ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF CALGARY
  • Blog
  • About
  • Give
  • News & Events
  • Ministries
  • Contact Us
  • Parish Finder
Picture

Witnessing to the faith at all cost

4/15/2021

1 Comment

 
In his Easter Urbi et Orbi, Pope Francis spoke of the troubling situations in Myanmar, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sahel, Nigeria, Tigray, Cabo Delgado, eastern Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh and reminded the faithful to “pray that all restrictions on freedom of worship and religion worldwide, may be lifted and everyone be allowed to pray and praise God freely.” 

Persecution of Christians around the world has increased dramatically over the past year.  This tragic mistreatment of Christians is inspiring Pope Francis’ prayer intention for April: We pray for those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis.
According to the 2021 World Watch List compiled by the Christian advocacy group Open Doors, more than 340 million Christians face persecution and discrimination because of their faith.  There has been a 60% increase since last year in the number of Christians slain for their faith.  More than 90% of the deaths occurred in Africa.

Christian communities across Indonesia were shaken following a suicide bombing at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, Sulawesi on Palm Sunday this year.

In India, the government has curtailed the foreign funding of Christian-run hospitals, schools and church organizations.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, Christians face increased levels of violence. In Nigeria, the number of Christians killed has almost tripled in the past year.

An orphanage in China’s Hebei province, the Nuns of the Child Jesus run an orphanage named “House of Dawn.”  The nuns, along with several volunteers, take care of disabled children and young people.  Given the religious mission of the orphanage, they have been unable to attain government funding and rely on donations from Catholics around the world.  The local government authorities are increasing their opposition to the orphanage and threatening to shut it down. 

On April 11 of this year, five priests, two religious sisters and three other persons were abducted in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets, close to the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  And in March, Fr. Harrison Egwuenu, the principal of St. George’s College in Obinomba, Nigeria, was kidnapped and released a week later.
​
These are just some of the reports from around the world that reveal to us the real and ongoing persecutions faced by Christians in other parts of the world.  They also reflect how deep faith inspires Christians to bear witness and to commit to the Faith even when it means facing tremendous and unwavering systemic discrimination and persecution.
The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks." (CCC, 1816)
​While Article 18 of the United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights affirms freedom of religion, it is not a right that is globally enjoyed by the faithful nor respected by civil authorities. 
​Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. (United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights, Article 18)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks to the need for those public authorities in a society to promote and protect the common good and thus to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.
First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as "the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion."  (CCC, 1907)
Here in our province, those in roles of public authority have faced questions dealing with religious freedom and their right to place restrictions on public gatherings of worship as legitimate measures to protect the common good, public health and the fundamental and inalienable rights of human persons to be safe and protected during this time of a pandemic. This has resulted in much debate, division and now demonstrations of civil disobedience. Prudential dialogue, authoritative scientific evidence concerning public health measures, the respect for fundamental human rights of individual citizens and groups must ultimately ensure the common good of society and promote the integral respect and promotion of the health and well-being of each person regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, religion or belief.  

Some have suggested that this is the beginning of religious persecution and the systematic repression and denial of such fundamental rights by public authorities here in our country and province. It is very true that we need to be vigilant in protecting such rights and we cannot forget that many of our brothers and sisters continue to face much more violent opposition for the living and witnessing of their faith. What is our responsibility and response to such realities? 
  • Constant prayer and petitions for those persecuted sisters and brothers asking for God to strengthen them with His grace, courage, and strength.
  • That we mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 1.
  • Raise awareness of Christian persecution globally by documenting and speaking about the incidents of unjust persecution in the hope of pointing toward just solutions.
  • Support those who are persecuted by encouraging and advocating for just laws and fair legal processes. 
  • Support interfaith and cross cultural dialogue.

It is deeply troubling that people are persecuted for their public demonstration of faith in Jesus Christ.  And it is also inspiring to realize that harsh persecution and systemic discrimination cannot prevent Christians from following Jesus Christ. In fact this is part of the life of the Church not only in the past but now in the present. This must be a source of confident hope. 

Pope Francis reminds us that whenever Christians face persecution because of their belief in Jesus, they are not alone. Jesus is always present with each person.
In persecutions there is always the presence of Jesus who accompanies us, the presence of Jesus who comforts us and the strength of the Holy Spirit that helps us to go forward. Let us not be discouraged when a life that is faithful to the Gospel draws persecution from people. There is the Holy Spirit who sustains us in this journey.”
Throughout the Easter season we come to relive in faith, that with the Risen Lord, all our sufferings are transformed: death becomes life, mourning is met with consolation and the cross of Jesus gives meaning to our suffering.  May Christ our peace bring an end to all forms of persecution and restore the dignity of all people.  ​
Picture
Written by Most Rev. William T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
​
April 15, 2021
1 Comment

Devoted to the Precious Blood

4/14/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
The early-spring sun is barely risen when the six Sisters of the Precious Blood monastery in Calgary make their way to their chapel for morning mass. As the day progresses, the sisters will gather in the chapel four more times to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, an official Prayer of the Church, which sanctifies the day with prayer. Each woman will also spend 30 minutes in private prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. They use those precious minutes to pray for the needs of the Church, especially the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary, and to ask God’s blessing on the world. They also devote that time alone to pray “for the people for whom we’ve promised to pray,” explains Sr. Margaret Nadeau. Many of those prayer requests are posted on the chapel door, a physical reminder that those who live in this cloistered religious community are purposefully devoted to the world from which they’ve chosen to live apart.
Picture
Altar breads
​

Founded in Quebec in 1861, the Sisters of the Precious Blood was the first contemplative community established in Canada. In addition to the founding monastery in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, the order has houses in Calgary, Regina, London and Hamilton, plus two monasteries in the United States and two in Japan.

As well as praying for the people in the communities where they live, the Sisters of the Precious Blood monastery in Calgary plays a tangible role in supporting parishes across the diocese. While the Calgary convent stopped baking altar breads several decades ago, the sisters still receive regular truckloads of hosts baked in the order’s Hamilton house. 
​

Once in Calgary, the large cartons are unpacked into smaller boxes of hosts according to the needs of the parishes. Parishes typically pick up these smaller boxes from the monastery, which is located in Erlton, just south of downtown Calgary. Some boxes are also shipped to parishes in other dioceses. 

The pandemic disrupted this aspect of life in the monastery. While orders for hosts fell in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, a few parishes in Calgary also were over-supplied. With Calgary’s diocese supporting public health protocols, that extra supply more than sustained the parishes when offering regular masses with fewer parishioners became the norm. 
​
“One of the main sources of our income has been the sale and supply of hosts, but demand changed when the pandemic started. Orders are starting to pick up a little now and that’s good as our Hamilton house has hired lay staff and we want to keep them working,” says Sr. Nadeau. A native of Medicine Hat, she joined the Sisters of the Precious Blood 63 years ago this month. “For me, it was a way to embrace the total church in a life of prayer.”

Month of the Holy Eucharist

All Catholics are called to join that embrace in a special way during the month of April, which is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist. April was chosen because it typically includes Easter Sunday. (Even when Easter falls in March, the entire month of April is part of the Easter season.) 

The dedication to the Holy Eucharist is a daily commitment for the Sisters of the Precious Blood, whose charism focuses on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. While some of the order’s houses across Canada could not have daily mass during the pandemic, that wasn’t the case in Calgary. In the early days, Bishop William McGrattan did restrict the list of visiting priests to two individuals. Over time, those restrictions were changed to allow more priests to say mass at the monastery. 
​

For now, visitors cannot participate in the holy hour celebration the monastery hosts every Thursday evening. The sisters understand, but miss sharing this special hour of prayers and singing with others in the faith community.
“In some ways we’re probably one of the groups of people that has been least affected by the pandemic and for that, we’re grateful,” says Sr. Nadeau. “We live a cloistered life with or without the pandemic and life here goes on every day, with our life of prayer still the biggest thing for us. We just keep on every day, just like we did before.”

Picture
Written by Joy Gregory for Faithfully.

Individuals who would like the Sisters of the Precious Blood to include their petitions in the sisters’ private prayers, can contact the monastery at 403-265-1691. ​
1 Comment

Finding my real mission

4/14/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
Walking the Camino de Santiago, Spain. Photo: Anne Curran.
PictureWorld Youth Day 2008 in Australia
Growing up in Ireland my Catholic Faith was very prominent in every aspect of my life. I felt it was woven into the very fabric of who I was as a human being and couldn't imagine a Sunday without Mass; a meal without prayer; an evening without the rosary or an Easter without fasting for forty days prior. I loved my Catholic Faith, and I was surrounded by family and friends who thought alike.

It was in my last year of High School at our year end retreat when the priest spoke about Jesus dying for our sins and clothing ourselves with the new self, that I had an epiphany. I realized, I had been living my life following the doctrines and obeying Church teachings without ever really experiencing what it was like to truly be living my Faith. I had never heard "Clothe yourself with the new self" or "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus, from the dead, lives in you" and I was transfixed. I sought out reading material in the local Christian bookstore but found there were no Catholic books available as all Christian shops in Northern Ireland, at the time, were protestant. I read and listened to everything that was available. Billy Graham, Rev David Wilkerson, I joined a Charismatic group and a local prayer group, and I was on fire.

I was only 17 years of age and everything in my life had suddenly changed. I was so alive, my life had meaning and I imagined that others would see me differently because I no longer was my old self. I felt that even my very heartbeat sounded different and with this new self everything was magnified in such a way that I could no longer recognize my old self.  I had a taste of 'New life' and it seemed my world had changed forever. I thought I would stay in that place, the place where the sun was brighter, where the leaves were greener, and everything had such an intense zeal for God and Love and openness that I could not quite grasp.

A year later, I had convinced myself that I needed to be a missionary. My parents received monthly magazines from 2 or 3 different missionary groups and it was through those magazines that I found The Frontier Apostolate in Prince George, BC and applied. Three times I went for an interview in Dublin and three times I was told that this was not to be my vocation. I was disappointed, greatly disappointed. I lost my new life, everything in me felt a little less and my zeal for 'Repenting from my sins and accepting Jesus Christ into my life' was somehow changed and I slipped back to my old ways.

A couple of years later I married and we immigrated to Canada. He was 19 years of age and I was 20. Of course, by then I had resigned myself to the fact that I would not be joining the Missions. I had my new life; four children, a happy husband, a new business, and a good parish. I embraced it, and I loved it.  I had it made and yet I still had that sinking feeling that there should be more and I never forgot the spirited priests at my high school retreat or the fiery Evangelists that moved me to change.

It wasn't until I attended a three day silent retreat 20 years later that I once again gave my life to Christ. I remembered "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in me" and I was called to immediate change. With the help of a spiritual director, a good confession and an unabandoned love for Christ, I was able to live the life I was supposed to live. I have tripped and fallen at times but always managed to get back up. I finally did get to go on missions; going to Mexico to help build houses for the Church, leading youth to two World Youth Days, and assisting with youth development in the Church. Blessings came from attending two Eucharistic Conferences, walking the Camino de Santiago twice in Spain, visiting the Holy Land, and walking in the steps of St Paul in Turkey.  I was also able to meet the Holy Father in Rome. From all of this I found my mission.

​My mission is the very people who cross my path daily and how I extend Christ's love to them. With this mission in mind I feel that every day is my new life and I am grateful to the priest in Dublin who refused to accept my application to The Frontier Apostolate.


Picture
Written by Anne Curran for Faithfully. Anne is a wife, mother, and grandmother, and has been married to Gerard for 42 years. Anne and Gerard are parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Calgary. They have 4 children, 1 granddaughter and another on the way.  Anne and Gerard are the proprietors of The James Joyce Irish Pub. Anne is part of a volunteer group that works with bringing Christians refugees into Canada. 
4 Comments

This blessed Easter season

4/14/2021

1 Comment

 
​This year the slightly relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, afforded our family the opportunity to attend all Triduum Masses at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Since my husband Ben volunteered as cameraman for the cathedral livestream, the children and I gratefully attended the liturgies upstairs in the crying room, so we could experience the Triduum together as much as possible. 

Last year when churches were closed and no one could attend Mass during the Easter Triduum, our family was given the grace to see the pandemic as an opportunity to fortify our domestic church. What seemed like one-off makeshift solutions at the time have now become annual family Easter traditions. 
Picture
Our own celebrations began at home again on Holy Thursday by meditating on the Last Supper with the children using a miniature altar and figurines. This was inspired by my training as a children’s catechist with the Catechism of the Good Shepherd program. This lectio divina style meditation set the mood for my husband to prayerfully perform an in-house foot washing. And following this we sat down to eat a Seder-inspired dinner. 

What struck me was the word ‘slave’ interwoven throughout the Triduum. In my understanding a central theme of the Seder meal is reflecting on the significance of the Egyptian slaves finding freedom through the Exodus. 
Picture
On Good Friday we continued our meditation by praying the Way of the Cross as a small family cohort at Mount St Francis retreat centre just outside of Cochrane. 

I allowed this life-changing truth that Jesus died on the Cross and rose again to free me from my slavery to sin and death to penetrate my heart. 

​And on Holy Saturday we had a quiet day waiting in hopeful anticipation of the Resurrection that meets us on the other side of the Cross. 

The candlelit Vigil Mass is truly the climax of our liturgical year. I was awestruck by the magnificence and beauty of the words sung in the Exsultet. Again the reality of being set free from the slavery of my sin and death captured my imagination.

Here’s an excerpt from the Exsultet

This is the night
that even now throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

Picture
​With my lenten pilgrimage concluded, I pondered in what ways God’s grace had worked in my life to set me free from the slavery of my sin. 

God loves you and me personally and unconditionally and the only thing standing in the way of His love is our own turning away from Him. And for those with eyes of faith to see that all circumstances: the good, the challenges, the everyday mundane, are all opportunities to grow in greater love of God and His Church. 

Happy Easter from our family to yours! And may the victory over sin and death carry on in our heart for the 50 days following Easter until Pentecost!

Picture
Written by Sara Francis for Faithfully. Sara is a writer living in Calgary with her husband Ben and their five children. They attend St. Bernard's / Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. 

​Photos courtesy of Ben Francis.
1 Comment

Volunteerism - the hidden power in parishes

4/13/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
Every parish has a reach far beyond what is visible at weekend Masses. On Sunday, when the parking lot and pews are full (or even Covid-reduced), it’s easy to see how impactful our churches are. The presence of worshipers proves the importance of faith sharing among believers. However, when Monday comes and the crowds are gone, the ‘hidden’ work of a parish continues. Sacraments are taken to shut-ins, maintenance and grounds-keeping is done, the poor are fed, refugees are sheltered, music is practiced, small group fellowship thrives in a dozen different ways. All this, and much more besides, is largely achieved by volunteers.
Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” 
​
Helen Keller 
Like any charity or not-for-profit, the work of our Catholic parishes is borne as much by unpaid supporters as by paid staff. Indeed, the staffs’ role often includes recruiting and coordinating volunteers to help them. It takes many hands and minds to do God’s work. So many, that we can be unaware of how much is actually being done within our parish boundaries. As a step towards recognizing the impact of volunteers we would like to highlight a few individuals from around the diocese. We hope you will recognize yourself among these people or even be inspired to assist in a different capacity.
​
Every volunteer is a star in their parish universe and we wish we could name and praise them all. Unfortunately our pages are limited, but our gratitude is boundless. Readers are welcome to identify the volunteers closest to their hearts by leaving a comment below.         

Picture
Sharron Robinson
Sharron Robinson, ​Ascension Catholic Parish, Calgary
​​To say Sharron is busy is an understatement. She works five days a week as the parish volunteer coordinator, which is itself a volunteer position! When her parish was fully functioning Sharron proudly claimed almost 1000 volunteers. Even now, there are several hundred and Sharron is always making connections with parishioners in hopes of matching them with the perfect volunteer opportunity. “Our volunteers really enjoy being here and they pass the word to other people,” Sharon said. After ‘office hours’ Sharron volunteers some more in a myriad different ways. “I’m here to serve the Lord,” she said, “and it keeps my brain active.”
Picture
Rafael Pucut
Rafael Pucut, ​St. Michael Parish, Calgary
​​Rafael began volunteering in the sound booth when he was in Grade 11. He has since become adept at every aspect of audio-visual support during Mass. “I love technology and wanted to contribute my tech skills,” he said. ​Despite being in his final year of an intensive University degree, Rafael stressed, “Nobody’s ever too busy (to volunteer). It’s an opportunity to give back and to learn something new.”
Picture
Patrick Ries (right)
Patrick Ries, ​Holy Family Parish, Medicine Hat
​​Pat chairs Pastoral Council, sits on the Planning and Maintenance Committee and is financial secretary of his Knights of Columbus group. He is also active in the men’s fellowship program ‘That Man Is You’ and ushers at Mass. In the past he and his wife Denise have volunteered in many other capacities too. They spoke about carrying on the “legacy of volunteering” that their parents instilled when they were growing up in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan. Patrick believes, “Having a gospel of action is much more meaningful than a gospel of words.” ​
Picture
David Cavilla
David Cavilla, ​St. Martha’s Parish, Lethbridge
​David has volunteered in many areas over the years, notably on pastoral council, as a Knight of Columbus and in Youth Ministry leadership. In 2019, he and his wife Mona joined the group sponsoring a Syrian refugee family. They were recruited because Mona speaks Arabic. ​Throughout the past year David has befriended the father of the family and, together with other members of the parish, helped him to find employment, housing and a sense of community. “I see him on a weekly basis,” David said, “We go for coffee or talk on the phone.” 
Picture
OLOR Parish Cleaning Team
Lorraine Eckstrand, Our Lady of the Rockies, Canmore
​​Lorraine was instrumental in gathering a group of volunteers to do “whatever needs to be done”. This might be cleaning the church, weeding the property or handing out Easter eggs after Mass. Lorraine explained that though she is a 19-year veteran of the parish, their church is brand new. To create a sense of investment, Lorraine encourages parishioners to step forward when they see something that needs to be done. ​She said, “When I first retired (volunteering) was a way to fill time and to continue to feel useful. Now it regulates my week,” adding cheerfully, “Along with skiing three times a week!”
Picture
Juliana and Matthew Reeves
Juliana and Matthew Reeves, St. Anthony’s Parish, Drumheller
​​Juliana and Matthew have been cantors at Mass since the diocese permitted the singing of propers (at the reintroduction of public Mass. Propers are scriptural texts which are sung at prescribed times during the service. The Reeves describe the sound as similar to Gregorian chant. They learned the skill while attending Latin Mass at their previous parish in Edmonton. Today they sing in English. “Sacred music is something of a passion of Fr. Lukas’ (their parish priest),” Juliana explained, “So he organized a workshop for chant and now there are a number of other volunteers.” Juliana is also active in CWL (Catholic Women’s League) and has just started a mother’s book study. Matthew teaches baptism and reconciliation sacramental prep and is a Knight of Columbus. The couple credits parish volunteering with helping them meet people when they arrived in Drumheller. But their primary motivation is simpler. “If we can help with the sacred liturgy, there’s nothing more important.”
Picture
Catarina Avila, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Calgary
​Pre-Covid, Catarina trained altar servers and began a church youth group for teens aged 15-18 with the help of her friend Lisa Rodrigues. The group is temporarily paused but Catarina is as active as ever in her ministry with youth and young adults. She is a Group Youth Commissioner with Scouts Canada, participates in CCO (Catholic Christian Outreach) faith study, and is involved with the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy, a Diocesan outreach to young adults. As she navigates university life, Catarina credits these connections with creating lifelong friends. She speaks fervently about her desire to grow faith among youth and has an admirable goal for her own life: “One of my passions is to achieve sainthood, not for my own glory but to reciprocate God’s love for me.” 

Picture
Written by Alice Matisz for Faithfully. ​Alice lives in Lethbridge with her husband Don. She is a member of All Saints Parish where she volunteers to bring the Eucharist to a long term care home (pre-Covid). She enjoys reading, writing, baking and painting. ​
4 Comments

Naming rules

4/13/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Names are interesting. Though we don’t usually choose our own, they give insight into one’s background. My parents had chosen another name for me but hearing that my aunt and uncle wanted to use it for their expected child, Mom and Dad left it for their use. My female cousin ended up not needing the name they reserved, but I had already been born, and named after my dad. There was a period of years when my dad thought being called ‘junior’ by friends telephoning our number (back when whole families shared a single line) was too much for me to bear; he offered to have my name changed.
 
My wife has commented that amongst the biggest decisions we made for our children was picking their names and their godparents. We have viewed both as consequential. At the beginning, we didn’t know we had naming rules.
 
When I was growing up back in the old country (Saskatchewan), there was a family at my school who had five children, all of whose names began with the same letter. At the time this seemed a very strange thing to do – especially when the names they used were less than common.
 
Not every family limits the choices they allow for this key mark of identity, something the individual will probably have for the rest of his life. But I suspect most do. Sometimes they are as simple as not giving a traditionally male name to a daughter. It could be more specific and involve a particular number of letters (this is the case for a family in our acquaintance). You’d think that especially as we hoped from the beginning to have a larger family, and as it turned out that we were going to specialize in daughters, that we wouldn’t make it even more difficult to find good names.
 
We knew that we wanted our children to share their names with strong and virtuous individuals. The devotional practice of reverencing patron saints made this pretty standard for Catholics; our daughters are each named after a canonized saint, biblical woman, or esteemed member of the family. After naming our first three daughters, we discovered that we had created a further rule: we would not repeat initial letters for first names, nor could initial letters be vowels.
 
These final two requisites don’t have substance in themselves, but the challenge of finding names that find all criteria somehow added to the experience for us. While our girls have not placed the same restrictions on themselves in regard to their Confirmation names, they have each selected worthy patrons and sponsors.
 
Taking names seriously is part of not only our faith, but more deeply even, God’s own nature. The second commandment tells us that misuse of God’s name is an offence. There is something of consequence here that I’m not sure we pick up very well in the 2020s.
 
Scripture also uses names to mark changes of life: Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, with Saul to Paul being one of the biggest. Just like the number forty represents transformation: in the Sinai, on the Ark, and with Jesus in the desert. We have just finished journeying with Jesus (“God saves”) as we’ve walked through Lent. While we likely haven’t changed any names in this time, we may have examined who we truly are, as named children of the Father. Though we suffered for forty days, Easter is now a fifty-day celebration – where fasting and mourning are behind us. The promise of spring’s new life echoes the New Life we have been promised. And our celebration of this reality means something about how we live. That’s something I’ve been thinking about too …

Picture
Written by Wayne Ottenbreit. Wayne writes as an educator, psychotherapist, husband, and father to nine daughters. He provides courses in support of family life, relationships, and personal growth at Vivens Academy.
0 Comments

The 'end' of Catholic higher education

4/13/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
In ‘The Idea of a University,’ John Henry Newman (now Saint) outlined his vision of a liberal education that spoke of the virtues and purpose of a university. Originally an Oxford man, his famed conflict at Oriel College where he argued with the Provost that a tutor needed more engagement with undergraduates, resulted in Newman being cast out of his beloved institution and turning instead to a life of research. It wasn’t until many years later that he was drawn back directly into the academy when he was invited to help found the Catholic University of Ireland in Dublin. And although there were too many obstacles for the university to succeed, it galvanized Newman’s love for and understanding of the unique gifts of Catholic education. Indeed, in his Letters and Diaries he is quoted as saying, ‘from the very first month of my Catholic existence … I wished for a Catholic University.’

Newman’s now famous treatise reminds us of the unique charter of a liberal arts, and of a Catholic, university: ‘the end of University Education,’ he tells us, is to provide ‘a comprehensive view of truth in all its branches, of the relations of science to science, of their mutual bearings, and their respective values.’ Newman recognizes that true education is about the ‘real cultivation of the mind’, one that ‘grasps what it perceives through the senses … which takes a view of things; which sees more than the senses convey.’ Newman was not advocating for a narrow definition of one area of study but for the importance of developing critical thinking skills, a well-rounded understanding of poets, historians, philosophers, mathematicians, theologians and more. It is this comprehensive field of understanding, embedded in an unshakable moral foundation, that would allow graduates to enter ‘with comparative ease into any subject of thought, and of taking up with aptitude any science or profession.’

This flexibility and transferability is often what our Catholic universities use to defend and define the liberal arts education that we provide. In response to the demand, at times from Government itself, that we should focus exclusively on the trades or jettison the arts writ large to focus on true vocational training for jobs, pundits like myself write impassioned articles debunking the false notion that our graduates fail to forge incredible careers. We cite extensive evidence of the impact that Arts graduates have at the top of Fortune 500 companies, heading top law firms, and more. And while this defensiveness is predictable if tedious, it is a reminder of the danger of contemporary society’s devaluation of the principles of a Catholic, liberal education.

Beyond the public apologia, however, our Catholic institutions in Canada do more than defend against narrow pigeonholing. The true work of our institutions is to create holistic learning hubs, where intellectual culture is not chauvinistic but pluralistic by nature; where social capital isn’t defined by dollars but by public accountability; and acts of charity are not tax write-offs but imbedded in the very purpose of human understanding and behaviour. Yes, we want our students to have incredible careers, and they do — but we remind them always that they have a higher calling, which is to transform society for the better and to advocate for the common good.

For John Cappucci, the Principal of Assumption University, ‘the greatest challenge facing Catholic higher education is demonstrating that attending a Catholic university or college is more than just learning about Catholicism. It is about linking Catholicism to the challenges of the daily work. For example, following the example of Pope Francis’ Laudado Si’. Peter Meehan, President at St. Jerome’s University, argues that ‘the journey to truth includes both faith and reason. Uniting the heart and the mind, faith and reason allow us to explore the questions facing humanity, from biological and business ethics, ecumenism, ageing, death and dying, to the ecology, globalization and issues of responsible citizenship and government. Confident in Christian truth without being proselytizing or triumphal, we see liberal arts education as underlying a deeper human need to grasp the world in all of its complexities.’  

These values are timeless, but they are also relevant to our contemporary challenges. David Sylvester, President of the University of St. Michael’s College makes this point about the pandemic itself: ‘Catholic universities, because they are fundamentally oriented to building up the common good and their long-standing community partnerships, have been at the forefront of the COVID response and have been real pillars of hope not just for their students, staff and alumni, but for their neighbours. It really did expose the need for the work that Catholic universities undertake and the servant leadership our students and faculty provide.’

Catholic colleges and universities have also been at the heart of creating important ecumenical conversations, understanding that dialogue between faith communities is critical to an empowered and empathetic world. One of the challenges that Catholic postsecondary institutions often face is that they are assumed to be theological schools or exclusive enclaves. In fact, our institutions are open to all, and they revel in the conversation that they generate with different faith communities, and indeed with the wider world itself, secular or otherwise. In the end, our institutions focus on the life of the student, pushing for a holistic education: mind, body and spirit. It is not unusual for students to flourish in our environment when they have felt uncomfortable in the public institutions.

Recently, at St. Mary’s University in Calgary, I was delighted to receive two letters from both a parent and a former student, thanking the institution for the foundational learning, and the comprehensive education, we provide. The reason for the correspondence: the student had just completed both an internship at the Indiana University School of Medicine and graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and then accepted a postdoctoral fellowship position with the Harvard School of Medicine and Boston Children’s Hospital, the top-ranked paediatric hospital in the U.S. For the father, our small Catholic university allowed his daughter ‘to develop academically, emotionally, personally and spiritually.’ He concluded, ‘As the Chinese proverb says, “When you drink water, think of its source.’” For his daughter, it was the pastoral and individualized experience that allowed a ‘soft-spoken’ and shy individual ‘to grow and gain courage to participate and ask questions.’ She concluded: ‘The path towards a Ph.D. truly takes a village, and I am privileged to have had you all as teachers and mentors.’

The twenty-two Catholic institutions represented by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Canada all look to this type of testimonial to encapsulate the goal and the values of our institutions. As Pope Francis has argued, Catholic education is called to build a humanism that ‘proposes a vision of society centred on the human person,’ and that draws on ‘the great testimonies of the saints and holy educators, whose example is a beacon’ that can illuminate our service, and that is dedicated to the ‘mission of offering horizons that are open to transcendence.’ That surely is the ‘end’ of Catholic higher education — and in that respect our work is just beginning.

Picture
Written by Dr. Gerry Turcotte, President of St. Mary's University
Vertical Divider
Applications to St. Mary’s University for September 2021 are still open for all programs! St. Mary’s offers degree programs that will engage you in social-justice oriented and stimulating academics in a supportive and inclusive learning community. From Bachelor of Arts and Science programs in Social Justice & Catholic Studies, English and Biology, to after-degree programs in Education, St. Mary’s equips our students to become leaders in the community; living with integrity, compassion and confidence. Learn more at stmu.ca
0 Comments

A Chesterton Academy in Alberta

4/13/2021

1 Comment

 
PictureG. K. Chesterton
G.K. Chesterton was a British writer of vast influence in the early 20th century, penning plays, novels, poems, and hundreds of articles and essays.  He employed humour, intelligence, and humility in defense of sanity, of Christianity, and particularly of his chosen faith: Catholicism, and his work remains in wide circulation today, in many languages, touching Catholics and other Christians around the world. His writing trains the mind, challenges our preconceptions, and brings many closer to Christ.
​
St. Isidore Learning Center in Elk Island Catholic Schools, is a relatively new online school, and in some respects we were still looking for our particular charism when, in the fall of 2019, we started talking with some folks from the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton in the United States about their network of Chesterton Academies. The Chesterton Schools Network delivers a joyful, Catholic, classical curriculum through which students explore Literature and History, from the ancient to the modern, along with Theology, Philosophy, Latin, and the Fine Arts. A classical education, but in the Chesterton spirit: faithful, full of wonder and humour, without the stuffiness many would assume comes with such subjects. 

“Are any of your schools online?” we asked. The answer was no. “Would you be open to the possibility of working with a publicly funded Catholic, online school from Canada?” we wondered. Yes indeed!  Conversations ensued and relationships grew, and in time we submitted a proposal, which was in essence a concordance of the two curricula, ultimately a way to deliver Alberta Education courses, meeting Alberta outcomes and requirements, but doing so in a Chestertonian manner that met all the knowledge outcomes and the sequenced approach employed by Chesterton Academies.

That led us to this year. We launched as a school within a school, the Chesterton Academy of St. Isidore, with a cohort of over 60 students from across the province, a truly joyous and invigorating group of teenagers who are keen to learn and laugh together, studying online. We recently placed students in the traditional House system, a joyous occasion, in their Houses of Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. We’ve chosen Prefects, and started our first extracurricular club (a Philosophy club, and initiated by teenagers!) We’re already hearing from new parents, interested in next year.
​
Alberta is a place of educational choice, and among Alberta schools one can find Sports Academies, Fine Arts Academies, Outdoor based education, Academic Excellence and Vocational training - all manner of programming. And now, in a public separate school, we have a classical Catholic school: a Chesterton Academy.  


Picture
Written by Stefan Johnson for Faithfully. Stefan Johnson serves as the Assistant Principal at St. Isidore Learning Center in Sherwood Park, Alberta and is the lead administrator for the Chesterton Academy of St. Isidore. His love of history, literature, and theology led him to the teaching profession, where he has served faithfully as a teacher of Latin, of English, and of Religion for the past twenty years. He loves his wife and children dearly, and prefers dogs to cats, which says just enough about him.​
1 Comment

When you walk into a Catholic school

4/13/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
Photo credit: Krista Conrad
When I am asked to define what makes a Catholic school unique, aside from Religion classes, I often reply that it’s about the faith-based education, which is wholistic and permeates each subject, each class, each doorway, each heart. It’s a feeling.
​
For years, I didn’t know how to explain the “feeling” to those who hadn’t experienced it for themselves. Then I returned to school and completed a degree in Journalism, and it was my new career that helped derive that explanation.

As a community news reporter I have been invited into several schools in Okotoks and area, and though still intangible there is a different feel to walking inside the Catholic schools as opposed to the public. There is warmth; one can sense the presence of God in the smiles that greet them, in the crosses and images that mark the entrance to the school. This is not to say public schools are cold and unfeeling places, but the faith, the gifts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the halls of a Catholic school are palpable.

Perhaps nothing spoke to me more than Christmas concert season, during which reporters take in concerts from each school over the course of three weeks. I noted a marked difference in the calm, the reverence and respect in the air of Advent celebrations – whether in church sanctuaries or school gyms – as opposed to the hectic, often chaotic public productions that focused more on snow and gifts than the birth of Jesus. 

In those moments, in the peace I feel as I enter a Catholic school, I am grateful for the education I received in these same halls years ago. I am grateful for the opportunity to have my children grace the same schools, feel that same embrace of faith in their education journey, know that God is ever-present, and learn to treat one another as the images of the Lord we are. 

The values they espouse, the empathy they have gained, and the ability to see God’s work in every day life are treasures I hope they cherish throughout their lives.

Some still do not understand what I mean when I describe the feeling of walking into a Catholic school – of the warmth that overwhelms the senses; of appreciating you have entered a house of faith and pure, real joy; of knowing your children are in safely in God’s hands as their teachers guide them, as they learn and shape their life view and growing minds.
​
But I understand, and my children understand – and we will be forever grateful for the opportunity to benefit from a Catholic education.

Picture
Written by Krista Conrad for Faithfully. Krista Conrad is a mother to five children ages 2 to 18, all of which have been, are, or will be educated in the Catholic school system. She is an award-winning reporter for the Okotoks Western Wheel weekly newspaper and volunteers with CTR GrACE, the Foothills Kinettes, the 187 Air Cadet Squadron, Foothills Angel, and is the parent council chair for St. Mary's School in Okotoks.
1 Comment

O truly blessed night!

4/13/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Easter Vigil 2021, St. Mary's Cathedral. Photo: Yuan Wang.
The sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen and joy to mourners; drives out hatred, fosters concord and brings down the mighty.

These time honoured words of the ancient hymn we call “The Exsultet” summarize beautifully and powerfully the immensity of what happens on the night of the Solemn Vigil of Easter. When the floodgates of grace which we call baptism are opened up that night in Christ’s Church each year, the world is changed over and over again. 
​
The Easter Vigil this year was doubly meaningful for the faithful and our Elect throughout the Diocese. Who will ever forget the Sacred Triduum of 2020, passed much like the first Passover of the Jews, hiding in our homes as the shadow of death passed over the land? The only Easter Vigils celebrated last year were virtual or non-existent. What joy, then, this year for the maximum capacity allowed in our churches to be gathered in person to usher in the celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection. The triumph of that earth-shattering event is always manifested so clearly by the baptism of adults into the Mystical Body of Christ, His Church. Everything listed in that quote with which I began this article is accomplished by the pouring of those sacred waters. I referred to this Triduum as doubly meaningful, but not only because last year we never had one and this year we did; in fact, it was a “first Triduum” for two classes of our RCIA participants. Last year, there was a group of RCIA candidates and catechumens prepared to receive their sacraments at Easter but which had to be postponed until the summer. It was such a joy to see many of them seated in the congregation- still Catholic infants themselves- welcoming a whole new batch of Christians into the family.

O truly blessed night!

Perhaps I should have referred to this year’s Easter Vigil as triply blessed, for it was not only two years of RCIA cohorts being received and watching it unfold for the first time but it was a different ‘first time’ for a sizeable portion of those in attendance at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Not necessarily the first time to be part of the Vigil and Triduum, but the first time for the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy (SFXC) community to be celebrating it there, and with our chief shepherd, no less!
​It was a powerful witness for us all- chaplaincy participants and chaplain alike- to take part in the Triduum in our mother church around our Bishop. It was a helpful reminder of the role of a Vicar- he who stands in the place of the Bishop who desires to be present but cannot be- that sometimes, the Vicar can be where he belongs: at the service of the Bishop who fulfills his mission as Christ in our midst. My day to day life is spent serving the university students and young adults of the Chaplaincy community and not a few of them remarked to me afterwards how moving it was for them to watch Fr. Cristino step aside from his usual role in leadership as Bishop McGrattan stepped up to lead the flock entrusted to his care in prayer and worship while also conferring the sacraments of initiation. SFXC’s new home never felt more like home than in the presence of the head of our household. 

It was a beautiful demonstration of what it means to be the Church, what it means for the Church to grow and what Christ’s Resurrection from the dead has truly made possible. It was an honour and a joy for the SFXC to welcome seven new sheep into the flock, and all the more by our shepherd himself. 

O truly blessed night! 

Picture
Written by Fr. Cristino Bouvette for Faithfully | Photography: Yuan Wang
Follow St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy on Instagram | Facebook 
​
The St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy provides faith, formation and fellowship to university students and other young adults in the Diocese of Calgary. The community gathers for the celebration of Sunday Mass at 2 and 4 pm each week. 

0 Comments

Jesus, save me!

4/13/2021

5 Comments

 
Picture
I am Fr. Tomy Manjaly, the youngest in a family of seven children. I have five brothers and one sister.  My sister is a nun who has been ministering to the seniors and the mentally challenged people in Bethlehem, Israel for the past 31 years. I was born and brought up in the province of Kerala, South India. Both of my parents have passed away; may they attain eternal life.

When I was in grade three, I was taught by a nun who asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said that I wanted to be a priest, and she asked me to read aloud, to test me on whether I would be qualified for the priesthood. That was the first seed of a vocation planted in me. After grade ten, I joined the minor seminary, with a view to becoming a priest, for the Diocese of Imphal, Manipur, one of the northeastern states in India. I was a part of the first group of seminarians selected for that Diocese. I have had the grace to be blessed by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I met St. Teresa before my ordination, when I was studying theology in Calcutta.

I was ordained at the age of 30 on April 9, 1994. I served for seven years in Manipur as an Associate Parish Priest, Pastor and school administrator of a school with 2,300 students.

On February 2, 2001, the most tragic and miraculous incident of my life took place. I was shot by a rebel group which was fighting against the Indian army for the separation of Manipur from the Indian federation. They demanded money from our churches to buy weapons. First of all, we hardly had enough money to pay our teachers. Secondly, the money was being demanded to purchase weapons to fight and kill others, which was against our Christian principles. When the churches denied them money, the rebels shot and killed five priests over a series of days and I was shot in the back on February 2, 2001.  The bullet passed through my stomach, severely injuring an artery, my kidneys, colon and intestines.

As I fell on the ground after the first shot, I called out the mighty name of Lord Jesus, and God come to my aid. I cried aloud twice, “Jesus, save me!” and the second shot didn’t go through me, for the gun the rebel was using, jammed. That is when the first miracle took place. I was declared dead according to the TV news and my parents in South India watched the report in horror and sorrow.

I was taken to a private Catholic hospital by some of the people and the Associate Priest who had witnessed the incident. The hospital didn’t have enough money to pay the doctors and didn’t usually have a surgeon. But, it happened that on that day, there was a surgeon who had been hired for a two-week term. The table was set for another surgery, and I was blessed to be operated on immediately. The surgery was another miracle. Since my artery was torn, I was in need of a lot of blood. Twenty one units of blood were given to me by the people who gathered there, after hearing the news of the gun shot. Another miracle then took place. There was no blood bank nearby, but seven more doctors came to my aid from the other hospitals to give blood. After ten hours of surgery, and two days’ recovery I was able to breathe on my own. I had to have two more surgeries over the following two years, and it was during this time that I was called by Bishop Henry to serve in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary. I thank God for bringing me to this beautiful and peaceful land of Canada.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 ​

I arrived in Calgary on September 19, 2003. Since then I have served as an Associate Priest at St. Mark’s Church and Sacred Heart Church in Calgary, and at St. Patrick’s Church in Medicine Hat. I have also served as the Pastor in Coaldale and Picture Butte parishes, as well as St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Calgary, Holy Trinity Church in Cluny, and St. Patrick’s Church in Medicine Hat.  I thank God for giving me another opportunity to serve Him and the people of God at Sacred Heart Church in Strathmore, starting in August 2020.

​I greatly appreciate all of my parishioners, volunteers, friends, deacons and the office staff of our parish, who have made me feel welcome. Although we do not have a church building, we are grateful to Christ the Redeemer School Division for providing us a space for our worship. Please pray and help us build our beautiful church, dedicated to Our Lord's Sacred Heart, where we will have more space for worship and gathering. 

​May God bless you all, and may He guide your endeavours in building the Body of Christ and the Church. May St. John Paul II intercede for us. 


Picture

​Written by Fr. Tomy Manjaly
Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Strathmore
Sacred Heart Church in Strathmore is currently in the midst of fundraising to begin renovating the old IGA building in Strathmore into their new spiritual home.  Please watch the new extended virtual walkthrough video to see the gorgeous design that our architecture team have developed for our new Church.  For more information or to donate, click here
5 Comments

Pastoral Orientations on Climate Displaced People

4/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
The climate crisis has a very human face. It is already a reality for multitudes of vulnerable people worldwide. Climate warming of merely 1.5°C would cause global sea levels to rise by 0.77 metres by 2100, threatening cities and crop and pasture land around the world. Projections based on current data predict a global temperature increase of 3-4°C by 2100. 

​The Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has recently published and presented at a press conference on Wednesday, 31 March 2021, the resource document entitled, Pastoral Orientations on Climate Displaced People. The resource highlights the new challenges posed by climate disruption and displacement and suggests pastoral responses to the global situation and crisis.
 
The document can be downloaded, in various languages and formats, from the newly created webpage dedicated to climate displaced people, on the Migrants and Refugees Section’s website: https://migrants-refugees.va/climate-displaced-people/ 
  • Download resource document: Pastoral Orientations on Climate Displaced People
​
Keywords: global warming, climate change, Laudato Si, 
0 Comments

Easter Message from the Bishop

4/3/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
The message of Easter – the Resurrection of Jesus – takes us beyond the Cross to the joy and hope that comes from seeing the Risen Lord. It was Christ risen who allowed his disciples to fully know that God exists, that there is a future for every human being and that our cry for unending life is indeed answered in Him. This is the true message of Easter!
​
In this past year with the ongoing restrictions of the pandemic we have been intensely united with Jesus, in His passion, the carrying of the Cross, and the obedient acceptance of the Father’s will in sacrificial love for others. God has truly inspired many of us in faith to act with this same love, patient suffering, endurance and courage in the face of despair and in offering a hope which has been inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is such acts of love that restores human dignity for those who have been burdened by this pandemic, by the death of loved ones, the loss of employment and the limitations that were placed on normal human interactions of education, leisure, physical exercise and community gatherings. Christians and indeed everyone have been called to respond with compassion, solidarity and in caring for those who are suffering and most vulnerable. This is a true sign of hope, of Easter faith which caused the disciples not to proclaim the tragedy of Jesus death but rather the sharing of his resurrection, the promise of eternal life, of joy and confidence in the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus revealed himself to the disciples in tangible ways especially in the anticipation of His suffering and death. In the enduring gift of His Presence “in the breaking of the bread” – the Eucharist, we come to know in faith that our suffering and death can be united with Christ and have deeper meaning when offered to God.

He also commissioned Mary Magdalene after his resurrection as the “apostle (the one sent) to the apostles”, to bring this good news of hope, the promise of new life to the world. He invites us like Mary to enter the tomb, to enter into the mystery of how God transforms our experience of despair through a vigil of love into a promise of hope. To enter into mystery means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great silence by which God speaks to us (cf. 1Kings 19:12). Like Mary we need humility to enter into this mystery especially during this “silence” created by the pandemic. To know with confidence that our search for truth, beauty and love in these challenging times will be fully revealed in the risen Christ. May our witness of this sacred mystery revealed in the dignity of each human person, silence the deafening call for expanding euthanasia and assisted suicide in our country of Canada and to acknowledge that this pandemic continues to burden the most vulnerable in our society.   

Easter calls us to promote with renewed vigor the sanctity of human life with grateful and joyful hearts. Easter calls us to move beyond the tomb with the conviction to share the good news of the Resurrection with one another. Easter calls us to courageously follow Jesus Christ, the risen one, and to boldly proclaim that out of darkness and suffering comes new life. This Easter let us rise up to meet the world our society and with the witness of our faith. It is my hope that in this coming year we discover new ways to share this Easter faith, the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection. 
​
A blessed Easter Season to you and your family.

​Sincerely yours in Christ,

+ Most Reverend William T. McGrattan 
Bishop of Calgary
Vertical Divider
Picture
Written by Most Rev. William T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
​
April 3, 2021
1 Comment

    Author

    Catholic Pastoral Centre Staff and Guest Writers

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    Categories

    All
    Advent & Christmas
    Art
    Bereavement
    Bishop Emeritus Henry
    Bishop McGrattan
    Book Review
    Care For Creation
    Catechetics
    Catholic Charities & Development
    Catholic Education
    Catholic Schools
    CCCB
    Christian Unity
    Climate Change
    Consecrated Virgin
    Conversion
    Covid 19
    Culture
    CWL
    Development & Peace
    Devotions
    Diocesan Event
    Discipleship
    Ecumenical
    Elizabeth House
    Environment
    Euthanasia
    Evangelization
    Faithful Living
    Faithfully
    Family
    Feed The Hungry
    From The Bishop's Office
    Fundraising
    Funeral
    Grieving
    Health
    Health Care
    Homelessness
    Indigenous
    In Memoriam
    Interfaith
    Jubilarians
    Lay Associations
    Lent
    Lent & Easter
    Liturgy
    Marian
    Marriage
    Mary
    Mass
    Mental Health
    Migrants
    Miscarriage
    Mission Mexico
    Movie Review
    Music
    One Rock
    Online Formation
    Ordination
    Parenting
    Parish Life
    Pastoral Care
    Pastoral Visit
    Permanent Diaconate
    Pope
    Pope Francis
    Prayer
    Pray For Peace
    Priesthood
    Prolife
    RCIA
    Reconciliation
    Refugee
    Religious Education
    Religious Freedom
    Religious Life
    Resources And Guidelines
    Sacred Art
    Safe Environment
    Saints
    Scripture & Reflection
    Seniors
    Social Justice
    Stewardship
    St. Joseph
    Synod
    Vocation
    Youth And Young Adults
    Youth Ministry

    RSS Feed

GET TO KNOW US
Our Bishop
Offices & Ministries
​Our Staff
Read our Blog
Catholic Community
​Lay Associations
CONNECT WITH US
Contact us
​Careers
​Parish Boundaries

News & Events
Faithfully
​Reporting Abuse
NEED INFO ON
Becoming Catholic
Marriage Preparation
​Vocations
Annulment 
Sacraments Prep
Catholic Funeral
GIVE TO
Diocesan Ministries
Together in Action
Feed the Hungry
Elizabeth House
Your Parish Church​ 
​Other Ministry

Catholic Pastoral Centre  | 120 - 17th Ave SW, Calgary, AB  T2S 2T2 | ​Phone: 403-218-5500 | communications@calgarydiocese.ca
Charitable Number: 
10790-9939-RR0076​. Donate Now.
  • Blog
  • About
  • Give
  • News & Events
  • Ministries
  • Contact Us
  • Parish Finder