Catholic Mission In Canada

Three outstanding missionaries received Catholic Missions In Canada’s St. Joseph’s Award in 2011. The recipients are: Sisters of Sainte-Chrétienne Bernadette Gautreau and Jeannette Berger, from the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan, Northern Alberta; and Oblate Father Joseph Baril from the Diocese of Amos, Quebec.

SISTER BERNADETTE GAUTREAU, S.S.CH.

As a postulant, Sister Bernadette Gautreau, S.S.Ch., dreamed of becoming a missionary. In 1962, although not professed and with little teacher training, she was asked to teach at Fox Lake mission in Northern Alberta.

Her first teaching assignment in 1962 was to 23 children in Grades 1 and 2. In 1965, she moved to John D’Or Prairie Reserve first as a teacher, and later, as pastoral minister.

Since 1982, Sister Bernadette has stewarded the enculturation of native traditions— religious beliefs, rites and rituals—in worship at St. Joseph parish, the “tepee church” which was built under her leadership.

SISTER JEANNETTE BERGER, S.S.CH.

Sister Jeannette Berger, S.S.Ch., came to Peace River, one of two teaching Sisters who made the arduous trip to Northern Alberta in 1957.

From 1960 to 1972, Sister Jeannette taught in Fox Lake, and in 1973, transferred to the Little Red River Cree reserve of John D'Or Prairie. In 1986, she joined fellow Sister Bernadette Gautreau in pastoral ministry. She has served in St. Joseph's parish through the Sacramental preparations for Reconciliation and Eucharist, bringing Holy Communion to the elderly, ill and shut-ins, and providing compassionate counsel and advice to parishioners.

FATHER JOSEPH BARIL, O.M.I.

Oblate Father Joseph Baril has been a missionary for more than 57 years.

In his 2004 autobiography, My Aurora Borealis: A Travelling Missionary for a Church built of Living Stones, Father Joe recounted how his youthful yearning to serve the Lord led him to joining the missionary order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Father Joe began his Northern missionary work in 1952: first, living among the Cree of James Bay of Northern Ontario, and within the next 25 years, among the Inuit of Northern Quebec.

Since 1976, he has served as a travelling priest to isolated villages, a ministry he still does to the present, although he “officially” retired in 2009.