Today begins a fortnight devoted to the Passion of Our Lord and the call to a renewed attachment to his Person and Teaching. A wonderful occasion to celebrate one's Lenten confession and so to experience the fruits of the Paschal Mystery in our own personal lives.
There is a bilingual reconciliation service that I will preside at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, this Sunday afternoon, March 25 at 2:30PM; all welcome!
By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God, may we walk eagerly in that same charity with which, out of love for the world, your Son handed himself over to death.
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THE WEEK IN REVIEW:
I: THE COLF SEMINAR
ON MARRIAGE & FAMILY
This week past was quite full: following the celebrations of St. Patrick and St. Joseph, patrons of the Archdiocese of Ottawa, I flew to Toronto for the Spring Plenary of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario (ACBO) held until Wednesday afternoon.
We reelected Cardinal Thomas Collins as President, Bishop Ronald Fabbro as Vice-President and Archbishop Brendan O'Brien and Mgr Jean-Louis Plouffe as executive members.
On Wednesday afternoon, following the ACBO Priests Commission meeting [I was reappointed a member of this Commission as well as renewed in my membership on the Insurance Management Board and named as Liaison Bishop for the Francophone Priests (as we are short of francophone bishops for the time being)], I visited the Ottawa seminarians studying at St. Augustine's Seminary.
Thursday morning, we had the OPECO meeting at which francophone school board directors and Trustee board chairs meet with episcopal leadership to discuss educational issues of mutual concern.
Then I flew home to attend the 3rd Seminar of the Catholic Office for Life and the Family, treating of matters of marriage and family, at the Sherton Hotel on Albert Street. There was a significant presence from across Canada at this bilingual meeting during which there was a wonderful exchange of experiences and hopes. The newly-appointed Archbishop of Montreal, Mgr Christian Lepine, attended, as did several other bishops.
Photos from the earlier events will be posted in coming days; herewith some pix from the COLF seminar:
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| COLF/OCVF Chair, Mgr Noel Simard |
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| [Hint: cohabitation before marriage, openness to Natural Family Planning] |
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| I reconnected with Halifax-Yarmouth priests Father John MacPherson and Mgr Gerald Leblanc |
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| Mgr Christian Lepine of Montreal is welcomed to Ottawa by the archbishops of the National Capital Region |
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| Some of the Canadians planning to attend the Vatican-sponsored International Gathering on the Family in Milan, June 2012 |
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| Speaker Dr. John Zucchi |
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| On the right: Speakers Christian and Christine Meert, Colorado Springs, CO |
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