Blogger Interruption - Feast of Our Lady of Fatima - Priestly Ordination This Evening

Please note that Blogger, the internet platform which hosts countless blogs worldwide and which I use for The Journey of a Bishop, has been experiencing difficulties since yesterday. 

The May 12 posting was taken down last night and, when I drafted this earlier today, the status of posts remained unrestored. 

As I am uncertain when the situation will normalize, I have done minimal blogging today. Your patience is appreciated....

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Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  It is also the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Blessed Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.  The late Holy Father gave thanks to the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima for his survival and recovery from the bullet wound.  He also forgave his would-be assassin, visited him in prison and flew to Fatima in Portugal to give thanks to the Blessed Mother.  Later, he beatified the two visionaries of 1917 who had died (Sister Lucy, a Discalced Carmelite and the last of the children blessed with the message from Our Lady, died in 2005).



O God, who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also, grant us that, persevering in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world, we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ. Who lives and reigns with you.

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Priestly Ordination of Hezuk Pesi Shroff

This evening, I will preside at the ordination of one of our seminarians to the Priesthood of Christ.  Here is some of his story:

In Thanksgiving to Almighty God, Pesi and Vera Shroff joyfully invite you to the Ordination of their son Hezuk Pesi Shroff to the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ this evening, Friday, May 13, 2011 at 7:30 pm at Notre Dame Cathedral. All are welcome to attend.

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It’s not every day that someone born in India and brought up in the Zoroastrian religion converts to the Catholic faith while studying biochemistry at McGill University, and then goes on to explore a possible vocation to religious life.

What’s more impressive is that after a few years, while in the Philippines, he starts to feel a strong call to the Diocesan Priesthood to serve as a parish priest. He ignores this desire for quite a while, thinking it to be a temptation to leave religious life, but his heart is not at peace until he accepts the call.

Eleven years after his conversion, Hezuk Shroff entered St. Augustine’s Seminary. Later, he did a pastoral internship in French at St. Rémi Parish in the West End of Ottawa. Now, he is looking forward to serving as a priest in the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

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The newly ordained Father Shroff will celebrate two Masses of Thanksgiving: the first in French at Paroisse Saint-Rémi on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 5 pm and another, the next day in English, at Our Lady of Fatima Church on Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 11:30 am