History of St. Nicholas Parish

St. Nicholas Parish was formally established in August 1998, with the appointment of its first pastor, Father Donald Potts by Archbishop Adam Exner. The establishment of the new parish followed an “outreach initiative” to North Langley and Fort Langley residents who lived in the then expanding Township of Langley suburbs of Walnut Grove, Willloughby and Yorkson, the “northern end” of St. Joseph’s Parish on Fraser Highway in Langley City.

During this outreach time and briefly following the assignment of its first pastor, Sunday Mass was held at the Fort Langley Fine Arts School, rented from the Langley School Board. Father Tom Shiel then in residence at St. Joseph’s officiated at Sunday Mass and often Father Joseph Ponti, the then Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Langley. It was not long in time before the parish outgrew this facility, and moved to the West Langley Community Hall on 208 Street, enticed by a cheaper location rental from the TOL.

This would remain the site of celebration of Sunday mass until the completion of the first new building on the present parish site, located in the 20700 block of 87^th Avenue, in Walnut Grove. Additionally, for a period of time, the children of the parish received their religious education at the Ecole des Voyageurs facility at 216 Street & 88 Avenue.

In April of 1999, Father Richard Gagnon was appointed the Administrator of Saint Nicholas Parish. Father Gagnon continued the work of developing the new parish community by establishing the Pastoral Council and Building Committee and by making plans for the first building project. 

During this early phase of the parish history daily morning Mass was celebrated in the rectory itself. The rectory was also the site of the first administrator’s office, which started off in the residence’s garage, which was then re-designed as a general reception-office area, with a separate semi-private office for the parish priest.  

Father Gagnon, at the time, aside from being the Administrator for Saint Nicholas, was also the parish priest for an adjoining Abbotsford Parish! He was a very busy man.

This was also the era of the “Mass in the Bag”.  Operating from the parish rectory, the early Sacristans would prepare all that was essential and needed in a large size hockey bag, vested in the care and control of Ray Picard, and always driven by Ray to the various sites where parish Masses were being celebrated.

After his appointment as Pastor in August 1999, Father Mark Hagemoen continued to foster the growth of the new parish. The Parish Finance Committee was established and plans to build the multi-purpose Parish Centre (first building project) moved ahead rapidly. Meanwhile, weekday Mass was offered and other parish activities were delivered out of Maranatha House, a private Catholic retreat facility run from the home of Gabor and Jenny Horvath. The use of Maranatha House was initiated by Father Mark Hagemoen.

The parish continued to grow and a second Sunday Mass was offered at the West Langley Hall. An additional Sunday evening Mass was offered at Maranatha House, ministering especially to the students of the new Catholic college, Redeemer Pacific College (now named Canadian Pacific College), located across the street nearby at Trinity Western University. 

A feature of the parish centre in its construction was the use of wood logged from the site. Once logged the wood was milled onsite by a sawyer. Once prepared all the wood was then used in the construction of the vertical supports and exposed internal tresses within the parish centre itself. The wood, upon which the altar marble stone sits and the tabernacle, are the stumps of two of the large trees felled to construct the parish centre. 

Father Hagemoen personally loved chain saws and many an early parish gathering saw parishioners dutifully following Father along as he cleared a pathway through the property. Not all parishioners may be aware that the current church property was an approximate five-acre heavily-wooded parcel of land that had two bungalows on the property. The original rectory along 88th Avenue was one of those bungalows.

The Saint Nicholas Parish community held its first event, an Advent Reconciliation service in the almost complete Parish Centre building on December 22, 2000. That Christmas season was highlighted by a series of beautiful liturgies held in a building with unpainted walls and plywood floors. The Township of Langley Occupancy Permit arrived at the very last minute! 

The parish centre building was completed in March 2001 and blessed by Archbishop Adam Exner on May 18, 2001.To commemorate the significance of the building of the community’s parish centre in the Jubilee Year of 2000, a year dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, a statue depicting the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was commissioned and placed in the foyer of the new parish centre building. 

 In August 2004 Father John McCarthy was appointed as the third pastor of Saint Nicholas. With his leadership, the parish community worked together to eliminate the building debt and looked forward to future building plans: Phase 2. There continued to be a strengthening of the bonds of community through the flourishing senior’s ministry, religious education, child, youth and family programs. The number of families registered in the parish grew from 440 in 2002 to 620 in 2008.  It now stands at 650 in 2018.

December 2008 marked the 10th anniversary of St. Nicholas Parish. We spent that year celebrating the many gifts and blessings of our community. On December 6, 2008 the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the parish came together in worship again with Archbishop Adam Exner in an Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving followed by the ceremonial burning of the mortgage.  During this period of growth the parish received the care and attention of two assistant pastors to Father McCarthy during his tenure. These two priests were Father Gordon Cook and Father Emmanuel Onumadu. 

July 2014 Father Edwin Kulling was appointed as the fourth pastor of St Nicholas Parish. Very soon with Archbishop Michael Miller, Reverend John McCarthy, and Reverend Edwin Kulling, the parish witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 2 of the parish building project, on August 31, 2014. 

The construction of the Phase 2 continued for approximately one year.  September 9, 2015 saw Archbishop Michael Miller attend and officiate at the dedication and official opening of Phase 2 of the parish building project. This event of course was the first showcase event for the Parish Hospitality Committee to demonstrate their skills & versatility for the reception and cutting of the cake by Archbishop Miller, Fathers McCarthy and Kulling. 

Since its opening, the parish’s catering facility is always on the go. The new building is constantly in use. We had Canadian Pacific College (CPC) use classrooms as part of their educational campus before they transferred back to the Trinity College Campus near Fort Langley. Multiple classrooms see regular children’s religious education programs, and a plethora of other parish related groups make use of them. The Pope Francis reception rooms “A” & “B” are used for funerals, baptisms and parish wedding receptions. The gymnasium is also rented out to Walnut Grove area sports clubs, to assist with the parish’s building debt.

November 2017 was the commencement of Phase 3 of the parish’s building plan: The Rectory ground was broken for the construction in the southwest quarter of the property. This project was completed August 2018. 

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3