Our History

Fr. John McNulty, an Irishman born in 1807 in County Mayo and ordained a Priest in 1834 in New York City was working in the home district of York, Peel and Simcoe.  His task was to minister to the widely scattered catholic population and to build churches in these areas.  His heroic efforts lead to the construction of Schools and Churches and the establishment of parishes in those three counties.  On July 18th 1858, St. Joseph Church was consecrated by the Second Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Armand-Francois de Charbonnel.  The Church was said to be the finest in the diocese outside of Toronto.

 In 1913 St-Joseph became a mission of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Port Credit later to become a Mission of St. Mary's in Brampton. It was during those years that a parish hall was built on the brow of the hill.  1956 will see the return of a resident priest in Streetsville and the formal erection of St. Joseph as a parish.  A house was purchased on Main Street and Fr. James Keelor became its first resident pastor in modern times.   Under his pastorship St. Joseph grew in population as new immigrants settled in Streetsville.  St. Joseph was blessed with the arrival of a large number of immigrants from Portugal who, today still, play a key role in the life of our parish community.

 In 1985, shortly after Fr. Fred Foley arrival as Pastor of St. Joseph an electrical fire rendered the Church unusable for worship.  Through many ordeals this led to the building of a new St. Joseph Church on the current site.  Allying the old and the new this church is an illustration of the Church's capacity to bring into modern times the treasures of Her tradition.

 St. Joseph's is built of living stones… they are those who worship here and those who visit us, those who work and volunteer here.  Together we build a magnificent temple to the Glory of God.  A sign that His Kingdom is near.  May God bless us all as we continue this journey of faith.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

      Peace,   Fr. Paul Dobson