Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Photos from the Homelands Mass

Traditionally, January 18 was the feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch (now suppressed), which bookended the feast of St. Paul's Conversion on January 25. The too great evangelizers, one in Christ, though given different missions by the Risen Lord, thus rooted the prayer for the unity of Christians.

 [BTW, as February 22 was the feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome, a folkloric saying in these parts had it that the worst winter storms took place "between the chairs". ]

Some countries or groups of churches choose different starting and closing dates so as to have two Sundays in the octave (eight days) of prayer for unity, so in Ottawa on Sunday there was an evening of prayer for unity at the Ottawa Mennonite Church on Kilborn and next Sunday there will be a similar service at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Kanata.

Here is some information on this year's theme:

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

January 18-25

At least once a year, many Christians become aware of the great diversity of ways of adoring God. Hearts are touched, and people realize that their neighbours' ways are not so strange.

The event that touches off this special experience is something called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Traditionally celebrated between January 18-25 (in the northern hemisphere) or at Pentecost (in the southern hemisphere), the Week of Prayer enters into congregations and parishes all over the world. Pulpits are exchanged, and special ecumenical worship services are arranged.

Ecumenical partners in a particular region are asked to prepare a basic text on a biblical theme. Then an international group with WCC-sponsored (Protestant and Orthodox) and Roman Catholic participants edits this text and ensures that it is linked with the search for the unity of the church.

The theme for 2011: "One in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer" (Acts 2.42-47)

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began in 1908, when an Episcopalian priest, the Rev. Paul Wattson, encouraged members of his religious order to pray for Christian unity. In 2008, the Canadian Council of Churches compiled a collection of prayers used throughout the movement in Liturgies for Christian Unity (Novalis).

Since 1968, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been jointly coordinated by the Vatican Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches, through the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, which also accompanies the entire production process of the text. The final material is sent to member churches and Roman Catholic dioceses, and they are invited to translate the text and contextualize it for their own use. The organizers encourage churches to adapt the materials to their local context and to use the prayers at any time of year.

As we pray for the common life and witness of the Christian churches, in response to Jesus' prayer that we 'all be one' we are reminded of what unites us: God's calling of us all, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to serve God's mission in the world around us.

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Here are some photos from the
Homelands Mass (Messe mulitculturel) 
celebrated on Sunday afternoon in Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica:
procession with flags and wearing of national/ethnic dress: after Mass, food in the Parish Hall
(kindness of Paul Lauzon; more later in the week)

St. Anthony the Hermit - Deacons' Gathering

Today, the Church recalls in the liturgy the founder of monasticism, St. Anthony, Abbot.

Piero di Cosimo, St. Anthony (detail of "The Visitation with St. Nicholas and St. Anthony"[1489-90])

Following the death of his parents when he was about 20, Anthony insured that his sister completed her education, then he sold his house, furniture, and the land he owned, gave the proceeds to the poor, joined the anchorites who lived nearby, and moved into an empty sepulchre. At age 35 he moved to the desert to live alone; he lived 20 years in an abandoned fort.


Anthony barricaded the place for solitude, but admirers and would-be students broke in. He miraculously healed people, and agreed to be the spiritual counselor of others. His recommendation was to base life on the Gospel.

Word spread, and so many disciples arrived that Anthony founded two monasteries on the Nile, one at Pispir, one at Arsinoe. Many of those who lived near him supported themselves by making baskets and brushes, and from that came his patronage of those trades.

Anthony briefly left his seclusion in 311, going to Alexandria, Egypt to fight Arianism, and to comfort the victims of the persecutions of Maximinus. At some point in his life, he met with his sister again. She, too, had withdrawn from the world, and directed a community of nuns. Anthony retired to the desert, living in a cave on Mount Colzim.

Descriptions paint him as uniformly modest and courteous. His example led many to take up the monastic life, and to follow his way. Late in life Anthony became a close friend of Saint Paul the Hermit, and he buried the aged anchorite, leading to his patronage of gravediggers. His biography was written by his friend Saint Athanasius of Alexandria.

His relationship with pigs and patronage of swineherds is a little complicated. Skin diseases were sometimes treated with applications of pork fat, which reduced inflammation and itching. As Anthony’s intervention aided in the same conditions, he was shown in art accompanied by a pig. People who saw the art work, but did not have it explained, thought there was a direct connection between Anthony and pigs - and people who worked with swine took him as their patron.

Born •251 at Heracleus, Egypt; died •356 at Mount Colzim of natural causes •relics near Vienne, France --www.saints.spqn.com

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O God, who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony to serve you by a wonderous way of life in the desert, grant, through his intercession, that denying ourselves, we may ever love you above all things.  Through our Lord.

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ENGLISH SECTOR DEACONS' POST-EPIPHANY SOCIAL

 

On Friday evening, Father Joseph Muldoon and I joined the deacons and their wives for a supper social to wind down the Christmas Season. It was an ingenious solution to the heavy pre-Christmas season round of social events and the difficulty of easily finding a venue in December. 

 

The theme of royalty (the Magi-kings motif) is evident in a couple of shots. A very pleasant gathering. 

 

Some photos:

 

Pope's Message for the 97th World Day of Migrants

Pope Benedict XVI prepared a message for today's celebration of the World Day for Migrants and Refugees.  Here are some excerpts from his reflection.  For the full texts, cf. http://www.vatican.va/.

"One human family"

The profound link between all human beings is the origin of the theme that I have chosen for our reflection this year: "One human family", one family of brothers and sisters in societies that are becoming ever more multiethnic and intercultural, where also people of various religions are urged to take part in dialogue, so that a serene and fruitful coexistence with respect for legitimate differences may be found.

The Second Vatican Council affirms that "All peoples are one community and have one origin, because God caused the whole human race to dwell on the face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26); they also have one final end, God" (Message for the World Day of Peace, 2008, 1). "His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all men" (Declaration Nostra aetate, 1). Thus, "We do not live alongside one another purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters" (Message for the World Day of Peace, 2008, 6).

The road is the same, that of life, but the situations that we pass through on this route are different: many people have to face the difficult experience of migration in its various forms: internal or international, permanent or seasonal, economic or political, voluntary or forced. In various cases the departure from their Country is motivated by different forms of persecution, so that escape becomes necessary.

Moreover, the phenomenon of globalization itself, characteristic of our epoch, is not only a social and economic process, but also entails "humanity itself [that] is becoming increasingly interconnected", crossing geographical and cultural boundaries. In this regard, the Church does not cease to recall that the deep sense of this epochal process and its fundamental ethical criterion are given by the unity of the human family and its development towards what is good (cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical Caritas in veritate, 42).

All, therefore, belong to one family, migrants and the local populations that welcome them, and all have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal, as the social doctrine of the Church teaches. It is here that solidarity and sharing are founded….

Lastly, I would like to address a special thought, again accompanied by prayer, to the foreign and international students who are also a growing reality within the great migration phenomenon. This, as well, is a socially important category with a view to their return, as future leaders, to their Countries of origin. They constitute cultural and economic "bridges" between these Countries and the host Countries, and all this goes precisely in the direction of forming "one human family".

This is the conviction that must support the commitment to foreign students and must accompany attention to their practical problems, such as financial difficulties or the hardship of feeling alone in facing a very different social and university context, as well as the difficulties of integration….

Dear brothers and sisters, the world of migrants is vast and diversified. It knows wonderful and promising experiences, as well as, unfortunately, so many others that are tragic and unworthy of the human being and of societies that claim to be civil. For the Church this reality constitutes an eloquent sign of our times which further highlights humanity’s vocation to form one family, and, at the same time, the difficulties which, instead of uniting it, divide it and tear it apart.

Let us not lose hope and let us together pray God, the Father of all, to help us – each in the first person – to be men and women capable of brotherly relationships and, at the social, political and institutional levels, so that understanding and reciprocal esteem among peoples and cultures may increase. With these hopes, as I invoke the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Stella Maris, I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing to all and, especially, to migrants and refugees and to everyone who works in this important field.

 

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Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people, and bestow your peace on our times.

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Le Christ est présent dans sa parole car c’est lui qui parle, lorsque, dans l’Église on lit la sainte écriture. --Concile Vatican II, La Liturgie (Sacrosanctum Consilium) #2

Saint Rémi baptized Clovis, King of the Franks - Recent Visitors

Saint Rémi est le patron d'une de nos paroisses francophones dans l'ouest d'Ottawa.  En France, on le célèbre aujourd'hui (à Reims c'est le 1 octobre, jour du transfert de ses restes).

Au 13 janvier au martyrologe romain: À Reims, vers 530, la naissance au ciel de saint Remi (dies natalis), évêque, qui, après avoir lavé le roi Clovis dans la fontaine baptismale et l’avoir initié aux sacrements de la foi, il convertit au Christ le peuple des Francs.


Il quitta cette vie, célèbre par sa sainteté après plus de soixante ans d’épiscopat. (En France, sa mémoire est célébrée le 15, jour de sa mise au tombeau.)

Issu d'une grande famille gallo-romaine de la région de Laon, il avait pour mère sainte Céline. A 22 ans, il est choisi comme évêque de Reims et son activité missionnaire s'étend jusqu'à la Belgique.

Il fonde les diocèses de Thérouanne, Laon et Arras, crée tout un réseau d'assistance pour les pauvres et joue un rôle de médiateur auprès des Barbares.

Quand le chef franc Clovis prend le pouvoir, saint Rémi lui envoie un message "Soulage tes concitoyens, secours les affligés, protège les veuves, nourris les orphelins."

La reine sainte Clotilde, tout naturellement, se tournera vers saint Rémi et vers un autre évêque contemporain, saint Vaast, pour acheminer le roi vers la foi.

Après le baptême de Reims, saint Rémi restera, jusqu'à sa mort, l'un des conseillers écoutés du roi et sera l'un des artisans, en Gaule, du retour à la vérité catholique des Burgondes après le bataille de Dijon et des Wisigoths à Vouillé, deux populations contaminées par l'arianisme.

Secourez les malheureux, protégez les veuves, nourrissez les orphelins… Que votre tribunal reste ouvert à tous et que personne n’en sorte triste ! Toutes les richesses de vos ancêtres, vous les emploierez à la libération des captifs et au rachat des esclaves. Admis en votre palais, que nul ne s’y sente étranger ! Plaisantez avec les jeunes, délibérez avec les vieillards ! – Lettre de saint Rémi au roi Clovis

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Among others met this week were the following visitors...

Sisters Catharine Desmarates (left) and Eugénie Pierre (of the Filles de Marie, a Haitian foundation)

Dominican Brother Gilbert Munana, whose diaconal ordination is planned for February 12

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), The Spirit Remains on Jesus - The Commemorative Mass for Haiti

In light of Pope Benedict's Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini ["On the Word of the Lord"], I will try, beginning this week, to place my reflections for the coming Sunday on this blog on Thursday or Friday, so that, if they wish, readers may treat this as part of a weekly lectio divina (corresponding to the meditation portion of the five steps of a "holy reading" (cf. VD 86-87) to prepare for Sunday Eucharist.

"The Crucifixion of the Lamb of God" by Matthias Grünewald (1515)

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year "A") - January 16, 2011 JESUS IS THE ONE ON WHOM THE SPIRIT REMAINS [Texts: Isaiah 49:3,5-6 [Psalm 40]; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34]

Today's reading from Isaiah is an extract from the "book of consolation" (chapters 40-55). \

This part of the Isaian scroll contains four songs which speak of a mysterious "servant of the Lord" (42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). There has been scholarly discussion whether this "servant" is to be interpreted as an individual or refers, in a collective sense, to Israel.

In the sixth century B.C., God had responded to the distress of His people exiled in Babylon. Through the prophet, God spoke a word of encouragement to a "faithful remnant", a small portion of God's people. These were the ones God had chosen to relieve the burdens of, and to offer consolation to, the other exiles.

This remnant kept alive in their hearts a trusting spirit of hope in God. Also, they were filled with a readiness to do God's bidding, whatever that might entail. Their sentiments are beautifully summarized by the psalmist's words, "Here I am..., I delight to do Your will, O my God".

In tender fidelity towards Israel, God had expressed through Isaiah His intention of gathering the exiles and restoring them to their homeland. So great would the Good News of this restoration be--a veritable second exodus--that it would become known among all the peoples of the world.

As it unfolded, this "return" would serve as a beacon revealing the one God to all. In truth, as God's chosen people, Israel had been called to a mission of serving all nations.

Today's gospel reading is a contemplative interpretation of the Baptism of Jesus celebrated last Sunday. Yet, in John's gospel, there is no account of Christ's baptism. Instead, readers hear the Baptist's witness to what transpired during the baptismal rite.

The Baptist's testimony led him to point Jesus out to several of his disciples. This unleashed a spiritual movement among them so that they left John and began to follow Jesus, God's servant par excellence.

In his witness, John referred to Jesus as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", suggestive terms with several possible meanings.

As the term "Lamb of God" indicates, Jesus comes from God. And in biblical thought only God takes away or forgives sin. Thus in proclaiming God's Son Jesus as the Lamb of God, John declared that through Him God would remove the sin of the world.

We might ask, however, why the term "Lamb of God" was used?

Jewish thought employed the image of the lamb in several different ways. There was the suffering "servant of the Lord" whose life evoked that of a sacrificial lamb (cf. Isaiah 53). Revelation knows of a triumphant lamb (7:17; 17:14).

Other Jewish traditions tell of a lamb chosen to lead God's flock. And, of course, the Passover lamb was fundamental to the story of Israel's foundation as a faith community.

In effect, for the Israelites the lamb was a figure that stood for sacrificial rites of communion and reconciliation with God after sin. Though Jesus, as Lamb of God embodied some of these notions, He also surpassed them. In Jesus, God was offering not only Israel, but the whole world, the fullness of pardon and perfect reconciliation.

The Father sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus into the world not to condemn it but to redeem it (cf. John 3:16). On him, at the baptism, the Holy Spirit descended and remained throughout his ministry.

After his resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the communication John had received from God, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit".

The manner of life of those baptized with the Holy Spirit--poured out on and by Jesus--is the topic of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. We will hear excerpts from it on the Sundays between now and the beginning of Lent.

Next week, we will learn how Christians, called to oneness in Christ, have become such partisans of different religious leaders that Paul blurted out in exasperation, "Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel".

For now, however, Paul stresses the call to holiness of the Church in Corinth "called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ".

BTW, this fits in very well with our theme for this Pastoral Year in the Archdiocese of Ottawa: "Called to Holiness--the Saints Among Us".

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Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times. Through our Lord.

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Wednesday Evening's Haiti Anniversary Mass

A moving Eucharist on Wednesday evening brought a large congregation to Notre Dame Cathedral; there was a reception in the Parish Hall afterwards. 

Having forgotten to arrange for photos, I am dependent on local media for these  (with credits to: The Ottawa Citizen, Le Droit respectively).

Optional Memorial: St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop & Doctor of the Church - "Hilary" Term

Hilaire est certainement le personnage le plus remarquable de l'histoire de Poitiers.

Il vécu au 4ème siècle, la ville qui deviendra Poitiers s'appelait alors Lemonum, nous sommes en Gaule, les Royaumes Francs n'existent pas encore et l'administration est romaine.

Nous ne disposons pas d'informations certaines sur la plus grande partie de la vie d'Hilaire. Les sources antiques disent qu'il naquit à Poitiers, probablement vers l'année 310. Issu d'une famille de l'aristocratie gallo-romaine de la cité de Lemonum, il reçut une solide formation littéraire, bien évidente dans ses écrits. Il ne semble pas qu'il ait grandi dans un milieu chrétien. Lui-même nous parle d'un chemin de recherche de la vérité, qui le conduisit peu à peu à la reconnaissance de Dieu créateur et du Dieu incarné, mort pour nous donner la vie éternelle.

Baptisé à 35 ans (vers 345), il est père de famille lorsqu'il devient évêque de la ville, élu par ses coreligionnaires autour de 353-354. Certaines sources (Robert Favreau, historien, spécialiste de l'histoire du Poitou) le présente comme le premier évêque de la ville ("Les évêques précédant Saint-Hilaire relèvent largement de la légende. Seul Agon paraît avéré."), sur le site du diocèse de Poitiers il est présenté comme le 9ème.

Au cours des années suivantes, Hilaire écrivit sa première œuvre, le Commentaire à l'Évangile de Matthieu. Il s'agit du plus ancien commentaire en langue latine qui nous soit parvenu de cet Évangile.

Hilaire a évangélisé Poitiers et la région, nous sommes au milieu du 4ème siècle. Il fut probablement à l'origine de la construction du baptistère Saint-Jean, le plus vieux bâtiment chrétien de France encore existant. Il a pour disciple et ami Saint Martin qui avant de devenir Évêque de Tours va fonder l'abbaye de Ligugé sur un terrain offert par Saint Hilaire. Cette abbaye est le plus ancien établissement monastique d’Occident, encore en activité. (Quelques années plus tard, au 6ème siècles, Radegonde reine des francs fondera à Poitiers la plus ancienne abbaye de femmes : l'abbaye Sainte-Croix).

Hilaire un grand personnage pour l'Église: en 356, Hilaire assiste comme Évêque au Synode de Béziers, dans le sud de la France, le "synode des faux Apôtres", comme il l'appelle lui-même, car la réunion fut dominée par des Évêques philo-ariens, qui niaient la divinité de Jésus Christ. Ces "faux apôtres" demandèrent à l'empereur Constance la condamnation à l'exil de l'Évêque de Poitiers.

Hilaire fut ainsi obligé de quitter la Gaule au cours de l'été 356. Exilé en Phrygie, dans l'actuelle Turquie, Hilaire se trouva au contact d'un milieu religieux totalement dominé par l'arianisme. Là aussi, sa sollicitude de pasteur le poussa à travailler sans relâche pour le rétablissement de l'unité de l'Église, sur la base de la juste foi, formulée par le Concile de Nicée.

C'est dans ce but qu'il commença la rédaction de son œuvre dogmatique la plus importante et la plus connue : le De Trinitate (Sur la Trinité). Dans celle-ci, Hilaire expose son chemin personnel vers la connaissance de Dieu, et se préoccupe de montrer que l'Écriture atteste clairement la divinité du Fils et son égalité avec le Père, non seulement dans le Nouveau Testament, mais également dans un grand nombre de pages de l'Ancien Testament, dans lequel apparaît déjà le mystère du Christ.

Face aux ariens, il insiste sur la vérité des noms de Père et de Fils et développe toute sa théologie trinitaire à partir de la formule du Baptême qui nous a été donnée par le Seigneur lui-même: "Au nom du Père, du Fils et du Saint-Esprit". Le Père et le Fils sont de la même nature.

Et si certains passages du Nouveau Testament pourraient faire penser que le Fils est inférieur au Père, Hilaire offre des règles précises pour éviter des interprétations erronées : certains textes de l'Écriture parlent de Jésus comme de Dieu, d'autres mettent, en revanche, en évidence son humanité.

Certains se réfèrent à Lui dans sa préexistence auprès du Père; d'autres prennent en considération l'état d'abaissement (kenosis), sa descente jusqu'à la mort; d'autres, enfin, le contemplent dans la gloire de la résurrection.

En 360 ou en 361, Hilaire put finalement revenir dans sa patrie après son exil, et il reprit immédiatement l'activité pastorale dans son Église, mais l'influence de son magistère s'étendit de fait bien au-delà des frontières de celle-ci.

Un synode tenu à Paris en 360 ou en 361 reprend le langage du Concile de Nicée. Certains auteurs antiques pensent que ce tournant anti-arien de l'épiscopat de la Gaule a été en grande parti dû à la fermeté et à la mansuétude de l'Évêque de Poitiers. Tel était précisément son don : conjuguer la fermeté dans la foi et la douceur dans les relations interpersonnelles.

Hilaire mourut en 367. Sa mémoire liturgique est célébrée le 13 janvier. En 1851, le bienheureux Pie IX le proclama Docteur de l'Église.

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Saint Hilary of Poitiers (315-368) was a leading defender of the Church against the Arian heresy. He wrote twelve books about the Holy Trinity as well as commentaries on St. Matthew's Gospel and the Psalms.

Grant,we pray, almighty God, that we may rightly understand and truthfully profess the divinity of your Son, which the Bishop Saint Hilary taught with such constancy. Through our Lord.

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Hilary Term in the Universities and Courts

At one time, Hilary Term was the name given to the second semester in universities following the British tradition, because it began with the feast of St. Hilary (once January 14, now January 13), just as Michaelmas term was the name given the fall semester that began around the feast of St. Michael (September 29).

From Wikipedia: Hilary Term is the second academic term of Oxford University's academic year. It runs from January to March and is so named because the feast day of St Hilary of Poitiers, 14 January, falls during this term. All terms are dated from this day in the following way:

Michaelmas term — 13 Sundays before to 5 Sundays before the feast day of St Hilary
Hilary term — 1 Sunday to 9 Sundays after the feast day of St Hilary
Trinity term — 15 Sundays to 21 Sundays after the feast day of St Hilary


The term originated in the legal system. The Courts of England and Wales divide the legal year into four terms: Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas.

Sainte Marguerite Bourgeoys - Solidarité avec le peuple de Haïti

William VON MOL BERCY, Marguerite Bourgeoys et ses élèves, avant 1805 (huile sur toile)

Dieu, qui as appelé sainte Marguerite Bourgeoys à quitter son pays au nom de la foi, pour former la jeunesse à la vie chrétienne, permets qu’ à son exemple et sa prière, nous puissions, par nos paroles et notre conduite, proclamer sur toutes les routes qui mènent à toi, la présence du Verbe Incarne, Jésus Christ, ton Fils, notre Seigneur.  Lui qui vit et règne….

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“God closes a door and then opens a window,” people sometimes say when dealing with their own disappointment or someone else’s. That was certainly true in Marguerite’s case. Children from European as well as Native American backgrounds in seventeenth-century Canada benefited from her great zeal and unshakable trust in God’s providence.


Born the sixth of 12 children in Troyes, France, Marguerite at the age of 20 believed that she was called to religious life. Her applications to the Carmelites and Poor Clares were unsuccessful. A priest friend suggested that perhaps God had other plans for her.

In 1654, the governor of the French settlement in Canada visited his sister, an Augustinian canoness in Troyes. Marguerite belonged to a sodality connected to that convent. The governor invited her to come to Canada and start a school in Ville-Marie (eventually the city of Montreal). When she arrived, the colony numbered 200 people with a hospital and a Jesuit mission chapel.

Soon after starting a school, she realized her need for coworkers. Returning to Troyes, she recruited a friend, Catherine Crolo, and two other young women. In 1667 they added classes at their school for Indian children. A second trip to France three years later resulted in six more young women and a letter from King Louis XIV, authorizing the school. The Congregation of Notre Dame was established in 1676 but its members did not make formal religious profession until 1698 when their Rule and constitutions were approved.

Marguerite established a school for Indian girls in Montreal. At the age of 69, she walked from Montreal to Quebec in response to the bishop’s request to establish a community of her sisters in that city. By the time she died, she was referred to as the “Mother of the Colony.” Marguerite was canonized in 1982.

In his homily at her canonization, Pope John Paul II said, “...in particular, she [Marguerite] contributed to building up that new country [Canada], realizing the determining role of women, and she diligently strove toward their formation in a deeply Christian spirit.” He noted that she watched over her students with affection and confidence “in order to prepare them to become wives and worthy mothers, Christians, cultured, hardworking, radiant mothers.” (http://www.americancatholic.org/)

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Visite avec les catholiques d'origine haïtienne

Ce soir, à la basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame à 19 h 00, il y aura une messe pour commémorer le tremblement de terre qui a secoué Haïti le 12 janvier 2010, avec prières pour les défunts et prières pour l’avenir de ce pays et son peuple.

Dimanche 9 janvier, fête du baptême de Jésus, accompagné par mon vicaire épiscopal, j’ai visité la communauté catholique haïtienne d’Ottawa à la paroisse du Sacré-Cœur ou, depuis huit ans, ils se réunissent tous les dimanches à 12 h 30.

Après la messe, célébrée dans le contexte d’une visite canonique, on a partagé un repas de mets haïtiens; le tout suivi d’une discussion des haut faits, défis et attentes de la communauté.

Voici quelques autres photos:

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