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NEWS FROM THE DIOCESAN SERVICES - March 1st, 2022
FACEBOOK PAGE AND BLOG ADDRESSED TO OUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE PARISHIONERS
The archdiocese has launched a new Facebook page specifically adressed to our English-language parishioners. You can find it here. You don't need to have an account to see posts, only if you want to comment, share and like them.
We also launched a new English-language blog entitled "Together on the Way". We'll be posting longer articles here, reflections and testimonies. If you want to share a story about something going on in your parish, please feel free to contact our communications team at the diocese. Here is the link to our blog.
LENT 2022
This week marks the beginning of Lent. With everything we've been through with COVID for the past two years, you'd think we never got out of Lent 2020. However, we seem to be nearing the end of the tunnel, the light is getting brighter. Vaccines and new drugs are making this disease less devastating. We can slowly rediscover a more serene approach to our "being together". We look to the future with a bit more confidence, especially since spring will be here in just a few weeks.
However, I worry about moving too quickly back to "normal" life without taking the time to reflect on the past two years with its provincial guidelines, social distancing and constant hand sanitizing. What have we learned during these two years? Are we emerging more attentive to each other, more sensitive to social issues, more respectful of diverse viewpoints? Has our sense of belonging to a Christian community found new ways of expression and of engagement?
Pope Francis believes this pandemic has revealed latent social fractures, problematic ways of being that we prefer to ignore. He fears a return to "normal" because, he believes, "normal" is not very satisfactory for the poor, the excluded, the voiceless and the undocumented. The war that has just broken out in Ukraine confirms his analysis: something is wrong in our world. He offers us new paths in his letters on universal fraternity, on safeguarding the environment, on the family and on the Gospel.
Let's take advantage of this Lent to read his texts, listen to his messages, reflect on the questions he asks. The synodal approach that he launched invites us to also gather with others to discuss these issues in prayer and respectful dialogue. By listening to each other attentively, perhaps we will hear the Spirit prompting us with ways for the future of the Church and of our world. I pray this Lent will be particularly fruitful for all of us.
+ Paul-André Durocher
EXCERPT OF THE MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2022
Let us not grow tired of praying. Jesus taught us to "pray always without becoming weary" ( Lk 18:1). We need to pray because we need God. Thinking that we need nothing other than ourselves is a dangerous illusion. If the pandemic has heightened the awareness of our own personal and social fragility, may this Lent allow us to experience the consolation provided by faith in God, without whom we cannot stand firm (cf. Is 7:9). No one attains salvation alone, since we are all in the same boat, amid the storms of history; [2] and certainly, no one reaches salvation without God, for only the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ triumphs over the dark waters of death. Faith does not spare us life's burdens and tribulations, but it does allow us to face them in union with God in Christ, with the great hope that does not disappoint, whose pledge is the love that God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:1-5). Read more...
EVANGELICAL PRACTICE WORKSHOP: MANAGING ANXIETY IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC
A pilot project on managing anxiety was offered to people in the Hull-Alymer pastoral area on 12 and 19 February 2022. The aim of the workshop was to understand anxiety and how to manage it. In this area, psychology and the Gospel inform each other to stop and cultivate compassion for oneself. This 60-minute workshop was facilitated by Ms Marie Binelli, social worker and psychotherapist, and André Inkel, pastoral worker.
The workshop was a great success. We thank all the participants. We would like to offer this workshop to all diocesans, if there is a demand. For more information, you can contact André Inkel, pastoral agent, at the following address inkela@diocesegatineau.org
FAITH AND FAMILY CROSSROADS
On December 5th, 2021, we had a first meeting of Faith & Family Crossroads at the parish of Notre-Dame de l'Eau Vive. The project is offered for the Hull-Aylmer pastoral zone. We wish to continue the experience in line with two of the main priorities of the diocesan synod: immigrant families and the elderly. Faith & Family Crossroads is a meeting place for adults to discuss what underlies our faith and gives us the impetus to transmit it. The transmission of faith will be more effective if we make it an intergenerational mission. Pope Francis, in declaring the Year of the Family, emphasizes with a sense of urgency that "Families are called to build bridges between generations in order to transmit the values that build humanity. Talking about faith with teenagers is possible if we give ourselves the means. More information will come soon. If you are interested in joining, please contact André Inkel, pastoral agent. inkela@diocesegatineau.org
INFO SYNOD - Site Web
We thank all the dialogue groups that have sent us their summaries in preparation for the Roman Synod. To date, we have received 32 reports. We encourage you to continue the dialogue. Please send us your meeting reports by March 31, 2022. The next step will be the constitution of a diocesan synodal assembly to synthesize what will emerge from your reports.
For all questions you can reach André Inkel by email inkela@diocesegatineau.org or by phone at 819.771.8391, ext. 300.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND OUT ABOUT RETREATS AND ACTIVITIES IN FRENCH?
In this English version of the diocesan bulletin, we share information relevant to our English-speaking parishioners. If you want to find out about retreats and resources available in French only, you might want to also subscribe to the French Infolettre. You can sign up here.
2022 FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN FOR OUR PARISHES ("LA DÎME")
In the next few days, parish councils will receive a brief survey to determine their needs for promotional material for the 2022 fundraising campaign that will take place after Easter, next May. As in past years, the diocese will support parishes by offering free promotional tools and an advertising campaign.
PARISH FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR 2021
Thank you to those parishes that have already sent in their financial statements for the year 2021, as required by the Fabrique Act. Parishes are invited to send in their documents as soon as possible. This document is of great importance in assessing the full extent of the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on the finances of the parishes and the diocese. The 2021 financial statement submission form is available in Word, PDF and Excel formats at Extranet section.
NEWS FROM THE PARISHES AND MOVEMENTS
LES JARDINS DU SOUVENIR - MESSAGE ON THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
March 11, 2022 will mark the second anniversary of the start of the pandemic. This second year lived with the evolution of the virus and under health restrictions, has touched each of us physically and emotionally. Whether we have been infected with Covid-19 or lost a loved one, our lives have been and still are turned upside down.
This year we wish to dedicate this 2nd anniversary to the memory of those we have lost and to the hope that we can once again find a life filled with peace and freedom.
The Jardins du Souvenir invite you to come and commemorate this anniversary by placing flowers, a candle or any other item significant to you at the foot of the corpus of our Calvary at Notre-Dame Cemetery located at 75 Fournier Boulevard in Gatineau.
We also attach the link of the ceremony that Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, celebrated on the first anniversary of the pandemic that took place on March 11, 2021.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this exceptional time.
CANADIANS CHANGING THE WORLD
Development and Peace is a national solidarity movement committed to social justice that addresses current global issues related to community development and humanitarian assistance around the world.
Members mobilize in extensive education, advocacy and fundraising campaigns to bring about change in Canada that will have a positive impact on people.
Who benefits from the funds raised?
Local communities and partners responsible for education, training, humanitarian aid projects etc.
To participate in building a more humane world, join the movement in the fight for human dignity putting "People and Planet First".
ANNOUNCEMENTS/INVITATIONS TO SHARE
This section is for the sharing of announcements/invitations from parishes and movements in the diocese. If you have an activity to share or advertise, please send a note to Bozica Domitrovic on Friday before the newsletter release.
CONTACT
BOZICA DOMITROVIC, Communication technician
domitrovicb@diocesegatineau.org / Telephone: 819 771-8391, ext. 308
ADRESSE
180, boulevard du Mont-Bleu, Gatineau (Québec) J8Z 3J5
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