Catholic Mission In Canada

One of the wonderful parts of this job as president of Catholic Missions In Canada involves the trips I must make periodically to visit the missionaries and their communities across the country. 

By now, I have been at places in the eight provinces where we assist mission dioceses, and one of the three territories (Yukon). I always encounter surprises and delightful discoveries when I arrive at a new location, and see the local church through the eyes of the missionary and the lay people who have a vested interest in their own place in God’s creation.

This past Christmas was a typical example. Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie, O.M.I., invited me many months ago to spend the Christmas season in his diocese of Keewatin-Le Pas. Much later, he told me it would be helpful if I went to Pelican Narrows, Saskatchewan, where the pastor there would be able to go to his other big mission of Sandy Bay while I celebrated all the Masses at the growing site of the main church.

So the week before Christmas found me flying Air Canada to Winnipeg, and then transferring to another airline to reach Flin Flon, Manitoba, where I was able to get a vehicle to drive westward across the boundary into Saskatchewan, and then on a couple of hours through a light snow to Pelican Narrows. I felt a bit like Santa Claus, because on my arrival I unloaded cartons containing a brand-new chalice and paten from the Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Assembly in Hamilton, a new gold ciborium from my own Council of Knights in Toronto, a great assortment of knitted goods from the Catholic Women’s League in London, and various donated altar linens and prayer books that the mission could use.

 The next day was Christmas Eve, and the priest left early to go to Sandy Bay, while I began a day of confessions, welcoming adults from all over the large reserve to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The people came to the priest’s house, and their confessions continued with hardly a break until the evening, when the first Mass was to start with an outside temperature of minus 20°.

The church of St. Gertrude holds about 250 people, large for the average reserve, but there were easily 350 present for each of the Masses. All the hymns are sung in Cree, and they sing everything they can, including the Psalm and Lord’s Prayer. Someone handed me a book and they announced the song numbers aloud (completely for my sake), and there was great joy and vocal enthusiasm on the part of the assembled First Nations congregation, comprised of all ages, from infants to octogenarians!

The priest in charge of the two Missions is Oblate Father Susai Jesu, originally from Sri Lanka, and now a member of the Canadian Oblate Province in the West.

He has committed himself to the service of God with the First Nations of the area, has learned the Cree language, and relates well to the people of all generations. He is well aware of the difficulties of the people stemming from alcohol and drug misuse, and troubles within families. He is a qualified family counsellor, and helps those in situations of severe stress to find help where it can be found. In turn, the people have responded warmly to his presence among them and to his counsel.

Fr. Susai has discussed with the parishioners the needs of his parish in Pelican Narrows for the future, and they have determined that the community really needs a new and larger church, with a hall for a gathering space and more efficient materials than in the present structure. They are soon to broach the topic with their archbishop.

Going up to Sandy Bay after Christmas, where Fr. Susai had spent the feast, I had the opportunity to see another First Nations parish, at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Church. My visit there coincided with a potluck supper for the Holy Family Feast. There I found another enthusiastic and close-knit community, proud to tell me about their church and the renovations they had recently made with the help of Catholic Missions In Canada.

By the time I departed on a flight from Flin Flon to return home, I had come to know many of the people of the two communities, and seen in what ways they had used the funds that CMIC had allocated to them. But especially I was informed of the present efforts being made to build a strong Catholic community in each parish, and became aware of some of their needs for the future.

So if every every Christmas and Holy Week and Easter finds me far away, it means that my education in the missions is continuing, and my efforts to understand and help out the many mission communities of this country are increasing by an on-the-job presence wherever it can be arranged that I go travelling.