Scarboro Foreign Mission Society

Scarboro Missions, known formally as the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society, is a Society of Canadian Roman Catholic priests dedicated to mission work domestically and abroad. The Society was founded in Almonte, Ontario, in 1918 by Msgr. John Mary Fraser as the "China Mission College" in order to train and send priests to China. Moving to Scarborough, Ontario, in the 1921, the Society became the "St. Francis Xavier China Mission Seminary". The new seminary opened in 1924. With Vatican approval of the Society's Constitutions in 1940, the Society became the "Scarboro Foreign Mission Society".

Complications arising from the successive Second Sino-Japanese War, WWII, and the Communist Revolution in China forced Scarboro to begin missions elsewhere, starting in the Dominican Republic in 1943. The Society has has missions in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) greatly impacted the Society. In addition to traditional evangelical missionary work, the Society engaged in social and economic justice work, ecumenical efforts, and were a large supporter and educator in interfaith dialogue in the Toronto-area. The Society also began to accept lay members to work in mission - singles and married couples - beginning in 1974.

In November 2017, the Society announced that due to aging and declining membership they would stop accepting new candidates for the priesthood or lay program. The remaining members of the Society gradually transitioned to non-active ministries as they aged.

Added by L Joson, 22 June 2020
Revised by F Rousselle, 10 March 2025.

Scaboro Missions - About Us

Scarboro Missions - History