Your Eminence,

I am writing to ensure you of my prayers and to express sincere condolences on the part of the Bishops of Canada regarding the recent violent protests and tragic attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. Such violence, and the hatred that lies behind it, has no place in any just society. Faced with racism and other offences to the inviolable dignity of the human person created in God's image, the Church can only continue to proclaim the truth in love while praying earnestly for all.

The 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated on 14 January 2018. The theme of Pope Francis' Message is "Welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants and refugees". In his Message, the Holy Father recalls that the solidarity of the Church "must be concretely expressed at every stage of the migratory experience – from departure through journey to arrival and return. This is a great responsibility, which the Church intends to share with all believers and men and women of good will, who are called to respond to the many challenges of contemporary migration with generosity, promptness, wisdom and foresight, each according to their own abilities."

Link to the Message

Mrs. Hélène Talbot Blais, mother of the Most Reverend Jean-Pierre Blais, Bishop of Baie-Comeau, passed away peacefully on 30 July 2017 at the age of 96. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on 19 August, at 11:00 am, in the parish church of Saint-Anselme, Quebec.

At its June 2017 meeting, the Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) appointed the Most Reverend Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg, as the CCCB English Sector episcopal representative on the Board of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), for a two-year term, renewable once. He succeeds in this capacity the Most Reverend Richard Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton, and joins the Most Reverend Paul Lortie, Bishop of Mont-Laurier, who is the current French Sector episcopal representative and Chair of the COLF Board. Archbishop Gagnon's appointment was effective 1 July 2017. Two new lay members will also join the Board: Mr. Pavel Reid, Senior Director of Ministries and Outreach for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and Ms. Deborah Larmour, Director of the Family and Life Office of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon. COLF is jointly founded and funded by the CCCB and the Knights of Columbus to promote respect for human life and dignity and the essential role of the family.

On 21 July 2017, a group of thirty men and women began a canoe pilgrimage of some 800 kilometers, inspired by the Calls for Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They departed from the historic sites of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons and the Canadian Martyrs Shrine in Midland, Ontario, and plan to arrive on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the First Nations community of Kahnawake, near Montreal, which is also the home of the Shrine of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and where she is buried. Following the traditional trading route used by the First Nations, as well as the 17th-century Jesuit missionaries and the early European explorers, including Samuel de Champlain, the canoeists have travelled through Georgian Bay, the French River, Lake Nipissing, and then the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers, and will finish on the Saint Lawrence River.

The Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., Bishop of Hamilton and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), has written the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, concerning Canadian mining operations in Latin America and their detrimental effects on the natural environment and local populations, including Indigenous peoples. The letter was also sent to the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable James Gordon Carr, Minister of Natural Resources, and the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

(CCCB – Ottawa)... The Most Reverend Emanuel Shaleta has been named Eparchial Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego, California. At the time of his appointment, he was Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto. The Most Reverend Francis Kalabat, Eparchial Bishop of the Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, will now serve as Apostolic Administrator, sede vacante, for the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto.

(CCCB - Ottawa) - His Holiness Pope Francis has given pontifical assent to the election by the Synod of Major Archbishops of the Syro-Malankara Church on 5 August 2017 of the Most Reverend Philipose Mar Stephanos Thattathil as Eparch of the Syro-Malankara Eparchy of Saint Mary, Queen of Peace for Syro-Malankara faithful in USA and Canada. At the time of his appointment, he was Auxiliary Bishop of Tiruvalla, India. Bishop Stephanos succeeds the Most Reverend Thomas Mar Eusebius Naickamparambil who was elected, also with pontifical assent by the Synod as the first Bishop of the newly erected Eparchy of Parassala in India. Since January 2016, Bishop Eusebius was the first Eparch of the Eparchy of Saint Mary, Queen of Peace.

The 2017 World Tourism Day will be celebrated on 27 September. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has released a Message entitled Sustainable tourism – A tool for development. The theme chosen by the Dicastery is similar as that of the World Tourism Organization for the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development which the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed for 2017.

Link to the Message

(CCCB – Ottawa)... The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has been given leave by the Supreme Court of Canada to intervene in its hearing on whether lawyers educated by the Trinity Western University (TWU) Law School can be automatically barred by the two provincial law societies from practising law in British Columbia and Ontario. The two law societies claim TWU's admission policies are discriminatory because its faculty, staff and students are required to sign a Community Covenant which includes their agreement to refrain "from sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman."

The 2017 Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus was held in St. Louis, Missouri, 1 to 3 August. A number of Bishops from Canada attended. These included His Eminence Gérald Cyprien Cardinal Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec and Primate of Canada; the Most Reverend Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal; the Most Reverend Richard Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton; the Most Reverend Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg; the Most Reverend Stephen Jensen, Bishop of Prince George; the Most Reverend Marcel Damphouse, Bishop of Sault Ste-Marie; the Most Reverend Joseph Nguyen, Bishop of Kamloops; the Most Reverend Brian Bayda, C.Ss.R., Ukrainian Eparchial Bishop of Saskatoon; the Most Reverend Anthony Wieslaw Krótki, O.M.I., Bishop of Churchill-Hudson Bay; the Most Reverend Noël Simard, Bishop of Valleyfield and the CCCB liaison with the Canadian Association of the Knights of Columbus. Also participating were CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Frank Leo, C.S.S., and the Right Reverend Peter Novecosky, O.S.B., Abbot Ordinary Emeritus of St. Peter's at Muenster. The Canadian Catholic television channel, Salt + Light TV, was present to broadcast live the main events of the convention. These can be viewed on the Salt + Light video archives.

Link to the archives of Salt + Light TV
Link to the website of the Knights of Columbus

In preparation for World Youth Day (WYD) 2019, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) wishes to remind WYD organizers that the recommended minimum age for Canadian youth participants in the Panama event is 18 years old, as was established for previous WYD celebrations in recent years. This decision follows a resolution that had been adopted by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario (ACBO) in Spring 2014, supported by the CCCB Executive Committee, and recommended by the CCCB Permanent Council to Canadian dioceses and eparchies. The minimum age of 18 is to assist diocesan and eparchial delegations and other groups in ensuring the supervision and safety of youth participants. The 2019 WYD will be celebrated in Panama, 22 to 27 January 2019, on the theme "I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:30). As announced in February 2017, the CCCB has appointed Ms. Isabel Correa, Director of Youth Ministry at the Archdiocese of Montreal, as the National Coordinator for the Canadian delegation participating in WYD 2019.