Today, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) issued a statement in response to the tragic event of 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Link to the statement

On 24 May 2015, Pope Francis signed the encyclical Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home, which called upon not only Catholics all over the world, but the entire global community to recognize how every person is profoundly connected and dependent on one another, as well as on the natural world in which we all live.

To honour the anniversary of this encyclical, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has launched the celebration of a Special “Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year” which runs from 24 May 2020 until 24 May 2021.

For more information about the anniversary year, as well as a program of planned activities to take place throughout 2020 and 2021, download the program from Google Drive at: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1IsUe2wDB9DZgStdwciG-g_a8_kLySdkR or visit the Dicastery’s website at: http://www.humandevelopment.va/en/news/laudato-si-special-anniversary-year-plan.html

One of the planned initiatives is the Season of Creation which will take place from 1 September 2020, the World Day of Prayer for Creation, until 4 October 2020, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. The Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical event that encourages prayer and action for our common home. For more information, visit seasonofcreation.org.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) 2017 document entitled Living Out Laudato Si’: A Commentary and Practical Resource for Canadian Catholics may be a useful resource to assist in further reflections on the significance of Laudato Si’ during this special year. The document is organized into six chapters, each based on one of the six chapters of the encyclical, and concludes with a series of reflection questions and resources for action, organized under the headings See, Learn, Pray, Act.

Ottawa – Today, his Holiness Pope Francis united the Diocese of Mont-Laurier with the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme “in persona episcopi” (that is in the person of the Bishop) and has appointed the Most Reverend Raymond Poisson, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme, as Bishop of Mont-Laurier. He will now serve both dioceses as their Bishop. He succeeds the Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher who was appointed by the Holy Father as Apostolic Administrator of Mont-Laurier on 9 July 2019.

Born in Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rouville, Québec, on 30 April 1958, Bishop Poisson was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil on 9 December 1983. On 1 May 2012, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme and ordained as Bishop on 15 June 2012. On 7 September 2015, he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Joliette and installed on 4 November 2015. On 18 May 2018, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme, and assumed the pastoral governance of the Diocese on 20 May 2019, succeeding its former Bishop the Most Reverend Pierre Morissette. Bishop Poisson also currently serves as the Vice President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Diocese of Mont-Laurier has 16 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 77,965 served by 23 diocesan priests, three priests and five Sisters who are members of institutes of consecrated life, two permanent deacons, as well as ten lay pastoral assistants.

Ottawa – Visitors to the website of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) – www.cccb.ca – will notice significant improvements. The website welcomes between 10,000 and 15, 000 users each month. New and returning visitors will appreciate a fresh and visually attractive layout, improved navigation based on a thematic organization using broad categories to appeal to a wider audience, and upgraded compatibility of the site for multiple devices to improve visitor experience when clicking, or swiping, from page to page to page.

The release of the new site follows an extensive and thorough review to streamline the content and to create a comprehensive destination for users to find relevant information and resources. The completion of this major initiative was supported by a generous donation from the Ex corde foundation.

“The Bishops of Canada recognize the critical importance of a website as one of the ways to teach, inform, and evangelize the community of Canadian Catholic faithful,” said CCCB President Archbishop Richard Gagnon. “A change to the Conference’s website was therefore needed as the breadth of material available on our site has grown exponentially since we first established a presence on the Internet twenty-five years ago. What you will see now is a site that is not only attractive, but is more intuitive and user-friendly for those seeking information about the Conference itself, our pastoral initiatives, and our ecclesial resources.”

While visiting www.cccb.ca, look for easily accessible links to the CCCB’s other electronic communication channels – notably the free e-mail news service, Twitter and YouTube – and be sure to subscribe to all three for the latest updates.

Today, a letter was sent to the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, and to Mrs. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, recognizing the government’s generous financial commitment to the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. The letter also urges the federal government to ensure that the development of those vaccines not present an ethical dilemma to Canadians and emphasizes the distinction between vaccines developed using cell lines obtained from earlier abortions (which are unacceptable to many) and those developed without involving such sources. The letter provides examples of both types and asks the government to ensure that vaccines considered ethically acceptable will be accessible to those people who request them. The letter was signed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), as well as a large number of organizations.

Link to the letter

In this Easter season, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle released a reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic. This open letter to all Canadians brings to light both challenges and opportunities during these unprecedented times.

Link to the reflection

Ottawa – Today, His Holiness Pope Francis announced the amalgamation of the Archdiocese of Ottawa and the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall into one ecclesiastical circumscription, creating the new Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. At the same time, the Holy Father announced the episcopal appointments for the new Archdiocese. The Most Reverend Terrence J. Prendergast, S.J. currently Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa and Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, was appointed Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, and the Most Reverend Marcel Damphousse, currently Bishop of Sault Ste- Marie, was named as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. As Coadjutor Archbishop, he will assist the Archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall and succeed Archbishop Prendergast when his resignation is accepted by the Holy Father.

The creation of the new Archdiocese follows years of study, reflection and consultation to consider the possibility of amalgamation of the two former dioceses. At the time of his appointment as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in January 2016, Archbishop Prendergast was given the mandate of making a recommendation as to the possibility of a merger of the two dioceses. In April 2018, Pope Francis united the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall with the Archdiocese of Ottawa “in persona episcopi” (that is, in the person of the Bishop) and named Archbishop Prendergast also as Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall.

Appointed in 2007, Archbishop Prendergast has served the Archdiocese of Ottawa for the past 13 years. Prior to his appointment to Ottawa, he served as Archbishop of Halifax from 1998 to 2007 and as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Yarmouth from 2002 to 2007. He was ordained to the episcopate in April 1995 after being appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto where he served until 1998.

Bishop Damphousse has served the Diocese of Sault Ste-Marie since 2015 and previously served as Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall from 2012 to 2015, following his appointment and ordination to the episcopate in September 2012.

The newly created Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall has a combined total of 132 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 454,515 served by 144 diocesan priests, 105 priests who are members of institutes of consecrated life, 94 permanent deacons, as well as 12 Brothers and 467 Sisters who are members of institutes of consecrated life, in addition to 12 lay pastoral assistants.

Ottawa – Today, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed the Most Reverend Guy Desrochers, C.Ss.R., Bishop of the Diocese of Pembroke. At the time of his appointment, Bishop Desrochers was serving as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. Bishop Desrochers will assume the pastoral governance of the Diocese from the Most Reverend Michael Mulhall, who currently serves as its Apostolic Administrator as well as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kingston.

Bishop Desrochers was born in 1956 in the Hull sector of Gatineau, Québec. Upon completion of secondary school, he entered Algonquin College, Ottawa, to pursue studies in Fine Arts and Commercial Art which, in turn, led him to work as a graphic artist for seven years with the Ottawa French-language newspaper Le Droit. He later entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) to pursue his vocation and was ordained to the priesthood in 1989. Following his ordination, he worked on a special evangelization project in the Gaspé region of Québec. He went on to serve for several years as Rector of the former Redemptorist monastery in Aylmer-Gatineau, before being appointed to the Shrine of Saint Anne-de-Beaupré. After a brief period as superior of a retirement home for Redemptorists near Québec City, he returned to Saint Anne-de-Beaupré as director of the Annals of Saint Anne magazine, serving in that capacity for three years and, in July 2011, became Rector of the Basilica Shrine of Saint Anne-de-Beaupré. He devoted part of his time to preaching retreats all over North America and, in June 2015, returned to this ministry in a full-time capacity as well as serving as Director of Vocations for the Redemptorists. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall of Ottawa on 12 December 2018 and ordained Bishop at Alexandria on 22 February 2019. Bishop Desrochers has subsequently worked closely with the Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, S.J., the then Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and Archbishop of Ottawa, both of which were then united in persona episcopi.

The Diocese of Pembroke has 55 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 38,140 served by 41 diocesan priests, 26 priests who are members of institutes of consecrated life, 13 permanent deacons, as well as three Brothers and 91 Sisters who are members of institutes of consecrated life, in addition to one lay pastoral assistant.

Today, all Canadian Catholic faithful are invited to watch the live bilingual broadcast of the Consecration to Mary, Mother of the Church in time of pandemic.

Salt+Light Television will feature the broadcast from St. Mary’s Cathedral in Winnipeg beginning at 2 pm Central with the Most Rev. Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).

Viewers have three options to watch the broadcast:

• Salt+Light TV, available on most cable and satellite carriers across Canada (during the current crisis, some cable providers are temporarily offering Salt + Light TV as a free preview channel. Please check with your local provider for details).
• Online through the Salt+Light website (https://saltandlighttv.org/live)
• Livestream through the Salt+Light Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/saltandlighttv/)

Photo credit : « Magnificat » : Ref. : MA-41 © www.bradi-barth.org 

To assist dioceses and eparchies with preparations for the upcoming Consecration to Mary, Mother of the Church on Friday 1 May, 2020, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) prepared a ritual and a specific prayer to recite during the act of Consecration.

Along with Bishops across the country, pastors, families, groups, individuals and other faith communities may likewise choose to join the consecration as part of the global effort to unite in faith and prayer in this most difficult time.

• Ritual and Consecration Prayer

 Additional resources

• As part of the resources developed for the 2017 Marian consecration of Canada, the CCCB developed a document entitled Consecrating Canada to the Blessed Virgin Mary Insights for Adult Catechesis, providing helpful answers to gain a deeper spiritual understanding of the nature and significance of a Marian consecration.

• As we approach the Marian month and in order to express love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father recently published a letter addressed to all faithful for the month of May. In this encouraging letter, and in light of the restrictions in place as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis invites everyone to pray the Rosary at home and offers two prayers to be recited at its conclusion.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-04/letter-on-the-month-of-may-full-text.html

The Litany of Loreto may also be useful to accompany prayers to the Blessed Mother.

http://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/documents/litanie-lauretane_en.html

• Special interview on Salt+Light Media the Most Rev. Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg and CCCB President, and the Most Rev. José Gómez, Archbishop of Los Angeles and USCCB President

Photo credit : « Magnificat » : Ref. : MA-41 © www.bradi-barth.org