Fr. John Boos was born in Trinidad in 1937, began studying law there after his high school years, continuing further studies later on in the UK. After qualifying there as a solicitor, but before being admitted to the legal bar, he joined the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Africa, studying in Ireland, England and France. He was ordained priest in Trinidad in 1970, and after five years of primary missionary evangelisation work in Burkina Faso, West Africa, he returned to Trinidad on vacation. There he received his admission to the bar in 1975, and on his return to Africa was later upgraded, in his absence, to attorney-at-law in 1987. His missionary work continued on his return to Africa, from 1975 until 1992, when he was appointed to Mexico to assist in promoting missionary vocations among the young people of both sexes. A needed year of rest followed his return to the UK in 2000, and from 2002-2004 he was engaged again in promotion work, both in Burkina and in adjoining Togo to the south of Burkina. He was then sent to Canada as vocation promoter from 2004-2007, when he was appointed to Algeria in North Africa. Family obligations caused his return to Canada in 2008, where he remained after their cessation. He was then appointed to assist in the parishes of the Toronto and Durham regions of Ontario, which he has been doing to this year, 2022. Although not being a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto, Fr. John has continued his priestly vocation of celebrating Mass in over twenty parishes, performing baptisms, marriages, and funerals-both in the churches and in retirement homes-counselling, visiting parishioners at home, giving the occasional conference to assorted groups, like the Knights of Columbus, the Women's League, youth, etc.He has also been engaged in putting his experiences and observations into print through his reflections of fifty-two years of ordained life, and to this date has produced three books. The first was on world history, seen through the eyes of a fantasy beast (The Unicorn, a historical fantasy, Friesen Press). The second concerns snippets of his missionary life (Into Africa, Tellwell Publishing), and the third is about his reflections on the world and Catholic life (Basement Priest, Tellwell Publishing). This fourth is similar to the preceding, being unabashedly catechetic and apologetic, both qualities seen as necessary because of the pervading endemic need of clarity concerning the good news of Jesus and its importance in our lives.
