“ The payment of the cost of the hall in less than 10 years is one incident in the progressive and business-like administration which has marked the affairs of St. Patrick's Church since Father Whelan took charge in 1881. The actual cost of the whole parish property is estimated at $200,800. According to present-day valuations of land and cost of construction the property, as it now stands, is believed to be worth in the neighbourhood of half a million dollars. ”

“ Payments on church improvements, interest charges and mortgages have been derived from the regular parish revenues. In his 41-year tenure as parish priest, Father Whelan never made a single levy of funds among his parishioners. His announcement that the parish property was no longer encumbered came as an agreeable surprise to the parishioners. The wiping out of the last mortgage was a fitting culmination to years of zealous labors performed quietly and unostentatiously.
St. Patrick's Church contains many mementos closely associated with the history of the parish. ”

“ J. L. O'Connor, succeeding the latter as parish priest in February 1881.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Father Whelan has always taken a keen interest in educational matters. He served for a number of years on the Ottawa Separate School Board and was chairman for two terms. The old St. Patrick School on Nepean street, which was built in 1877, was the first school erected in Ottawa by the Separate School Board. In connection with church work, Father Whelan inaugurated the parish calendar in May, 1894. It is a monthly publication containing a digest of the church and parish activities. ”

“ There is yet another parish, that of St. Anthony of Padua, for the Italian colony.
The grain of mustard seed, sown without ostentation in 1853, has grown up and become a tree, and many thousands now dwell in the branches thereof.
The assistant priests in St. Patrick's Parish have been: During Father John J. Collins' pastorate, 1866–1877, Rev. Fathers W. H. Sheehy (deceased) , E. J. Stenson (deceased) , J. MacGinnis (deceased) , Father M. J. Whelan, 1875. During the pastorate of the Very Rev. J. L. O'Connor, D.D., V.G., 1877–1881, Rev. Fathers M. J. Whelan and B. Casey. ”