Bishop Mark Hagemoen and Bishop Gary Franken with team members: (back, left to right) Luc Montpetit, Ryan Mallett, Kieran Gillespie, Ronan Gillespie, Alex Pulvermacher, Max Connelly; (front, left to right): Jerome Montpetit, Raphael Pelletier, Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen, St. Paul Bishop Gary Franken. (Submitted photo)
The 2024 Great Canadian Death Race held Aug. 4-5, marks the fourth run that the Diocese of Saskatoon Catholic Foundation and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon have promoted in support of the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund, beginning with the “Beaver Flat 50” in 2021 and continuing with the Death Race in 2022 and again in 2023. Support Bishop Hagemoen’s fund-raising efforts for the Indigenous...
Pope Francis participates in the Lac Ste. Anne pilgrimage and Liturgy of the Word in Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, on July 26, 2022. On the second anniversary of the Pope’s visit to Canada, the Canadian bishops reprised their call for Catholics nationwide to engage in reconciliation efforts. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) President Bishop William McGrattan has reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples to mark the second anniversary of Pope Francis embarking upon his penitential pilgrimage to Canada. In a July 24 CCCB communique titled a “Letter to the People of God,” the bishops outlined the...
A child’s red dress hangs on a stake near the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School June 6, 2021. CNS photo: Jennifer Gauthier, Reuters
Catholic Register Editorial Canada’s Catholic bishops deserve full credit for sticking with their commitment to, as Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith has framed it, walk the whole long path of Indigenous reconciliation. They have, in their wisdom, clearly adopted the approach, individually or collectively, of refraining from being drawn into responding to every jump and shout...
The Archdiocese of Vancouver annual Healing and Reconciliation collection will “continue sowing seeds of understanding and hope, thereby creating a future where reconciliation flourishes and the wounds of the past are gently healed,” writes Archbishop J. Michael Miller in a Sept. 3 letter promoting the annual collection. (Nicholas Elbers photo)
One year after a papal visit described as “a significant step on the road to healing and reconciliation, the Archdiocese of Vancouver is preparing to take the next step toward reconciliation with the Sept. 10 Healing and Reconciliation collection. In a Sept. 3 letter promoting the annual collection, Archbishop J. Michael Miller wrote that donors’...
By Michael Swan Four letters and 26 promises from Canada’s bishops to Indigenous Canadians set an agenda for reconciliation that bishops like Calgary’s Bishop Bill McGrattan intend to act on before February turns into March. McGrattan has scheduled meetings with members of the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund committee in his diocese. The committee — there are...
By Michael Swan Canada’s Catholics are not done with reconciliation. Four pastoral letters from Canada’s bishops released today urge Indigenous and non-Indigenous Catholics to seek ways to journey together, build relationships, know and understand their history and end the two solitudes in the country and in the Church of Indigenous and settler societies. “We are called to...
