The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who run a day care for young children in Calgary, recently welcomed two visiting Sisters from their convent in the United States: Sr. Charbel Joseph, their Vocation Director, and Sr. Felicity, her companion.

Sr. Charbel comes annually to Calgary for vocation promotion for her community and visits schools to meet with students to help them respond to God’s call in their own lives. This year, these two Sisters visited several schools in Calgary and Strathmore to speak about vocations and discernment. We were warmly welcomed by the staff and administration of the schools. Our only regret is that we could not visit all the Catholic high schools in our Diocese.

Their presentations were engaging and personal, as they shared their own vocation stories and responded practically to questions from both students and teachers. A video by Fr. Mike Schmitz, “What’s My Vocation?,” was also helpful in explaining the various types of vocations in the Church.

Written by Sr. Dianne Turner, OSE for Faithfully. Photos courtesy of Sr. Dianne. 

Submitted by St. Mary's Cathedral Sacrament Preparation team. 

A Vatican Media documentary traces the roots of Robert Francis Prevost in the United States, from his childhood in Dolton to the schools, parishes, and communities that shaped him. Featuring memories from his brothers, classmates, confreres, teachers, and longtime friends, the documentary offers a personal look at the life and faith of the man now known to the world as Pope Leo XIV.

Michelle once asked God to prove He was real. What she did not realize then was that God had already been pursuing her.

​At last month’s Diocesan Renewal Conference "Evangelization at the Heart of Renewal," held Apr 17 and 18 at St. Michael Catholic Community, Michelle responded to the call to share her testimony after hearing Bishop Scott McCaig speak on evangelization and the importance of sharing how God has worked in our lives. 

​Michelle, a parishioner at St. Bonaventure Parish in Calgary, had grown up Catholic. Her family was prayerful, faithful, and active in the life of the Church. But as a child, she struggled to understand why any of it mattered.

“I came from a really good Catholic family, very prayerful and always talked about God,” she recalled. “I think I had a rebellious spirit when I was a kid.”

While her family loved going to Mass and taking part in “all these extra things,” Michelle often found herself asking why.

She had questions about God, the Church, and Jesus, but felt that the answers she received did not fully satisfy her.

“I didn’t understand anything about the Catholic Church,” she said. “And me being a kid, I thought I knew everything.”

Eventually, Michelle drifted from the practice of the faith. She stopped going to church regularly and began living what she described as a secular life. She explored New Age spirituality and considered herself a “spiritual person,” but something was still missing.

“At some point I realized that it was unsatisfying, not really knowing if God was real or not,” she said.

In that uncertainty, Michelle remembers praying honestly: “If you’re real, show me. Prove it to me that you’re real.”

Since Catholicism was all she had ever known, she decided to give the Church one real chance. She began going back to Mass, even if at first it was “a little bit unwillingly.” Then, during the pandemic, a friend invited her to join an online Alpha group.

“I just said yes to an invitation that my friend had given me,” Michelle said.

At the time, she was at one of the lowest points in her life. She had been laid off and felt she had very little left. But in that small online group, she encountered people who spoke to her about Jesus.

“They were talking to me about Jesus, and I really didn’t know who Jesus was,” she said. “I didn’t know if I believed in him or not.”

Then one day, someone in the group told her, “Jesus still heals today.”

Michelle had been living with persistent neck pain for eight years. When the Alpha group asked if they could pray for healing, she agreed.

“Couple days later, I realized that the pain in my neck was gone,” she said.

“That’s when I realized that God has been with me this whole time and God was pursuing me,” she said. “God had answered my request of proving it to me that he was real.”

From that moment, Michelle knew she could not simply return to the way she had been living. Her faith was no longer something inherited from her family or something she had to figure out only from a distance. It had become personal.
“Because I realized that God could see me, I was like, I can never go back to my old life,” she said.

Today, Michelle often thinks of Psalm 139, the psalm of the inescapable God who searches and knows each person completely.

“He searches me, and he knows me,” she said. “And he’s always pursuing me.”

Based on Michelle’s video testimony recorded at the Renewal Conference, Apr 17–18, 2026.  

After moving from Ontario to Calgary, I came to the church while looking for schools for my children. All three of them attended Christian schools at different times, but honestly, we didn't really understand the Bible at all.

I used to not believe. I used to think God was superstition.

I grew up hearing Bible stories, but they felt like fairy tales to me, not real. It wasn't until I joined the RCIA program at Ascension Catholic Parish that those "fairy tale" scriptures suddenly became real. Two thousand years of wisdom had been walking beside me all along, teaching, guiding, and leading me.

Yet where human limits end, God's beginning starts.

Through what we Christians call "God's plan," I was simply fortunate to have God's arrangement bring me to a genuine opportunity to draw closer to Him. I believe everything is in His hands.

After my baptism, I still often feel unworthy, unable to follow Christ's teachings fully. There is so much wisdom in the scriptures that I still cannot live up to, but I learned one thing: if you don't understand, it's okay. Just obey first.

One evening, during evening prayer, I was deeply lost. I didn't know if what I was doing was right. I wanted to help a loved one who had left me and betrayed me, but I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, whether I would be hurt in the process, whether I could calmly and properly comfort someone who had betrayed me. I didn't know what to do.

In the middle of my prayer, I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to read the Bible. It really wasn't an ordinary thought. There was a sense of urgency. I didn't refuse it, but I also didn't know which passage to read. I wasn't familiar with the Bible, didn't know the context, didn't recognize any of the characters. But I felt a prompting: just open to a random page, and I would know.

I opened to a page at random and read:

"Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the LORD." (Judges 18:6).

I was stunned.

I had been lost because I didn't know if it was right to help someone who had betrayed me with no sign of remorse. I admit I was still anxious, but this verse made me think deeply for a long time. The very first part of it told me: Go in peace.

When I felt unseen, when I felt unnoticed, He was watching. He knew. He affirmed me.

Article & photos by West Wong, baptized at Easter Vigil, Ascension Catholic Parish. 

Those who have visited Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre in Cochrane (The Mount) in recent months may have already encountered the joy of Fr. Guylain Prince, OFM.

Originally from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Fr. Guylain brings with him a deep love for Scripture, a gift for contemplative prayer, and a rich understanding of the world into which Jesus was born. With his bright smile, big laugh, and joyful Franciscan spirit, his presence at The Mount has been a blessing, especially in this special year of St. Francis of Assisi.
Over the last few months, I have seen him laugh wholeheartedly at his own jokes, delight in the sight of a squirrel scuttling about, preach deep and meaningful homilies, and sing beautifully during retreats. Last December, I had the privilege of sitting with him in the friary at The Mount and listening to the story that brought him here.
​
We spoke about his life, his vocation, his move from Eastern Canada, and his hopes for this new mission at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre.

An encounter that changed everything

Fr. Guylain grew up in a Catholic family, but as a young teenager, he set his faith aside. His young mind was filled with physics, computer science, and music. As a young drummer, he loved being around instruments, and while in college, he remembers spending time near the campus ministry office, partly because of the beautiful room and the access to music. At that time, this was his limited contact with the faith.

Then, during an Easter weekend retreat in 1982, everything changed.

The retreat focused on the reenactment of the last days of Jesus. On that Saturday morning, Fr. Guylain had such a striking experience of God that faith became real, vivid, and impossible to ignore. He calls it “the experience of the obvious.”

For the next two years, he found himself hesitating between the Pentecostal, Evangelical, and Catholic Churches. In the end, his Baptism won. At the age of 19, he reintegrated into the Catholic Church and chose to live according to the beautiful heritage handed over to him at Baptism.

That same week, he received the Franciscan Tau, the T-shaped cross adopted by St. Francis of Assisi as a sign of conversion, penance, and the passion of Christ. Fr. Guylain took it as a sign that he was being called to Franciscan spirituality.

A Franciscan life rooted in Scripture and prayer

Fr. Guylain returned to Montreal and joined the Franciscans as a postulant while continuing to work for the Diocese of Churchill-Hudson Bay. As a novice, he spent an extraordinary year in formation and continued to grow in the Franciscan way of life.

He later worked for the Canadian Bible Society for more than 10 years, publishing books, organizing diocesan Bible gatherings across French Canada, and coordinating 15 to 22 biblical weekends each year.

Through it all, contemplative prayer remained at the centre of his life. Hermitages, silence, and the Jesus Prayer tradition became the backbone of his devotion and way of living.
​
He later moved to the Diocese of Joliette, where he answered the call to the priesthood. Newly ordained, he moved to Trois-Rivières, where he served for 14 years as rector of the new shrine dedicated to Good Father Frédéric Janssoone.
There, Fr. Guylain became deeply involved in furthering the cause of canonization of Blessed Frédéric, a Franciscan priest whose life and mission remain very close to his heart.

The Holy Land and the world of Jesus

For many years, Fr. Guylain was asked by the Commissary of the Holy Land to lead tours there. He eventually agreed to go with a group almost 10 years ago. What began as an introductory trip grew into a deep love for the land walked by Jesus.
​
He went on to spend six months in formation, studying Aramaic, the socio-cultural context of Galilee, archaeology, and geography. His time in the Holy Land eventually inspired him to begin doctoral studies.

In 2017, Fr. Guylain began his doctoral thesis in Scripture, focusing on the historical Jesus within Second Temple Judaism, the world in which Jesus was born, grew up, preached, suffered, died, and rose again.

He is set to complete his doctoral studies in the coming year and looks forward to sharing this knowledge with those who are interested. His love for Scripture also extends to the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, as well as the books of Revelation and Daniel.
​
For Fr. Guylain, this scholarship is not simply academic. It is part of a deeper desire to help people encounter the Word of God more fully, with both the mind and the heart.

A new mission at The Mount

At Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre, Fr. Guylain is beginning a new mission of retreat ministry, prayer, and teaching.
He is passionate about breaking open the Word online and plans to do more of this through his new Facebook page, “From the Friars’ Hermitage.” Along with leading retreats, he also leads a contemplative prayer group every Tuesday evening at 7 pm at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre until the end of June.

He also hopes to share more about the life and witness of Good Father Frédéric Janssoone with the faithful here in Western Canada.

Blessed Frédéric was born in northern France in 1838 and entered the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in 1864. He was ordained a priest in 1870, served in the Holy Land for 12 years, and later became closely associated with the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, Canada’s National Shrine to Our Lady of the Cape.

His legacy in the Holy Land is remarkable. After centuries in which public devotion along the Via Dolorosa had been forbidden, Good Father Frédéric helped re-establish the practice of praying the Stations of the Cross along this sacred route. That tradition continues to this day, with the Franciscans walking the route to the Holy Sepulchre every Friday afternoon.

In Canada, Good Father Frédéric helped increase devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary, revived the Third Order of St. Francis, supported the re-establishment of the Order of Friars Minor in Canada, and encouraged pilgrimages to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988, and the Church continues to pray for his canonization.
His simple apostolic prayer, “Let me bring to you, whoever comes to me,” continues to inspire Fr. Guylain and the Friars of the Holy Spirit Province.

Through his story, his learning, his contemplative prayer, and his love for Scripture, Fr. Guylain’s presence at Mount Saint Francis Retreat Centre is already enriching the life of The Mount and those who come there.
​
In this jubilee year of St. Francis of Assisi, his life is a reminder of the joy, simplicity, prayer, and encounter at the heart of Franciscan life.

Written by Cecilia DeMello for Faithfully.

Priest Assignment; Deacon Assignment; Clergy Personnel Announcements; Pastoral Assignment; Priests Move

At its best, RCIA is not just a class or a countdown to the Easter Vigil. It is a gradual journey where seekers are welcomed, accompanied, formed in prayer, drawn into parish life, and helped to discern their next step with Christ. Across the Diocese of Calgary, RCIA teams are already helping this happen with generosity and care. The RCIA renewal seeks to strengthen it, so that every parish can offer Christian Initiation with greater clarity, consistency, and care.
​
​On February 3, Bishop William T. McGrattan officially announced a multi-year renewal of the ministry of Christian Initiation within the Diocese. The vision he offered for this renewal was drawn from the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35).

​Bishop McGrattan reminded us that just as Christ drew near to the disciples, listened to their experiences, opened the Scriptures, rekindled their hearts, and sent them forth as witnesses of the Resurrection, so too the Church is called to walk with those who are seeking Christ today through the RCIA.

Over the past several months, the Diocese has taken the first important step in living out this vision: listening.

​Through a wide consultation that included feedback from pastors, RCIA coordinators, participants, sponsors, and those recently received into the Church, more than 400 voices have helped form a clearer picture of how RCIA is being lived in our parishes today.

What has emerged is both encouraging and challenging.

Across the Diocese, there is a strong and consistent experience of welcome. Those entering the Church overwhelmingly describe being received with kindness, accompanied with care, and supported in their journey of faith. As one RCIA participant put it, “The RCIA journey has been so much more than a destination; it has been a path paved with love.”

​Many participants also spoke of growing in their trust in God, learning to pray, and discovering what it means to follow Jesus Christ. As one neophyte who was received into the Church last year shared, “My faith has always been there, but this process really helped me to understand Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit in ways that I could not or did not understand previously.”

These strengths show the dedication and generosity of RCIA teams across the Diocese. They also provide a strong foundation for the renewal now underway.

At the same time, the consultation has pointed clearly to areas where the Diocese can better support parishes. At times, the experience can be shaped more by schedules and timelines than by the gradual, personal journey toward faith that the Church envisions.

“The aim of RCIA is to lead people into a lifelong relationship with Christ and His Church,” explained Joseph Palko, Catechetics and Discipleship Coordinator for the Diocese. “This process can take a longer time for some and a shorter time for others. The process must respect this.”

Another important area of renewal is the need to involve sponsors more fully in the faith journey of those they accompany. One sponsor expressed this challenge candidly: “It was a bit unclear to me how I was journeying with ‘my’ catechumen when I felt somewhat removed from the process.”

Additional feedback pointed to the need for greater clarity in how the different stages of initiation are lived, as well as stronger connections between RCIA, parish life, liturgy, and ongoing discipleship.

“All of these insights,” explained Huy Nguyen, Director of Pastoral Ministry, “should be seen as a gift. They reveal a Church that is alive, generous, and already doing much good, and one that is now being invited to grow more fully into its calling.”

As the RCIA renewal now moves into its next phase of discernment, the feedback gathered throughout the listening phase will help guide the development of renewed diocesan norms, pastoral guidelines, and practical resources. The aim is to ensure that each stage of the RCIA journey is lived more faithfully, more consistently, and more fruitfully across our parishes.

​​As this renewal continues, the invitation remains the same for all of us:
​To draw near.
To listen.
To walk together.
​
And to trust that, along the way, Christ will reveal Himself.

For more information about the Renewing RCIA initiative, contact the Office of Pastoral Ministry:
- Huy Nguyen, Director of Pastoral Ministry
- Joseph Palko, Catechetics & Discipleship Ministry Coordinator

Photography: Bandi Szakony for the Diocese of Calgary | Easter Vigil 2026 at St. Mary's Cathedral