Parish Mission

The evangelization and pastoral animation project for your region has been in my hands for some time. It has been studied by the Conseil épiscopal de direction de la pastorale. I take pleasure today in thanking everyone who has collaborated in its development and in conveying to you the observations of the CEDP concerning a fruitful implementation.

It was not easy to respond to my request to prepare an evangelization project for the entire region that took into account the projects of each parish and the major pastoral orientations of our diocesan Church. You have gladly taken up the challenge, and I congratulate you.

As a framework for your project you have decided to adopt the five themes that I had developed at a pastoral workshop: evangelization, youth, social justice, vocations and spirituality. And to each of these themes you have applied the three moments of evangelization: the awakening to the faith, catechesis, the pastoral mission. This method of procedure allows you to consider what has already been put forward in each parish while providing a more solid theological and pastoral foundation.

For each of the themes proposed you state what is being accomplished in the region as a whole. There remains the question of knowing how this project may be implemented and what priorities you are going to give yourselves from year to year. To become operational, your project does in fact assume that you would ask yourselves what can be done better and more extensively on each of the points raised. This is certainly an enormous program and you cannot develop all the elements of the project in a single year. While continuing what you have accomplished, you will therefore have to choose your priorities and develop one aspect or another of your evangelization project progressively, both as a region and as parishes.

One question not directly addressed in this project is that of the structures best suited for putting the project into effect. In recent years several meetings of pastoral staff have dealt with this subject; a number of scenarios have been envisaged. Is it necessary to think about reorganizing the region as a single parish? Could we consider the parishes as a pastoral unit, or cluster? Should we combine parishes, into two or three clusters for example?

I have stated on several occasions my intention of maintaining the parishes of the region as long as they are viable. I understand that the situation of the Anglophone parishes is different from that of the francophone parishes. They are less populous and they extend in most cases over a larger territory. The lay pastoral staff is smaller while the priestly staff is proportionately similar to that of the francophone region but slightly younger. In fact, two parishes have been closed in recent years: Our Lady Queen of the World and Saint Monica’s. Saint Thomas More Parish will be closed at the end of the current pastoral year. One parish, however, has been erected: Saint Raymond’s.

All our assumptions must take into consideration the special character of the Saint Francis Xavier Mission which, while necessarily sharing the evangelization project of the region, is called to serve a particular community and has a role to play as the sanctuary of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

It is not my intention to impose any form of reorganization (cluster, consolidation or another). A consensus must be reached among the parishes so that we might define the connections that unite and those that distinguish the parishes of the region.

You have experienced for 18 months something that approximates a pastoral unit or cluster. There has not really been a priest-moderator but a regional animator, each parish having a priest-moderator or an administrator. If this formulation were accepted, this would mean that there would be one pastor or one priest-moderator for the entire region, that the parishes would preserve their juridical identity as parishes, and that the other priests would act as vicars. In this hypothesis, one person would act as co-ordinator of parochial activities for the parishes collectively and individually. We were going through a transition period, now we have to decide.

This is why I have asked that a regional colloquium be held whose main purpose will be to present the evangelization project so that all the people of the parishes can adopt it as their own.

The second objective of this colloquium will be to determine what kind of regional and parish structure will suit parishioners best, taking our resources, the canonical norms and the regional evangelization project into consideration.

A committee will organize this colloquium and offer various propositions. The committee will submit these propositions to the parishes for consideration before the colloquium, in order that participants will have a chance to reflect and prepare constructive contributions for the colloquium.

I shall conclude this letter by reminding you that the mission of the Church comes first. This mission is Evangelization: the proclamation of the Gospel and living by the Gospel, in the Church. The final element of your evangelization project seeks spirituality. And spirituality is living in the Church according to the Spirit. May the Spirit of Jesus and of the Father guide you so that we work in communion and that our condition be one of service to the world. The harvest is abundant. It is urgent that we get back to the harvest after we have taken enough time to agree on how to do it!

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE . . .

ANGLOPHONE REGION COLLOQUIUM

The Colloquium for the Anglophone Region, previously scheduled for Saturday, April 12^th has been postponed to Saturday, October 25^th from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It will be held at St. Raymond’s Parish, 135 Haendel in Candiac, (Romeo-V.-Patenaude Complex). A copy of ‘The Evangelization Project for the Anglophone Region’ is available at all of the parishes, with the priests, pastoral agents and chairpersons of the fabriques.