Category: Consecrated Life

We Carry Light: 2025 World Day for Consecrated Life

2/11/2025

What do candles and Consecrated Life have in common? The faithful of St. Albert the Great Parish who attended the 5 pm Mass on Sunday, February 2, 2025 certainly know.

February 2 is an important feast day in the Church’s liturgical calendar, the 40th day after Christmas when we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. This day, also known since the Middle Ages as Candlemas Day, begins with the blessing of the candles as we celebrate Jesus the Light of the World.

In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II also dedicated this day as the World Day for Consecrated Life. He wrote that the purpose of this day is “to help the entire Church to esteem ever more greatly the witness of those persons who have chosen to follow Christ by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels” [of poverty, chastity, and obedience] as well as “to be a suitable occasion for Consecrated persons to renew their commitment and rekindle the fervour which should inspire their offering of themselves to the Lord” (St. John Paul II, 1997; Ordo 2024-2025 p. 61)

At St. Albert the Great Parish, over 40 of the Religious and Consecrated persons in our Diocese were present with Bishop McGrattan to celebrate. What a joy it was to carry a lighted candle as the Religious and Consecrated processed with the Bishop, singing “Christ be our Light”! This was a truly significant action in the liturgy because Jesus Himself calls those vowed to this life “to show that the Incarnate Son of God is the eschatological goal towards which all things tend, the splendour before which every other light pales, and the infinite beauty which alone can fully satisfy the human heart.” (Vita Consecrata 16)

Our Bishop in his homily, beautifully explained the origins of this feast day and how it relates to the Consecrated Life in the Church. After the homily the Religious and Consecrated Communities renewed their vows. “The counsels, more than a simple renunciation, are a specific acceptance of the mystery of Christ, lived within the Church.” (Vita Consecrata 16) Bishop McGrattan invited everyone to pray for the Religious and Consecrated men and women present who then stood together and renewed their vows to the Lord.

Not only did we feast together at the Table of the Eucharist, but we broke bread together with a great variety of food at the reception! The generous parishioners hosted this delicious feast with an opportunity to rejoice together and enjoy each others’ company. This was truly a day of joyous celebration!

On behalf of the Religious and Consecrated of our Diocese, the Assembly of Women Religious, and the Renewal Team for Religious, thank you to the Salvatorian priests, parish staff, all who had a role in the liturgy, and parishioners at St. Albert the Great parish for making us welcome and offering us a life-giving and beautiful celebration of the Feast of the Presentation and World Day for Consecrated Life. We are filled with gratitude! May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Written by Br. Michael Perras, OFM, and Sr. Dianne Turner, OSE. Photos: Victor Panlilio, for the Diocese of Calgary.

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In the Silence of Prayer: Asking the Lord for more vocations

11/30/2024

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Answering the call to participate in the Year of Prayer leading up to the Jubilee of Hope, over 100 people came to pray before the Lord in His Blessed Sacrament and asking Him to provide more vocations for our Diocese for the Religious and Consecrated life. This 24-Hour Adoration for Vocations held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Polish Church from November 12th to 13th was a blessed time of silent personal and communal prayer. It was sponsored by the Assembly of Women Religious, the Religious Renewal Team involved in the Diocesan renewal process, and the Office of Vocations. Thank you so much to those who took part in this wonderful time of prayer.

The Society of Christ priests graciously opened their parish church and offered morning Mass in English to begin and to end the 24-hour devotion as well as the regular Polish evening Mass. The church and Blessed Sacrament were so beautifully set up, making the environment most conducive for prayer. Representatives from most of the men’s and women’s Religious and Consecrated Life communities were alongside faithful members of the parish, deacons, seminarians, and other faithful adults who came to pray throughout the day and night. Religious from the Franciscans, Carmelites, Salvatorians, Legionaries, Pallottines, Providence, Daughters of Mary, and Faithful Companions of Jesus communities came from far away to participate

Notably, a candidate for Consecrated Virginity with the Diocese, a Franciscan Sister, and the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception were present for much of the time. The Dominican Sisters and Polish priests beautifully sang the Liturgy of the Hours in the early morning. The Seeds of the Word community along with some dedicated others covered the night hours from midnight on. The Precious Blood Sisters, being a cloistered community, joined instead from their monastery chapel. It was truly an opportunity to rest spiritually in the Lord and to join with others in asking Him for more vocations.

Prayer for vocations involves all of the faithful. As Pope Francis said,

“I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by His words, which ‘are spirit and life’ (Jn 6:62). Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us: ‘Do whatever He tells you’ (Jn 2:5). It will help you to participate in a communal journey that is able to release the best energies in you and around you. A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love.

Did not Jesus say: ‘By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ (Jn 13:35)? Let us dispose our hearts therefore to being ‘good soil’, by listening, receiving and living out the word, and thus bearing fruit. The more we unite ourselves to Jesus through prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the Sacraments celebrated and lived in the Church and in fraternity, the more there will grow in us the joy of cooperating with God in the service of the Kingdom of mercy and truth, of justice and peace. And the harvest will be plentiful, proportionate to the grace we have meekly welcomed into our lives.” (Source: news.va, From the Vatican, 15 January 2014)

Written by Sr. Dianne Turner, OSE, Assistant Vocations Director, Diocese of Calgary. Photos courtesy of Sr. Dianne.

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Friar Aldin and his call to vocation

8/16/2024

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Friar Aldin's First Vows, 2022 (Mount St. Francis, Cochrane)

I am Friar Aldin Francis Canobas, O.F.M., from the Holy Spirit Province of the Franciscans of Canada. I professed my first vows on October 19, 2022, and am currently enrolled in an open studies program, working towards a Master of Divinity degree at Newman Theological College in Edmonton.

I was born in Batangas, Philippines, in 1988. I attended primary and secondary school at Our Lady of Caysasay Academy, a diocesan school, where I developed an appreciation for service and ministry. Music has been my passion, and I have been part of the school and parish choir since high school. I also volunteered as a student catechist, ministering to grade school students in the public school beside mine.

My grandmother, Sofia, was instrumental in my faith journey. She lovingly cared for us and encouraged us to attend Mass every Sunday. Her faithful witness through daily prayers, scripture reading, and Mass attendance planted a seed of faith in my heart. My parents, Felix and Florida, also inspired my vocational journey.

My father works as a cleaner in a daycare center, and my mother, who previously worked as a Registered Nurse in Saudi Arabia, came to Calgary as a caregiver, and now works as a Health Care Aide in a nursing home. They gave me a humble yet profound example of sacrificial and unconditional love. I have two younger sisters, Angeli and Ara, who both have their own families. I am also an uncle to two lovable nephews, Gavin and Sebastian.

Friar Aldin's parents

Friar Aldin's family

I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. On February 20, 2010, I immigrated to Calgary with the rest of my family, where I completed the Bridge to Canadian Nursing program at Mount Royal University. I worked in various health care settings in Calgary: as a community support worker in a group home, as an adult care worker at the Drop-in and Rehabilitation Centre, as a health care aide in a hospital, and eventually as a Registered Nurse in Hemodialysis, and then in Mental Health, both in hospital and community settings.

I am currently working casually as an RN in Inpatient Psychiatry at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Emergency Department at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton. Working in health care has provided me with a rich experience and an environment where my eyes and ears have been opened to God's call to love others, especially our marginalized brothers and sisters. Mental health has become an advocacy for me.

Friar Aldin, Registered Nurse for the Grey Nuns Hospital, Edmonton

My love for music led me to meet CFC Singles for Christ Calgary members, who were serving as music ministers at St. Francis Parish in downtown Calgary when I was looking for a choir to join in 2010. I journeyed with Couples for Christ in 2010 as a member and became a leader in the young adult group, serving as a chapter head, music ministry head, and mission volunteer.

In 2019, I worked for the organization as a Lay Missionary and Pastoral Worker stationed in British Columbia. The community's faithfulness in living out its mission and vision of families in the Holy Spirit building the Church of the Home and the Church of the Poor has been instrumental in my faith and vocational journey. I also served with various choirs in several parishes in the Diocese of Calgary, including St. Francis, Corpus Christi, Canadian Martyrs, and St. Peter's Parish, where I am still a registered parishioner. Currently, I serve in the choir for Annunciation and St. John the Evangelist parishes in the Archdiocese of Edmonton.

Friar Aldin & Singles for Christ, 2010

Serving for Couples for Christ "Live Loud" event in 2015

Music also led me to the Franciscans. I performed as a band member at two consecutive One Rock events of the Diocese of Calgary. One Rock 2013 was held at Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre, and the next one at the Tsuu T'ina Rodeo Grounds, where I met Friars Carlos Ona and Benjamin Ripley, O.F.M. Friar Carlos has since communicated with me and encouraged me to explore the Franciscan way of life.

Music, community, missionary zeal, healing and compassion ministry, and the joyful witness to faith have drawn me close to the Franciscan vocation. Additionally, my love for nature has played a role, particularly hiking and camping, where I find solace and a deeper communion with God, others, and the rest of creation.

In 2020, I finally responded to God's invitation to follow Him more closely in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi. I completed my postulancy year in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and in 2021, entered the international novitiate in Ireland. I returned to Canada in 2022 for my first vows, and have since been part of the Edmonton fraternity as a simply professed friar in initial formation.

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Written by Friar Aldin Francis Canobas, O.F.M. for Faithfully.

Photos courtesy of Friar Aldin.

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Religious Sisters in the Diocese of Calgary

8/16/2024

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Did you know that there have been Religious Sisters present in this part of Alberta from before it was the Diocese of Calgary? It seems, however, that the Second Vatican Council was the stimulus for the Religious women’s communities to form a Sisters’ Council so that they could work together and support each other.

Starting informally in 1967, the Calgary Diocesan Sisters’ Council was inaugurated under Bishop Paul O’Byrne in 1969 with constitutions, election of executive members, and a mission to facilitate communication between the Diocese and the various communities of Sisters and as a forum where Sisters’ views could be heard.

Carol Hollywood, the Archivist for the Diocese of Calgary, noticed that there seems to have been a time in the 1970’s when the Sisters’ Council ceased to exist, but in 1980, Bishop Paul O’Byrne invited the Sisters of the Diocese “once again to gather as a group of women Religious to strive for a common focus”. As a result, the Sisters’ Council was succeeded by the Council for Religious.

As stated in an archival document: “The Council for Religious is an association of women Religious of numerous different communities, congregations, institutes and orders who are working or studying in the Diocese of Calgary. It is a sign and represents all Religious who work to fulfil their role in a spirit of union.” The membership was intended eventually to include Religious men, but to start as ‘Sisters only’ until it was firmly established.
After some years, the name of the group was changed to the Assembly of Women Religious as the group retained its ‘Sisters only’ status. The present-day mission statement reads: To provide opportunities for the Sisters to communicate with one another for the purpose of ongoing formation, prayer, collaboration, and social gatherings and to provide a way for the Bishop and the Sisters to communicate with each other.

So, where can you see the various men and women’s communities witnessing to their Consecrated Life together? A good opportunity for this is at the celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life on February 2nd every year. Of course, there is the video we made on Consecrated Life in the Diocese that can be viewed on the Diocesan website under Consecrated Life. Just to clarify: Religious Life is the most common type of Consecrated Life in the Church, but there are other forms of Consecrated Life also present.

Other occasions for visiting with the Sisters occur at the St. Luke’s Knights of Columbus Sisters’ Night in September every year and the various vocation events presented by the Sisters’ Vocation Committee, in cooperation with the Office of Vocations. See the following poster for FIAT - A day of retreat for single, Catholic women (16+) discerning Religious Life. More info here

Again, hopefully, we will be having another Vocations Rally in Easter season where you can meet the Consecrated persons of the Diocese along with the Diocesan clergy and seminarians.

AWR Executive Team (2024): From left to right, Sr. Dianne Turner, OSE (Chair); Sr. Njeri Kamau, ASN (Treasurer); Sr. Marianne Zimmermann, RPB (Vice-Chair); Sr. Paula Mullen, FCJ (Secretary)

At present, the Sisters of the Diocese of Calgary continue their cooperative work for the good of the local Church. A new executive for the Assembly of Women Religious was elected by the Sisters of the Diocese of Calgary on May 5, 2024.

As we continue with the Pastoral Renewal of our Diocese, the Consecrated men and women among us are witnesses to the aims of the renewal in their lives totally given over to the Lord. In your encounters with these dedicated ones, you will see that in their very consecration, they are inviting us to know Christ, they are witnessing to Jesus Christ in word and deed, and they lead others with mercy and passion.

Please continue to pray for the Religious men and women of our Diocese and to promote vocations to the Consecrated Life in our Diocese.

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Written by Sr. Dianne Turner, Assistant Vocations Director. To inquire about Consecrated Life in the Diocese of Calgary, email Sr. Dianne

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We Carry Light: 2025 World Day for Consecrated Life

In the Silence of Prayer: Asking the Lord for more vocations

Friar Aldin and his call to vocation

Religious Sisters in the Diocese of Calgary

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