St. Mary is the Roman Catholic Parish that serves Provost, Alberta and the surrounding area. We are part of the Archdiocese of Edmonton.
St. Mary also serves as the Administration Parish for Corpus Christi parish in Consort, AB.
In the early 1900’s, Provost was a mission of St. Norbert’s, Rosenheim. About once a month, Mass was celebrated in Provost for around six families.
On August 18, 1912, Father Forner blessed the partially completed church in Provost.
In 1925, the Archdiocese of Edmonton assigned Rev. Donald Murphy as the first resident priest at Provost, although he lived in Cadogan until the rectory at Provost was built.
During the 1960’s, St. Joseph’s Cadogan and St. Norbert’s Rosenheim were officially closed and these parishes were amalgamated with Provost. On June 29th, 1969, Archbishop Anthony Jordan, O.M.I. blessed the new St. Mary’s Church in Provost.
In 1996 a ceremony was held at Rosenheim celebrating the restoration and historical significance of St. Norbert’s as Alberta’s largest rural Neo-Gothic Church. In the early 2000’s, Assumption Parish, Bodo, was officially closed, followed by Sacred Heart Parish, Chauvin in 2009.
At the birth of our parish early in the 1900’s, one Oblate missionary priest served an area, which later was served by six resident priests. That number has again dwindled to one priest who currently serves St. Mary’s Parish, Provost and Corpus Christi, Consort.
Another important highlight in our parish history was when Most Rev. Anthony Jordan, Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton, performed the blessing at the official opening of St. Thomas Aquinas School on November 30, 1958. This school, celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2008, still maintains a strong relationship with St. Mary’s Parish.
St. Mary’s Parish celebrated its 100th Anniversary on August 18th, 2012.
From 2012-2018, both St. Mary and Corpus Christi were served by Rev. Mahesh Rathinasami SAC, and in August 2018, we welcomed Rev. Jean-Claude Ndanga CFIC, as our new Pastor.
We are forever grateful to the priests, religious and laity who have gone before us leaving us such a rich heritage. Present and future parishioners continue to build on their foundation to further the spiritual growth of the Church by continuing to actively live their faith through various ministries.