This document is only available in French.
(Ottawa — CCCB) A delegation of 72 Canadians led by 47 young people from across the country together with the Archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, and the Chairman of the 2002 World Youth Day Episcopal Committee, Bishop Anthony Meagher, have brought the World Youth Day pilgrimage cross to Canada following an emotional and colourful ceremony with the Holy Father in Saint Peter’s Square on Passion Sunday.
Pope John Paul II entrusted the cross to the young Canadians who received it from the hands of Italian youth who had hosted World Youth Day in Rome last summer. As the Canadians held the cross, six young Inuit from across the Canadian North sang, danced and drummed in front of the Pope and 275,000 people who attended the Passion Sunday liturgy in Saint Peter’s Square.
The Canadian delegation played a prominent role in the celebrations in Rome, some processing into the Square with 10-foot palms, while others presented the readings, took part in the offertory procession, received Communion from the Holy Father, and finally were entrusted with the WYD cross.
The Pope encouraged the young Canadians “to prepare well for the next important appointment of World Youth Day.” He asked them to “get ready to welcome the young people of the world to your beautiful country by renewing your own fidelity to Christ the Lord. Fidelity to Christ, this is my invitation.
“May your preparation of the 17th World Youth Day be an occasion to deepen young faith and your life with Christ. My prayers are with you along with my heartfelt apostolic blessing. Until we meet in Toronto!”
The Holy Father also revealed the theme for the World Youth Day 2002: “You are the salt of the earth … you are the light of the world,” taken from the Gospel of Matthew.
WYD 2002 National Director Rev. Thomas Rosica, CSB, welcomed the theme, saying “it is both an invitation and a challenge to the young people of Canada. As we journey with the Cross throughout our vast country over the next sixteen months, let us pray that we may make the Lord known to everyone, and encourage the Catholic youth of Canada to truly be salt and light to our nation and to the whole world.”
The cross will now begin its cross-country pilgrimage, beginning tomorrow in Ottawa where it will be greeted by an estimated 18,000 young people who are to gather at the Corel Centre. From there, the cross will travel to dioceses across the country as an invitation to young Canadians to prepare for World Youth Day which will be celebrated in Canada July 18-28, 2002. More than 600,000 young people from around the world are expected to attend the event in Canada which will begin in the dioceses across the country and culminate in a five-day celebration in Toronto that the Holy Father is expected to attend.
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(Ottawa — CCCB) – The visit to Canada of the major reliquary of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus will begin in Vancouver, Monday, September 17, 2001, proceed to the other British Columbia dioceses – Victoria, Whitehorse, Kamloops and Prince George – and then go on to other localities right across Canada. Halifax will be the last Canadian diocese to receive the reliquary, which is then to return to Lisieux on December 15, 2001. By the end of its long journey across the nation, the reliquary will have visited 41 of Canada’s 63 Roman Catholic dioceses. Its itinerary will include three stopovers in the North: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (Diocese of MacKenzie-Fort Smith); St. Theresa Point, northern Manitoba (Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas); and probably several Labrador locations including Wabush and Labrador City (Diocese of Labrador City-Schefferville).
“We consulted the Bishops of Canada in March 2000 to know which dioceses would be able to receive the reliquary,” explained Mr. Jacques Binet, president of the National Committee which the Canadian Conference of Canadian Bishops (CCCB) established to organize the visit. “We are so happy that their response was tremendously enthusiastic. In fact, it would have been difficult to accommodate any more dioceses, given the length of time the relics will be here and also because of the huge logistics involved.”
The National Committee has been meeting every two months for more than a year now to prepare this Canadian Church project. The first challenge was to decide on the pastoral objective and theme for the visit. “After taking the experiences of previous host countries into account, and aware of how important the visit is for the Catholic Church in Canada, the Committee decided the best approach was the new evangelization,” Mr. Binet explained. “That’s why the Committee opted for the theme Encountering Jesus Christ … with Thérèse of Lisieux. We are proposing Thérèse as a special way to encounter Christ.”
Fundraising
F
undraising by the National Committee has so far brought in $50,000 from religious orders across Canada. This will be used to cover most of the expenses, including transportation and the production of various resource materials. Negotiations are also in process with possible sponsors for transporting the reliquary by plane and van. Members of the Knights of Columbus are volunteering across Canada to take turns driving the vehicle that will transport the reliquary and which has already been dubbed the “Thérèse-obile”. Made by a Brazilian artist in 1927, the reliquary weighs more than 135 kilos (300 lbs) and measures 1.5 metres long by 1 metre wide and 0.85 metres high (a little more than 4 ½ feet by three feet by two feet high).
Resource materials are being prepared and will be made available to the host dioceses, although each diocese is responsible for organizing the visit locally. The program for the Canadian visit will therefore vary from one diocese to another, according to local input. For example, in the Diocese of Labrador City-Schefferville, a local businessman has already indicated he will make his own personal helicopter available for the visit. This means the reliquary can be transported to the remote areas of the diocese and up to the border of the new northern territory of Nunavuk. There are also plans to take the reliquary from the airport in Wabush to nearby Labrador City by dogsled.
“From the very beginning, even when our work was at a preliminary stage, we were telling dioceses to think big. This was the same message we ourselves were getting from Church authorities in Lisieux,” Jacques Binet said. “In the United States, just as in the other countries that have received the reliquary over the last five years, diocesan officials were overwhelmed by the public response. Canada will certainly not be an exception to this. We expect thousands of people will want to be part of the visit. After all, Pope Saint Pius X said Thérèse was the most important saint in modern times.”
Doctor of the Church
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (Thérèse Martin) was 24 years old when she died of tuberculosis in 1897, just nine years after becoming a member of the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, France. Her reputation for holiness quickly spread after the posthumous publication of a collection of her three manuscripts under the title of Story of a Soul. Right after her death, there were reports of extraordinary events associated with her, including cures and conversions. Pilgrims were soon flocking to Lisieux. Beatified in April 1923, she was canonized two years later, on May 17, 1925. In October 1997, she was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II, in recognition of the exceptional influence of her spirituality throughout the world.
The Canadian Catholic publishing house Novalis has indicated to the National Committee its own plans for the Canadian visit. These include a special issue of Living with Christ and Prions en Église. The 96-page issue will provide various liturgical celebrations, songs, prayers, photographs and texts on the life and spirituality of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Currently in production, the special issue will be distributed across Canada this August.
Youth are also being invited to participate in the visit of the reliquary to Canada as this is an excellent preparation for the upcoming World Youth Day celebrations to be held in Toronto in the summer of 2002. A working group is preparing special activities for young people as part of the visit, with youth gatherings already planned for several Canadian cities. Each diocesan committee also has the option of including a youth celebration as part of its overall program for receiving the relics.
“If the visit is to be a good one, not only as to how it is organized but also in terms of the benefits it will bring spiritually and for the Church as a whole, we have to invest the necessary time and energy,” according to Jacques Binet. “The Catholic Church in Canada has everything to gain by this visit. These are the relics of the world patronness of missions. The result can only mean new energy for today’s mission of evangelizing. We will be welcoming Thérèse herself, not just her human remains. For our National Committee, this perspective has made all the difference. After all, Thérèse is the one who wanted to spend heaven by doing good on earth. In her own way, the Little Flower will be using her visit to repeat her message that we must have faith in and entrust ourselves to the Lord’s mercy and love.”
When the reliquary arrives this September, Canada will be the 22nd country to have been visited. Everywhere it has travelled since 1995, it has attracted large and enthusiastic crowds.
On behalf of my brother bishops across Canada, I joyfully welcome the World Youth Day (WYD) cross to this country. A delegation of young Canadians received the cross from the hands of the Holy Father on Palm Sunday, April 8, during celebrations at St. Peter’s Square and brought it back to Canada as a forerunner of the next World Youth Day which will be held in Canada during July 2002. The countdown has now started for this major event that will begin first in dioceses across Canada and finally culminate in Toronto.
World Youth Day is sparking an extraordinary level of energy and enthusiasm among Canadians. More than 20,000 young people are set to gather at the Corel Centre in Ottawa to welcome the WYD cross to Canada. I would like to take this occasion to thank Archbishop Marcel Gervais who has accepted to host the Ottawa celebration launching the WYD Cross on its travels across our country.
By handing this cross to us, the Holy Father is inviting us to focus our lives on Christ and to prepare ourselves for World Youth Day 2002. Organizational work for WYD is already well underway under the auspices of the National Committee in Toronto. While the logistical aspects of hosting such a huge gathering are crucial, it is equally important that we take the time to prepare our hearts and souls for World Youth Day.
The WYD cross can help us with that spiritual preparation. It is, in a way, similar to the Olympic torch that raises both the passion and pride of a host country on its way to the Games where people from around the world will be warmly welcomed. I believe this cross will have the same impact on our people. Over the next months it will travel from diocese to diocese, reminding us of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Its passage will inspire us to become more fully committed to the meaning of WYD 2002 and the welcome that we will give to young people from all continents who will converge in Canada in response to the Holy Father’s invitation.
May the coming of this cross inspire our prayers, our commitment to serve our brothers and sisters, and our pilgrimage towards WYD 2002.
Most Rev. Gerald Wiesner, OMI
Bishop of Prince George
President, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
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When Pope John Paul II entrusted Canadian youth with the World Youth Day cross on Passion Sunday, the event in St. Peter’s Square was attended by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Honourable Hilary Weston, and her husband Galen, as well as World Youth Day staff and volunteers as well as journalists from Canada. The event marked the conclusion of three days of profoundly moving celebrations which were in some ways even unprecedented.
On Thursday, April 5, the Canadian delegation was formally welcomed by representatives of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and 50,000 young people at a meeting in St. Peter’s Square with the Holy Father to recall the World Youth Day 2000 celebrations that had been held in Rome this past August. At the conclusion of the Thursday gathering, the Holy Father invited several young Canadians to meet with him.
On Saturday, April 7, the Archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, the Pope’s Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, and the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal James Francis Stafford, led a procession of thousands of young people through the streets of downtown Rome to St. Peter’s Square as young Italians carried the World Youth Day cross for a final time. The Canadian delegation, with flags held high, was given a place of honour in the procession with the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario walking in the midst of the palm-waving young people.
On Passion Sunday, in an unprecedented move at St. Peter’s, each member of the Canadian delegation was asked to play a visible role in the Mass. Young Canadians carried palms in the procession that led the Holy Father through St. Peter’s Square. A young man from the Diocese of St. Hyacinthe proclaimed the first reading, and a young woman from the Archdiocese of Vancouver the second reading. Five young Canadians carried the offertory gifts to the Pope, and 10 received communion from him. At the conclusion of the Mass, in a profoundly symbolic gesture, 40 young Italians carried the World Youth Day cross to the Holy Father and then passed it over 40 Canadians, led by Cardinal Ambrozic and the Chairman of the Canadian bishops’ World Youth Day Committee, Bishop Anthony Meagher.
Another touching moment was when Canadian World Youth Day National Director Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, exchanged the World Youth Day 2002 flag with Msgr. Domenico Sigalini, National Coordinator of the Italian World Youth Day 2000. As the Canadians raised high the cross to the applause of the crowds, Inuit youth began singing, dancing and drumming to the thunderous applause of the crowd in the square. The event was televized throughout the world.
At the conclusion of the Mass, in a surprise move, the Holy Father requested that the members of the delegation from Canada come up to meet him individually. The Pope expressed deep gratitude to the young Canadians, and particularly to the Native youth for taking part in the ceremony.
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(Ottawa — CCCB) The Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) is inviting government leaders in the Americas to adopt economic policies that promote and protect human dignity and the common good.
At a news conference in Quebec City, Archbishop Maurice Couture, CV, who is also a member of the Permanent Council, made public a CCCB message entitled That None Be Excluded, prepared on the occasion of the Summit of the Americas to be held in Quebec City, April 20-22.
The message draws upon the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America which states: “The goal of the Church is to ensure that no one be excluded.” The statement goes on to say: “It is evident that the production of greater wealth does not in itself lead to more equitable distribution of that wealth, and that ‘the new economy’ is promoting greater inequality faster than ever before.”
Noting the gap between rich and poor continues to grow ever larger, the 15 bishops from across Canada currently on the Permanent Council arrived at their findings in view of discussions with their brother bishops from the South and also continued requests for assistance from communities in Latin America, as well as based on pastoral visits that Canadian bishops and other Church representatives have made to many impoverished areas in the Americas.
The Permanent Council statement insists that since governments have been entrusted by their citizens with promoting the common good, they should not relinquish their powers to intervene. For governments to do so, the bishops state, would be to fail to assume their own responsibilities and “render themselves impotent in the face of economic forces that are able to increase production and profits but unable to guarantee the distribution of any resulting benefits.”
While not rejecting free trade, the bishops insist that “efforts toward continental economic integration would enjoy popular support if the agreements included serious guarantees for economic equity, environmental protection and greater participation by women in the conduct of the economy and society in general.”
“Government leaders and Parliaments should carefully consider what a wider open market will mean in its consequences for the poor, women, indebted nations and the victims of human rights violations,” the statement continues.
Without violence
Together with many other groups in civil society, the CCCB Permanent Council regrets the lack of transparency involved in the Summit of the Americas. Its success would be enhanced, the bishops say, “if it takes place with greater transparency than has characterized its earlier stages. The citizens of the continent need to be able to contribute more to these crucial debates which determine our common future.”
The bishops also attach great importance to popular action aimed at influencing the official Summit, including “the parallel Summit organized by the Hemispheric Social Alliance and other peaceful means by which public opinion is expressed in democratic countries. We want the voice of the people to be heard without violence, no matter who may be responsible, and without disruption to the legitimate expression of opinion.”
Urging government leaders and the peoples of the countries involved in discussions on economic integration to address the social and environmental impact of open markets, to emphasize human rights and democratic structures, and to promote development that respects the dignity of individuals and communities, the message from the CCCB Permanent Council concludes with the hope that “the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City assist in building a better world with all our sisters and brothers of the Americas.”
(Ottawa — CCCB) His Holiness Pope John Paul II has named Msgr. John A. Boissonneau as Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto where he will assist His Eminence Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic in his duties as Archbishop of Toronto.
Bishop-elect Boissonneau was born in Toronto in 1949 and ordained to the priesthood in 1974. He studied theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto from where he received a doctorate in theology.
The new bishop has been active in both diocesan administration and education. In addition to having been secretary to the archbishop and chancellor of the archdiocese, he has also sat on several archdiocesan committees including the personnel committee and the presbyteral council. Since 1982 he has served at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto as professor, vice-rector and, since 1993, as rector.
The Archdiocese of Toronto has a Catholic population of 1.4 million people and is served by 397 diocesan priests, 506 priests who are members of religious orders, 114 permanent deacons, and 773 other religious in 222 parishes and missions.
(CCCB – Ottawa) The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) recently held its third annual seminar on biotechnology in the offices of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), in Ottawa. Scientists, theologians, philosophers, lawyers, bishops and other interested Catholics participated in that meeting to examine current issues from a Catholic perspective.
These annual meetings help to create and maintain a network for ethicists and scientists working in this area as well as to foster better understanding of recent scientific developments in this fast-changing technological domain.
“The information exchanged helps us to refine our ethical reflection on the many issues and challenges that biotechnology raises,” said Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, SJ, Archbishop of Halifax and member of COLF. “The expertise and knowledge shared by the resource persons at this meeting helps enormously when we have to speak out in public on these matters.”
The participants examined four areas at the seminar: the human genome project and its implications; designer babies/pre implantation diagnosis, allowing genetic analysis to be performed on early embryos prior to implantation and pregnancy; stem cell therapy to treat malfunctioning human cells; and gene therapy which aims to treat disease by introducing normal genes to replace defective genes. Each theme began with a scientific presentation followed by a moral and ethical reflection.
To present these topics, COLF invited the following experts: Dr. François Pothier, a professor from Laval University and a specialist in animal reproduction; Dr. Bernard Keating, a professor of ethics from the Faculty of theology and religious science at Laval University; Dr. Amalia Issa, an expert in neurological science and a fellow in medical ethics at Harvard University; Dr. Robert Allore, S.J., a molecular biologist and geneticist; Dr. Noël Simard, an ethics professor from the Faculty of theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa; Dr. Richard Haughian, theologian and president of the Catholic Health Association of Canada (CHAC); Mr. James Roche, responsible for policy analysis and government relations at the CHAC; Dr. Bridget Campion, assistant professor of moral theology at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto; Dr. Thérèse Leroux, a biochemist and professor at the Faculty of law, University of Montreal; and Dr. Suzanne Rozell Scorsone, anthropologist and member of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. The Seminar was facilitated by Fr. Ron Mercier, S.J., the Dean of Regis College, Toronto School of Theology.
The Seminar showed once again that discussion of concerns about biotechnology must not be left only to those scientists and others in the specialized communities who are developing these technologies, or only those who are financially backing this research such as multinational corporations that would reap large profits through their development.
“Other aspects of the debate must be given greater priority besides the purely economic goals,” said Richard Haughian, president of the Catholic Health Association of Canada. “It is also important that the public be well informed and that ways be found to involve the public in consultation and decision making related to biotechnology issues.”
Other concerns were also raised, including reducing the human being to simply a genetic code, and the use of human embryos for their “body parts.” As more discoveries are made, what genetic code or what human being will be considered normal? Should we feel guilty about not helping a suffering person when we know that technologies exist to help that person, controversial though they may be? Do we refuse to help someone knowing that he or she could later develop a disease such as cancer?
Archbishop Bertrand Blanchet of Rimouski, and chairperson of COLF, underlined the importance of these seminars for the participants. “These issues concern the entire Church, he said. It is such a joy to see the presence here of specialists not only in biology by also in ethics as well as men and women involved in the Church, both clergy and laity.”
The Catholic Organization for Life and Family was jointly founded by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus. Its mission is to promote respect for life, human dignity and the essential role of the family.
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| Some of the participants to the forum : Dr Richard Haughian, president of the CHAC and Most Rev. Terrence Prendergast, s.j., Archbishop of Halifax. In the background: Ms. Marie Cameron of the CWL, Dr Suzanne Scorsone, anthropologist and Ms. Jennifer Leddy of COLF |
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| F. Robert Allore, s.j., Most Rev. Bertrand Blanchet, Archbishop of Rimouski and President of COLF and Vivian Bosch of the CWL |
(CCCB – Ottawa) His Holiness Pope John Paul II has named Rev. Marc Ouellet, PSS, as Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. As a result of the appointment, Rev. Ouellet has been elevated to the episcopacy and named Bishop of the Titular See of Agropoli.
Bishop-elect Ouellet will replace Cardinal Walter Kasper as Secretary of the Council, who is in turn succeeding Cardinal Edward Cassidy who has resigned as president of the Council for reasons of age.
Bishop–elect Ouellet was born in 1944 in La Motte, Québec, ordained to the priesthood in 1968 as a member of the Company of Saint Sulpice, served as rector at the Grande Séminaire de Montréal from 1990-1994, and of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Edmonton from 1994-1997. He is Chairman of Dogmatic Theology at the John Paul II Institute of the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome. From 1995 to 2000, Father Ouellet was a consultor for the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy.
In October 1995, Bishop-elect Ouellet acted as a resource person on the spirituality of diocesan priests for the annual plenary meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, held that year in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is entrusted with the promotion within the Catholic Church of an authentic ecumenical spirit and to develop dialogue and collaboration with the other Churches and world communions.
(CCCB – Toronto) Youth ministry representatives from dioceses across Canada met in Toronto last week to begin the planning for World Youth Day 2002, which will be held in Canada’s dioceses and in Toronto from July 18-28, 2002.
The national forum attracted 148 delegates from 71 Canadian dioceses February 22-24 in what is the first gathering ever of those involved in youth ministry from all regions across the country. The forum was hosted by the World Youth Day 2002 national committee established by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) to organize WYD 2002 that will see hundreds of thousands of young people from around the globe come to Canada at the invitation of Pope John Paul II. With less than 18 months before WYD 2002, forum participants spent time studying the ground work already laid out by the national committee and looking at the preparations needed to welcome the more than half million young pilgrims expected from around the world. They examined the implications of the event from community and pastoral points of view as well as the implications for housing, transportation, communications, event coordination, financing and the need for volunteers.
The national committee spent a great deal of time at the forum discussing the days in the dioceses, which is an important but separate WYD 2002 element from the Toronto activities. While Toronto will be the host to larger rallies and other major events from July 23-28, 2002, the young pilgrims coming to Canada will first be hosted in dioceses across the country from July 18-22 where they will be able to acquaint themselves with the Church in different parts of Canada. The days in the dioceses will also entail a major logistical challenge for diocesan organizers who take on complete responsibility for local activities and housing. The national committee chose the forum to unveil the WYD 2002 logo in the presence of federal, provincial and municipal representatives. The brightly coloured logo shows a cross symbolizing the presence of Jesus Christ. The shape of the cross is similar to the crozier or pastoral staff used by Pope John Paul II, who plans to attend WYD 2002. There is a yellow circle at the centre representing the youth who will attend WYD from around the globe. The blue section at the top represents the oceans and waters of Canada. The red maple leaf at the bottom represents Canada that will host the event.
The national director for WYD 2002, Rev. Thomas Rosica, CSB, expressed his delight at the overwhelming positive response that national organizers received from the diocesan representatives. “The obvious goodwill and spirit of cooperation that was present was extraordinary,” Father Rosica said. “The forum has given birth to a new and unique form of pastoral collaboration on the national level. I know that the experience of the past weekend is one of the first graces and blessings that World Youth Day brings to the Church in Canada.”
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| WYD 2002 Episcopal Committee members Bishop James Wingle, Bishop Anthony Meagher (chairman) and Bishop François Lapierre, PMÉ, at WYD logo unveiling. |