Message from the Rector

To view the Message from the Rector on the Sacrament of Confession - please click here 

July 21, 2019

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

As announced in earlier bulletins, we will be proceeding to the selection of new members of the Parish Pastoral Council on the weekend of September 14 & 15. Further to the recent amendments to the Constitution, the process will be different this year. A Steering Committee has been struck to organize and supervise the process. Joining me will be Christine Mathew, as a representative of the current Council, with Brendan Hennigan and Denis Lefebvre as members-at-large from the parish. I anticipate that we will need to fill four vacancies due to the end of term of two members and the departure of two others who are moving. Please already begin to reflect, and pray about, members of our parish community who can serve us as a Council member. More details will be forthcoming in future bulletins.

At the end of June, Father Francis Ndey successfully defended his doctoral thesis in Canon Law. I offer our congratulations to Fr. Francis who has persevered in completing this academic work despite a number of challenges.

As part of our participation in the diocesan Missionary Co-op Appeal, the weekend of August 17 & 18, we will be welcoming Fr. Benjamin Franklin, a member of the Tamilnadu Discalced Carmelites of St. Joseph Province in India. Please note that his community is not a registered Canadian charity; therefore, we will not be able to provide you with a tax receipt for any donations that you make. We do count on your usual generous response for this appeal for the missions.

On Corpus Christi Sunday, the procession with the Blessed Sacrament went well with the participation of approximately 200 parishioners. I am grateful for the support provided by the members of our choirs, as well as the marshaling and crowd control provided by the members of our Knights of Columbus Council. The Knights have begun their new fraternal year with Donald Macdonald as the new Grand Knight. I am grateful to the Knights for the many ways in which they support our parish, and community charity projects, in ways known and often hidden.

During the process of issuing tax receipts for the 2018 year, several parishioners inquired as to the possibility of receiving credit for Mass offerings. We can provide tax receipts for Mass offerings. To simplify the process and to ensure proper record-keeping, we ask that you put any Mass offerings into a white “Offerings” envelope, marking it “Mass Offering” and indicating either your parish box number, or — if you do not have parish envelopes — your complete name and address.

Before breaking for the summer, our Finance Council met on June 18. After the opening prayer, approval of the agenda and approval of the May minutes, the Council proceeded to dealing with business arising from the minutes: the parish temporal goods inventory is largely complete; an emergency response document will be available in draft for consideration in the fall; the Rector will be preparing a draft job description for a part-time pastoral worker to be hired in the fall; and the members took note of the generally positive feedback received after the Parish Annual General Meeting. The members viewed an overview of the current state of the fire protection and prevention systems in the church and rectory. The members reviewed the financial report for the period ending May 31. Generally, most expense lines are on budget and there is the beginning of recovery from the decrease in revenues that were most likely the effect of the terrible weather during the winter months. The Council considered an update as to various projects: the redoing of the rectory roofs has begun; it is anticipated that the paving project around the rectory will be completed in coming weeks; proposals are being studied with respect to renovations and changes to the choir loft; attention to the structural and plumbing problems in the Scavi is ongoing. The members also received a report with respect to financial reports and controls in the Book & Gift Shop. There was an initial discussion with respect to replacing the three members of the Council whose term will end this year. The next meeting of the Council will take place on September 17. The meeting closed with prayer.  

Father Kevin