Father Bob Ouellette grew up in Holy Rosary Parish in the Bathurst and St. Clair area of Toronto. He was ordained in 1968 and has been pastor at St. Joseph's in Beaverton and St. Dominic's in Mississauga, associate pastor at Our Lady of Peace, Our Lady of Sorrows, Blessed Sacrament and St. Jane Frances parishes and was Secretary to Archbishop Pocock. Father Bob attended St. Michael’s College School and the University of Toronto. He was headed for a career in dentistry when he “heard the call” and entered St. Augustine’s Seminary - choosing the pearly gates over pearly whites. When he discovered that following in the Saviour’s footsteps did not include the ability to walk on water, he took up boating. He now spends his summer holidays on his boat on Georgian Bay. In his spare time, he “religiously” does the Globe crossword puzzle and listens to opera.

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Father Miro came to Canada in 1979 having defected from the former Czechoslovakia. He was ordained deacon at Our Lady of Grace in Aurora in 1982 and a priest at St. Michael’s the next year. His ministry has taken him from Mississauga to Markham and from Vancouver Island to here in Newmarket. Not only does Fr. Miro bring an obvious love of people to the parish, but he can speak to them in a number of languages. You can confess your sins (or just converse) to Fr. Miro in Slovak (Czech), Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, a little German and, of course, English. Just to keep the parish amused, he makes an occasional English language error - like suggesting we light the Advent "Reef" or that we help ourselves to the "missiles" at the back of the church. Miro keeps himself fit by spending his day off helping his mother on her small farm up north. Among other things they have grown vegetables, raised chickens, lambs, pigeons, ducks and bees. He loves good food and wine and on Madeleine’s day off he’s the chef-at-large in the rectory.

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Christine Way Skinner has been the catechist at our parish since 1998. After many years of preparing the children of our parish for their sacraments, parents and students alike have come to trust Christine and all the knowledge she has to offer. If you ever have question about Catholicism but were afraid to ask - she is the one to see. Don't let the fact that she is smaller than most of her students fool you. Christine grew up on a farm near Kingston, Ontario and pursued her education at Queen's, St. Francis Xavier (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MDiv) and Regis College (a yet-to-be-completed PhD). She has worked at St. Paul’s in Cambridge, MA, Our Lady of the Airways in Mississauga and the Catholic Information Centre in Toronto. She is married to Michael, who is the Religion Department Head at Sacred Heart. You will see them sitting at the front of the church on Sundays with their six children, hoping that all those sitting behind, watching them try to keep everyone in line, may offer a prayer or two on their behalf! Christine's hobbies include: art, music, gardening, calligraphy, reading, stamp collecting, talking and playing with her kids.

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Jean Lashley is a long time member of the parish with her husband Jim and their four children. Jean’s ministry at St. John’s began in 1975 when she joined the choir. In her words, she has had the good fortune to be able to spend many years at home playing with her family and neglecting her housework. Over the years, Jean has worked a bit in the legal field, volunteered with school and parish groups, and been involved with social service agencies such as Rose of Sharon and the Newmarket and District Community Living Association. For the last four and a half years, she has worked with St. John's, St. Elizabeth Seton and Holy Martyrs of Japan in the development and coordination of parish social ministry. If she had any time off, her hobbies might include playing the piano, walking in the woods, patronizing the arts, catching up on the latest good books and spending more time with friends and family.

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David Jafelice has been involved in parish music ministry since the 70s. His involvement in Toronto’s liturgical music community extends far beyond the music itself. For many years David served on the executive board of the Liturgical Musicians Association. More recently, he provided design, typesetting and layout services for their quarterly newsletter Laudemus. David has delivered workshops for church musicians and has also written for the National Bulletin on Liturgy published by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a graduate of St. Michael's Choir School and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music where he studied organ and conducting. David founded the Anno Domini Chamber Singers and served as its conductor from 2000 to 2005. He has held the position of Director of Music at St. John’s since June 1999 where he shares his musical talent and liturgical expertise. David also created and manages this website. He is a free lance musician in the Toronto Archdiocese and is a musician of great versatility. His repertoire ranges from the more traditional liturgical music he loves, to that which he will endure under duress, such as the questionable but much beloved by some Eucharist favourite - "The Belonging Song".

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Joyce Upjohn has been a member of this parish since the day she was baptised here as an infant. (Joyce wasn't forthcoming about the actual year!) She has lived and worked in Newmarket all her life - fourteen years of which she spent working as receptionist and secretary at St. John's. Since her retirement, she has continued to work in the office on Fridays. Her hobbies include spending time with friends and family, reading, and chauffeuring her aged dog, Angel, back and forth to the vet. Joyce has three children (two girls and a boy), three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

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If the church is decorated beautifully, you can bet that Madeleine Burke had a hand in it. Madeleine moved to Toronto from England as young child. Then, when she was eleven, she moved to Newmarket where she has lived ever since. Here she married life-long Ontario Street resident Ivan Burke with whom she had two children (Erin & Brendan). She attended the original St. John Chrysostom Elementary School (located at our current parish centre) and St. Joseph's Morrow Park High School. Madeleine is a woman of many, many talents. She has worked as in professions ranging from real estate to restaurant manager, but her well-rounded career begins and ends here on Ontario Street. She began her working life as a secretary and bookkeeper for the Newmarket Separate School Board in 1968 in the building that now houses the parish centre. Since 1993, she has worked as the parish housekeeper (or, more accurately - domestic engineer). She has been a member of the Catholic Women's League since 1979, and was also their North York Regional Chair. In her spare time she sews, cooks, paints, gardens, and reads.

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Camera shy, Leo Lopez shares a common occupational inclination with Father Bob. Back in Nicaragua, where he was born, he, too, studied to be a dentist. This career was cut short when he emigrated to Canada in 1987. He became a Canadian citizen in the spring of 2004. Since 1990, Leo has been caretaker at St. John's and is well on his way to canonization because of the way he cheerfully and willingly takes care of everyone’s messes around the church! His other interests include weightlifting, boxing, and baseball. Leo’s idea of heaven is a banquet of juicy 12 oz steaks and a huge dessert table after which someone else cleans up. He has three children and a wife, Marilei. In 2005, he became the proud grandparent of his first grandchild - Salma.

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