Closing of CCCB 2012 Plenary Assembly

Friday, September 28 2012

(CCCB – Ottawa)… The Catholic Bishops of Canada were in Plenary Assembly this week, since 24 September, at the Hotel Mont-Gabriel, Sainte-Adèle, Quebec. This morning, they welcomed the Honourable Jason Kenney, federal Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. Minister Kenney responded to questions from the Bishops on immigration as well as to their concerns about refugees. The meeting of the Plenary Assembly closed at noon today.

Yesterday, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed His Eminence Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, Archbishop Emeritus of Montreal. The evening included a special reception honouring Canada’s two resident Cardinals, Cardinal Turcotte and His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto. Cardinal Collins was elevated to the College of Cardinals during the Consistory held in Vatican City on 18 February 2012.

In March 2012, the Holy Father accepted Cardinal Turcotte’s resignation as Archbishop of Montreal. He had offered his resignation after attaining the age of 75 in 2011. Cardinal Turcotte was responsible for the Archdiocese of Montreal for 22 years. Throughout these years, he was also an ex officio member of the CCCB Permanent Council, and served as President of the Conference from 1997 to 1999. As a member of the College of Cardinals, he has held appointments to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Live Broadcasting by Salt + Light Television

For the second time in the history of the CCCB, the Catholic television network Salt + Light TV broadcast live a number of the Plenary events, both on the Internet as well as on television. Broadcasting statistics show 3,000 web visitors daily watched the live-streaming and repeats for an average of six minutes each. There was a total of 8,634 downloads of various segments that Salt + Light aired. These Plenary broadcasts can still be watched by accessing the CCCB Website www.cccb.ca or on Salt + Light video library at http://saltandlighttv.org/.

In addition to the Salt + Light broadcasts from the Plenary, all CCCB texts published to date on the Plenary – including the President’s report and the news releases – are available on the CCCB website.