School visits and Confirmation at Paroisse St-Pierre Apôtre, Hawkesbury

Amid the Pastoral Visitation of the Parishes of Alfred and Lefaive, which will be reported on next week's photo round-up and is on-going today and tomorrow, Abbé Daniel Berniquez and I visited the two schools in Hawkesbury where the young people of St. Pierre Apôtre who were to be confirmed on Thursday night are students.

The first school was Sainte-Marguerite Bourgeoys, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. Here are the principal, key teachers and staff members welcoming us, along with the pastor Abbé Jean-Pierre Fredette and his curate, Abbé Albert Kazadi.

Here is a cross-section of the student body in the gymnasium for the photo at the end of the school assembly

Then we journey over to Ecole Paul VI, opened in 1970 and where Abbé Daniel was a student for several years in the 1970s and early 1980s (for some of that time there were so many students that he attended Ecole Christ-Roi for several years).

We had a delightful assembly on the role of the bishop and Jesus' teaching on the role of the Good Shepherd. At the close of the meeting, we posed for a school group photo:

The student body of Paul VI school, 2009-2010

The confirmands and I chatted briefly about the Confirmation service to be held in a few hours time, and I blessed the crosses that were given the students for this special occasion

Photo after the Confirmation Mass in Eglise St. Alphonse (the name of the church that houses Paroisse St. Pierre Apôtre)