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.

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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.

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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.

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