Come Holy Spirit

Pentecost. 50 Days after Easter we celebrate the Birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary and the Apostles, gathered in prayer. As our Archbishop reminded us via his email to all clergy this weekend, he says “in order to be faithful to the
mission entrusted to us, all the baptized are called to be conformed to Christ. This is only
possible through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us.” Come Holy Spirit!

His Grace, Archbishop Marcel Damphousse continues in his email: “Let us implore the Holy Spirit, the breath of Life: Come Spirit of God, come and dwell in our hearts. Heal us, strengthen us, transform us. Help us become the missionary Church that You desire, so that Your Kingdom may come among us.”

How do we do this? During the Easter Season, the season of joy, I had big plans, a Preaching Series, discussing all our Gifts, Talents, and Treasures. This weekend was to be the summit, and the goal was to thank all our volunteers officially, all our parishioners who continue to give of their time and talents to the mission of the Church, and to the beauty of our celebrations. Thank you to all you do! Due to restrictions I plan to reschedule this to October, around Thanksgiving weekend. Our mission continues, and I would like to thank once again our Leadership Team, Communications Team, NGP Pastoral and Finance Councils, indeed each one of you who continue to give and pray for our local churches, and for our one Family of Faith. Come Holy Spirit.

After Pentecost, the Church was on fire with the Holy Spirit, and she exploded into the mission! That mission continues today, and it is why I continue to be joyful in my ministry. We spoke of this reality in our Pastoral Day Conference this past week with leaders from across the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. We continue to be attentive to the Holy Spirit in our lives, and ready to witness to the mission of the Church.

There are many conferences and retreats in the coming months! However, I invite you all – especially those in leadership positions – to register for the Multiply Conference, hosted by CCO – who visited us a few years ago leading Discovery. Andre Regnier made the presentation on Thursday, making four point:

• PIVOT! This year has all of us rethinking of how do to our ministry. Once we open back up, can we simply go back to what was done before? This conference will hep with the tools, and resources need to mobilizes parishes to reengage in the mission, to prepare to welcome our families back home to Church.
• The workshops offered will be by those in the field – different University campuses, and parishes -, doing the work, who have already experienced success. They will share what are they doing, their own best practices, and how to follow their lead.
• Also, there will be three workshops just for priests! Sometimes our brothers get discouraged by another conference, when they already have too much on their plates. However, this conference is “not asking to do more work, but inviting to act differently” in order to mobilize people to become missionary.
• Finally, this conference On the Mission, is taking place here, and hosted in our Archdiocese! It will be attended by people from across Canada. Let us represent our diocese, our parishes the best we can.

I invite all our leaders to sign up and register! The Pastoral Goals this summer for our North Glengarry Parishes are three: 1) new Parish Office and Welcome Centre with partnership with Shalom House, 2) our Pastoral Calendar, being proactive into September 2022, and 3) all things Sacramental Preparation. All three items speak to the mission we have in the church, especially number three. Indeed, this conference will help all to hear the language necessary, and to understand a description of mission for the next year and a half, and beyond! What does conversion look like? The Multiply Conference will continue the conversation, and help our parishes on the journey from maintenance to mission! Have a great week. Peace.