Rev. A. E. Armstrong

Rev. A.E. Armstrong, the director of Catholic Charities, takes up residence in the Glebehouse and assists with parish work until his appointment as parish priest of St. Margaret Mary's. (Father Armstrong was to become a Iong-serving parish priest of Blessed Sacrament).
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The new pastor was Father A. E. Armstrong, who moved over from St. Margaret Mary's.That seemed natural progression of the time, Blessed Sacrament being second to St. Patrick's in the unofficial hierarchy of English parishes.

Father Armstrong was no stranger.He had lived at the Glebehouse in Father O'Gorman's time, and he had a reputation for both business acumen (before he entered the priesthood t later in life than usual at the time, he worked in banks in Ottawa and Smiths Falls) and his close knowledge of Catholic social agencies which he strongly supported.

He brought his own style, self-deprecating, understanding, a problem-solver and an ecumenist before his time, His father had not been a Catholic, a fact which perhaps accounted for his instinctive understanding of and helpfulness in inter-faith issues.

During the war years, masses were attended by service men and women in the parish who were stationed at Lansdowne Park and Dow's Lake.
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Father Armstrong kept his parish steady during the war years.The numbers of parish members enlisting far exceeded those of the earlier war.And so did the list of those killed in action.Their names, with all the parish's war dead, are remembered on a plaque which Father Armstrong had installed.
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Father Armstrong, the good administrator, nurtured these activities.He did not impose, but the organization knew that the parish priest was not pleased when he found beer bottles on the steps from the basement to the sanctuary on a Saturday morning after a Friday night CYO party.

The stained glass windows on both sides of the nave are a lasting legacy of Father Armstrong.The only stained glass in the church had been the rose window over the main altar.The new windows were installed 20 years after the church was built and after six years of planning.In his persuasive quiet way, Father Armstrong approached parishioners privately to donate individual windows.
...
Father Armstrong (though, like most of the parish's pastors, he was in turn Canon and Monsignor, he preferred "Father" and eschewed purple), was parish priest longer by far than anyone before or since.He "retired" only In January 1961 after 22 years of remarkable service.

His successor, Rev. J. Leo Lesage, had the generosity and good sense to invite Father Armstrong to make the Glebehouse his Ottawa retirement home.

Rev. A.E. Armstrong, the director of Catholic Charities, takes up residence in the Glebehouse and assists with parish work until his appointment as parish priest of St. Margaret Mary's. (Father Armstrong was to become a Iong-serving parish priest of Blessed Sacrament).
...
Father Armstrong was no stranger.He had lived at the Glebehouse in Father O'Gorman's time, and he had a reputation for both business acumen (before he entered the priesthood t later in life than usual at the time, he worked in banks in Ottawa and Smiths Falls) and his close knowledge of Catholic social agencies which he strongly supported.

He brought his own style, self-deprecating, understanding, a problem-solver and an ecumenist before his time, His father had not been a Catholic, a fact which perhaps accounted for his instinctive understanding of and helpfulness in inter-faith issues.

During the war years, masses were attended by service men and women in the parish who were stationed at Lansdowne Park and Dow's Lake.
...
Father Armstrong kept his parish steady during the war years.The numbers of parish members enlisting far exceeded those of the earlier war.And so did the list of those killed in action.Their names, with all the parish's war dead, are remembered on a plaque which Father Armstrong had installed.
...
Father Armstrong, the good administrator, nurtured these activities.He did not impose, but the organization knew that the parish priest was not pleased when he found beer bottles on the steps from the basement to the sanctuary on a Saturday morning after a Friday night CYO party.

The stained glass windows on both sides of the nave are a lasting legacy of Father Armstrong.The only stained glass in the church had been the rose window over the main altar.The new windows were installed 20 years after the church was built and after six years of planning.In his persuasive quiet way, Father Armstrong approached parishioners privately to donate individual windows.
...
Father Armstrong (though, like most of the parish's pastors, he was in turn Canon and Monsignor, he preferred "Father" and eschewed purple), was parish priest longer by far than anyone before or since.He "retired" only In January 1961 after 22 years of remarkable service.

His successor, Rev. J. Leo Lesage, had the generosity and good sense to invite Father Armstrong to make the Glebehouse his Ottawa retirement home.