In 1858, four Sisters of St. Ann traveled from Montreal to Canada’s West Coast aboard the SS Seabird with Victoria’s first Bishop, Modeste Demers (a relative of their current Bishop!).  They made the two-month voyage via a circuitous route through the Isthmus of Panama. Their goal was to aid the Bishop in his mission to ...read more

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI advanced the sainthood causes of 35 candidates, including Canadian Christian Brother Adolphe Chatillon. During a meeting April 2 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the pope signed a decree recognizing that Brother Chatillon lived the Christian virtues ...read more

Last week, the Downtown Chapel in Portland, Oregon, made a special announcement:  they’re changing their parish name.  A recent degree by the Archbishop of Portland will change the Church’s patronage from St. Vincent de Paul to the Congregation of Holy Cross’ first saint, St. André Bessette. For any of you who have seen the documentary ...read more

In February 2009 my wife and I drove my colleague, Kris Dmytrenko, to the Buffalo, New York airport. He was flying to Rome for work, and giving him a ride to the airport gave us the opportunity to visit a few shrines in the upstate New York area. One of the shrines we visited was ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI’s Wednesday general audience this week highlights the life of St. Catherine of Genoa. Two things stood out for me about this talk: the 15th century saint’s words on purgatory and also what the Holy Father said about mystics.  He recounted the “profound union” Catherine had with God, but that she also cared ...read more

This year we celebrated Brother André’s first feast day as Saint André. There were many special celebrations throughout Canada, and at Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral there was a bilingual Mass of Thanksgiving for Canada’s newest saint. Ottawa’s Archbishop Terrence Prendergast was the main celebrant.  In his homily, he spoke of the qualities that make Brother ...read more

On Thursday December 30, 2010, the 600 participants in the CCO National Conference traveled to St. Joseph’s Oratory where a special Mass was celebrated with all of them in the Crypt Church.  Bishop Paul André Durocher, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, presided at the liturgy along with religious and diocesan priests from every part of Canada.  Watch ...read more

On Thursday, January 6th, the universal Church celebrates the 74th anniversary of the death of its first male Canadian-born saint – St. André Bessette.  As you may remember, the end of last year was marked by the celebrations for St. André’s canonization on October 17th.  Salt + Light also produced a documentary on his life ...read more

One of the great stories this year not only for the Canadian Church but for the Church as a whole, is the canonization of Brother André.  For us at Salt + Light Television, the story is very dear  to us.  As most of you know, a very dedicated team of people here invested a lot ...read more

This week, thousands of people – some half-way around the world – will begin receiving their purchased copy of God’s Doorkeeper, the moving documentary on the life and legacy of Saint André of Montreal. More than 1,400 copies have been sold during a brief two-month pre-sale period, making it the most successful DVD launch for ...read more