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In conversation with Indigenous people and communities, both at the local and national levels, and bilaterally with the First Nations, Métis and Inuit national organizations, the Bishops, sponsors of this project, have been preparing, for over two years now, a delegation of Indigenous people to meet with the Holy Father to foster meaningful encounters of dialogue and healing. This pastoral visit will include the participation of a diverse group of Elders/Knowledge Keepers, residential school survivors and youth from across the country. The event will likewise provide Pope Francis with a unique opportunity to hear directly from Indigenous Peoples, express his heartfelt closeness, address the impact of colonization and the implication of the Church in the residential schools, so as to respond to the suffering of Indigenous Peoples and the ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma. / En conversation avec des personnes et des communautés autochtones, tant au niveau local que national, et bilatéralement avec les organismes nationaux des Premières Nations, des Métis et des Inuits, les évêques, promoteurs du projet, préparent, depuis plus de deux ans maintenant, une délégation d’Autochtones pour rencontrer le Saint-Père et vivre des moments significatifs de dialogue et de guérison. Cette visite pastorale comprendra la participation d’un groupe diversifié d’aînés/‘gardiens du savoir’, de survivants des pensionnats et de jeunes de partout au pays. L’événement offrira également au pape François une occasion unique pour entendre directement les peuples autochtones, d’exprimer sa proximité sincère, d’aborder l’impact de la colonisation et l’implication de l’Église dans les pensionnats, en vue de répondre à la souffrance des peuples autochtones et au traumatisme intergénérationnel qui perdure.

Today, the members of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) published a statement calling for an end to religious violence in Canada, and more specifically Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Aujourd’hui, les membres du Bureau de direction de la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada (CECC) ont publié une déclaration qui demande de mettre fin à la violence religieuse au Canada, et plus particulièrement à l’antisémitisme et à l’islamophobie.

The Diocese of Saint John is committed to working with Indigenous leaders towards healing and reconciliation. This post includes comments from Bishop Riesbeck, CC as well as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC of the Diocese of Saint John, took the opportunity on June 6 and the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, to encourage anyone who has distanced themselves from the practice of Sunday Mass to return. On June 3, 2021, Judy Burnham, principal of Divine Mercy Catholic School (DMCS) in Saint John, gave a keynote speech to the Canadian Catholic School Trustees’ Association (CCSTA) on the joys, challenges and rewards of being immersed in the mission of Catholic education over the last twenty years. Cardinal Thomas Collins of the Archdiocese of Toronto was also featured as a keynote speaker. Dr. Hamilton, an Anthropology professor at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, worked from 2013-15 identifying residential-school-related grave-sites across Canada. His report was not released until the discovery of 215 bodies at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The Most Reverend Christian Riesbeck, CC, Bishop of Saint John, announces the following clergy assignments effective August 4, 2021. At a later date, Bishop Riesbeck will come to each parish to celebrate a Mass of Installation for the new pastors.

His Holiness Pope Francis appointed the Most Reverend Ivan Jurkovič as the Apostolic Nuncio to Canada. He replaces the former Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi.
Sa Sainteté le Pape François a nommé Mgr Ivan Jurkovič nonce apostolique au Canada. Il remplace l’ancien nonce apostolique au Canada, Mgr Luigi Bonazzi.

In keeping with the celebration of the “Year of Saint Joseph”, the CCCB National Liturgy Office and the Office national de liturgie have composed a Novena and an Act of Entrustment to Saint Joseph. The Novena begins on June 22 and ends on June 30, and is followed by the Act of Entrustment on Thursday, 1 July 2021 (Canada Day). The Novena and Act of Entrustment are available for wide use and distribution in dioceses/eparchies, parishes, religious communities, families (domestic churches) and schools. / Dans le cadre de la célébration de « L’Année de saint Joseph », l’Office national de liturgie et le National Liturgy Office de la CECC ont rédigé une Neuvaine et un Acte de Confiance à saint Joseph. La Neuvaine commence le 22 juin et se termine le 30 juin, et sera suivie par l’Acte de Confiance le jeudi 1er juillet 2021 (fête du Canada). Veuillez noter que la Neuvaine et l’Acte de Confiance peuvent être largement utilisés et distribués dans les diocèses, les éparchies, les paroisses, les communautés religieuses, les familles (églises domestiques) et les écoles.

Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC prays for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that we can do our part in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), to introduce others to Jesus Christ; Diocesan youth explore the Faith and discipleship through study and online discussion; Blessed Trinity Parish celebrates 40 years of Saint Alphonsus Church.

Today, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) published a statement following the report of a recent discovery of children’s graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

Aujourd’hui, la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada (CECC) a publié une déclaration à la suite de la découverte récente des dépouilles des enfants à l’ancien pensionnat indien de Kamloops sur le territoire de la Première nation Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.

On the evening of May 21, Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC of the Diocese of Saint John was on the Miramichi for what was surely a difficult task. A final liturgy was held at All Saints Church in Millbank, and a final mass was held at Holy Family Church in Barryville, as both sites were relegated to profane use.  Popular Catholic speaker and author Father Mike Schmitz, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and host of Bible in a Year podcast, joins Divine Renovation on June 2 to talk about the Holy Spirit’s role in renewing the Church. The roughly 15,000 members of the Society of Jesus, their collaborators and many people who draw on the spiritual heritage left by St. Ignatius of Loyola began a special Ignatian Year, May 20 and lasting until the saint's feast day, July 31, 2022. University of Ottawa professor emeritus Denis Caro displays his new book Transforming Nations after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Humanitarian and Planetary Systems Perspectives at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. He says the Christian principles at the core of his Catholic faith will be needed to help create a brighter future post-COVID

"Send forth your spirit and renew the face of the Earth" (Psalm 104) / "Envoie ton esprit et renouvelle la face de la Terre" (Ps 104).

Over the past year, in consultation with the Religious Education Coordinators and the Council of Priests, the Diocese of Saint John has discerned a new Confirmation formation. A letter from Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC of the diocese explaining the changes and a over view of the program can be found in this week's issue of The New Freeman. Graydon Nicholas was installed as chancellor of St. Thomas University in Fredericton on Tuesday, May 10. Lindsay Shepherd a 25-year-old mother and native of Victoria, B.C., recently released her memoir Diversity and Exclusion: Confronting the Campus Free Speech Crisis. In it, she presents arguments for saving free speech from ideological conformity while also providing a personal account of her experience. Determined to "eradicate the scourge" of sexual abuse in his diocese and in the church, Archbishop Christian Lépine of Montreal has appointed an independent ombudswoman on abuse.

CCCB Pentecost message to Catholic Movements and Associations / Message de la Pentecôte aux mouvements et les associations catholiques During these days of Pentecost, let us be of one mind and one heart. There is but one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. (Ephesians 4:5) / Pendant ces jours de la Pentecôte, ayons un seul esprit et un seul cœur. Il y a un seul Seigneur, une seule foi, un seul baptême. (Éphésiens 4, 5)

Sisters Muriel Buckley and Roma De Robertis encouraged the City of Saint John to join a global initiative for municipalities to support the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  The two Sisters of Charity sent letters to mayor and council in January this year as the treaty entered into force at the UN.  Recently, Saint John municipal leaders voted to endorse the Cities Appeal of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. As Catholics approach the Solemnity of Pentecost, Awakening the Domestic Church and CMAX media have created a unique virtual Pentecost Novena to help faithful around the world prepare for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Day nine of the novena, Friday, May 21, will be led by the Companions of the Cross, with a prayer meeting recorded at Saint Mary’s Church in Ottawa, and a reflection on Surrender to the Holy Spirit by Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC, of the Diocese of Saint John. The Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) announced the launch of the new Canadian Reporting System for Sexual Abuse or Cover-up by a Catholic Bishop on May 5, stating in a press release that the new reporting system is “a national, bilingual service for reporting situations of sexual abuse either committed or covered-up by a bishop.”

Laudato Si’ Week 2021, to be held May 16-25, will be the crowning event of the Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year, and a celebration of the great progress the whole Church has made on its journey to ecological conversion. Laudato Si’ Week 2021 will also be a time to reflect on what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us and prepare for the future with hope. / La semaine Laudato Si ‘2021, qui se tiendra du 16 au 25 Mai, sera le couronnement de l’Année spéciale de l’anniversaire de Laudato Si et une célébration des grands progrès accomplis par toute l’Église dans son parcours de conversion écologique. La Semaine Laudato Si ‘ 2021 sera également l’occasion de réfléchir à ce que la pandémie de la COVID-19 nous a appris et de préparer l’avenir avec espoir.

Awakening the Domestic Church and CMAX TV are offering an ecumenical Novena to the Holy Spirit led by 9 different communities for prayer (including the Companions of the Cross with reflection by Bishop Riesbeck on day nine) leading up to Pentecost 2021. It begins on May 13 (Ascension Thursday) and continues until Pentecost Eve to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit. concluding with the CHARIS Pentecost Vigil celebration with Pope Francis in Rome.

Members of Holy Spirit Parish — St. Matthew’s Church in Grand Bay-Westfield and St. Rose of Lima Church in West Saint John — have found innovative ways to continue their outreach ministries serving those in need during this time of pandemic. Updating the laws that govern the Vatican's civil judicial system, Pope Francis stated that cardinals and bishops accused of a crime can now be tried in a Vatican court. After travelling throughout St. Croix Parish as part of a novena to St. Joseph, a statue of St. Joseph has found a home at Divine Mercy Catholic School in Saint John.

For the past several years, the CCCB has used the National Week for Life and the Family as a key opportunity to propose ideas related to its national pastoral initiative for life and family. The annual celebration of the National Week for Life and the Family takes place in many dioceses across the country and always coincides with the United Nations’ International Day of Families on May 15 of each year.
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Au cours des dernières années, la CECC a profité de la Semaine nationale de la vie et de la famille pour proposer des idées liées à son initiative pastorale nationale pour la vie et la famille. La célébration annuelle de la Semaine nationale pour la vie et la famille a lieu dans de nombreux diocèses à travers le pays et coïncide toujours avec la Journée internationale des familles des Nations Unies, le 15 mai de chaque année.

"As we continue to celebrate the Year of St. Joseph, we are reminded of the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, where he writes: 'Saint Joseph’s work reminds us that God himself, in becoming man, did not disdain work. The loss of employment that affects so many of our brothers and sisters, and has increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, should serve as a summons to review our priorities. Let us implore Saint Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!'" / "Alors que nous continuons de célébrer l’Année de saint Joseph, nous nous souvenons des paroles du pape François dans sa lettre apostolique Patris Corde: 'Le travail de saint Joseph nous rappelle que Dieu lui-même fait homme n’a pas dédaigné de travailler. La perte du travail quifrappe de nombreux frères et sœurs, et qui est en augmentation ces derniers temps à cause de la pandémie de la Covid-19, doit être un rappel à revoir nos priorités. Implorons saint Joseph travailleur pour que nous puissions trouver des chemins qui nous engagent à dire : aucun jeune, aucune personne, aucune famille sans travail.'"