The Fun Night with Sisters, initially set for Friday, January 12th, had to be cancelled due to the extreme weather. But our Sisters were quick on their feet, rescheduling the event to the following Friday. While some had to pull out due to scheduling conflict, it also opened the door for others who couldn't make the initial date. In the end, the group comprised of 10 young women and 8 Sisters - which turned out to be an ideal group size, as it allowed for more personal interactions.

The evening kicked off with a prayer led by the Dominican Sisters, followed by a delightful dinner including pizza (meat-free since it was Friday), vegetables, cookies, and engaging conversation. Each attendee had the opportunity to introduce herself, and the Sisters briefly spoke about their respective communities. The communities represented were the Faithful Companions of Jesus who sponsored the event in their large parlour, the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the Providence Sisters, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, and the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth.

Ting, our game maestro and a postulant from the Providence Sisters guided the evening's entertainment. First up was 'Name the Song', but with a twist - the tunes were hilariously mimicked with animal sounds, leading to roars of laughter and cheers. Much like last year, we also enjoyed a round of Pictionary, but with a sweet reward - candies for all participants! 

As the evening drew to a close, we concluded the event with a silent prayer session in the chapel, followed by the collective recitation of the Night Prayer. Please stay tuned for future events organized by the Sister of the Assembly of Women Religious of the Diocese of Calgary. 

Submitted by Sr. Dianne Turner, Office of Vocations. 
Photos courtesy of Sr. Dianne. 

Five years ago, on a cold winter night, the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy was fittingly born in a small yet beautiful church. I remember watching Bishop McGrattan and Fr. Cristino process down the aisle at St. Bernard’s church, and giving thanks for the great turnout of 60-120 young adults.

Last week on Sunday, January 21, 2024, I witnessed the fruits of this once small community as we celebrated the 5-year anniversary of the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy at St. Mary’s Cathedral. This time, the turnout was not just 120 young adults, but over 500, and we were blessed with not just one chaplain, but four!

As I watched familiar faces come into the Cathedral and then later into the hall for a joyous reception with our Bishop, I reflected on how much our community has embodied the spirit of this Pastoral Renewal that our good Shepherd has embarked us on. I caught a glimpse of a friend who had just entered the Church last Easter and gave thanks for our co-laborers in Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) who have helped us welcome 90+ young adults into the Church through our RCIA program over the last 5 years.

We are witnessing in real time the forming of missionary disciples in our community. I turned my head and saw a young family with their newborn and praised God for the marriages and families that have come out of SFXC. The joyous laughter, warm smiles and great conversations filling the hall reminded me how the Holy Spirit has been working powerfully to create a welcoming community; creating a haven for young adults to first encounter Christ and his Church. This community will then go out and hopefully be a shining witness of His love to the rest of our Diocese and the world.

All the fruits that SFXC has borne would not have been possible without the faithful leadership of our chaplain, Fr. Cristino Bouvette. I had the chance to speak with him on the last 5 years and all that God has done in our community.

Here are some snippets from our conversation.

How has God surprised you with this ministry?
Fr. Cristino: I had no doubt when we got the chaplaincy going that there would be a positive response, but I never could have foreseen the speed at which the community would grow to the size and activity level it already has. 
 
How has working with SFXC impacted you personally in the past 5 years?
Fr. Cristino:  It has been pretty exhausting to advance this vision, especially keeping things going during the very difficult challenges which covid presented, and the six months of absence I effectively had from overseeing the operation during preparations for the papal visit, but despite all those things, people continuously came forward to help the community grow and thrive. It has profoundly humbled me. 
 
What is an impact that SFXC has had that might not be obvious?
Fr. Cristino: People from outside of the chaplaincy would probably not notice just how many marriages are coming to birth from relationships that are being formed from within the community. People are finding spouses who equally desire Christ-centred sacramental marriages. 
 
Do you have any specific stories or memories that sum up what you think SFXC is?
Fr. Cristino: While in the most intense throes of preparation for the Holy Father's visit to Canada in 2022, I also celebrated the 10th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. Somewhat begrudgingly, I drove down from planning commitments in Edmonton to celebrate our usual 7 pm Mass in the Cathedral (knowing I would have to turn around and go back to Edmonton that night). The details that were considered on my behalf in organizing an exquisitely beautiful Mass and the social which was put on to celebrate with me in the hall afterwards, attended by so many of my beloved young adults, will forever remain a cherished memory of witnessing a community I love so much show that same love in return, and in abundance. Shepherding SFXC on behalf of Bishop McGrattan has been one of the greatest joys of my life! 
 
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While people in leadership positions are often praised for the success of a community, I believe that is also important to recognize the people behind the scenes, those who constantly sacrifice their time, talents and resources to help it thrive.

​It has been a joy to watch the countless missionary disciples develop and grow in our community as they advance its spirit of Renewal. Thank you to all of our volunteers for helping bring faith, formation and fellowship to the young adults of our Diocese.

Written by Kathryn Yakielashek, SFXC Program Coordinator. Photos courtesy of Francene Maranan.

In the winter of 2023, St Mary’s parish council, after reviewing the diocesan synodal synthesis, invited an interested group of parishioners to start the conversation of pastoral renewal in our parish.  As part of the process, a group of 24 individuals began to discuss, reflect on and research parish renewal.  
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Through our research, we discovered the dynamic parish ministry, Divine Renovation.  Originating in Canada, Divine Renovation currently has a worldwide reach and extensive resources and stories to share. Central to Divine Renovation’s ministry is Alpha. 
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Following prayer and discernment, study of Divine Renovation, consultation with our pastor and further exploration of the Alpha program, the renewal group decided to host an 11-week Alpha session for our parish. Many parishioners were unfamiliar with the current Alpha program and were interested in knowing more about this new ministry in our parish.

We were thrilled when 63 people registered!  42 came as guests who fully received, and the remaining 21 received as they gave generously of themselves in various volunteer positions such as the core planning team, prayer, registration, advertising, hospitality, set up, food donations, and so on.

For those unfamiliar with Alpha program and looking for inspiration for parish pastoral renewal, this is a wonderful renewal resource and experience. It particularly addresses priorities 1 and 2 of the diocese’s renewal plan: Forming missionary disciples in Christ and Becoming a Church of encounter and witness.

Alpha invites others to know Christ and to learn the great story of Jesus and His Church (Priority 1). It is the perfect opportunity to build relationships that listen to others’ lived experiences (Priority 2). This is the heart of Alpha. Leaders have many chances to exemplify Christ's values to lead with mercy and passion. Divine Renovation deems Alpha vital to their mission, a sentiment we share based on our experience.

Alpha fosters an inviting space for engagement, nurturing discipleship and leadership. It's a program that lays out Christian basics, and is a doorway to faith for those who are searching. It is open to anyone and is meant to be a place where people can come up with honest questions to engage in community, compelling content, and conversation. One of our major wins was the fact that this group heard the gospel message, was invited to start or renew a relationship with God, had the opportunity to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and was given tools in the areas of prayer, scripture, discernment, spiritual warfare, evangelization, and healing. At the end of Alpha, individual participants discerned their next steps, with different options in the areas of growing in personal holiness and mission.

As our session drew to a close, the Alpha core team created an exit slip to provide feedback from our first Alpha experience.  Here are only some of the highlights:

Alpha is just a piece in the puzzle of the bigger picture of Parish Renewal for St. Mary’s in Brooks. It has been one of our first steps, with many more steps to come.

Parish Renewal is a marathon, and we need to have a long-game mindset. It has been recommended that we run Alpha 3-4 times, as Alpha has the potential to be the pump from which our parish draws to flow into our other ministries. Divine Renovation encourages this and reports that they have seen parish ministries and groups flourish after successfully running multiple Alphas. With this in mind, our parish has just completed our second Alpha session this fall and we look forward to Alpha remaining at the heart of our parish.

We are also thrilled to share that as a result of our first Alpha session, our local Catholic school: St Joseph’s Collegiate, has begun an Alpha for Teens initiative.  Stay tuned about this exciting development through Faithfully! 

Submitted by Christine Kleiboer & Bonnie Annicchiarico, parishioners of St. Mary's Church in Brooks. 

• Christine was raised Catholic and encountered God's personal love in adoration at a retreat as a teenager. She went on to serve as a university campus missionary with Catholic Christian Outreach in the early years of her marriage before transitioning to the domestic mission, where she is currently raising her four children as a stay-at-home mom.  
• Bonnie is a consultant, retired Catholic educator and parishioner of St Mary’s Parish in Brooks.  As part of the Diocese’ Renewal Leadership Team, Bonnie is committed to leading, supporting and encouraging renewal within our faith communities.
  
  

​For parishes interested in inquiring about Divine Renovation, contact Eric Myatt at [email protected]

Outside felt like -45, but inside,  it was 'ablazing' at St. Bonaventure's last Friday night.

The Ablaze Youth Ministry team has been planning their first youth night with FacetoFace Ministries for months. Despite the freezing temperatures, the excitement was so palpable that cancelling was not an option. We weren't sure who would show up, so we made an act of faith, and opened the doors to the church. 

Over 80 youths came! God is good! It was an amazing surprise to see this level of participation from our parish families, and those coming from other parishes in the Diocese.

FacetoFace Ministries led our inaugural event, bringing a fantastic lineup of games, while helping the youth connect with each other. Not only did youth participants have fun, but they also learned about the history of salvation and God's timing.  

We are also blessed with the help of our 20 volunteers, and St. Bonaventure's Knights of Columbus who generously volunteered to make hot chocolate and hot dogs for all. We felt so much love and encouragement from the community and parents. ​But what really stuck with us was how these students braved the elements from all over the city to come to the youth group! Their presence really says that, "Youth ministry is important to us; we crave community, we seek Jesus, and we're willing to endure -45 weather just for that experience!"

I am thrilled to see Ablaze being used as a tool for evangelization and pastoral renewal. It helps us teach the story of Jesus and the work of salvation to our youth and engage them and their families in the life of the Church. My hope is that we can continue to nurture the flame that is already burning within these young people, and help them to develop an even greater love for God and His Church. Let's set this passion ablaze!

When I travel, my mind wanders. I hadn’t seen the movie Bladerunner in years, but while waiting to depart on the redeye for a pilgrimage to Quebec, the crescendo of this movie kept replaying in my mind. Roy Batty, the artificially intelligent creature, is fighting for his life when he delivers his famous speech beginning with the words, “I have seen things you people would not believe.”
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We were making a pilgrimage to various shrines in Quebec to thank God for helping us through 15 years of marriage, a marriage we had both fought hard for. We journeyed with gratitude for answered prayers, and for continued discernment on our diaconal journey. My wife and I honeymooned in Quebec in 2008, and we first visited St. Joseph’s Oratory on that trip (years before she would become Catholic and my return to the faith). The visit left a deep imprint upon us, and we were excited to return with our 12-year-old son. We arrived early on August 9th, a detail God orchestrated, to take in St. André Bessette’s birthday celebration.

Pilgrims’ prayers to St. Joseph
​St. André’s devotion to St. Joseph was, quite literally, monumental. I tried to focus on St. André, but the sad climax to Bladerunner kept replaying. I supposed that silent St. Joseph, if he were to deliver any speech, would likely begin by uttering the same words:

“I have seen things you people would not believe. I’ve listened to angels tell me that Mary had conceived the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. I witnessed kings bow before my son and offer him precious gifts in a manger, and I was visited by God’s messengers telling me to flee to Egypt. I heard Simeon’s prophetic words that my foster-son was God’s light revealed to all nations, the same boy who impressed the wisest rabbis in Jerusalem. Oh yes, I have seen things you people would not believe!”

Father André could also exclaim, “I have seen things you people would not believe.” The humble doorman who funded the Oratory’s original chapel with profits from haircuts would see the lame walk and the sick healed at this remarkable shrine to the patron saint of Canada.

We arrived at St. Joseph’s on a fresh dewy morning in Montreal. After touring the Basilica and attending Mass in the Crypt Church, we prayerfully walked the larger-than-life outdoor Stations of the Cross. I’d been up for about 30 hours at this point, and I was starting to feel (and perhaps smell) like a pilgrim. I was tired, hungry, and sweaty, but walking the Stations reminded me that I could never feel as tired as Jesus did on the road to Calvary.  

“The statues look like they’re weeping,” my son said. Indeed, the stone faces were marked by years of exposure to the elements and stains ran down their faces.  ​As we climbed toward the crucifixion, my son’s observation helped me make sense of another line from this famous sci-fi dirge: “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.” This forlorn heartache expressed the anguished love I had for my life during my years as an atheist. I experienced awe without glory, wonder without purpose, passion without peace. The replicant Roy Batty loves his life and mourns he can’t have more of it because he inhabits an irredeemable universe that can’t love him back. 

Fr. Cristino Bouvette knew the first guided tour of the future Sacred Heart Parish would be a profoundly stirring experience for his congregation. 

After all, Catholics in Strathmore, Alberta, have prayed for a new house of worship since their original parish closed its doors in 2008 when the church and rectory were deemed unsafe.

Last month’s open house did not disappoint Bouvette, who arrived as pastor in October. 

“Everyone else in our parish has waited longer and invested far more than I certainly have,” said Bouvette. “The highlight for me was watching them come in and see it and realize this is happening and getting somewhere. There were tears in people’s eyes and smiles on their faces, and the kids were running around in the areas safe to do so. You could see excitement.”

Work began in August to transfigure a former 16,000 sq. ft. IGA into a place parishioners envision as the new “beating heart” of this prairie community east of Calgary. The new Sacred Heart Parish’s potential to be a lively hub of activity and fellowship is considerable. It will boast a parish hall for approximately 300, a community kitchen and plenty of meeting rooms for lay groups. 

For the past 15 years, liturgical services have been held in the gymnasium of Holy Cross Collegiate. The congregation has not only endured after all these years but has actually grown and will serve more than 500 families.

Nettie Hendricks, chair of the parish fundraising committee, said excitement over the new parish and the arrival of Bouvette has inspired people to return to church in recent weeks.

“Fr. Cristino was only with us for two weeks, and he had to do a funeral. Many people who had not come to Mass for some time came. They had fallen away but have now come back. People who have followed the building of the Church are coming back. We had people at that open house that fell away. They said, ‘We are blessed. We see the pastor you have and the building you have. And we are coming back to our church.’ ”

Bouvette, who played a key planning role in Pope Francis’ penitential pilgrimage in 2022, has almost exclusively ministered to youthful Catholics in recent years as he was — and still is — a vicar for vocations and young adults at the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy in Calgary.

“I did mention to (Bishop William McGrattan) a few months ago that I miss old people,” said Bouvette with a chuckle. “I have a lopsided experience of pastoral ministry. He just laughed at me. Then, when he needed to assign someone to Strathmore, unexpectedly, he sent me. He said, ‘There, you said you missed old people. Well, you’ve got old people in Strathmore.’ ” 

When he arrived in Strathmore, he found it was so much more.

“When I got here, I realized there are many people here of a wide range of ages, demographics and experience. It is exciting to be with them.”

Bouvette treasures all the diverse experiences afforded him during his clerical service, but “this project is the most rewarding experience of priestly ministry in the sense that it captures all that could be asked for from a priest.”

“When you go to the seminary as a young man like I did, what I am doing now is all you ever dream of or think you will do,” said Bouvette. “But then to inherit a building project that is not really even a building project, but a transformation project — it has a remarkable experience.”

This diverse parish community has amassed $7.4 million to date, holding 50/50 raffles, golf tournaments and dinners with auctions. The parish has also received funds through a pledge form initiative and serving beer at the town’s annual rodeo. Strathmore Catholics still have work to do as architectural costs have driven the project price to $10.4 million.
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Catholics across Canada have also visited the parish website to submit online donations to the retrofitting project. Hendricks said such gifts are appreciated and important.

The parish posted a video showing photos of the construction completed during October and November and detailing the tasks ahead at sacredhc.ca/construction.

Written by Quinton Amundson for The Catholic Register. Article was first published on Jan. 4 for The Catholic Register here. Reposted with permission.