One day within your Temple.

Fr. David Roche of the Toronto Oratory is fond of telling a story about a small private Catholic school that had its humble beginnings in the basement of Parkdale United Church, a scant two blocks from the Oratory's parish, Holy Family. One day the principal was busily drawing the curtains across the windows--the police had just called to warn her that they were going to raid a crack-house not far up the road, and that she had best close the drapes to protect her young charges.

"What's happening?" asked an inquisitive pupil. "Is it a homicide?"

Now the school, Mary Mother of God, has since relocated a little to the north west. But such vagaries of life in this corner of Toronto remain unchanged. Once a prosperous village--as is evident in the latter-day magnificence of the sprawling brick houses and tree-lined avenues--Parkdale is now one of the poorer areas of the mega-city. The large population of Filipino, Goan and Sri Lankan familes who fill to the brim the blocks of apartment buildings are likely to rub shoulders on the sidewalks with drug dealers, prostitutes and sometimes day patients from the nearby Queen Street Mental Health Centre.

It is in the heart of Parkdale, at the corner of King Street and Close Aye, that one finds the Toronto Oratory, where live the Oratorian Fathers and Brothers, who now number 10 and three respectively. Generally these men eschew publicity, preferring to live out their vocations in the manner envisioned by their patron and founder St. Philip Neri: a life of prayer, preaching, good works, and administering the sacraments.

Miracles abound

But this quiet existence literally went up in flames on June 13, 1997 (the feast of St. Anthony, and Friday the 13th) when the Oratory Church, Holy Family, burned to the ground.

It was a devastating loss. Built in 1902, the church was spiritual home for 1200 parishioners and families. Strangely, and in some eyes, miraculously, the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the front of the sanctuary emerged, after the flames were doused, with minimal damage. The Oratorians cannily used a photograph of this miraculous Virgin of Parkdale (as she was referred to in the National Enquirer) on greeting cards, which they sold to raise money for the new church.

These and other fundraising efforts resulted in another miracle of sorts: on Sunday, February 25, 2001, Holy Family's new church was officially dedicated by Toronto Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic. On Friday evening the faithful gathered to venerate relics of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Philip Neri, now embedded in the new altar. Saturday evening they sang solemn vespers, and following holy communion at the dedication Mass, Cardinal Ambrozic carried the Blessed Sacrament in procession to the tabernacle.

A sea of light

To step into this austere, extraordinary, neo-classical church is to be made vividly to recall the hymn: "Day is done, but Light Unending dwells ever here." By day the light cascades through large window panes of palest amber. Evening darkness is cast away by walls of a luminous hue, and a vaulted, 45-foot-high ceiling. Directly above the altar, catching the incense which rises to God along with the prayers of the people, is a copper-covered, 15,000-pound dome, at its highest point 70 feet from the ground.

Because the church is so simply adorned, one's eyes, and hopefully one's very heart, are drawn naturally towards where Light Unending dwells: the tabernacle, placed at the front of the church, in the apse. It is set apart from the sanctuary by a wrought iron screen on which are displayed a Eucharistic symbol of Christ, the Lamb of God, and the Latin words Domus Mea domus orationis vocabitur (My House shall be called a house of prayer).

The screen, as Father Roche explains, "reminds one of the Holy of Holies, the Gate of Heaven." Thus the Blessed Sacrament is "in a truly prominent and worthy place, while not diminishing the centrality of the altar on which the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered." A communion rail marks the edge of the sanctuary.

Above the tabernacle hangs a remarkable 6-foot crucifix, an original work by Toronto artists/sculptors Radoslaw Kudlinski and Anna Danzkerof. The corpus "shows Christ after death, with a serene yet solemn face," says Father Roche. These artists have also been commissioned to sculpt a statue of the Madonna and Child, as well as a bas-relief of the Holy Family, to be mounted on the facade over the front doors. (The statue of Our Lady which survived the fire will be displayed in the vestibule, Father Roche notes, as a reminder of the old church.)

This, incidentally, is a much larger building than the original Holy Family Church. While Father Roche admits seating capacity is hard to estimate, he hazards that the total capacity is almost twice that of the previous church "when standing room is included."

At the back of the church is the choir loft, which houses a magnificent 3,000-pipe organ built by Gabriel Kney, and revoiced and augmented by Halbert Gober. The Oratory is renowned for its attentiveness to the liturgy; at Holy Family the immensely rich heritage of the Western rite's sacred music is very much alive. Sung solemn Latin and English novus ordo Masses are celebrated every Sunday, as are solemn vespers.

Who are the Oratorians?

The first Oratorian congregation was founded in Rome by St. Philip Neri in the mid-sixteeth century. It is a religious community, not an order. Each Oratory consists of a group of priests who commit themselves to a life of common prayer, worship, and the care of souls in a particular location. There they remain, if all goes well, until the end of their earthly days.

It was Cardinal John Henry Newman who brought the Oratory to England, founding the first Oratorian congregation in Birmingham in 1845. And through his love of Cardinal Newman, Fr. Jonathan Robinson learned of the Oratory and felt the call to establish one in Canada.

Father Robinson, a doctor of philosophy who once served as secretary to Cardinal Paul Leger, in fact did found an Oratory in his native city of Montreal in 1975. He and his confreres moved to Toronto in 1979 at the invitation of Cardinal Emmett Carter, who offered them Holy Family in Parkdale.

Today, the Oratorian Fathers are in charge of two parishes, Holy Family and St. Vincent de Paul. They operate a seminary, where philosophy and theology are taught to over 30 students. They run the chaplaincy program at Ryerson Polytechnic University, and are also chaplains to the Missionaries of Charity who live in Parkdale. A food bank, St. Philip's Pantry, is operated under the direction of Brother Ted Ryes, and serves over 100 people, individuals and families, weekly.

Overwhelming generosity

While the Toronto Oratory is undoubtedly a great gift to the Church, its vibrancy is due in no small way to the overwhelming generosity and good will of its parishioners and friends. This good will was particularly evident in the astounding rapidity with which the new church was financed and constructed. Nearly $2 million of the total $5 million cost of the new church has been pledged by parishioners and supporters. With an insurance settlement of $1,320,000 and an Oratory donation of $500,000, it is expected that in five years the debt will have dwindled to just under $700,000.

The rebuilding of Holy Family Church may seem astoundingly rapid from one view, but for the Oratorians, and their parishioners, the last three-and-a-half years were grievously interminable, with week after week of Sunday Masses celebrated in the gymnasium of the adjacent Holy Family school, of daily Mass in the Parkdale United Church, of confessions heard in storage rooms of various kinds, of squeezing two parish congregations into one church for the High Holy Days, and of suffering the constant daily aches and travails, inconveniences little and big, of being so immediately and radically displaced, so wanting of a home. Thus may priests and parishioners now echo together the words of the psalmist: "Grant us joy, 0 Lord, to balance the days when we knew affliction."

Lianne Laurence is the former Managing Editor of Catholic Insight, now a freelance writer.