St. Mary's & St. Gregory's Parish 2.25

History
St. Mary’s
Early Roman Catholics in the Port Morien area, formerly known as Cow Bay, called upon services of travelling Anglican clergy from St. George’s church in Sydney for administration of the sacraments. The first official mention of a Roman Catholic presence in the area was when Fr. Henry MacKeagney reported in 1825 that he had baptized 15 children in a small settlement called Cow Bay.
Before a church was built, it is believed that mass was celebrated in a log cabin and a private home, owned by a Phalen family in the Sandbar area of the community.
In the early 1860s, with the growth and prosperity brought by coal mining activity in Cow Bay, came a call by the faithful for the construction of a church. The Presbyterian and the Roman Catholic, as well as the Anglican and Baptist churches were all built in the next few years. A Roman Catholic Church and glebe were built on what is now Birch Street. The church was dedicated two weeks after Confederation, on July 14, 1867, and was to be known as St. Mary’s.
The church would last almost a century, replaced by the present structure, opened in 1965. The Glebe was used by parish priests until 1926, until it was sold to the Crosby family. Fr. Peter MacMullin, on behalf of the parish, bought the house on the adjacent lot owned by J.T. Irwin, a local merchant. It stood until 1985, when a new glebe house was built when Fr. Jake Andrea was pastor. The last resident priest, Fr. Pius Hawley, lived in it until 2000, and a number of years later it was sold.
The Parish Hall, originally owned by a Catholic organization, the League of the Cross, served the parish for many years, until it was torn down in 1977. The old cemetery is situated adjacent to the where the old church once stood, and the new cemetery, opened in 1962, is located at nearby Black Brook.
The first priest was Fr. John Shaw, who visited the parish as a mission church from Glace Bay. The first resident priest was Fr. Daniel MacIntosh, who arrived in 1873. The longest serving priests included Fr. Duncan P. MacDonald, who served from 1880 to 1884, and again from 1893 to 1902; Fr. Charles Brady from 1905 to 1925, Fr. Peter MacMullin from 1926 to 1957, and Fr. Joe Cotter from 1957 until 1969. The parish can be proud that Fr. Joseph Cochrane, one of their own, was called to the priesthood and would serve for many years in New Brunswick.

St. Gregory’s
With the opening of the Dominion No. 6 colliery in 1904 in what is now called Donkin, it was anticipated by the priest in St. Mary’s, Fr. Ronald H. MacDougall, that a new church and glebe should be built there. A foundation was poured and a glebe built. Fr. MacDougall had hoped to use the large acreage available to him for farming. For a number of reasons, including the transfer of Fr. MacDougall, and a less than expected influx of faithful, the Roman Catholic Church was never built, and eventually the glebe was converted to a church in 1912. In the meantime, church services were held there, and it even housed the families of coal miners who were evicted from their homes during the strike of 1909.
For many years, the church was referred to as the “Schooner Pond Mission”. After the arrival of Father Cotter in 1957, the church was more appropriately named St. Gregory’s.
The parish cemetery is located a few hundred meters behind the church.
The faithful of St. Gregory’s can proudly state that they have had three priests ordained. They include Fr. John Hector MacGregor, who saw distinguished service in the Canadian military, and later in the Diocese of Antigonish, Fr. Wilfred Borden, a member of the Oblate Fathers who served in Notre Dame University in Indiana, and Fr. Dan MacInnis whose faithful ministry was in the diocese of Antigonish.