10 October 2008
To the Pastors, Lay Pastoral Animators and Parishioners of the Archdiocese:
As you can see, I have arrived back home! As the adage says, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” I have been on the go a great deal this summer and early fall, and have lost my taste for living out of a suitcase. This Thanksgiving weekend I am spiritual director on the men’s Cursillo in Grande Prairie. Not just a suitcase, but a sleeping bag to boot!
Bishops’ School
I’ve graduated from bishops’ school. It is a school, student desks and all. But I learned much. There were 105 new bishops from all over the world, all appointed within the past couple of years. I learned much from both the lectures and informal conversation. Side-trips took me to the Vatican (but I didn’t see the Holy Father), Assisi, Orvietto and the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Catholic Missions in Canada
One hundred years ago, the bishop of Toronto called together a group of concerned Catholics who formed what was then named the Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada, to support the growth of the Church in the Canadian north-west. These many years later, CMIC raises and disburses a large amount of money to support dioceses like our own. A full one-third of our archdiocesan revenue comes from CMIC; I believe we have to work hard at becoming more self-sufficient in the future. In order to honour those who work so hard to sustain CMIC in its labour of love, there was an anniversary Mass at St. Paul’s’ Basilica, Toronto on Sunday 21 September. It was an honour for me to share in this celebration.
Canadian Bishops’ Plenary, Cornwall ON
The annual meeting of all Canada’s Catholic bishops took place early this year, as six of our bishops are taking part in the Synod in Rome which began the other day, on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. The plenary focused on several topical issues, such as the First Nations peoples in the life of the Church, Jewish-Catholic relations, the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, and the sacrament of marriage. If you have access to the Internet, you can easily follow the directions of our Canadian Catholic leaders at www.cccb.ca
Cornelio Esguerra, seminarian
Brother Cornelio (Nel) Esguerra is a candidate for the priesthood who has come to our archdiocese from the Philippines. He is associated with the MACE Sisters who serve in High Level and area. Nel has completed his theology studies, and is considering being incardinated and ordained for our Archdiocese. For the next several months, he will be living and ministering with Father Les Kwiatkowski, O.M.I., in St. Martin’s Parish in Desmarais-Wabasca.
Planning Committee Survey
Last weekend, our planning committee asked all of you to fill out a survey. Back in September, your parish council was asked to fill out an even more detailed questionnaire about the parish. The goal of this exercise is to gather information that will be helpful in pastoral planning for our Archdiocese – in order to plan wisely to use our resources to meet the needs of the diocese as a whole, we need a snapshot of the strengths, weaknesses and needs of all of our communities. Once the data is tabulated and examined, we hope to gain a better vision of the possibilities and the challenges that we face.
I want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to fill in these questionnaires. Once we have a report from our consultants and the committee considers directions for the future, we will share this with you.
Regional Pastoral Council Meetings
Our archdiocese is divided into five geographic regions. Between the end of August and early September, I chaired a meeting of the priests, pastoral workers and parish leadership in ach region. In the short time allotted for these meetings, we addressed three basic items:
- the archdiocesan pastoral council, which we are beginning to establish;
- preparations for Mission 2010, the diocese-wide mission that will be preached in several of our parishes by Redemptorists from across North America; and
- pastoral needs in each region, especially related to our youth.
You will be hearing about all of these matters in the weeks and months ahead.
During this month of the Rosary, I would like to encourage all the families of the archdiocese to pray the rosary as a family. If you are not already in the habit of praying the rosary as a family, this may feel awkward at first. But it promises to become a nugget of gold in the span of your day.
Yours in Christ the Redeemer,
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