Parishioners pray before the pilgrim Our Lady of Fatima statue at St. James Church in Abbotsford. The World Apostolate of Fatima wants to revive devotion to Our Lady of Fatima in Canada. (Paul Schratz photo)
For Ethelyn David, Catholic event organizing seems to be second nature. From Marian conferences to parish missions, she has been promoting and coordinating celebrations of faith and devotion across the Archdiocese of Vancouver through her Mediatrix Conferences organization. But she hadn’t intended to be front and centre in Our Lady of Fatima’s visit to Vancouver....
Decorating or “writing” Easter Pysanky eggs can be a metaphor for the Resurrection. Just as Christ’s body was made bloody and scarred before its renewal on Easter Sunday, so too is the egg made ugly before its beauty can be unveiled with a candle flame. (Nicholas Elbers photos)
For decades, the Madonna House Apostolate has been practising the Ukrainian tradition of pysanky, the “writing,” or dying of ornate eggs. Now the tradition has taken on new significance by helping to create a sense of solidarity with people in Ukraine, says Madonna House community member Emmanuella Kim. The centuries-old Ukrainian practice of pysanky is...
A First Nations choir sings at Mass to mark the Easter Sunday signing of a Sacred Covenant between the Kamloops First Nation, the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and the Diocese of Kamloops. There appear to be no plans for other Canadian bishops to immediately follow suit. (Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc photo)
By Anna Farrow Montreal Correspondent Though Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller called the Easter accord between the Kamloops First Nation and two British Columbia Catholic dioceses a significant and historic “milestone,” there appear to be no plans for other Canadian bishops to immediately follow suit. Andrew Ehrkamp, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Edmonton, noted...
Former Kamloops Chief Manny Jules presents Archbishop Miller with a stole marked with symbols Tk’emlúps historical events. On Easter Sunday, Archbishop Miller and Kamloops Bishop Joseph Nguyen signed a Sacred Covenant with the Kamloops First Nation to forge a new relationship between the Church and Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. (Matthew Furtado/Archdiocese of Vancouver)
The journey to the Easter Sunday signing in Kamloops of a sacred covenant between the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops First Nation) and Catholic bishops from Vancouver and Kamloops took several years, and it was the efforts of two men that began the process, say Kamloops Chief Rosanne Casimir and Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller. Both...
A message to Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller conveys greetings and a blessing for participants of the reconciliation event in Kamloops on Easter Sunday. (Archdiocese of Vancouver)
Pope Francis has sent prayers and greetings to the Kamloops First Nation, the Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Diocese of Kamloops to mark the signing of their Sacred Covenant on Easter Sunday. In a message to Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said, “His Holiness Pope Francis sends...
Undated photo of Father Jean-Marie-Raphael Le Jeune’s grave at the Oblate Cemetery in Mission. The Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Kamloops Indian band discovered a mutual respect for Father Le Jeune, which will be acknowledged on Easter Sunday at a reconciliation event in Kamloops. (B.C. Catholic Archives)
Almost three years ago, reports of underground anomalies near a former Kamloops residential school caused a firestorm of media mistruths about mass graves, which became a focus of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022. Now, the Church and the Kamloops First Nation are about to acknowledge historical and recent painful experiences and continue “walking...
Rabbi Jonathan Infeld and Archbishop J. Michael Miller shake hands at a recent talk by the rabbi to Archdiocese of Vancouver employees. The rabbi expressed appreciation to the Archdiocese and Vancouver Police for their support of the Jewish community. (Arleen D Souza photos)
Anti-Semitic rhetoric has become so intense amid pro-Palestinian sentiment in Canada that a Vancouver rabbi is more concerned about the safety of his oldest son, currently on a Montreal university campus working to stop anti-Semitism, than about his middle child, who is currently living in Israel. Speaking to Archdiocese of Vancouver employees at the John...
Protesters in Toronto after reports of unmarked graves found at the former Kamloops Residential School in 2021. The new book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools), examines the truth behind the assumptions that followed. (Michael Swan/The Catholic Register)
Media buy-in drove graves’ social panic BY ANNA FARROW Montreal Correspondent In the newly published Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools), C.P Champion and Tom Flanagan have assembled 18 essays that delve into the truth behind the widely adopted assumptions that followed the so-called May 2021 “discovery” of...
Twenty years after Philomena Fraser collected residential school stories for Amongst God’s Own, the Enduring Legacy of St. Mary’s Mission, she was able to revisit her work and find additional stories for the book’s republishing as St. Mary’s: The Legacy of an Indian Residential School. (St. Mary’s: The Legacy of an Indian Residential School.)
“People had never divulged what happened to them” at St. Mary’s Indian Residential School, chronicler Philomena Fraser says in an interview with The B.C. Catholic. “They had kept it secret, and I learned a lot.” Twenty years after collecting stories for a history of the Mission residential school entitled Amongst God’s Own, the Enduring Legacy of...
In the story of residential schools, “Catholics are victims too,” says author Terry Glavin. “The people who suffered in residential schools were Catholics.” Glavin spoke those words during an interview about the republishing of his 2002 book St. Mary’s: The Legacy of an Indian Residential School, which recounts the history of the former St. Mary’s Residential School...
