A Brief Parish History

St. Joseph Parish, Guelph was established in 1952 with 300 families in the parish. The original parish rectory was located at 310 Paisley Rd. At this time mass was celebrated in St. Joseph School.

The first St. Joseph’s Church in Guelph was a prefab church erected in 1953 on land donated by the Schario family. The present rectory was completed in 1954, and Office addition and renovations to the Rectory took place in 1985.

In 1964 the present church was opened at a cost of $300,000 to accommodate the growing number of parishioners.

In 1980 the Church was remodeled to meet new liturgical requirements of Vatican II. In 1987 an Electronic carillon was installed. 1989 Handicapped access was provided to the church hall. 1990 a new electronic-pipe organ was dedicated. 1991 a new long-term roof was installed on the church. January of 2002 the interior of the church underwent a major renovation that included a large stained glass window depicting St. Joseph our patron, air conditioning, new lighting, carpet and other decorative features. The work was completed by Easter 2002.

The parishes Spiritual leaders over the years were:

- Msgr. Walter J. Hawkins (1952-1961)
- Father John A. Mattice (1961-1974)
- Father Victor W. McNamara (1974-1983)
- Father John G. Lambertus (1983-1994)
- Father Dennis J. Noon (1994-2003)
- Father Kevin Cull (2003-2004)
- Father Ken Miskiewicz (2004-Present).

The parish has 4 Elementary Schools and 2 High Schools in its boundaries and 65 Public School Students attending Religious Education Classes on Tuesday evenings from September to May. We offer a Children’s Liturgy Program during the 10:15am Mass on Sunday from September to May with a total of 125 children attending.

The parish now has 4125 registered families, with an average Sunday Eucharist attendance of 2000, making St. Joseph’s the largest parish in the City of Guelph. The following is a brief outline of the number of Sacraments administered in the parish in 2005, 153 Baptism’s, 196 First Communion’s, 166 Confirmation’s, 27 Marriage’s, 46 Funeral’s and 9 new catholic’s received through the RCIA program.

St. Joseph’ s is very proud of our many hardworking volunteers that make this a very warm, welcoming and active parish. Without them we could not do all the things we do. The parish has an active Catholic Women’s League (established 1952), St. Vincent de Paul Society (established 1958), Parish Council (established 1962), Knights of Columbus (established 1991).

St. Joseph's Church - 2006

Stainglass Window of our Patron, St. Joseph