In its heyday, St. Willibrord’s was one of the largest English-speaking parishes in Canada. But by the 21st century, things had changed—weekly attendance had dropped significantly. By spring 2022, after the pandemic, we were down to just 25–30 people at Sunday Mass.

Sensing a need for a bold shift, the late Fr. Robert and our vision team felt the Spirit calling us to move from simply maintaining the parish to truly living out our mission. That’s when Fr. Robert reached out to Fr. Mike at St. Ignatius, and together they launched our first Missionary Partnership.

In 2022, around 30 parishioners from St. Ignatius—including musicians, greeters, Alpha leaders, and others—answered the call to help breathe new life into St. Willibrord’s and serve the Verdun community. Today, Sunday attendance has grown to around 200 people. But even more importantly, lives are being changed—people are encountering Jesus and growing in relationship with Him. And now, we’re preparing to send out a new team to help bring renewal to another parish.