Catholic Mission In Canada

Upkeep costs rise like bread dough here in Faro, Yukon Territory.

I have just bought five cords of wood, at $160 per cord, for heating my half of the church building. The church portion is reserved for the services. That oil bill is sad. Add to that the journey to the diocesan office in Whitehorse and return which drinks up $100 in gasoline. I am very happy to have a room at the rectory in Whitehorse when a vacancy occurs.

The average number of parishioners each Sunday is a dozen. When someone moves away, I manage to get some of the new people so the average is stable.

This Sunday will be our first rehearsal for our travels around the parish as well as to learn a few new carols.

I managed to buy four books of old English carols, just superb. I even remember some from my choirboy days before we emigrated with the first four of our children to Canada.

When my wife died in 1998, after a brain tumour, the then-Bishop of Whitehorse, Oblate Bishop Thomas Lobsinger, invited me up to the Yukon. My wife and I were married for 49 years and had been good friends through our childhood—we were born in the road next to each other in a small town just out of London, England. Six of our children are in British Columbia and two in the United States. I have nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

My arrival and service in the Yukon have kept me sane and busy. It has helped me to continue working with people, instead of getting all sorry for myself!

My 23 years in banking in the United Kingdom and Canada and later as an accountant with my own practice have been a good part of the training for my parish work.

I hope to remain in Faro as long as I am able to.

(Ron Butler is pastoral administrator in Church of the Apostles mission in Faro, Diocese of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.)