A parish defined by its people

Grimshaw church celebrates 100 years of life

On August 30th Holy Family Catholic Church in Grimshaw celebrated its centennial anniversary – marking 100 years of life for the parish community.

From the construction of their first church in 1924 unto today, the parish has been a sacred space to worship God, grow in faith and foster community. For parishioners like Eileen McGuire, who has been a part of Holy Family Church since 1978, this 100th anniversary is a special way to honour the parish that is at the centre of her life. To her, Holy Family Church is not just a place for Sunday Mass, it has been her way to fulfill a lifelong promise to God.

“My parish is very important to me. My church just means everything to me,” said Eileen, holding back her tears. “It just brings me joy to serve here – as the sacristan, as president of the CWL, wherever. When I became a Catholic in 1976, that was my promise – that I would serve God to the best of my ability for the rest of my life.”

On the morning of August 30th Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Pettipas and Coadjutor Archbishop Duval, with pastor Fr. Jeyapaul Packiasamy and other priests from the Deanery in attendance. That evening, a dinner was held with parishioners, local representatives and others from Grimshaw and surrounding communities. On August 31st, their celebrations concluded with Sunday Mass and a pancake breakfast prepared by the Knights of Columbus. As well, a special book was prepared for the centennial, including photos with the various families of the parish.

Eileen was part of the committee that has been planning for this centennial weekend since early last year. Now seeing all their hard work come to fruition – from the Masses, catering, luncheon, and more – she says its been a busy but rewarding experience.

“It just warms my heart that we can celebrated this time together. I’m very blessed that I was in good enough health to be a leader and to be an instrument in all this,” Eileen said.

Of all these activities, what was most cherished was simply the opportunity to bring people together. After all, it is the presence of people that gives a parish its life and longevity. And one person who wanted to ensure she could be present to her parish was Gail Mercier, who returned to her hometown of Grimshaw to be a part of the centennial celebrations.

When asked why she made the trip from Edmonton to Grimshaw, she emotionally proclaimed, “Because this is my parish. And I love my parish.”

“I was in Grimshaw for 60 years. We always attended Mass here, and we raised our family here,” said Gail. “We were friends with many of the priests who served here and we still keep in touch with some.”

Though it has now been 100 years that a Catholic church has been present in Grimshaw, the Catholic history there goes back even further. It was in the 1910s that French missionary Oblates began offering Masses in the area, typically in family homes. In the fall of 1924, construction began on Grimshaw’s first mission church. Local families raised around $1000 from a food booth at the Bear Lake mission to get the work off the ground. The church exterior, altar and the pews were all hand made by those pioneering families, often carrying over the lumber themselves by sleigh.

The first resident parish priest was Fr. Albert Bouchard, OMI, who arrived in 1954. It was Fr. Bouchard who named the parish after the Holy Family. The priest helped build some additional pews for the church out of fir, and some of these are still in the choir loft of the church today. The current Holy Family Church was then built in 1957, and the old church was moved to Dixonville.

Speaking to those gathered for the centennial anniversary, Coadjutor Archbishop Charles Duval drew attention to the legacy of these early pioneers, reminding everyone that they are the ones who made this anniversary possible.

“I’m always impressed in these celebrations in hearing about those faithful few who first built these churches. They are in a sense ‘the giants of our Faith’, because we are standing on their shoulders,” said Archbishop Duval. “It’s because of them that we can celebrate a hundred years in our church. And may we continue to build on what they’ve done and take up the challenges unique to our time, to build up the Faith like they did.”

This is only an excerpt. Read the full story in the September 2025 edition of Northern Light