EPARCHIAL NEWSLETTER Oct 2015

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• At the urgent request of Pope Francis, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has joined a global emergency effort aimed at involving the Church in Canada in assisting Syrian refugees seeking shelter and protection in the Middle East and parts of Europe.

  Thousands of Syria’s displaced families are now packed into overcrowded church buildings, tiny schools, crumbling houses and leaky tents. Thousands more have left Syria in search of safety and a better way of life.  With the freezing temperatures of winter fast approaching, many might not survive until spring.

        Our mission as Church is to provide assistance for families and others inside and outside Syria. Our goal is to keep these families warm, and keep them alive.  But we must do it before the temperature falls and snow arrives. Before it’s too late. It’s why our Holy Father need all the support you can provide.       The world these families knew is gone forever. But your gift of $108 or more can help one family stay warm until spring.

         All parishes throughout the Eparchy of Edmonton are invited to take up a collection for the Syria Emergency Relief Fund.  The Federal Government will double donations made before December 2015 up to $100 million.

         Parishes can send their collections directly to Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA Canada) at 1247 Kilborn Place, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 6K9. Make cheques payable to “CNEWA Canada”.

         For more information, see attached brochure on a “Snapshot on Syria,” visit CNEWA Canada at cnewa.ca or call toll-free 1-866-322-4441.

         Please be as generous as you can!

         Thank you!    And God bless!
         Bishop David

• During the month of September, the Eparchy of Edmonton conducts its annual Vocations and Seminary Collection.

  “It takes a whole village to raise a child.”  It likewise takes the support of the whole Church to form a deacon, priest, religious, monastic and lay member for ministry in the Church. It also takes our support to offer on-going education and formation for those already in sacred orders or involved in lay ministry.

  The faithful can acknowledge the role they play in nurturing vocations by offering their financial support to help defray such expenses as formation programs, retreats, conferences, seminars, tuition, books, and room and board.

  The collection supports Holy Spirit Seminary, Ottawa; the Basilian House of Studies, Edmonton; the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate Novitiate, Winnipeg; Clergy Study Days; and the Eparchial Diaconal and Lay Ministry Formation Programs;

  The collection also assists the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Ottawa, which serves the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada by providing academic and spiritual formation for our future Church leaders.

         Studying at Holy Spirit Seminary this year are:  Deacon Mike Bombak (Pastoral Internship, Saint Josaphat Cathedral), Reader Cyril Kennedy (Doctoral Studies in Sacred Scripture, Catholic University, Washington, DC), and Deacon Andrij Nykyforuk (Final Year Theology).

         The suggested donation amount is $20.00 per family.

         Thank you for your generosity!   May God bless you and your families!

• 2015 Presbyteral Council meetings – October 5 (2:00-5:00 pm, Chancery Office).
• 2015 Clergy Conferences – October 9 (10:00 am – 4:00 pm).
• 2015 Annual Clergy Study Days – October 5-7 (Providence Centre, Edmonton) with Dr. Bob McKeon (emeritus professor of Newman Theological College) on the new encyclical of Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home.”
• The 37^th Eparchial Convention will take place October 16-18 at the Chateau Louis Hotel and Conference Centre, Edmonton. The Convention brings together delegates and guests from our eparchial lay organizations:  Ukrainian Catholic Youth of Canada, Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League, Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood of Canada, and the Knights of Columbus.

  The theme of this year’s convention, “Family and Faith Today” flows from the Eparchy of Edmonton’s 25 Year Pastoral Plan, Evangelization:  A New Springtime. Our Pastoral Plan challenges each of us to deepen our personal relationship with Christ and to grow in the life of God, in faith, and in spiritual understanding.      The Convention theme also coincides with the World Meeting of Families and Papal Visit (September 22-27, Philadelphia), followed by the Papal Synod of Bishop on the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World (October 4-25, Rome).Convention Keynote speakers are Rev. Julian Bilyj and Bernadette and Dale Mandrusiak.

  For more information, registration and banquet tickets, contact your parish priest or a UCWLC, UCYC, UCBC, and K of C member.

• The 89th World Mission Day will be held on Sunday, October 18. This year the Day will take place in the context of the Year of Consecrated Life and will therefore highlight the bond between faith and mission.
• Bishop David’s annual Name Day Celebration Tea will take place Sunday, November 1, beginning at 2:00 pm, at Saint Josaphat Cathedral Hall (Verkhovyna).  This year’s celebration is hosted by Saint Volodymyr Parish, Edmonton.The theme of this year’s Name’s Day Tea is Year of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky with guest speaker Very Rev. Stephen Wojcichowsky, Chancellor and Vicar General, and former Director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute, Ottawa.2015 marks the 150^th anniversary of his birth (July 29, 1865), and November 1 is the anniversary of his death (1944).

• The 24^th World Day of the Sick will be celebrated on February 11, 2016.  Pope Francis’ message for the occasion, “Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary: Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5).”

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Pope’s letter on the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: The Holy Father has sent a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, regarding the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, in which he reaffirms his hope that the jubilee indulgence will lead every person to a “genuine experience of God’s mercy” and explains that it can also be obtained by incarcerated persons.In addition, the pope grants to all priests, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the faculty to absolve from sin those who have resorted to abortion, repenting and asking forgiveness with a sincere heart, and establishes that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach the priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins.
  
• The Pontifical Council for the Laity published the Message of the Holy Father for the 30th World Youth Day, to be celebrated in Krakow, Poland from July 25-31, 2016, on the theme of “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7).
  
• The Pontifical Council for Social Communications announced the theme for the 2016 World Communications Day, Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter.The day is celebrated each year on the Sunday before Pentecost, which next year is on 8 May.World Communications Day was established by Paul VI after the Second Vatican Council in order to draw attention to the “the vast and complex phenomenon of the modem means of social communication.”

  This year’s theme was decided in order to coincide with the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the Holy Year called by Pope Francis to announce the Mercy of God.

• The Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has published a new resource entitled “A Church Seeking Justice: The Challenge of Pope Francis to the Church in Canada.”

  Since his election as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis “has brought an immediacy and specificity to Catholic social teaching that has made it a strong mark of his pontificate thus far,” states the Episcopal Commission in its text which was released today. Dealing broadly with the themes of Human Dignity and Labour, War and Peace, and the Economics of Exclusion and Isolation, this document outlines the freshness and urgency with which Pope Francis is calling us to act for justice and offers reflection questions tailored to our Canadian context.

  Throughout the document, in text boxes, the Bishops of the Episcopal Commission “have sought to make connections between the Holy Father’s teaching and some of the justice issues needing to be addressed in our own cities and nation.” Although not exhaustive, the issues raised concern the disappearance of indigenous women, euthanasia, the welcoming of refugees, temporary foreign workers, income disparity, unemployment among Aboriginal youth and youth in general, the arms trade, peacekeeping, Canadian mining companies abroad, international assistance, poverty, the environment (the text was completed before the release of Laudato Si’), and the concept of the common good.      The Bishops invite readers to “llisten to the challenging voice of Pope Francis, and to make connections between that teaching and the world around you in the particulars of your lives, your places of work, your parishes and communities, with eyes especially attentive to those in greatest need.”

        For Pope Francis, “the Church’s social teaching – about those in poverty or afflicted by other forms of suffering, about economic injustice, and about war and peace – [rises] directly out of the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus Christ. He consistently and strongly sets his reflections on justice and mercy within a framework of faithfulness to Christ.” The Commission document also highlights how the Holy Father knows how to give a face to the poor by his gestures and his pastoral visits. “By pointing to real people and specific situations, Pope Francis highlights the urgency of the present moment, and invites an energetic and emotional response to counter the ‘globalization of indifference’ which has developed.”

        The document is available on the CCCB Website and from CCCB Publications. Copies can be ordered by phone at 1-800-769-1147, by email at publi [at] cccb [dot] ca or online at www.cccbpublications.ca.

• Bishop Douglas Crosby, President, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, signed a joint statement together with other faith leaders in Canada, entitled “On Promoting Climate Justice and Ending Poverty in Canada.” The preparation of the statement was organized by the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC). Most of the signatories are leaders of other Christian Churches or ecclesial communities, although there are also a few signatures of representatives of other faiths.

© 2015 Eparchy of Edmonton
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Source: Edmonton Eparchy