SFXC: On mission at Lilac Festival — and beyond

St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy (SFXC) is a young adult ministry (18-35) in our Diocese that has been active since it began in 2019. One of the key hopes of the Chaplaincy is to go out on mission, just as our namesake, St. Francis Xavier, went out publicly to spread the Gospel.

​This year, our members hit the streets of Calgary during the Lilac Festival to do exactly that — inviting people to our Encounter Accompaniment series, which is running every Thursday in June.

The series is meant to introduce people to the Catholic faith — not only those we met at Lilac Festival, but really anyone looking to learn the basics. We ended up speaking to hundreds of people! We gave out 79 New Testament books, 39 Bibles, over 100 SFXC pamphlets, rosaries, and Ultimate Relationship (UR) booklets. All 50 RCIA pamphlets we brought were snapped up too.

Even if no one had signed up for the Encounter series, we’d still have called this a huge win — planting seeds in people’s hearts and getting them thinking about God and the Catholic faith. However, it was even better: 177 people took our survey and 84 said they’re interested in coming to one of our Encounter events!

Our team on the streets handing out Bibles, UR booklets, water bottles, rosaries, and chatting with people about Jesus!

Clovis, one of our volunteers, is showing someone through the Ultimate Relationship (UR) booklet.

Our first Encounter Accompaniment event took place on June 5 at St. Mary’s Cathedral hall, where Fr. Troy introduced the kerygma (the core message of the Catholic faith) to those who attended. About 70 people showed up — and thanks to a generous donor, everyone got free Vietnamese subs too.

It was a small way to show the love of God — not only through the message being shared, but through the warmth of our community.

We’ll be hosting two more sessions on June 12 and 19 at St. Mary’s Cathedral hall. Our final session will be on June 26 at Sacred Heart Calgary, where we’ll have an Adoration night and throw a celebration party to wrap up the series.
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If you know anyone aged 18-35 who might be interested, please pass this along! My email is at the bottom of this article.

This year, we launched all kinds of small group studies — including Theology of the Body, Healing of the Whole Person workshop, Philosophy Club, CCO Faith Studies, Men’s formation, and book studies on Dante’s Inferno and Fruitful Discipleship.

Our Young Professionals group kicked off a Church History course and a public speaking club called “Logorators.” Our Young Families chapter started a monthly Mass and Formation event and a Mom & Dad’s group.
We’ve also had tons of social events — our annual dance, summer/Stampede BBQ, monthly board game nights, bi-weekly Sunday Socials after Mass, and bi-weekly sports nights.
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Beyond this, we offer members plenty of ways to volunteer — through our monthly Mustard Seed program, Sunday Socials program, Choir formation, Altar Serving, and other opportunities throughout all of these ministries and events.
Here’s the heart of what we do:

• Encounter Jesus through the Sacraments, Holy Mass, Adoration nights, and formation events.
• Equip members to become leaders — through talks, choir formation, altar serving, and apostolic formation (like our Mustard Seed program).
• Engage their parishes and communities — living out a missionary identity in daily life.

The beautiful thing is: this isn’t just staff-driven. Our members are the ones driving so much of this. They spearhead initiatives, give their time outside of work, and pour themselves into this mission — because they believe in what the Chaplaincy is about:

• making Jesus known,
• building authentic community,
• and going out to serve in their parishes and neighbourhoods. 

​We’ve got plenty more ideas and plans on the horizon. If you’d like to support us and help make it all possible — we’d love to have you on board.

To learn more about SFXC, visit https://www.sfxc.ca/ or follow us on Instagram @sfxchaplaincy.
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We also have a donation campaign running for two weeks starting June 9 — and all donations will be matched! If you’d like to contribute, visit https://www.catholicyyc.ca/donatetosfxc.html.

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Written by Jaime Gayos, SFXC Coordinator. To contact him, email [email protected]