Parish History
Original Church
The parish of St. Pius X was constituted in 1956. Monsignor R.V. MacKenzie, rector of St. Dunstan’s University, was the founding pastor.
By the end of 1956, a modest church with basement hall opened its doors and three years later a new parochial house was added. Ongoing parish growth made larger accommodations necessary and in 1973 the present-day church was completed with the former one becoming a parish centre. Today, with over 2300 families, St. Pius X Parish is the largest in the diocese of Charlottetown.
Mount St. Mary’s, the mother house of the Sisters of Saint Martha, lies within the parish and over the years the sisters have contributed substantially to the life of the parish community. More recently several Sisters of Notre Dame have resided in and enriched parish life.
In 1980 the pastor of the day, Father Faber MacDonald, became the Bishop of Grand Falls, Newfoundland. In 1999 he became Bishop of the Saint John, New Brunswick.
St. Pius X was canonized in 1954, just two years before the founding of the parish. A reform pope (1903-1914), he called for greater participation in the liturgy and restored the high place of liturgical music. In particular he issued a call to the laity to a greater share in the renewal of the Church.