Our Lady of Peace Parish
Also Serving Our Lady of the Smile parish, Waterhen Lake and St. Jude’s Parish, Green Lake Office Hours: Closed Monday Tuesday - Friday 1-4:00 pm Office Phone: 306-236-5122 Cell Phone: 306-304-7271 Parish Email: [email protected] Pastor Email: [email protected] Facebook: Catholic Church Meadow Lake Website: https://www.meadowlakecatholicchurch.com/ Address: 504-3rd Ave. East, Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1H5 Light rises in the darkness for the upright. Psalm 112 Refrain February 5, 2023 - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Our Vision: A Community of Disciples Our Mission We commit to form disciples who joyfully and faithfully live out the mission of Jesus Christ by enriching our relationship with God and neighbour through the intercession of Our Lady of Peace. Pastor: Fr. Doug Jeffrey, OMI Parish Secretary: Pat Bencharski Pastoral Council Chair: Mass Intentions When there is a funeral, the daily mass will normally be cancelled. Check Facebook for the most up-to-date information. On Tuesday to Friday and on Sunday, Our Lady of Peace masses will be livestreamed on Facebook. Mon., Feb. 6 – No mass Tues., Feb. 7 – 6:30 pm (Our Lady of Peace church & Facebook) - +Alannah Martian by Dan Martian Wed., Feb. 8 – 6:30 pm (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - For the Faithful in the World by Carmelita Cameron Thurs., Feb. 9– 9:30 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - Norman Steier by Frances & Wanda Steier Fri., Feb. 10 – 9:30 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - +Henri Lazar by Frances, Norman & Wanda Steier Sat., Feb. 11 – 5:00 pm (St. Jude Parish, Green Lake) - People of God Sun., Feb. 12 – 10 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - People of God THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday Collection – January 29: Meadow Lake $1407.60 Green Lake – $45.50 The Pope’s Prayer Intention for February – For parishes – We pray that parishes, placing communion at the center, may increasingly become communities of faith, fraternity and welcome towards those most in need. Bishop Stephen’s Uncle – Mr. George Simms of Victoria, BC passed away on January 27, 2023. He leaves to mourn his wife Annette and his extended family including Bishop Stephen and his siblings. Mr. Simms was a brother to Bishop Stephen’s mother. By the grace of God, Bishop Stephen was able to spend a few days with his uncle and aunt earlier this January. As a Diocesan family, we want to offer our sincerest sympathies to our Bishop and his family. Sacrament of the Sick - We will celebrate this sacrament at the liturgies on the weekend of February 11/12. Deanery Meeting – The Deanery Meeting planned for Thursday, January 26 did not take place due to highway conditions. It was held Thursday, February 2. The following summary highlights some of the items discussed at the Deanery Meeting. On Thursday, February 2, I was joined by Fr. Frederick from Paradise Hill, Fr. Peter from St. Walburg, Deacon Al from Goodsoil, and by Patsy Salzl from Paradise Hill, who is the Lay Representative from Deanery 6 on the Diocesan Pastoral Council. Our meeting began with us sharing where we were at in our lives and ministry. We then settled into the business of the day. We set dates for our Penitential Services in our various parishes. That means March 30th for Meadow Lake. I will make myself available to the people of Green Lake and Waterhen Lake after mass as per usual. We then went on and reviewed some of our hopes and expectations for our Spring Regional Meeting which includes people from Deaneries 4, 5, and 6. This meeting will take place in Edam. We will examine where we are at with the implementation of our Synod Priorities as well as hear from the Bishop about what is happening in the Diocese. This Diocesan Pastoral Meeting which takes place in the Fall and is held in Prince Albert and involves all the parishes in the Diocese is a wonderful experience of our Diocesan Church. This smaller spring meeting is restricted to the people from the three deaneries and is designed so that more local folks can gather - the driving distance is not so far and more people from the parishes can be involved. We are expecting about 100 people - approximately 10 people from our 3 faith communities of Waterhen Lake, Meadow Lake, and Green Lake. More information will be shared about this meeting in our parish bulletin soon. The meeting will take place at the end of April. We also spent some time reflecting on our experience of Church - the challenges of catechesis and building faith communities that welcome people, share the faith, celebrate the faith, and reach out to those who are in need. We will be spending more time on this topic in our next Deanery 6 meeting. We spent some time reflecting on our experience of the Diocesan Synod. A presentation was given about the Synod - its purpose, its participants, and its conclusions. The purpose of the Synod (Phase One) was to speak and listen to each other. In doing so we are contributing our energy, our ideas, and our hopes to the life of the Church. Pope Francis wants us to be who God has called us to be and so is concerned about our Participation in the Church. God is concerned about our Communion (our working together as God’s people). God is concerned about our Mission - the way we share the Good News of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Jesus Christ and those who are growing in their knowledge of Jesus Christ. We learned that about 10 % of the Catholics in the Diocese took part in the Synod. We heard from some young people, but we heard mostly from people 36 years and older. We heard from some Indigenous and Metis people. We did not hear from all the faith communities. We did not hear much from Catholics who have drifted away from the Church, we did not hear much from Catholics who are on the margins of our Church and society, and we did not hear much from immigrants in our Church. So, what did we hear? We heard the Spirit call us to several actions:
We also heard that people want to know more about what we are doing regarding the Clergy Sexual Abuse scandal, the Indian Residential School issues and our relationships with Metis and Indigenous Peoples and around some people being excluded from the sacraments (divorced and non-Church going people). We also heard that there are several issues/tensions around the teaching of the Church. Namely: role of women in the Church, requirement of celibacy for priests, married priests, acceptance of divorced and remarried Catholics, members of the LGBQT+ community and views around abortion and euthanasia. Some encouraged the Church to hold fast and not make changes to her teachings while others look to changes. Diocese of Prince Albert Synod Synthesis p. 8 For us, the Synod dynamics of speaking and listening to one another must continue to be a part of our local faith communities. When we have spoken and listened to each other we must pray and ask ourselves what the Spirit is now asking us to do with what we have heard. Listening for the voice of the Spirit is a challenge that we live with every day as we deal with the ordinariness of our lives. What is the Lord asking of us today? Our meeting concluded after we set our next meeting date for Thursday, March 23 in Paradise Hill. The folks appreciated the hospitality of our Meadow Lake Cluster. Waterhen Lake and Green Lake - Parish Thank you Socials are being scheduled for St. Jude’s and Our Lady of the Smile for a little later in February! Please mark your calendars for February 11 and 12. February 11 is the World Day of Prayer for the Sick and it is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes. The theme this year is TAKE CARE OF THEM: COMPASSION AS A SYNODAL EXERCISE OF HEALING. Please see the message from Pope Francis for this special day: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/sick/documents/20230110-giornata-malato.html World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life – February 2nd – This year the Diocese will host a celebration on Sunday, Feb 5, 2023, from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Prince Albert. This gathering will help you understand what is in store for those who are called to live the Consecrated Life, and it will be an opportunity for those who have been called to this lifestyle and it will be an opportunity to ask God to bless us with men and who will accept this life as an expression of their baptismal call. There will be music, scripture, and reflections on the Consecrated life. If you would like to organize something in your own parish, a rosary or an hour of adoration for example, or at your own home, please see diocesan website Vocations page for resources. https://www.padiocese.ca/vocations-commission Feb. 5 Pancake Breakfast – Do you have plans after mass on Sunday, February 5th? Be sure to include a wonderful KofC Breakfast served in the Parish Hall right after mass! It is a great opportunity to have a great breakfast, no dishes and lots of visiting. Mark your calendars and join us! Knights of Columbus Bingo – While you are marking dates please be sure to mark your calendar for another KofC Bingo to be held in the Parish Hall on Sunday, February 12th at 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. Bring your lucky charms and enjoy an evening of fun and bingo! Who knows you might walk away with a nice prize! Knights of Columbus Vocations Campaign – This weekend members of the Knights of Columbus will hand out brochures and donation cards for the Vocations Campaign. You will be encouraged to make a contribution to the Campaign on Sunday, February 5! Scripture Insights – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Taken from Source Book for Sundays, Seasons and Weekdays 2023: The Almanac for Pastoral Liturgy, LTP Liturgy Training Publications Copyright 2022, 3949 South Racine Avenue, Chicago, IL 60609, pg. 86. In the verses preceding today’s Gospel, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes. As Moses formed God’s people by giving them the old law on Mount Sinai, so Jesus, the new Moses, forms a new people by giving them his new law. “You are the salt of the earth,” says Jesus (Mt 5:13). As salt permeates food and brings out its flavor, we as Christians are called to permeate the world and transform its values. “You are the light of the world,” continues Jesus (5:14). In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims: “I am the light of the world” (8:12). As Jesus’ followers, we are called to let his light shine through our lives, drawing others to this light. In the letter to the followers in Corinth, Paul shows how his life witnessed to the light of Christ. He tells the Corinthians that when he came to them, he did not preach using great rhetorical gifts. Instead, he allowed the Spirit to speak through him. Physically, Paul came “in weakness and fear and much trembling” ( I Cor 2:3). The power of the Spirit, however, transformed his human inadequacies to communicate the message of the crucified and risen Christ. Paul argues that God’s power, God’s grace, works through the lives of the believers by attracting many to follow and accept the Good News. The prophet Isaiah offered the same idea. The witness of an authentic life attracts people to the message. The prophet affirms this vision: “If you bestow your bread on the hungry / and satisfy the afflicted; / then your light shall rise for you in the darkness” (Is 58:10).
DIOCESAN NEWS & BEYOND Diocesan Website – Pastoral Care – When you visit the Diocesan website, please be sure to take a look at the new information available under the Pastoral Care page. You will find information about:
A Reflection by Fr. Doug on the Oblates in Saskatchewan - Many of you are familiar with my Oblate Community. Until recently the priests who have served the faith communities of Waterhen Lake, Green Lake and Meadow Lake have been Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate or the Oblates. When I joined the community in 1974, we were 144 in our Province. Today we number 20. Of our 20 men, 14 are retired and 6 are in active ministry. 4 are 90+ years; 10 are between the ages of 80-90 years; 4 are between the ages of 70-80 years; 1 is between the ages of 60-70 years; 1 is between the ages of 50-60 years. More and more the energy of our Oblate Community is directed towards taking care of our elder brothers and less and less are we able to engage in ordinary ministries we have done for years. Gone are many of our Institutions and properties as there is no one to provide the energy and activity needed to keep them going. We are looking at the disappearance of the Oblates from the Church landscape in Saskatchewan and in Canada. Some 60 years ago the number of men joining our community began to diminish. The diminishment continued and today there are no young men in our Formation programs. The last man to join our Oblate community in Saskatchewan was 1998. Since then, no young men from Saskatchewan have joined the Oblates. It is good for us to ask some questions. Is God no longer calling young men to be Oblate brothers or priests? Are we no longer able to hear the voice of God? Is God calling us to make changes in our community? Is God no longer interested in what happens to us? Is the problem bigger than the Oblates? It is true that the Diocese of Prince Albert is in a similar position. Most of the men serving the Diocese of Prince Albert are from Vietnam, the Philippines and Nigeria! Is God no longer calling young men from Canada? Is God calling us to make changes? What might the changes look like? As Oblates we continued doing what we always have done. We believed that God would call young men to join us, and we believed that our community would continue to have a place in the Church. Today as our numbers plummet, our eyesight dims, voices fade to whispers, movement becomes harder, and our memory abandons us, the hard truth is that young men no longer share our vision of how important it is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the poor. So, what is the new vision that animates the spirits and minds and hearts of people today? Who will work to make this vision real? Is the diminishment of the Oblates and many other religious communities a warning to the larger Church? If the Church continues with business as usual what will happen? What is required of the Church today?
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Parish BulletinThis bulletin is prepared by the Parish Secretary and the Pastor Archives
February 2025
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