ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON

On September 14, 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized, becoming the first American born person so honoured. An Episcopalian at birth in 1774, she converted to Catholicism while mourning her husband’s death in Italy. Known as the mother of the U.S. parochial school system, she devoted much of her ministry to education until her death in 1821. for further details, please refer to a detailed entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia. As well, you should visit St. Elizabeth Seton Shrine website.

THE NEW PARISH

With only one Catholic parish serving a rapidly expanding population in the Newmarket area, the need for a sister parish to St. John Chrysostom was clear. Thus it was that St. Elizabeth Seton Parish came into being in the fall of 1986 with the appointment of Father Matthew Robbertz as Pastor. Father Steve Coates joined the parish as Associate Pastor while Larry Rogers served as Deacon. For the first few years, Masses were held at Sacred Heart Catholic High School and at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church. The picture above shows the installation of Fr. Matt (right) by Bishop Clune, assisted by Father Yake and Deacon Larry.

A Parish Steering Committee was formed in October, 1986 and from this initial group, a Building Committee was established in February, 1987. Eventually, the Steering Committee evolved into a Parish Council with formal elections taking place in the spring of 1988.

During the first part of 1987, the Building Committee concerned itself with examining various site options, eventually settling on the current Leslie Street location. A number of demographic studies were developed in order to convince the Chancery office of the need for a complete Parish Complex comprised of church, assembly hall and rectory. At the same time, various fund raising activities in support of the building project were lauched by other newly established groups.

The newly opened St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic School became our second temporary home in November, 1988, with Father Rick McKnight assisting Fr. Matt with weekend Masses.

The planning momentum picked up again in 1989 when the Chancery office accepted the generous offer one of our parishioners, John Bloye, to donate his services as Architect for the project. Thus began the task of developing conceptual plans for the church complex.

By the summer of 1990, the Chancery office agreed that the project could proceed provided that the parish raise $750,000 and that the total project cost not exceed $2.2 million. On July 30, 1990, Bishop Wall approved the project, with Ryan Construction Co. as the general contractor. This photograph, taken September 16, 1990, shows Michael Carl, 8, of Newmarket digging deep with a little help from Father Rick McKnight at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Newmarket. Overlooking the ceremony is Fr. Matthew Robbertz (right), St. John’s pastor Father Steve Coates and Deacon Larry Rogers.

THE PARISH CENTRE

The floor plan shown above depicts the layout or the Church Complex. The Foyer provides access to all the major areas and invites people to enter the main body of the Church.

Inside the stained glass doors are the Baptismal font, the Rooms of Reconcilliation and the oils for the Annointing of the Sick. The faithful recall their Baptism by blessing themselves with the water from the font. Architectural attention has been given to Baptism by the shape of the walls and the skylight. The overhead beam is like an axel, linking the Baptismal Font with the Eucharistic Table. Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel to the left of the main foyer is a lasting memorial of the previous Mission Church in Sharon. The Chapel, where the daily Mass is celebrated, houses the Tabernacle for the keeping and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Shrine area serves as a devotional place with statues of Mary and our patron, St. Elizabeth Seton.

The stained glass windows were designed and executed by Gerald Mesterom Stained Glass Studios in Ottawa. The six windows in the Nave symbolize the six sacraments culminating in a Eucharistic theme in the steeple.

The Church proper has a ceiling height of 15 feet at the main entrance, and 28 feet above the Alter. The steeple over the alter rises 70 feet above ground level. The maximum number of rows and pews in the church is sixteen, with four rows being reversible, to face the rear of the Church for celebrations of Baptism. One meeting room, approximately 400 ft? serves as a “quiet room” off the Nave area.

Seton Hall has a maximum clear ceiling height of 13 feet and is structurally prepared for a folding partition to divide the hall into two separate areas.

The Church assembly has eleven furnaces. Six serve the Church, one heats the General Office, and four serve Seton Hall. A twelfth furnace heats the Rectory. All heating is below ground with floor registers. There is no overhead ductwork, other than miscellaneous return air systems and exhaust fans for washroom areas.

The church complex sits on approximately 2.5 acres of land with a parking capacity of over 190 cars. All facilities are designed for convenient wheelchair access, including meeting rooms, washrooms, Seton Hall and parking.

The Church has a P.A. system, with four wall speakers and remote speakers in Meeting Room No. 1, the Narthex Area, Seton Hall and the Rectory. The Alter is served by two wireless microphones, with facilities for P.A. jacks in five other areas, including the choir and Baptistry.

Below the flooring and carpet is a complete loop antenna to assist the hard of hearing when they are seated in any location within the Church.

The organ is an electronic Allen digital computer organ with three manual keyboards and a full pedal keyboard. The organ sound is distributed through 14 speakers behind the Alter, made up of two base cabinets and twelve speaker cabinets. In addition, there are six more speakers in the ceiling area, six speakers in the ceiling towards the back of the Church, and six in the ceiling over the choir area.

The Architect of the Church Complex was John Bloye, an associate member of the firm Zeidler roberts, Partnership Architects. The Structural Engineers were Dowdell, Pal, Ellis, Shim & Associates; the Mechanical / Electrical Consultant was the Flanagan Group, and Richard & B.A. Ryan served as the General Contractor.