About Us

 St. Catherine of Alexandria Byzantine Catholic Parish is located in a beautiful historical Church in the heart of Bond Head, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario.  Bond Head is the birthplace of Sir William Osler, the "most influential” physician in Canadian history. After his birth in 1849, he attended Trinity Anglican Church, which is now St. Catherine of Alexandria Byzantine Catholic Church. His father Rev. Featherstone Osler built the church in 1839.  The Church is located in a beautiful, historic, quaint century-old building that still has the original stained glass. The building has maintained its original charm and stained glass windows.  

 Dedicated to the heavenly patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the Eastern Catholic Church Parish assumed ownership of Trinity Anglican Church in 2008. St. Catherine of Alexandria Byzantine Catholic Church is founded in the “Byzantine Rite”.  In full communion with the Pope, the Eastern Rite Liturgies, together with the Latin and other Rites share many liturgies and customs and together make up the Catholic Church. St. Catherine's has now grown to have a broader congregation, serving a diversity of parishioners, including many from the Latin Rite.  Guided by its liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, St. Catherine of Alexandria Byzantine Catholic Church is, caring, inclusive, and welcoming to all who attend. Serving Bond Head, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Newmarket and surrounding areas, St. Catherine of Alexandria Church is a small, intimate and meaningful place for prayer, and is home to about 50 families. We celebrate Divine Liturgy as an inclusive and peaceful parish. Families and individuals enjoy the intimate environment and feel "at home” when they are in our church. The small size of the Church provides an atmosphere of meditation and meaningful worship, companionship and caring, and there is a welcoming of all people who visit or join the parish.

On 18 October 1999 the second bishop of the Eparchy of Toronto, Bishop Cornelius assigned Fr. Conrad the task of organizing a Parish in Newmarket to be dedicated to the heavenly patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria. This was in response to a need to find a place of worship for the Byzantine rite families that were in the area. Fr. Conrad visited families and obtained the use of a local Catholic school for divine service, and placed announcements in the media and in the bulletins of local Latin-rite Parishes. He served the first Divine Liturgy in Newmarket on Christmas Day, 25 December 1999. The new community was canonically erected as a Parish as of the stroke of midnight, 1 January 2000. St. Catherine's, Newmarket, became the first Catholic Parish to be established in Canada in the new millennium! Finally, in 2008 the parish found a permanent home in the current church building. Since then, St. Catherine of Alexandria parish has grown to serve many families beyond the original founders.