Heart to Heart: Issue #513
September 8, 2023
SPIRIT GARDEN TORONTO is almost here! September 2024 is now set for the completion of the long-awaited gathering place at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. The Fifth Annual Indigenous Legacy Gathering will be held at the site on the weekend of September 29 – 30, this year. Teepees, featuring many Indigenous communities will cover the Square. The multi-faith group that has supported the Spirit Garden will also have a tent. All are welcome to visit the venue to experience the rich heritage of Indigenous communities around us.
FATHER JASON KUNTZ was appointed Vice Rector of Formation at St. Peter’s Seminary, London, by Bishop Ronald Fabbro, CSB, Bishop of London. Father Denis Grecco, Rector, announced the appointment in a letter dated August 14, 2023. The appointment is effective August 1, 2023, to August 1, 2028. In his letter, Father Grecco emphasized the wisdom, good judgement, excellent teaching skills and commitment to the formation programs of the seminary shown by Father Kuntz. We offer our hearty congratulations!
MOTHER PATRICIA OF THE HOLY SPIRIT was elected Prioress of the Carmelite Nuns at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Agatha, last week. She will be supported in her duties by Sister Celeste of the Immaculate Conception, Sister Sarah of St. Joseph and Sister Miriam of Jesus Crucified. The Council assures the good order of community life and prayerful attention to the needs of neighbours. We are blessed to have them praying for us daily! May God bless the new Council!
ST. JEROME’S FEAST, the annual celebration and fundraiser for St. Jerome’s University, will be held on October 14th this year, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Every year the University community extends a warm welcome to neighbours and friends to pray and celebrate the good things that happen in the welcoming environment that is nurtured there. Invitations are being sent out. Contact katrina.kaczala@uwaterloo.ca if you would like a ticket!
THE MASS OF DEDICATION FOR ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA CHURCH in Hamilton is scheduled for October 22, 2023, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Parishioners from the former Corpus Christi and Our Lady of Lourdes Parishes came together a few years ago and began the process of building a new community and a new home. Excitement is building. If you haven’t experienced a Mass of Dedication before, plan to attend!
THE WAY OF BEAUTY is a three-session webinar sponsored by the CCCB Office for Evangelization and Catechesis. The sessions are held from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., with a different speaker focusing on a different theme each week. Mr. David Dayler, Pastoral Minister at St. Ann Parish, Ancaster will be the featured speaker next Thursday, September 14th. Beauty and Evangelization is the topic of his presentation. There is no cost to participate in the sessions. You may register here.
THE NEW FLOORING in the Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King is almost complete! The Cathedral has been closed since early June to allow the workers to remove the 40-year-old carpet, and begin cutting and laying the ceramic tiles in the aisles and entrance areas, and installing new carpets under the pews. The pews have been moved back and forth through the summer to facilitate the labour. It has been a “labour of love” and we are grateful for the men who have spent so much of the summer “on their knees”!
HOLY SAVIOUR PARISH IN MARATHON Ontario celebrates the 80th anniversary of its establishment by Bishop Dignan of Sault Ste. Marie in 1943. It is the parish where I was baptized and my faith was nurtured in my early years. Father David Wynen and I will be flying to Thunder Bay and travelling to Marathon with Bishop Fred Colli, Bishop of Thunder Bay, to participate in the celebratory events. My mother and father were the first couple married in the new church in 1948. Our family moved from Marathon in 1965. I returned to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving as a newly ordained Priest in 1975, and again in the Jubilee Year 2000, to pray at the baptismal font for those who nurtured my faith. It will be a weekend of happy memories!
Our Lady of the Annunciation, pray for us!
Ex corde, +Douglas, OMI