Saint John the Evangelist Parish celebrates 125th anniversary

August 27, 2026 · 0 Comments

By KATHRYN FRASER

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Saint John the Evangelist Parish marked the 125th anniversary of its church on August 22, celebrating with members of the community who came out to show their support.

Established in 1901 the Saint John the Evangelist Parish celebrated its first mass on August 4, led by Archbishop Denis O’Connor, the first member to lead a mass.

Since then, there have been several weekly masses and other ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings, first communion, confirmation and many more special moments have taken place in the church.

The event was held on the church property located at 16066 The Gore Road in Caledon, taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the activities and barbecue and then a celebratory mass at 5 p.m. that was led by Bishop Ivan Camillieri.

There was a wide variety of games and activities for children including face painting, a bouncy castle, blow up axe throwing, bean bag toss, and even more.

One main highlight of the event was the dunk tank where attendees were given the opportunity to hit a target with a bean bag and dump a bucket of water on a number of participants, including Father John, the past pastor of the parish, and Father Allyn Rose, the current pastor.

The celebration also included many groups, which hosted special booths to speak about their programs, including the EDGE leadership program, Knights of Columbus and the Young and Restless, a social spiritual service that is offered every second Sunday of the month for those ages 18 to 35.

During the event, many community members came in and out to support and celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Parish.

At around 12 noon there was a barbecue where a variety of options were provided for attendees, from sausages to burgers to other items, including salad and vegetables.

While this was not the ideal plan as lunch was supposed to be catered by a food truck, the members of the parish were able to adapt and make sure that even though there was no food truck the other food that was originally being sold would be provided for free instead.

Dorota Bzdzikot, organizer for the event, said she was very grateful for the volunteers and other members that volunteered to help and take the time to help serve others or grill on the barbecue.

“We had quite a few people who volunteered to help out anyway they can once they heard what had happened”, says Bzdzikot.

Despite the small mishap that none of the attendees seemed to mind, everyone who attended the event shared their love and appreciation that the church has brought to them.

Whether it was a sense of belonging, connecting with others, helping with grief or providing fun activities, it seems that every member, whether long time or new attendee, all are welcome and encouraged to become part of the Parish.

“St. John’s is a beautiful and historic country church, and we are so thankful to have people come and celebrate with us to honour this building and the people who built it”, says Bzdzikot.