Fr. David Poirier, SA

Father David Poirier, SA, the pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from Our Lady of Providence Seminary High School and College with a BA in Philosophy.

After professing first vows in the Society of the Atonement in 1973 he obtained an S.T.B. from the Catholic University of America and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977. Immediately thereafter he travelled to Japan to undertake missionary work with the Friars in the Diocese of Yokohama. After six years he returned to the United States where he was assigned to the Chapel of Our Saviour in Brockton, MA.

In 1986 he was appointed pastor of St. Paul Parish on East Cordova Street in Vancouver, BC where he also served as part time chaplain to the Vancouver Pre-trial Services Centre.

Following a year in Ireland where he earned his M.Phil in Ecumenics from the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College, University of Dublin) he became Ecumenical Officer for the Archdiocese of Halifax, NS. In addition to his duties as Ecumenical Officer he also served as Assistant in St. John Vianney Parish, Lower Sackville, Administrator of Immaculate Conception Parish, Woodside, and Pastor of Pope John XXIII Parish, Cole Harbour.

In 2003 he received an honourary Doctor of Divinity degree from Atlantic School of Theology in recognition of his many ecumenical endeavours within Atlantic Canada.

Fr. David moved to Richmond, BC and took up the pastorship of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in August 2005.

Fr. David is the eldest of four siblings who live in Rhode Island and Florida, and has been a member of the Society of the Atonement for 33 years.

Fr. Arthur Gouthro, SA

Father Arthur Gouthro, S.A., is the Associate Pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Richmond, BC. He was born on February 3, 1938 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and graduated from MacDonald High School in Dominion, NS, in 1956. He attended Nova Scotia Teacher College in 1958 followed by two year teaching in the public schools in that province.

In 1959, he joined the Friars of the Atonement who staffed Our Lady of the Atonement and St. James Parish in Gardiner Mines, NS. He attended seminary in Graymoor, Garrison, NY and Washington, DC, and was ordained in 1969 in Sacred Heart Church, Sydney, N.S.

Since that time Fr. Arthur has been on assignment in various parts of the United States and Canada. They included the following places: Graymoor, Garrison, NY; Mahopac, NY; Brockton, MA; Windsor, ON; Edmonton, AB; Hereford, TX; South Bend, IN; Vancouver, BC.

He is a former Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, Garrison, NY. Fr. Arthur is the oldest of six siblings who live in Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, and Maryland, USA.

He has been a member of the Atonement Friars for 46 years.