A short history of Madonna Della Risurrezione (MDR) in Ottawa
OTTAWA – As the child of immigrant parents, and an immigrant child myself, I grew up at the feet of parents that were always balancing the dynamic of a new adventure – intended to increase economic opportunity, social mobility and political freedoms AND the second guessing, the loneliness, the lack of language skills and the lack of knowledge of the institutional, social and political norms of their new home.
Far from the world they had known and from which they had made a very conscious decision to uproot themselves and their families for a ‘better life’, these immigrants were disconnected from all that had formed their experience. The lucky one’s emigrated with entire extended families, but even then there was a something very significant missing in the social and spiritual lives.
How did these new Canadians survive and thrive? In addition to family, they looked for comfort to some of the institutions that had given meaning to their lives and created a sense of community and belonging most had grown up in very turbulent times straddling two world wars and great economic and social dislocation. For Italians of that generation, the Church and pastoral care provided a bedrock, not only for their spiritual needs but for a sense of home, community and belonging. It helped provide a place for the familiar, a way to have their new reality explained to them in terms they could understand explained to them in a language that was their own. The Church, the parish, the parish priest were the foundation of community.
Ottawa was no exception to this reality. First, through Saint Anthony’s Parish where Italian immigration was concentrated in the first half of the 20th century and by the late 1970’s through the strong request coming from the Italian community, a new parish was established through the hard work of people like Alice Bartolo. She worried about the spiritual welfare of Italian families and took to heart her advocacy for the welfare of children. Pastor Barry McGrory of Holy Cross parish recognized that many Italian families were needing pastoral services in Italian. In November of 1978, the first Italian Mass was celebrated at St. Victor’s School. On August 28, 1979, Father Anthony Ostan O.M.I.was appointed assistant pastor of Holy Cross parish.
By May 1980, it was recognized that two Italian parishes were needed to serve the growing population of Italians in Ottawa. On April 13, 1984, a Diocesan decree, signed by Archbishop J.A. Plourde, officially granted the Madonna Della Risurrezione the status of Parish. A succession of Bishops and Archbishops believed in and supported the new parish which in the 1981 census had surpassed St Anthony’s in the number of Italian households.
Many years of fund raising, finding and securing a site for the church and construction followed. In January 1989, Father Gilles Comeau was appointed assistant pastor of the new parish. In May 1989, Father Paul Michalak was appointed the pastor of MDR. It was during this time that the first stone for the new church was blessed. The act of faith preceded construction. Finally on September 23, 1990, Marcel Gervais, Archbishop of Ottawa, solemnly blessed the church.
With a new parish, a church completed, the parish continued to grow and prosper. On December 29, 1991, MDR received a new pastor, Reverend Antonio Pannunzi, O.M.I..Father Pannunzi has been the pastor up to this day. In thirty four years, the parish has grown, flourished and changed dramatically and demographically. That is why Father Pannunzi has begun a project of “Per non dimenticarce”, so that the history of this parish in Ottawa is documented and properly recorded. The history of the parish is the history of the Canadian Italian community in Ottawa. The hard work, accomplishments and way parish life contributed to the success of its parishioner will be remembered and celebrated.
Maryantonett Flumian
Maryantonett Flumian is a former federal deputy minister who worked with the publisher of the *Corriere Canadese*, the Hon. Joe Volpe
