La Visite Pastorale à la Paroisse St-Jean-Baptiste

J'ai dernièrement fait un autre Visite Pastorale, cette fois c'était à la paroisse francophone de Regina, St-Jean Baptiste. Ici on voit le Conseil Pastoral de la paroisse, et au millieu se trouve le Ministre Paroissial, Mme Laurianne Jacques.

Et voila, je me trouve au milieu de ces gens très généreux and dévoué à leur paroisse.

J'ai célébré l'Eucharistie avec la communité paroissiale, et leur curé, le père Gary Kuntz m'a joigné.

Après la Messe, on se réunit pour un casse croût avec les membres de la paroisse.

Il y a de plus en plus de nouveaux membres de la paroisse qui viennent d'autres pays, surtout des pays francophone de l'Afrique.

All in all, the visit was very pleasant. The francophone comminity faces many challenges as they work to live their lives of faith in the province and in the Archdiocese within the context of their own language and culture. The Archdiocese works to find new ways to help in this work and to foster a spirit of cooperation and collaboration with the generous members of the French speaking faithful of our diocesan Church.

-30-

Parish Visit to Holy Cross in Regina

One of the many pleasant things that I get to do as the Archbishop is to make Pastoral Visits to the different parishes of the Archdiocese.

I will preside at all the celebrations of the Eucharist on Saturday and Sunday.

And also I will speak to the parishioners through the homily for the Mass.

I also enjoy having the opportunity to have the children - who are brave enough- to come up and spend a little time with me at the end of Mass.

Following the Saturday evening Mass, the parish had a very tasty supper which allowed me to meet with many of the parishioners on a less formal basis.

I had the chance to meet with all ages at the supper.

And I had some very pleasant company at my table.

Following the supper I met with the young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

They too the opportunity to "ask their Bishop whatever they wanted" and we had some interesting discussions.

And it was a very pleasant and interesting evening with the young people. I am looking forward now to seeing them again at the celebration of the Sacrament.

-30-

The Parish Council and Finance Committee

During a parish visit, it is always a pleasure to meet with the Parish Pastoral Council and the members of the Parish Finance committee.

They let me know what is going on in the parish and what activities are important to them.

We talked about a number of things including the Diocesan Stewardship program and how it is taking hold in the parish.

The meeting was very enouraging, with a good number of active and committed parishioners involved.

The Parish Council is an excellent way for parishioners to become involved in the life of their parish. The Council plays a very important role in advising the Pastor and assisting him in this way to lead the parish and set its direction.

-30-

A visit to St Dominic Savio and St. Andrew's Schools

On Monday I visited the two schools in the Parish, St Dominic Savio School was the first.

My Bishop's Staff is a good prop to help explain to the children what the Bishop's role in the Church is. The fact that it is a "shepherd's staff" gives me lots of leeway and lets the children have some fun using their immaginations around what a shepherd does.

I had the opportunity to visit some of the class rooms and field questions the young people wanted to ask me.

The questions were very good, and often challenging! It's something I enjoy doing with them. They all seem to be very interested in how old I am. So I let them guess. The answer lies between 24 and 85!

I get a chance to ask questions of them too. Such as "Do you know where New Brunswick is?

And there are some who do!

We have great young people in our schools and they are a blessing to us all.

And one major factor in that, is the heart and soul of our Catholic Schools: the teachers.

-30-

The second school I visited was St. Andrews. St. Andrews is a French Immersion school, so I had an opportunity to practice my french with the students.


As you can see, they were pretty good listeners.

And I had a chance to meet some of them in smaller groups before the assembly was over.

They are lovely children, and the benefit of a Catholic School environment is a blessing for them.

-30-