Monday, April 15, 6:00pm Volunteer Appreciation Night at St. Anthony’s Church, Apple Hill The week of April 14 is National Volunteer Appreciation Week: … where we come together to recognize and celebrate the importance of each and every volunteer’s impact from coast to coast. It highlights the importance of every volunteer and each contribution they make at a moment when we need support more than ever. Volunteer.ca Our parish would also like to join in, and i hope you can join us too! The theme this year is: Every Moment Matters. In the past few months we have been discussing taking our stew ..read more

Repent, and believe in the Gospel. Lenten Retreat with Fr. Denis Lemieux March 10 – 13, 6:30pm at St. Finnan’s Basilica Going Deeper With Christ: A Call of Faith Fr. Denis and I, summer of 2021. We live in a time of great change and instability, from the global scale of nations and societies down to the most personal level of lives – our parishes, communities, families. Finding and maintaining inner peace in uncertain times requires us to go deeper in faith with the Lord whose providence holds the whole world in His love. Come join Fr. Denis Lemieux this Lent to journey with Christ into the ..read more

All temporal and spiritual goods are created by God and come from God. The term stewardship is often taken to be a euphemism or “code word” for fundraising in a religious context. Stewardship ≠ Fundraising. Time, Talent & Treasure are temporal realities, but they are fundamentally, a spiritual issue. The disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. (Daily Gospel for Tuesday, February 13, Mk 8:14-21) Listen to the homily, or read it below. Why are we having a stewardship conference and session on February 27? A Vision-Driven, Mission-Cen ..read more

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:2 Conference: February 27, 6:30pm (location: tba) God cares deeply about our success in the mission of reaching souls. What is God calling us, as a parish, to achieve for His Kingdom? I was overwhelmed by joy that our Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils continued the work of the team chartering process in the past two weeks, helping us to define and document our parish’s overall objectives, resources, and obstacles as we continue this journey of faith in Glengarry. My vision continues to be to preach the Gospel, to ..read more

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. John Maxwell Updated: January 10, 2024 Members of your St. Finnan’s Parish Finance Council: Fr. Jonathan Blake Dean MacDonell Kevin Rayburn Linda Morrow Bernie McDonell Anne MacGregor Barry MacDonald Richard Theoret Ivan Coleman The Parish Finance Council (PFC) members are appointed to act as an advisory group to the Pastor with respect to policy and positions on matters pertaining to the financial management and planning aspects of the parish, including financial reporting, fundraising, budgeting, and cash management. Alon ..read more

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18 Updated: January 10, 2024 Members of your St. Finnan’s Parish Pastoral Council (PPC): Fr. Jonathan Blake Deacon John Kennedy Lorne Stang Emma Rayburn Nancy MacKinnon Jeannie Coleman Vincent Pilon Phil Grant Catholic pastors consult pastoral councils in order to be better leaders. Bishops and priests ask their councillors to investigate some aspect of the church, reflect on it, and recommend their conclusions. In brief, the work of the pastoral council is pastoral planning. Along with the Parish Finance Council, the PPC is a strateg ..read more

“In pastoral care, sufficient use must be made not only of theological principles, but also of the findings of the secular sciences, especially of psychology and sociology, so that the faithful may be brought to a more adequate and mature life of faith” . Gaudium et Spes, no. 62 I have a dream. This week I met with our new Parish Pastoral Council (PPC), as well as our new Liturgy Committee, as we began a new Team Chartering Process. A team charter is a document that states a team or project’s mission, scope of operation, objectives, consequences, and time frame. We were supposed to have ..read more

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son. Heb 1:1-2 During this Octave of Christmas, we continue to go to Jesus through Mary, on this Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. In a sense, when a child is born a mother is born. When a child is born, its mother begins to be a mother. Even if she was already mother to other children this new child makes her a new mother; a new chapter in her mothering begins. In the birth of the Son of God, Mary begins to be the Mother of God. When a Child is born, a Mothe ..read more

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Lk 2:22, 39-40 Today, we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Just as the Holy Family is holy, we are also called to be holy. This holiness is achievable by living as disciples of Christ.       St. Paul calls us to put on “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience… as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” Let us “give thanks to God the Father” by being good stewards of His love and mercy to all our family members.   &nb ..read more

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ Mt 1:18-25 Merry Christmas & Joyeux Noël. I continue to be overwhelmed by joy to see what God is doing in our parish. The story of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ is a reminder to us all that God came to live among us, to be close to us, and to save us from our sins. Jesus gave us himself as a gift to us. It is a story that still rings true today. Jesus is with us. He is close to us because he liv ..read more