Message from the Rector

To view the Message from the Rector on the Sacrament of Confession - please click here 

July 24, 2022

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday, July 24, Pope Francis is beginning his seven-day visit to Canada as a step of reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous Peoples. In his Angelus address last Sunday in Saint Peter’s Square, the Holy Father spoke of his trip as a “penitential pilgrimage.”  Let us join our hope to his that this visit will contribute to the healing and reconciliation of our Church with Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit.  Coverage of the visit will be provided by our national networks as well as by a number of religious channels.

Officially, my last day as Rector is Sunday, July 31. The new Associate Rector, Father Tadek Jordan, had arranged a month-long visit to Poland, during August, before being appointed to Saint Patrick’s.  Father Steve readily accepted my offer to remain for most of the month of August in order to assist him with ministry. As I am expected in two London parishes for the Labour Day weekend, I anticipate that my last day of ministry at Saint Patrick’s will be Monday, August 29.

As this will be my last Bulletin Message, I want to leave you with a few observations. Firstly, our parish reality is such that we can never forget the temporal requirements. The time of the pandemic has been a particularly challenging time pastorally and financially. Over the last two years and more, the greater part of the financial support of the parish has been from a core group of parishioners. To them, I offer my personal thanks for their faithful stewardship and generosity. The parish is in a sound financial position largely thanks to their support and to substantial bequests which we received from three parishioners: Yvonne Kharoubeh, Rita McMahon and Joy Marie King.  May God reward them for their generous remembrance of our parish.  We also need to remember that the federal wage subsidy program during the pandemic assisted us with ongoing operational expenses. I do not want to forget that some of our employees graciously accepted periods of layoff, which were thankfully brief but did impact their finances. The financial requirements of the parish are not only for the ongoing operations of a busy parish but also to maintain the physical plant of the parish, including the church and rectory. A church of the size, age and use of Saint Patrick’s will always need ongoing restoration projects.

With respect to pastoral priorities that should always be the focus of a parish community, I endorse the Archbishop’s plan for making of our archdiocese and parishes “a missionary church.” It will be necessary to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to see what direction that plan takes. At the parish level, there will be the need to renew our various parish services and ministries, and envision new ones. Please be open to a call to serve when the need is made known by Father Steve and those who will collaborate with him in ministry.

I want to add a final word with respect to the role of women in the life of the Church. I endorse Pope Francis’ desire, and the decisions that he has made, to appoint women to positions of leadership in the Roman Curia. I also support his changes to Canon Law which make it clear that all lay people, women and men, are eligible for the ministries of Lector (Reader) and Acolyte (Altar Server).  Having said the foregoing, I think that we need to remember that women have always assumed roles of leadership in the Catholic Church in Canada.  We are all called to the vocation to holiness which is part of our baptismal call. In Canada, the list of the Saints and Blesseds include as many women, if not more, as men. A recent significant event in the life of the Church in Canada was the canonization on the same day of St. François de Laval and St. Marie de l’Incarnation.  They are a reminder that men and women contributed to the building up of the Church in our country. This is a reality which has repeated itself in dioceses from coast to coast to coast. At the parish level, I want to note that lay women, as well as laymen, have participated in the parish leadership, not only as members of our two Councils but also in roles of coordination of our various ministries and services. There is, of course, the “thorny” issue of the participation of women in liturgical roles in our Parish. When considering this question, it is important to remember that, not many years ago, only priests were permitted to distribute Communion at Saint Patrick’s.  In previous Messages, I have commented on the “tradition” at Saint Patrick’s of limiting the role of altar servers (acolytes) to boys and men.  While there is merit in maintaining a tradition, we all need to be open to the possibility of change as the Holy Spirit leads us.

Please be assured of my constant prayers for God’s abundant blessings on all of you. I count on your prayers in the coming years.

Fr. Kevin