Father Stephen Hero, a former associate pastor and vocations director who grew up in Edmonton and spent nine years as rector of St. Joseph Seminary, has been appointed as the new bishop of Prince Albert, Sask.

The bishops of Canada and the U.S. will consecrate their nations to the Blessed Virgin Mary May 1 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In place of The Catholic Register’s editorial and letters from readers, this week we are turning over this page to reprint abridged versions from a sampling of messages from Canadian bishops to the people of their dioceses as they address the COVID-19 crisis.

The status of Development and Peace as a Catholic charity in good standing hangs in limbo with no end in sight to a year-old review of some of the agency’s partnership agreements.

OTTAWA —The horrific murder of 50 Muslims at prayer at two New Zealand mosques March 15 hit close to home because of a similar attack in 2017 on Muslims at prayer at a Quebec City mosque.

The priest hand-picked by Pope Francis to chair the Feb. 21-24 summit on clerical sexual abuse at the Vatican has thrust the Canadian model for protecting minors into the spotlight as Church leaders from around the world prepare for the unprecedented meeting.

Youth issues took centre stage in the Catholic Church this year, and it’s very likely they will stay there in the new year.

VATICAN – The leaders of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the concerns of the indigenous peoples in Canada and the bishops' updated sexual abuse policies were among the issues they spoke about with Pope Francis.

Few events in recent Canadian history have had a greater impact than the massacre at École Polytechnique in Montreal. The gunman, Marc Lepine, killed 14 women and injured 14 others in the Dec. 6, 1989 attack before killing himself. His suicide note revealed his hatred of feminists. In the wake of the tragedy, there were changes to gun laws and the creation of an annual national day of remembrance on Dec. 6 to recognize violence against women. Five days following the attack, a funeral Mass for nine of the women was held at Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica, as reported in The Register:

The Catholic bishops of British Columbia and the Yukon have issued a pastoral statement on legalized marijuana that endorses medical cannabis but stresses that recreational use is contrary to Catholic moral teaching.

The funding tap is flowing again for Development and Peace, but it remains closed for 52 of 180 partner organizations that continue to be investigated for alleged connections to abortion, artificial conception and other possible conflicts with Catholic teaching.

ROME – The president of the Canadian bishops’ conference called the Synod of Bishops a “powerful experience” which he hopes will make him a better bishop.

EDMONTON – Trust in the Catholic Church has been broken in the wake of horrific reports of clergy sex abuse, but that trust can be restored, said Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith. 

OTTAWA – The latest statement about drinking water from Canada’s bishops “might shock” some people, admits Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver.

OTTAWA – Canada’s Catholic bishops’ have released a new document on sexual abuse that calls for accountability, transparency, prevention and healing as first steps to repair the considerable damage inflicted on the Church and society by decades of priestly abuse and coverups by bishops.