Saint Mark the Evangelist, patron of our parish, was probably the first to start gathering and organizing the oral and written traditions about Jesus. He wrote the first Gospel.

Saint Mark was a man of extraordinary talents, talents brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit in the service of the Church. As a writer, he has a great eye for detail, and a gift for organizing his material effectively. His gospel is the shortest of the four – only sixteen chapters. Mark wrote some time between 55 A.D and 70 A.D., some twenty to thirty-five years after the death of Jesus. He wrote for the community of Christians, mostly converts from Judaism, and his gospel answers the question: “Who is Jesus?” We find the response to this question in the words of the Roman soldier on Calvary” “This was the son of God.”

St. Mark became the first bishop of Alexandria and he is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. The lion is the traditional symbol of St. Mark, who, with open mouth, boldly speaks the word of God, Jesus Christ, throughout the universe until the end of time.

We celebrate St. Mark’s feast on April 25th.

St. Mark, the patron of our parish, provided the inspiration for the design of the church. His name and his writings denote boldness, simplicity and directness.

Approaching the exterior, the new building forms a low, flat base, from which rises the church building itself. Our eyes are drawn upward by the roof line to the cross high above. This is in keeping with the theme articulated by Henry Fernandes, the original architect in 1977.

Our new space is that of reverent simplicity. The building welcomes us to our place of worship in the Nave. This is our time for a new beginning. As we open the front door we enter an inviting space with rich carpet which offers two paths that can be taken. To the right is a tiled floor leading to rooms for day to day use. To the left, the carpet leads us to St. Mark’s statue. Tall white columns separate the windows and create a long corridor to draw us forward. As we proceed, the space grows ever larger to enter into a gathering area with large windows looking into the Sanctuary.

Approaching the open Nave doors, our eyes are once again drawn forward by deep burgundy carpet to focus on the altar. Lowering the altar allowed us to bring it forward and become closer to the congregation. The marble table symbolizes the sacrificial stone.

St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church was established around 1977 in Calgary, Alberta. During the summertime in 1977, when the church was being built, everyone gathered after Mass and began talking about a plaque or sign for the building. Originally, the plan was for brass nameplate embedded into a rock; however, that ended up being too expensive so it was eventually decided to use a stonecutter. Either way, the church needed a suitable rock, so Tony and Karel Puhan drove around that afternoon. In the area that is now 32 Avenue and 64 Street (east of Temple) they discovered a lot of sandstone formations; in particular, 3 blocks all stacked together – 2 small ones and the large one that ended up the block used for the church. Apparently, the smaller ones were also used.