Coming Up...
December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patron of the Americas, and the National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. On this date, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle launched its inaugural website;
http://ourladyofguadalupecircle.ca/.
Founded in 2016, the Circle is a Catholic coalition of Indigenous people, bishops, other clergy, representatives of lay movements and members of institutes of consecrated life, engaged in renewing and fostering relationships between the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The website contains numerous resources, including a timeline of actions by Catholic groups in Canada promoting reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. It also provides information on Indian residential schools, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the 94 Calls to Action. Readers wishing to receive information on the actions for reconciliation are invited to add their email address to the Circle's online directory.
On 6 December 2018, Pope Francis received the delegation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in a private audience. The delegation is led by the Most Reverend Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil and CCCB President, and also includes the Most Reverend Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg and CCCB Vice President, and Monsignor Frank Leo, Jr., CCCB General Secretary. The CCCB Presidency is in Rome until 14 December for its 
Ottawa – His Holiness Pope Francis appointed today Father Guy Desrochers, C.Ss.R., Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria while assigning him the Titular See of Melzi. At the time of his appointment, the Bishop-elect was serving as Director of Vocations for the Redemptorists and involved in preaching retreats. As Auxiliary Bishop, he will work closely with The Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, S.J., who is Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and also Archbishop of Ottawa, both of which are united in persona episcopi.
Ottawa – His Holiness Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Martin William Currie as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. John's, and today appointed his successor the Most Reverend Peter Hundt. At the time of his appointment, Bishop Hundt was Bishop of Corner Brook and Labrador. Archbishop Currie has been the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. John's for the past 11 years. He submitted his resignation to the Holy Father upon reaching the age of 75, as required by the Code of Canon Law.
Christmas! Christmastime again! We love this celebration and get ready for it enthusiastically, hoping everything will be perfect. Our preparations take many forms, spiritual and more interior, material and more external. Too often perhaps, the external preparations can take away from preparing hearts as Advent invites us to do. Without always realizing it, getting gifts and meals ready, inviting and visiting our loved ones, decorating our homes and even our churches can take on more importance than Advent. But it is the spiritual and religious journey Advent offers which lets the birth of Jesus open our hearts to the grace of Christmas and fill every dimension of our lives with unique joy.
On 12 December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Church in Canada celebrates the National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. This project, with the approval of the Bishops of Canada, has been coordinated since 2002 by the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council (formerly the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council). This year, the reflection by the Council draws on the theme explored during the recent Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment and its connection to traditional Indigenous spiritualties. "...that for young people to achieve their potential, to become prophets of the future that God has made them to be, they are in need of the dreams of their Elders, of the prophets who have gone before them."
Today, 3 December 2018, His Holiness Pope Francis united the Diocese of Moosonee with the Diocese of Hearst and appointed the Most Reverend Robert Bourgon Bishop of the new Diocese of Hearst-Moosonee. At the time of this new appointment, Bishop Bourgon was both the Bishop of the Diocese of Hearst and the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Moosonee to which he had been named by Pope Francis on 25 April 2016.
Ottawa – A delegation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will be in Rome from 3-14 December 2018 for the annual visit of its Presidency with a number of dicasteries of the Holy See. The Most Reverend Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil and CCCB President will lead the delegation which also includes The Most Reverend Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg and CCCB Vice President, and Monsignor Frank Leo, Jr., CCCB General Secretary. A highlight of the visit will be a private audience with Pope Francis on 6 December.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) continues to post possible homily ideas and prayers of the faithful to help link the Sunday liturgy with the national pastoral initiative for life and family. The proposed texts for the month of December 2018 include suggestions from the 1st Sunday in Advent, 2 December, to the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God, 1 January 2019. As usual, the suggestions for homilies and prayers can be easily adapted for family prayer, as well as for personal prayer or for use with other groups or organizations. The texts for the month of December are available on the special Life and Family webpage, under the section 
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated 18 to 25 January 2019 on the theme "Justice and only justice you shall pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:18-20). The resources in English and in French can be freely downloaded from the Canadian website for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme and biblical texts for this annual Week of Prayer are jointly prepared by the Holy See's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. The thematic introduction to the 2019 materials comes from Churches in Indonesia. National and regional Councils of Churches adapt the resources for their local context. The resources for Canada are produced by an ecumenical writing team coordinated by the Commission on Faith and Witness of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal and the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon. The CCCB is a member of the CCC and is also represented on its Canadian writing team for the Week of Prayer.
Ottawa – The national bilateral dialogue of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops met for its biannual meeting 13-14 November 2018 at the Dominican University College in Ottawa. The dialogue members reviewed and reflected on the recently released book entitled "Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John" published by Dr. Adele Reinhartz, a member of the dialogue and Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Ottawa. Furthermore, the dialogue continued in its work on the Jewish and Catholic approaches to praying with and understanding the Psalms looking specifically at Psalms 115-116, which, in the Jewish tradition, comprise part of the Hallel set of prayers that are recited on joyous occasions.
