By Candice Koch, Pastoral Administrative Associate

St. Mary Parish at Fox Valley, SK, celebrated 90 years as a parish with a special Mass on Dec 6, 2020, celebrated by pastor Fr. Francis Appiah-Kubi. The Mass was live streamed so all parishioners and former parishioners could share in the celebration via video, given restrictions on numbers able to gather because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The actual anniversary date for the parish is Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Fox Valley Catholic community was formed in 1911 as a mission of Krassna and became a separate parish under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1930.

In 1929-30, a church was constructed south of the present-day church and was called the “basement church” as the Great Depression had started and money was tight:  they put a roof on the basement and used that until 1944 when the upstairs was finished.

On March 16,1960 construction of the present-day church began and on Oct 10, 1960, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church. On Dec 8, 1960, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Aimé Décosse blessed the new church building (at that time the parish was still part of the Gravelbourg diocese).

Priests from the religious order of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate served the parish until 2003. The parish is now served by diocesan priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon (the parish became part of that diocese in 1998).

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