When Canada’s Ukrainian bishops sent out their Easter greetings letter this year, they dated it March 31: Easter. They also dated it May 5: likewise Easter. The dual dates reflect the two different ways Ukrainians celebrate Easter. Some follow the Gregorian calendar that we do. Others, particularly Eastern and Orthodox Christians, use the Julian calendar. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. With much time and effort, and the help of my wife who was raised Ukrainian Catholic and Father Deacon Andrew Bennett, a Ukrainian Catholic deacon, I now have a Grade 1 student’s understanding of the situ ..read more

The liturgy is the public worship given to God by the Church. Father John Hardon said, “Liturgy is the highest form of worship, because it glorifies God publicly as the origin and destiny, not only of man individually but of mankind as a society, and the worship is given officially, by the Church and under her divinely established authority.”  The main forms of public worship are Holy Mass, the Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office), and the sacramentals. Public worship is necessary because God wants us to honour him as social beings. Pope Francis said, “The prayer of Christ ..read more

There is a little flower that makes its way through a concrete walkway every spring we’ve lived in this home. The first year it passed itself off as a stubborn weed, because, of course, only weeds have the devilish talent of destroying pavement. But one morning I awoke to the grand surprise of a delicate white crocus standing tall, dead- centre in the walkway. It was a brave choice for habitation, as the walkway is the route our huge compost bin rolls along towards the roadside. I took numerous pictures of the gentle gift, and posted it with the tagline, “Crocus Conquers Concrete.” I thought t ..read more

St. Joseph the Worker pastor Father Pierre Ducharme, OFM, has been chosen as one of three Canadian delegates going to Rome for a synod focusing on parish priests and their implementation of synodal principles at their parishes. “It is good to get priests on board with the synodality process,” the Richmond priest told The B.C. Catholic about his invitation to Parish Priests for the Synod in Rome April 28 to May 2. “Synodality is really about hearing the voices of the Church,” he said. “I am quite looking forward to it. It is something I believe to be very important. It is an honour to be invite ..read more

Among B.C. residents who journeyed southward, or eastward, to experience the recent solar eclipse in the path of totality were B.C. Catholic reader Alison Scholefield and her husband Chris. They were on board a cruise ship about 250 km off the coast of Mexico, southwest of Mazatlan. Four other cruise ships were in the vicinity for the same reason: to be among the first in North America to experience this spellbinding event. I had not intended to devote a column to Eclipse2024, to borrow the widely used hashtag, but reader Mario Acosta convinced me, along with photos posted by the Scholefields ..read more

With the publication last fall of Laudate Deum, Pope Francis’ follow-up letter to 2015’s Laudato Si’, the message is clear: Catholics must do much more to care for God’s gift of Creation and to avoid complete, catastrophic collapse of our common home. Although papal critics have sometimes dismissed his environmental concerns as “woke” liberal nonsense or a distraction from the “real” tenets of the faith, our Church has a profound history of listening to the earth (Job 12) and caring for her creatures. (Gen 2) This Earth Day, April 22, celebrate the richness of our faith with four traditional C ..read more

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B  First Reading: Acts 9:26-30 Second Reading: 1 Jn 3:18-24 Gospel Reading: Jn 15:1-8 In recent years, we have heard “unprecedented” again and again. For example, COVID-19 was called “unprecedented,” but in fact it had been preceded by a flu pandemic after the First World War and by three waves of bubonic plague between the 14th and the 19th centuries. Today we hear that the Church’s difficulties are “unprecedented” – to the point where some people are predicting the end of the world! However, this Sunday’s First Reading reports that Saul was threatened with d ..read more

For Ethelyn David, Catholic event organizing seems to be second nature. From Marian conferences to parish missions, she has been promoting and coordinating celebrations of faith and devotion across the Archdiocese of Vancouver. But she hadn’t intended to be front and centre in Our Lady of Fatima’s visit to Vancouver. She isn’t even sure how it happened, although it seems to have started 10 years ago in Chicago. Our Lady visits her namesake parish in Vancouver, Our Lady of Fatima Portuguese Church. (Ethelyn David photo) She was attending a Catholic conference where she met David Carollo, execut ..read more

The statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which was supposed to end its visit to the Archdiocese of the Vancouver on Monday, is remaining for an extra day.  The statue will be at St Mary's Church in Chilliwack on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. See schedule below.  After a lifetime of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and travelling Marian statues, a Surrey pastor was excited to welcome one of 13 official Fatima Pilgrim Virgin Statues to his Surrey parish this month.  Precious Blood pastor Father Ray Usman’s devotion to Our Lady of Fatima started as a child growing up in the Philippines ..read more

Father Hawkswell’s Feb. 26 column “The age-old idolatry of the New Age” generated many letters from readers who disagreed with his views on Christian meditation. Here is a selection. In his column, Father Hawkswell writes that Buddhist meditation underlies “Centering Prayer and the World Community for Christian Meditation. The centre of Christian meditation is Christ, through whom God’s love for us is revealed in the Holy Spirit, in silence. I have been associated with the WCCM for 30 years and held national and provincial/regional coordinator positions. I have meditated for over 30 years. Our ..read more