Message from the Rector

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September 22, 2019

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

Last Sunday, we received nominations for the new members of our Parish Pastoral Council, my thanks to the parishioners who have submitted names. I will be contacting those whose names have been proposed and look forward to them joining our next meeting of the Pastoral Council.

We welcome back to Saint Patrick’s Dominican Father Martin Farrell who, for the last two years, has been in New York assisting with Dominican hospital ministries. With the return of the academic year, we also will benefit from the presence and ministry of Spiritan Fr. John Adimula who had returned to Nigeria for a period of time and then assisted a pastor in North Bay in August. Fr. Joseph Yacob, after spending the summer in ministry in Toronto, has returned to Ottawa where he continues work on his doctorate in Canon Law.

Thanks to your generosity to the annual Missionary Appeal, we have forwarded to the Discalced Carmelite missions in India (Tamil Nadu) the sum of $7,150 Canadian. I am grateful for your faithful generosity, not only in the support of the missions but also for the many appeals which are made in our Parish, whether for parish needs or for collections mandated by the diocese.

The Canadian Bishops will be holding their Plenary Assembly September 23 – 27. Let us pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the leaders of our Church reflect on, and make decisions concerning, the many issues facing our Catholic Church in Canada. Next Sunday, September 29, there is the annual collection for the Needs of the Church in Canada. This collection helps each diocese to make its annual contribution to the national Conference and to the respective regional episcopal assemblies. Contributing to this collection is practical support of our bishops in their ministry of teaching, sanctifying and pastoral governance. Those who have parish envelopes will find an envelope for this collection. For those who do not have parish envelopes, you are encouraged to make a second donation, in addition to your support of the parish, by using the offering envelope available in the pew and marking it “Canadian Church Appeal”.

On Thursday September 26, we will be celebrating the Memorial of the Holy Canadian Martyrs who are the secondary patrons of Canada (St. Jean de Brébeuf, Saint Isaac Jogues and their Companions). Let us pray that the Canadian Martyrs will intercede for our bishops and for all of us in our witness of the Gospel in our country, particularly in these weeks leading up to the federal election.

All of us are delighted to see the increasing number of newborns who have been welcomed by our families. I encourage families to come to Mass as a family. In the event that parents find that their infants are crying more than a minute or two, they should feel free to get up from Mass and to go to an area of the church where they can continue to follow Mass and, at the same time, look after their children. A number of our families with young children sit strategically, so as to be able to go to the baptistery (a speaker transmits the audio from Mass), or go to the Scavi where there is a video feed as well as the audio from Mass.  We never forget that children are not only the future of the Church, they are the present and a gift to us all!

Father Kevin