Friends of Dismas

The Friends of Dismas is an organization whose vision is to build a community of hope by enabling people of faith - like ourselves - to get involved in creative and healing ministry to persons touched by crime.

Holy Spirit Parish has an active Friends of Dismas group that meets here every month and all are welcome to participate. Some members have chosen to pray for former inmates, others put together welcome kits for men and women who have been recently released, and, last year, members provided a complete home cooked meal to residents of the Keele Centre on two separate evenings.

Response from the parish for these events was so positive that we have again committed to providing two meals for theKeele Centre on Oct. 24, 2011 and Feb. 20, 2012.

This ministry is celebrated every second Monday at the Keele Centre and is a focal point for the residents. It is the one chance they have to eat together and to experience for a little while what it means to be recognized as a member of a community.

The Keele Centre is a half-way house here in Toronto, run by Corrections Canada, which houses men who are the serving the final stages of their prison term. The idea behind the half-way house is to provide them an opportunity to ease back into the community in a very structured and supervised way that will improve their chances of successfully re-integrating into the community after their full release.

The Sacrament of Baptism in the Community of Holy Spirit

In order to register for the celebration of Baptism in this parish, you will be asked if you are registered and live within the parish boundaries, you will be required to fill out an inquiry form and you will be asked to supply a copy of your baptismal certificate and your child's birth certificate.

A meeting with the parish pastoral worker must take place before being given a date for the parish workshop. Baptism takes place at the Sunday celebration at 4:30 Mass on Saturdays, generally once a month.

Your date for baptism is not assigned until paperwork is completed and the workshop is scheduled.

When you are in hospital, there is a chaplain's service available for you. This office is able to page emergency services for Catholics who are in need of the sacrament of the sick in the cases of serious illness or surgery.

The parishes surrounding a hospital take turns in answering the pages. For those who know they will be entering hospital for serious surgery, make arrangements beforehand in your particular parish so that you can celebrate this sacrament of healing.

Simply call the office to make an appointment