Religious Superiors, School Board Association, Francophone Pastoral Council and our ecumenical Bishops Meeting

I know that's a big list for the title. However a lot of things happened over the next two days. I had to leave our session at St. Michael's early on Tuesday morning in order to get to Saskatoon by 9:30 for the annual meeting between the Bishops of Saskatchewan and the major Religious Superiors of the Religous communities serving in our dioceses. I had to extend my apologies to the priests and pastoral workers the day before for leaving early and thus giving them bad example. It seems that we Catholics have this habit of leaving things early....even in the Eucharist! So I try to discourage this unfortunate inclination. However this time I was unable to give the proper example myself.

We met together from 9:30 to 4:00 pm and concluded our day's discussions with the celebration of the Eucharist. I was co-chairing the meeting with Sr. Anne Lewans OSU and so did not get around to taking pictures of the group. There were four Bishops present and around 20 religious superiors or their representatives. It is a valuable forum for the Religious to communicate with their Bishops and vice versa. Such open communication is very healthy in establishing strong and cooperative relationships between all of us who were present.

SASKATCHEWAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION

In the evening the Bishops met with the executive of the SCSBA for an update from the Association and some dinner afterwards. For the mission statement of the Association you may go to their website http://www.scsba.ca/mission.htm

In this first picture from left to right: Bishop Bryan Beda of the Eparchy of Saskatoon; Bishop Albert Legatt of Saskatoon; Ken Lohendorf, Executive Director; Mike St. Armand, President.

And on the other side of the table from left to right: Bishop Albert Thévenot of Prince Albert, myself; Jerome Niezgoda, Vice-President; and Keith Koberinski, past president.

The value of our Catholic Schools and the high quality of education and the richness of spiritual and moral formation that is offered to the children of our Catholic families and others who choose Catholic Education is a treasure of great value to all of us. With opposition to this choice rising from time to time, we look to the SCSBA for their expertise in seing that this right is secured for our families and the families which will follow after them. We are very grateful for the dedication with which these people work to make Catholic education a strong and valuable resource to our families.

CONSEIL PASTORALE FRANCOPHONE INTERDIOCESAIN DE SASKATCHEWAN (CPFIS)

The next morning Bishop Legatt, Bishop Thévenot and myself met with the executive of CPFIS. The members of this council work towards assuring that French speaking parishes are enabled to have the resources necessary to celebrate the liturgy in the French language. This is an important right that is the concern of the Church in justice and a value that is supported in the broader sense by provincial legislation. The collaboration between the Conseil Pastoral and the Bishops has been fruitful and productive and continues to be so.


LUTHERAN, ANGLICAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS MEETING

Following the CPFIS meeting we gathered with the Lutheran and Anglican Bishops for the second of our semi-annual meetings. In the picture from left to right are Bishop Thévenot, Bishop Legatt, Bishop Cindy Halmarson of the Lutheran Church, Bishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson of the Anglican Diocese of Fort Qu'appelle and Bishop Rodney Andrews of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon. The Anglican diocese of Saskatchewan is waiting for the appointment of its new bishop.

I find these meetings very positive and productive. Recognizing the doctrinal issues that continute to keep us separated, there are still numerous things which we hold in common in our Christian faith. Christ's prayer that his church may be one can certainly be strengthened by our efforts to build on those things that unite us in our labours to be faithful followers of Jesus.

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Taking a Look at the Order of the Sacraments of Initiation

On Monday the priests of the Archdiocese gathered at St. Michael's Retreat in Lumsden for one of our regular study days. Bishop Gerald Wiesner of the diocese of Prince George spoke to us about the order of the Sacraments of Initiation.

Bishop Wiesner led us through a thorough look at the tradition in the Church regarding the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist and the history of how they have been celebrated and in what order they have been celebrated over the centuries. Fundamental to our understanding of these sacraments is that together they form the sacraments of initiation into membership and life in the Church.

Within this historical overview Bishop Wiesner spoke of the occasions that arose which in the Western Church that brought about a separation in time of the conferral of these sacraments. In the early church they were celebrated together as they are now done in the restored Catecheumenate and the liturgy of the Easter Vigil. Confirmation became separated from Baptism as Church communities began to grow more numerous and were no longer located close to the Bishop. With the lowering of the age of First Communion at the beginning of the 20th century, Confirmation began to be conferred after First Communion. There is a movement now in the Church to restore the order to that of its original practice: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.

Bishop Wiesner then presented the teaching of the Church regarding this question through the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, documents of the Holy Father, particularly Paul VI, John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. And concluded with an outline of the sacramental theology which deals with these sacraments.

The priests of the Archdioce were present in very high numbers. I am most grateful for the commitment of our priests and the dedication that they have to the unity of the presbyterate and their cooperation in the goals and visions of the diocese.

We also had a very good number of lay pastoral workers present at the presentations. This too is a very hopeful sign of the strength of our sense of mission in our local Church. Our lay pastoral workers are a richness to our church and we thank God for them.

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Installation of the new Pastor of St. Henry's, Melville

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of installing Fr. Antoni Degutis as Pastor of St. Henry's Parish, Melville. Fr. Antoni is a member of the Assumption Province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Assumption Province provides priests to care for three parishes in the Archdiocese: Lestock, Sturgis and Melville.

Here we have the newly installed Pastor, Fr. Antoni Degutis OMI

We were blessed with good servers who carried out the responsibilities of Acolyte with great diligence. I am always promoting this ministry of Acolyte in our parishes. It sometimes takes second place to the ministry of Lector, which is indeed an important ministry in our Church. But the ministry of Acolyte provides for a dignified and well ordered celebration of the liturgy. And so it is a very important ministry if our celebrations of the liturgy are to be well carried out.

During the ceremony of installation, we move to different spots in the church which illustrate the duties of the pastor in his parish. Here the station is at the Altar. The rite here as is follows;

THE ALTAR

Lector: Listen to the words of St. Paul written to the Corinthians: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Bishop: It is the duty of the Pastor to bring the faithful together to celebrate the Eucharist of the Church. When you do this, make them as sign of the Lord’s enduring presence among God’s People.

Pastor: I will do so, with the help of God.

Another stopping point is at the Chair from which the pastor presides over the Community during the Liturgy.

THE CHAIR

Lector: Listen to the words of St. Paul in the second letter to Timothy: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable.”

Bishop: It is the duty of the Pastor to preside over the community of faith. When you do this, lead the People of God in the prayer of the Church with diligence and devotion.

Pastor: I will do so, with the help of God.

When the pastor has gone to each of the places in the church which are symbolic of his duties, he then stands before the Bishop and makes his Profession of Faith by reciting the Nicene Creed along with the faithful who are present and then he takes the Oath of Fidelity to the Church and its teachings.

He and I then sign a copy of this oath and the new pastor is officially installed. We then proceed with the celebration of the Eucharist which is the source and the summit of our life as Catholic people, the disciples of Jesus in our communities.

Fr. Casimir Krystkowiak who is also in residence at St. Henry's, concelebrated the Mass with us. Fr. Chris is recovering from back surgery and preparing to celebrate his 50th Anniversary of Ordination this month. We wish him God's continued blessings in his life and together with him we thank God for the gift of the ministerial Priesthood through which Jesus continues to care for his Church.

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