Calgary's Silver Springs district attracted few Euro-Canadian settlers until the mid-1930s. During the 1960s, urban subdivisions began to invade the area's farmland. In 1977, Bishop Paul O'Byrne founded a new Calgary parish to serve some 430 Catholic families living west of Sarcee Trail NW. Most of these families lived in the thriving neighbourhoods of Ranchlands and Silver Springs. The remainder of the parish was still populated largely by 'gophers, cattle and horses.' Founding pastor Fr. Stan Henke first celebrated Mass with his new congregation at Silver Springs Elementary School. In 1978, pastor and parishioners assembled a temporary meeting place from six ATCO trailers. By the decade's end, however, as urban homes continued to sprout in and beyond Silver Springs and Ranchlands, the expanding congregation had far outgrown their little 'portable Church.' In 1984, Fr. Henke and his parishioners erected a permanent place of worship at 541 Silvergrove Drive. The commodious, energy-efficient facility boasted a fully integrated sound system with a fine organ, and a maintenance-free brick and stucco exterior.

The Church rested on ground that years before had borne witness to the power of hope, charity and community spirit. In 1944, a massive grass fire engulfed the farming colony of Silver Spring, destroying many local families' material possessions. After an emergency contingent of some 700 Calgary residents, 200 soldiers and 1,090 airmen had finally halted the inferno, the staff of the Calgary Herald organized a relief fund to which Calgarians donated so generously that volunteers were able to rebuild the burned-out homes. Architecturally, St. Peter's Church honoured well this chapter in Silver Springs history, and spoke eloquently of the hopes and aspirations of the Church congregation. The building resembled the barque of St. Peter, and it consciously embraced the surrounding neighbourhood rather than standing apart from it. A noted sculptor once remarked that art acquires only part of its significance from its creator: Whether or not it attains full status as a thing of beauty depends in good part on what time and other people put into it. By this standard, St. Peter's Church was potentially a great work of art when parishioner Gerry Dourado designed it in 1982. Over the next two decades, as the physical centre of a faith community dedicated to serving God, the Church, fellow parishioners and neighbours both in and beyond the bounds of St. Peter's Parish, the building fully realized its early promise.

When St. Peter's congregation first came together to celebrate Mass with Fr. Henke, they assembled as individuals. Although linked by a common faith, they were not yet members of a working community. The parish had no formal lay ministries or outreach programmes. While a small, dedicated group of volunteers organized lectors, altar servers, Eucharistic ministers and music for Sunday services, attending Mass was for most parishioners the extent of their involvement in parish life. In short order, however, the people of St. Peter's began to pool their time and talent in common cause. As they became more deeply involved in all aspects of parish life, worshiping the Lord and expressing their faith by serving His people became communal as well as individual experiences. In 1978, parish women founded a council of the Catholic Women's League. In the early 1980s, under Fr. Henke's guidance, Council 8146 of the Knights of Columbus, the RCIA programme, a Sunday school and a discussion group for mothers all began operation. The mothers' support group, which focused on parental, marital and interpersonal skills, soon became a model for other similar groups in the city. During Fr. L. Bagnall's pastorate, from 1989 to 1992, St. Peter's acquired an efficient office staff and lay people assumed greater responsibility for administering the fast-growing parish. After Fr. Brian Hubka came to the parish in 1993, parishioners began gathering for their own outdoor Procession of the Cross each Good Friday.

By the year 2000, St. Peter's Parish Council was overseeing a wide range of social, educational and liturgical programmes. A large group of dedicated individuals now participated directly in the celebration of the Mass through liturgical ministries. Through the parish's four choirs, over 100 parishioners added immeasurably to the communal experience of worship. Other lay volunteers directed a weekly rosary group. An informal gathering of mothers and home-schooled children convened regularly to make rosaries for people in and beyond the parish, and the Mothers' Support Group continued to offer parish mothers marital and child-rearing guidance. The parish maintained close liaisons with area schools, as it had since its inception, and during the 1990s parish volunteers instituted a number of new programmes specifically tailored to the needs of its youngest members. In 1991, for example, St. Peter's introduced a children's liturgy for boys and girls aged five to eleven, and in 1996 Mrs. Raymonde Bloy organized a ministry dedicated to the parish's adolescent and young adult population. With Mrs. Bloy's direction, young parishioners, their parents and the congregation at large had soon molded the fledgling ministry into a dynamic organization that hosted a variety of spiritual, educational and social activities, many of which involved other Christian youth groups in the city. Parishioners' service to others was not restricted to members of the St. Peter's congregation. The parish routinely made its Church grounds available for neighbourhood youth activities. Members contributed generously to the Annual Bishop's Appeal, and in 1995 formed a local chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The concern of both Fr. Bagnall and Fr. Hubka for the plight of spiritually and materially disadvantaged people around the world generated 'Holy Childhood' and 'Mission Sunday' collections, which provided ongoing financial support for missionary work.

At century's end, the demographic growth that had characterized the parish throughout its brief history showed no signs of abating. The increase was so rapid and sustained that many at St. Peter's were now recommending that the Diocese erect a new parish in northwest Calgary. Although its geographical borders had not changed since 1977, St. Peter's now embraced 2,320 families drawn from an urban landscape that was advancing towards Cochrane with astounding speed. In 2001, the list of residential districts that had appeared since the founding of St. Peter's included Hawkwood, Scenic Acres, Citadel, Arbour Lake, Tuscany, Royal Oak and Rocky Ridge. In the year 2000, housing construction companies were converging on yet another tract of subdivided land known as 'Blue Ridge.' As St. Peter's pastor and parishioners prepared to welcome additional members into their congregation, the need to renovate and expand the parish's physical facilities was clear. Pews crowded during Sunday Masses, and meeting rooms and corridors filled throughout the week with busy parishioners certainly bespoke an impending financial and organizational challenge. However, they were also a cause for joy. They left little doubt that St. Peter's Church at the dawn of the new millennium was home to a truly dynamic community, united in a faith that transcended solitary worship and embraced a common desire to share God's message through active Christian service.

Source: Winds of Change: A History of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary since 1968
by Norman Knowles
Publisher: R.C. Diocese of Calgaryand St. Mary's College
Date: 2004