building and location; from behind the church, where it had been since 1873, to its new locale on Paterson Road. The same year the Town of Almonte became part of the larger, consolidated municipality of Mississippi Mills, Ontario.

Under Fr. Pierre Champoux (2002-2009) the roof corner spires were removed for safety reasons, the parish embarked on a program to clean the enormous and magnificent stained glass windows and restoration of the rectory commenced. Concurrent with the restoration of the physical structure has been an ongoing renewal of the "living stones" that, by the grace of God, "are being built into a spiritual house."

For more information, read this fascinating account of our parish, entitled "Sketch of the Parish of St. Mary, Almonte, Ontario, 1823-1885 by a Priest of the Diocese of Ottawa".

Saint Declan's Mission

Saint Declan's is a quaint rural church tucked into the hills of Lanark Highlands about three kilometres west of Brightside on the French Line Road. The parish was established in 1872 and the church built in 1889. It once served a community of mostly francophone families. The name was given by Father Declan Foley, who, at the church's blessing on July 7, 1889, named it after his baptismal patron*.

Over the years a priest's residence was built and a drive shed erected to provide winter shelter for the horses while Mass was being celebrated. The shed was later used to host the parish's famous annual sand-baked bean supper and dance. The rectory has since been removed but the shed still remains. On the grassy hill beside the little white church is Saint Declan's Cemetery, where former generations now rest.

Saint Declan's is a mission of Almonte, with the parish priest commuting from Holy Name of Mary Church to celebrate Mass with the congregation on a monthly basis.

Although small in numbers its faithful parishioners have kept the church financially self-sufficient. When the building was declared structurally unstable and threatened with closure in October 2001 local Catholics raised the necessary funds within a year to begin repairs that were completed in 2004.

For information on services at Saint Declan's contact Tom Crosbie or the Holy Name of Mary office at 613-256-1034.

* Saint Declan was an early Irish bishop. There is much confusion about his chronology. He is sometimes said to be one of four bishops to have preceded Saint Patrick in Ireland in the early 5th century. He is also made a contemporary of Saint David of Wales in the mid 6th century. According to his Life Saint Declan was of noble blood, his home was near Lismore. He studied at home and abroad. He converted the people of the Decies, an ancient principality of southern Ireland, to Christianity, and there he founded the monastic settlement of Ardmore (in present County Waterford). His feast day is July 24th.