A report by Calgary’s Bishop William McGrattan, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, at the annual plenary meeting in Quebec City.
We join with our brother Cardinal Archbishop Gerald Lacroix here in Quebec City to mark the historic 350th anniversary of the establishment of the Archdiocese of Quebec. We also gather on the eve of the second session of the Bishop’s Synod on Synodality in Rome and in anticipation of the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025.
Synod on Synodality
This year, the CCCB...received input from dioceses on the three sections of the Synthesis Report. Further information on local initiatives that promote a synodal church were sent to the Synod Office. The three priests from Canada who attended the International Meeting in Rome entitled “Parish Priests for the Synod” offered a summary of their experience to the bishops.
In August 2024, with the collaboration of the CCCB, they facilitated a Canadian National Online Gathering of Priests of more than 80 priests from 40 dioceses. A written summary was forwarded to the Synod Office.
The Team Canada delegates going to Rome this October will be joined by Bishop Alain Faubert in place of Bishop Raymond Poisson (who) will be missed…especially his gift of discernment of which the restaurants to dine at in Rome.
Jubilee Year 2025
For the last two years, the Ad-hoc Committee for the Preparation for the Jubilee and the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis have been preparing for the Jubilee Year 2025. This year, which is dedicated to prayer, a webinar entitled A Great Symphony of Prayer was developed to reflect on the meaning of the ‘Our Father,’ with a second series planned for October….
Family and Life – Euthanasia and Palliative Care
The Vatican’s pastoral initiatives for the World Day of the Sick and for Grandparents and the Elderly were promoted within the Canadian context through pastoral toolkits and concrete initiatives of solidarity. The National Family and Life Week celebrated in May centered on the theme “Love Hopes all Things.”
This year, in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Life, the CCCB hosted a highly successful international symposium on palliative care entitled Towards a Narrative of Hope: An International Interfaith Symposium on Palliative Care. The 110 participants representing healthcare practitioners, ethicists, pastoral care agents and communication specialists received from Pope Francis a message of encouragement to build a culture of social responsibility, education and advocacy for the expansion of palliative care.
A working group was established to build a strong advocacy network…to promote greater access to palliative care. The Permanent Council of the Conference also issued a Statement on the Non-permissibility of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide within Canadian Health Organizations with a Catholic Identity and mission to promote human life at all stages.
Walking with our Indigenous Peoples
To mark the second anniversary of the penitential pilgrimage of Pope Francis to Canada, the CCCB issued a Letter to the People of God that outlined how we have been responding to the Holy Father’s call to justice, healing and reconciliation. It highlighted financial contributions to the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF)….
The Ad hoc Committee for the Coordination of Indigenous Initiatives continues to oversee several projects of research and planning as the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council (CCIC) was formed this year under a new structure, membership and mandate….
The Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace published a Pastoral Letter on the use of social media entitled Let Your Speech Always be Gracious. While acknowledging the benefits of social media, it also examined the challenges and dangers that exist in its use through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching….
As a sign of solidarity with our brothers and sisters living in regions marked by war and other humanitarian crises, the CCCB issued a statement following the Oct. 7 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the ensuing conflict in the Holy Land; it also responded to the Canadian Council of Churches’ invitation to sign on to a Pastoral Letter marking the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. For Passover 2024, I, along with Archbishop Donald Bolen and Bishop John Boissonneau, issued a greeting to the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, assuring it of Catholic concern at the alarming resurgence of antisemitism in Canada.
CCCB Organizational Review
At our Plenary this year, we will be receiving recommendations that are the result of a two-year process of research, review, consultation and discernment guided by the Permanent Council to see how we might improve the governance, administration and functioning of the Conference. The steps of listening to the bishops and the CCCB staff has been in modeling the synodal method.
September 23, 2024