Who Worships Where: an agnostic assessment of Toronto’s most formidable flocks
| April 18, 2012
Religious attendance might be in free fall across the city, but over the years a handful of Toronto congregations have managed to stockpile both money and influence. We look at the places where power brokers still kneel before something far mightier than themselves.
HOLY BLOSSOM
Reform Judaism | Since 1856 | 1950 Bathurst St.
The high-powered home of Canada’s largest and most star-studded Reform congregation
BY THE NUMBERS
$6.2 million: annual revenue (2011)
$2,915: annual family membership fee
$350: High Holiday guest ticket
7,000: total congregants
MIGHTY CONNECTIONS
Martin Luther King spoke here in 1962; esteemed journalists Christopher Hitchens, Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Friedman have addressed the congregation.
Heather Reisman,
Gerry Schwartz
Business bigwigs
Lawrence Bloomberg
Mt. Sinai chair
Linda Frum-Sokolowski
Senator
David Mirvish
Theatre impresario
Joe and Sandra Rotman
Benefactors
Robert Lantos
Movie mogul
Arlene Perly Rae,
Bob Rae
Power couple
CHURCH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
Roman Catholic | Since 1926 | 24 Cheritan Ave.
The power nexus for Roman Catholic worshippers from Lawrence Park, Hoggs Hollow and North Toronto
BY THE NUMBERS
$1.4 million: annual revenue (2010)
$25,000: donation from the Black Family Foundation in 2007
3,200: weekly attendance
MIGHTY CONNECTIONS
Blessed Sacrament’s pastor, Larry Marcille, is the chaplain of the Toronto chapter of Legatus, an exclusive Catholic service organization for corporate executives and their spouses started by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.
Rob Chisholm
Ex–Scotiabank VP
Conrad Black
Temporary
Forida resident
Ida Pusateri
Grocery tycoon
GRACE CHURCH ON-THE-HILL
Anglican | Since 1874 | 300 Lonsdale Rd.
Like an old-money matriarch, Grace goes about its business quietly and elegantly. Well-to-dos from Forest Hill and Rosedale fill the coffers
BY THE NUMBERS
$2.6 million: annual revenue (2010)
$20,000: total raised at last year’s Grace Once More fundraiser
$80,000: minimum Grace’s two highest-paid staff make a year
MIGHTY CONNECTIONS
Conrad Black married his first wife, Joanna Hishon, at Grace, and his parents’ and brother Montegu’s funerals were here. In 1986 he converted to Catholicism and moved uptown to Blessed Sacrament.
Loretta and Edward Rogers
Telecom titans
Mary Flynn
Harold Ballard’s daughter
Michael Royce
Lenczner Slaight co-founder
ONTARIO KHALSA DARBAR
Sikh | Since 1973 | 7080 Dixie Rd.
The largest and busiest Gurdwara (worship centre) in Canada
BY THE NUMBERS
$2.3 million: annual revenue (2011)
$1,100: one-time membership fee
37: acres of land upon which the 120,000-square-foot Gurdwara sits
40,000: guests who visit during the April 14 Vaisakhi celebration
MIGHTY CONNECTIONS
The Dixie Gurdwara’s 25,000 monthly congregants make it a must-visit for politicians seeking the Sikh vote. Liberal leaders Dalton McGuinty, Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien have all stopped by.
Bal Gosal
Harper cabinet MP
Nav Bhatia
Auto titan, Raps “super-fan”
Navdeep Bains
University lecturer, ex-MP
Suneet Tuli
Created world’s cheapest tablet
BETH TZEDEC
Conservative Jewish | Since 1952 | 1700 Bathurst St.
The synagogue of choice for more traditional observers
BY THE NUMBERS
$5.4 million: annual revenue (2009)
$250,000: minimum Beth Tzedec’s two highest-paid staff make a year
8,000: attendance on a High Holy Day
MIGHTY CONNECTIONS
Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, CNN analyst David Gergen, Obama’s ex–press secretary Robert Gibbs and journalist Bob Woodward debated U.S.-Israeli relations here.
Ralph and Roslyn
Halbert
Philanthropists
Rosalie Abella
Supreme Justice
Lynn Posluns
Dylex heiress
Larry Tanenbaum
MLSE honcho
Judy Feld Carr
Human rights activist
Miles Nadal
Benefactor
(Photographs: Churches by Daniel Neuhaus; congregants by Getstock, Getty Images, JJ Thompson, Newscom, Reuters, Women’s Post)
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