Catholic Mission In Canada

Bishop Gary Gordon of the Diocese of Whitehorse always makes sure two items safely stowed in his truck before setting out from his home base in Whitehorse for missions scattered across his diocese: a down sleeping bag and five extra gallons of gas.

Those precautions come in handy. He remembers driving from Whitehorse to Dawson City one Saturday in January when, with temperatures dipping to –40 C, he stopped in Pelly Crossing on the Klondike Highway—about 282 km north of Whitehorse and with about 254 km still to go to Dawson City.

Smoke was streaming from the engine; in fact, “everything was blue with smoke,” he remembers. Opening the hood, he saw that oil had spilled over the interior of the engine after a bolt had popped off one of the manifold covers. Thankfully, a mechanic was on duty, who suggested that the bishop stop thinking about driving on to Dawson City that day and instead make his way back to Whitehorse—slowly, and with a couple of extra litres of oil.

“So, I made a 570 km drive just to see the scenery,” he says with a laugh.

As Bishop of Whitehorse since March 22, 2006, the 51-year-old Bishop Gordon not only knows the roads of his diocese, but also the locations and hours of its gas stations. “As you travel around, you get to know when and where and which stations are open,” he chuckles.

That’s valuable information to know in a diocese that spans northern British Columbia and the Yukon, and covers an area of 723,515 sq km or 279,457 miles! While getting around is demanding, it’s also a joy. “I love travelling around the diocese,” the bishop and avid sportsman enthuses. “It’s absolutely gorgeous. For four to five months of the year, travelling is spectacular. It’s never dark and our roads are good. I live in heaven!”

Along with the six mission priests of the diocese, Bishop Gordon is on the road travelling to missions all the time. In December 2008 alone, for example, he drove about 3,000 km to visit communities in Dawson City, Mayo, Teslin, Atlin, Beaver Creek and Burwash.

“Everyone does what they can, and we do what we can by staying on the move,” he says. “If you stay on the move, it’s kind of apostolic. We’re always touching down and being present to communities, encouraging, supporting and helping them keep their missions going.”

Meeting the spiritual needs of the diocese’s far-flung missions is a challenge. “It’s difficult to cover all the bases and travel is wearing on the vehicles, but that’s just the way it is,” says Bishop Gordon. “That one of our needs,” he continues. “People to courageously come forth and deal with –35 C temperatures in the wintertime!”

On any given Sunday, Bishop Gordon says that two-thirds of the communities in the diocese do not have Mass or regular sacramental presence. In addition to the six priests, four Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame and one lay couple serve in missions throughout the diocese. Missions without a priest may have a Sunday service consisting of a Liturgy of the Word, or Liturgy of the Word with Communion.

“If people are going to have the sacraments, I need more priests,” Bishop Gordon says. The belief throughout the North, he explains, had always been that missionaries would always come forth. But with the decline in vocations to the Oblate and Mary Immaculate orders and the aging of today’s missionaries, that’s no longer the case.

Bishop Gordon is frequently asked by priestless communities, “Are we getting a priest? Is a priest coming?” His response often offers a gentle challenge. “Well yes,” he says, “If you bring me a young man who can be your priest, in eight years you’ll get one.”

But with only 7,500 Catholics in the diocese, he acknowledges that meeting the need for priestly vocations from within may be unrealistic. “That’s why I think we’re always going to need local formation of lay people, as well as people coming in from outside,” he says.

A new wave of missionaries is needed in the North, he stresses. “There’s a need for another wave of missionaries who are going to have to be very intentional about giving self-sufficiency to the local community.”

He’s encouraged by the trend towards re-engagement with our First Nations. “There seems to be a resurgence similar to what Grand Chief Phil Fontaine said to the Assembly of Bishops last October,” the bishop says. “We need to deal with the past, but we need to re-build bridges that were so vital, long-lasting and beneficial to both our communities. I see that happening in small but significant ways.”

One of the challenges, he explains is that just as “our First Nations want to re-engage with the life of Christ and life of the Church and to move forward, our missionary presence is going down.”

Bishop Gordon describes the Whitehorse diocese as a small Christian community. “That to me is one of the joys,” he says. “Our small, very little missions are profoundly blessed like Nazareth.” He remembers driving to Whitehorse on Christmas Day after celebrating Christmas Midnight Mass with “six good souls” in Beaver Creek. “I have a life that’s incredibly blessed,” he reflects. “How many bishops get to live in Bethlehem and Nazareth all the time?”

Keeping church buildings throughout the diocese is an ongoing concern—particularly in communities without a missionary. “Maintenance is totally tied to missionary presence,” he says. “When you don’t have missionaries living in a place, things break down and don’t get fixed, especially in winter.”