History of Mary, Mother of the Church and the Roman Catholic Church in South West Winnipeg
In the early 1800s, settlement came with the arrival of the French, Scots and other Europeans who began to live amongst the original Indigenous residents. The need arose for a Roman Catholic parish which was to be erected in 1857 and given the name of Saint Norbert.
Over the next 125 years, the Roman Catholic population grew in a bilingual French/English setting. In 1979, the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface decided that a new English-speaking parish would be born out of St. Norbert Parish. The new parish was to be called Mary, Mother of the Church. The parish purchased a church building at the corner of Silverstone Avenue and Dalhousie Drive in 1981 with 150 registered families. In 1989 with 300 families our present building was built on Kirkbridge Drive.
At present there are over 2000 registered families that make up Mary, Mother of the Church. It is one of the most culturally diverse and growing faith communities in Winnipeg.
Pastors:
Fr. Walter Shumski 1979-1981 Ministerial Aid, Fr. Rene Peeters
Fr. Firmin Michiels 1981-1996 Ministerial Aid, Fr. Henri Saulnier S.J.
Fr. Carl Tarnopolski 1996-2011 Ministerial Aid, Fr. John Perry S.J.
Fr. Kevin Bettens 2011-
Deacon Bill Woodbeck 1997-2013
Deacon Doug Meakin 1998 -
Deacon Stepan Bilynskyy 2019 -