Christmas Message 2014 The Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops December 4, 2014 As I write this Christmas message, barely a week has gone by since Remembrance Day, a day marked by the still fresh memory of the recent assassinations of two members of the Canadian Armed ...read more

World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 Released the Official Hymn for September 2015 Event The World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 released the Official Hymn for the 2015 world meeting of families, held September 22-27 2015, and featuring Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States. The hymn, titled “Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom,” ...read more

(CCCB – Ottawa)… The Episcopal Commission for Doctrine of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has released a new document entitled “The Missionary Dynamic of the Parish Today.” Written from the current Canadian context, the text emphasizes that “spreading faith in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of humanity, is the Church’s fundamental and primary mission” ...read more

One main difference between the Vocations to the Single and Religious life and the Vocations to the Ordained and the Married Lives is that Ordination and Marriage, in the Catholic Church, are Sacraments. Let’s look at the Vocation to the Ordained Life and the Sacrament of Ordination. It is very common to hear about the ...read more

Here’s what’s been making headlines in the church across Canada this week: In Montreal: Hockey legend Jean Beliveau passed away this week. The obituaries in national media focused on his hockey skill and his upstanding sportsmanship. None mentioned his commitment to his Catholic faith. Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepin will preside at the funeral Mass for ...read more

How Bishops are Appointed Last week on Vatican Connections we talked about how a bishop gets appointed. It’s a rather long process, and some viewers wrote in asking if there was a text explaining the process. (I talk fast sometimes!). Step one: The process begins at the local level. The bishops in a region submit ...read more

Go behind the scenes of the filming of “Santa’s Priority,” an evangelizing commercial that focuses on the true meaning of Christmas for everyone, including Santa! Hundreds of people, including actors, producers, cameramen and tech professionals, come together in an effort to spread the joy and message of Christmas. This “Keep Christ in Christmas” special from ...read more

Pope Francis final meeting in Turkey was with a group of 50 young people, including many refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries of the Middle East and Africa.  The young refugees are cared for by the local Salesian community in Istanbul. The Salesian Oratory (Youth Center) in Istambul is headed by Salesian Fr. Andres ...read more

Deacon-structing Vocations: The Religious Life. ...read more

Below you will find the full text of the Common Declaration of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, signed at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar (Istanbul), on Sunday, November 30, 2014, Feast of St. Andrew:  We, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, express our profound gratitude to God for the gift of this new ...read more