It appears you are trying to access this site using an outdated browser. As a result, parts of the site may not function properly for you. We recommend updating your browser to its most recent version at your earliest convenience.
PRIESTS AND PERMANENT DEACONS of our Diocese came together for our annual Advent gathering this week, which, I quipped, we now do once every three years! It was good to revive this custom after missing it in 2020 and 2021 on account of pandemic concerns. The celebration of Mass at our Cathedral was followed by a luncheon at Bishop Doyle Hall, where the mood was appreciative and festive. Sincere thanks to our Diocesan Pastoral Center and Cathedral Staff who managed the planning and setup and to the Knights of Columbus for their hospitality. And we were likewise blessed with the music ministry of Father Peter Lukow, who served as both organist and cantor at the Mass.
I ENJOYED AN IMPROMPTU VISIT TO ST. JOSEPH’S IN DOURO last Sunday. Father Randy Foster and I made that plan at the last minute as I was seeking a place to celebrate Mass on the First Sunday of Advent. It was great to be with parishioners I had not seen in a while, to listen to rather than preach a homily for once, and to see the largest Advent wreath I have ever seen! Thanks, Father Randy and parishioners, for your kind welcome.
FATHER ROY VILLAS has served in the Diocese of Peterborough since 2015, in Mactier, our Cathedral Parish and at St. Joseph’s in Bracebridge, both as associate and most recently as parish administrator. In November he formally withdrew as a priest of his home diocese in the Philippines and “incardinated” (a word that literally means “hinged”) as a priest of our diocese. It is a joy to welcome him to the ranks of diocesan clergy and I know that the parishioners of St. Joseph’s have greatly appreciated his priestly ministry. A week after his incardination I promoted him from parish administrator to pastor of that faith community.
OUR COUNCIL OF PRIESTS ELECTIONS were held virtually in the past week. Father Eric Mason, Father Sany Seshiah, Father Bill Moloney and Brother Stephen Van Massenhoeven OFM Cap will join the Council in the new year. Father Peter Seabrooke has been elected to another term and will return to the table. In the meantime, we say farewell and thank you to Father Dominik Mbah, Father Luis Lapinid and Father Neil Campbell who will be departing – Father Campbell having done stellar work as the Council chair these past couple of years.
THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES takes place each year on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Prayers will be offered in parishes that day for the ongoing journey of healing and reconciliation. I am looking forward to being at a presentation in Hamilton that day given by the Honourable Graydon Nicholas, the first Indigenous person to hold the office of Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. Sponsored by the Institute for Catholic Education, his talk is entitled, “Encounter of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas since 1492 in Historical Relationships with the Catholic Church.”
Fraternally, + Daniel
PAST ISSUES OF THE BISHOP'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, From the Vineyard
