“Families need to be the teachers of the Church in terms of what they’re going through, and listening to how they express it can help us to understand how best to communicate the message of the Gospel,” said Smith.

“As I came to my own ordination and as I came to the promises that I made, I found that it was a fulfillment of God’s plan for me, it was a fulfillment of what God’s joy is: To be in service, to be in obedience, and to be loving,” said Lee, who was ordained at St. Joseph’s Basilica on June 16.

As Canada celebrates the 150th anniversary of Confederation with fireworks and block parties, Catholic faithful will celebrate spiritually with the consecration of the nation to Mary.

“Motorbike riders are always associated with something evil or bad, but this is something wonderful, that they’re able to go around, bring the gospel, bringing the cross as they wear it on their own vests.” 

“It was funny because everyone would be saying ‘Have you ever thought of the priesthood?’ or ‘I could see you becoming a priest one day or a monk’ … and I would take these things in and sort of dismiss them,” Niedzielski said.

“The music is absolutely amazing, and it’s beautiful to see the faith being brought to the streets and the beauty of our Catholic faith being shown in public,” said Daniel Jodoin, who lives in Grande Prairie. “I just have reverence for the Lord, to God, whether I’m in church or not.”

We as citizens – whether people of faith or not – have a responsibility to look critically at the fallout of that decision & consider some important questions about how it is changing our society.

“I’ve got a Grade 8 education but spiritually, I’m there,” said Leguerrier, 79, who lives in Fort Smith, N.W.T. “You don’t have to be qualified. You just have to be who you are spiritually and the Holy Spirit does the rest.”

A Safe Place is now a much more beautiful place, thanks to renovations funded by churches in the Edmonton Capital Region. “If we had to raise $76,000 on our own or as individuals that’s a lot of money, but by the force of numbers and by the force of all of our churches working together … it’s amazing that we could raise this kind of awareness and money collectively like that,” said Julien Hammond, chairman of the No Room in the Inn campaign and coordinator of the Archdiocese of Edmonton’s Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.

When it comes to teaching on health care, the Church has long been ridiculed as anti-progress and unscientific – but in fact it has been a prophetic voice that will be stifled at the peril of humankind, a national gathering of Catholic physicians heard Sunday.