(CCCB – Ottawa) – His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed Most Reverend Gary Gordon as Bishop of Whitehorse, Yukon. He had been the pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Chilliwack, in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The newly appointed bishop succeeds Most Reverend Denis Croteau, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.), who, while remaining Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, had accepted the role of Apostolic Administrator of Whitehorse in May 2003. The diocese had therefore been vacant since the accidental death of Most Reverend Thomas Lobsinger, O.M.I., in 2000.

Bishop-elect Gordon was born June 10, 1957 in Burnaby, British Columbia. He studied at the Seminary of Christ the King, Mission, B.C.; at St. Jerome College, University of Waterloo; and at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario. He was ordained into the priesthood on May 22, 1982 for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Prior to his appointment as Bishop, Father Gordon had served several parishes throughout British Columbia, including Vancouver, Chilliwack and Mission. Since 1994 he has served as the Pacific regional representative of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) with the Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy of the Correctional Service of Canada, and has also been the CCCB principal liaison and spokesperson on the Interfaith Committee since 2002.

The Diocese of Whitehorse consists of five diocesan priests, seven religious order priests, two permanent deacons, seven women religious and eight lay pastoral assistants which service a population of 8000 Catholics in 20 parishes and missions.

For More information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

On Sunday, 15 January 2006, the Catholic Church throughout the world will celebrate the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, a day intended to heighten pastoral concern for immigrants and refugees, whose numbers are continuously on the rise.

To help the Christian community reflect on migrant and refugee issues, and to highlight the celebrations that will take place on 15 January, the Episcopal Commission for Social Affairs of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will launch a pastoral letter early in the new year on immigration and the protection of refugees, entitled: “We are aliens and transients before the Lord our God.”

The pastoral letter outlines the current situation facing migrants and refugees throughout the world and in Canada. It also describes a number of the injustices confronting refugees and immigrants, including separation of families, human trafficking, and poverty. The pastoral letter reaffirms the stance of the bishops that the need for recourse to church sanctuary, as a last resort to avoid deportation, highlights significant flaws in the Canadian refugee system.

The Social Affairs Commission recalls that the Church must continue to raise its voice to defend the human dignity of migrants and displaced persons wherever they may be, and contribute to changing current policies which threaten their rights. The pastoral letter reminds all Christians of their duties and responsibilities toward migrants and refugees. Their presence “is a sign of the Risen Christ. When people of different origins are welcomed, God is revealed: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”

Dioceses, parishes and groups are invited to request copies of the pastoral letter (in English or in French) from the Office of Justice, Peace and Missions of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at:

Phone: (613) 241-9461, ext. 133; 
Fax: (613) 241-9048;
Email:mchabot@cccb.ca.

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

Archbishop Bertrand Blanchet

(CCCB – Ottawa)… Most Reverend Bertrand Blanchet, Archbishop of Rimouski, will represent the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) at a meeting convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to be held in conjunction with the 11th United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Montreal until 9 December.

A biologist by training and a member of the CCCB Episcopal Commission for Social Affairs, Archbishop Blanchet is ideally suited to represent the Canadian Episcopal Conference at this event.

Archbishop Blanchet will also participate in an “inter-religious celebration” being held 4 December at Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. This ceremony, on the theme Call of the Earth, is organized by the WCC and members of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities in the Montreal area in collaboration with Équiterre and Greenpeace.

The celebration seeks to demonstrate a renewed commitment to care for God’s creation in solidarity with victims of climate changes. It will include presentations by members of the various religious confessions, expressed through music, poetry, theatre, dance and giant screen projections. More than 1000 people are expected to attend the event.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has often voiced its concerns about environmental issues. Recently in a pastoral letter, its President, Most Reverend André Gaumond, joined other Canadian Christian leaders to protest the privatization of access to water and to call for action to ensure that water remains under public control. In October 2003, the CCCB Episcopal Commission for Social Affairs published a pastoral letter on ecology inspired by the Bible and social, theological, and sacramental traditions of the Church.

The WCC brings together more than 340 Churches, denominations and Church fellowships from over 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing some 400 million Christians and including most of the Orthodox Churches, many Churches of the Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed traditions, as well as many United and independent Churches and ecclesial communities.

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

(CCCB – Ottawa) The Christmas season is right around the corner with Advent commencing Sunday, 27 November. Over the years, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has prepared a variety of excellent resources to help families, communities and individuals fully live the Advent season in preparation for Christmas.

The CCCB offers several online resources prepared by the English sector Episcopal Commission for Liturgy, including Advent – Joy and Hope. This document is a valuable tool to help prepare for Christmas, clearly outlining what Advent is about and what individuals should do throughout the season to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Another resource, Celebrating Christmas, highlights the history and explains the rituals of the celebration of the Christmas Mass. Finally, Music for the Sunday Assembly – Year B offers wonderful song selections from Catholic Book of Worship III, the official English-language hymnal of the Church in Canada, to help celebrate Christmas liturgies.

The CCCB Publications Service has a variety of resources that can also make cherished Christmas gifts. Blessings and Prayers for Home and Family, published in 2004, contains 384 pages of traditional and contemporary prayers as well as rituals for special occasions and everyday activities. It can be used to mark family milestones, such as weddings or the birth or adoption of a child, the celebration of important family occasions, including birthdays and anniversaries, and for offering solace in times of sorrow. The book also features a special section of Advent and Christmas blessings.

For the holiday season, CCCB Publications also offers several useful sourcebooks, including Catholic Planning Calendar 2006, Year of Grace 2006 Calendar, Liturgy and Appointment Calendar 2006, as well as the Sourcebook for Sundays and Seasons 2006.

My First Bible, an ideal Christmas gift for any family with young children, is a compilation of Bible stories with beautiful illustrations. Build Your Own Bethlehem: A Nativity Scene and Activity Book for Christmastime is an interactive book with colourful pop-out characters for children to create their own Nativity scene.

A catalogue featuring the complete collection of catechetical, liturgical and pastoral resources from CCCB Publications is available by calling 1-800-769-1147 (Canada and United States); by fax at 1-613-241-5090; by e-mail at publi@cccb.ca or online at http://www.cccbpublications.ca.

Related Links: 

• ADVENT: Joy and Hope
• Celebrating Christmas
• Music for the Sunday Assembly – Year B
• CCCB Publications
• Liturgy Training Publications

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

This document is only available in French.

Archbishop André Gaumond

(CCCB-Ottawa)   A delegation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will be in Rome 22 November to 2 December for meetings with officials from the Holy See which are held annually.

The group is composed of CCCB President Archbishop André Gaumond of Sherbrooke, Vice President Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, and General Secretary Msgr. Mario Paquette, P.H.

While in Rome, they will meet with various officials from the Curia, including the Secretariat of State, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Congregation for Catholic Education, Congregation for the Clergy and Congregation for Oriental Churches. The visit is expected to include an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

These meetings permit open exchanges on a regular basis between the Canadian Episcopal Conference and the Roman Curia regarding common projects, preoccupations and challenges for the Catholic Church both in Canada and around the world.

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

(CCCB – Ottawa)… Representatives from the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) met 16 November to reaffirm the Judeo-Christian dialogue and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Nostra Aetate, the declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the Church and non-Christian religions.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of Montréal, used the occasion to renew ties with Dr. Victor Goldbloom, Chair of the National Executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

A reception was held at the episcopal conference’s headquarters in Ottawa with 19 bishops from the CCCB Permanent Council and the CCCB Commission for Christian Unity, Relations with the Jews, and Interfaith Dialogue, and a number of members of the Canadian Jewish Community, including rabbis. Similar celebrations have recently taken place in Montreal and Toronto.

The declaration Nostra Aetate, published in 1965, marks the official recognition by the Catholic Church of the value of non-Christian religions, which “rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions.” The document makes reference to Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as particular references to Judaism and also denounces all forms of anti-Semitism.

Nostra Aetate, one of 16 texts adopted by the Council, aimed at bringing Catholics and Jews closer. “Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues.”

Related Link:

• Text of the declaration Nostra Aetate

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

 
This document is only available in French.

(CCCB – Ottawa)… Following a request to the Holy See by Most Reverend Roger Ébacher, Archbishop of Gatineau-Hull, the Congregation for Bishops has decreed that the Archdiocese of Gatineau-Hull will now be known as the Archdiocese of Gatineau.

News of the name change was announced to the public today by diocesan authorities in a news conference. The request was made in 2005, three years after the amalgamation of the municipalities of Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer, Buckingham and Masson-Angers into one city, now named Gatineau.

Most Reverend Ébacher also announced that the archdiocese has chosen Saint Joseph Church, located in the sector of Hull, as its cathedral. Previously, Saint Joseph’s was the co-cathedral and Saint Jean Marie Vianney, in the sector of Gatineau, was the official cathedral.

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca

(CCCB-Ottawa) The CCCB 2003-2005 Activities Report reviews the main activities and principal projects of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), its Executive Committee, Permanent Council, episcopal commissions, other offices, and the National Appeal Tribunal.

The report covers the two-year period of the presidency of Archbishop Brendan M. O'Brien, of St. John's, whose mandate ended in September 2005.

You may consult or download the 2003-2005 Activities Report (in pdf format) by clicking here.

For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca