Parish History
St. Gabriel's Parish was established in North York in 1951. At that time it included an area now covered by the parishes of St. Timothy, Holy Spirit, St. Bartholomew, St. Barnabas, St. Paschal Baylon, St. Bonaventure, and Blessed Trinity. The cornerstone was laid in 1952 and the church was consecrated on June 7, 1953.
Like the whole area of North York, St. Gabriel's has grown over the years. The congregation is made up of people from many lands and our racial diversity enriches our parish family life. Because of the increased population in the area, due to the new subway along Sheppard Avenue, St. Gabriel's is in the process of building a new parish church. The new church is meant to be environmentally friendly with a form of solar heating. Most of our parking will be underground and the roof of our underground parking is a garden. In place of a parish hall we will have a large ' gathering place' along the east side of the main church. The 'new' St. Gabriel's will affirm and emphasize the warm and inclusive sense found in the parish community over the years as it links the community of Faith with the community of Earth. The Sun will play through skylights in our worship, the Garden will not simply be beautiful, but also instructive about our interrelationship with all living beings. Our sense of the sacred space will extend beyond the walls to encompass the illuminating green of the Garden. The emphasis of our new church will be the connection between the human and the rest of creation stressing the beauty and wonder of creation and the place of the human within the all life communities sharing the Earth.
St. Gabriel's is served by the Passionists. The Passionists were founded in Italy by St. Paul of the Cross in 1747. We were meant to be itinerant preachers, preaching parish missions and retreats. The main theme of our preaching is on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Through this preaching we hope to keep alive the memory of the Passion of Jesus. The motto of the Passionists is "May the Passion of Christ Be Always In Our Hearts." The Passionists work in 75 countries around the world. We encourage our parishioners to pray for vocations so that the ministry of the Passionists will continue to enrich the life of the Church. So often when we think of the Passion, we think of the physical sufferings of Jesus. In recent years we've come to see the Passion of Jesus endured in the sufferings of humanity and more recently we can see the Passion of Jesus as we witness it in the Passion of the Earth - as we see planet Earth diminished and endangered by the way we humans live upon the earth. The role of the Passionists at St. Gabriel's is to make people more aware of this 'passion of the earth' as they struggle to live their lives as Christian men and women.