May 12, 2012, Toronto - I am very grateful to Luke Stocking and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace for the invitation and privilege of addressing you this morning during this important provincial gathering.  More than anything, it is an opportunity for me to express once again my gratitude to each of you for your commitment, witness and perseverance.  I cannot stand before you without evoking the tremendous collaboration we enjoyed together ten years ago as we prepared for World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto and celebrated our Catholic Christian identity and mission on a grand scale.  Through the great generosity of Development and Peace, we were able to have made in the barrios of Colombia, South America over 500,000 small wooden crosses that Pope John Paul II presented to each young pilgrim who took part in World Youth Day in Canada.  Through your generous contribution, we had made by women’s cooperatives in Chiapas, Mexico, the beautiful stoles for 500 priest confessors who celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the tens of thousands of young people of the world in Duc in Altum Park and at Downsview Park. Working closely with your regional leaders, we involved over 100,000 young people in the service projects that took place on the Wednesday afternoon of World Youth Day week.  And seizing the tremendous good will of your volunteers, we prepared the famous red pilgrim bags that had been stitched together in the prisons of Quebec.  It was the World Youth Day of 2002 that allowed Development and Peace to launch a new outreach to young men and women in this country.  Many of you at that time called the World Youth Day a “refounding” moment for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Now ten years later, I come before you to encourage you once again in the important ecclesial mission entrusted to Development and Peace, and to reflect on what it means to be a convinced and convincing witness to Jesus Christ and the long, rich tradition of the social teaching of the Church.   You have asked me to speak about “Catholic Communications, Identity and Mission,” a theme that has been at the heart of my ministry especially over the past 10 years since the establishment of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network.  I will situate my remarks in the context of the “Year of Faith” that has been announced by Pope Benedict XVI – a year that will begin on October 11, 2012, the date that marks the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.  The Year of Faith will conclude on the Solemnity of Christ the King, on November 2013.
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