About the 2017 Plenary Assembly
The meeting will be chaired by the Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., Bishop of Hamilton and CCCB President, who will finish his term as President at the end of this Plenary.
Part of the 2017 plenary agenda is dedicated to a reflection on Amoris Laetitia: the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family. The guest speaker for this reflection will be His Eminence Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, who is Archbishop Emeritus of Québec.
The Bishops will also take the opportunity of their annual gathering to consecrate Canada to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary as part of the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. The celebration also marks the 50th anniversary of Development and Peace-Caritas Canada.
Another highlight of the plenary will be the ecumenical prayer service for the commemoration of the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation.
In addition to reviewing pastoral initiatives and receiving annual reports from the Conference's national, sectoral Commissions, and Standing Committees, the Plenary Assembly will be dedicated to:
- the election of a new CCCB President and other members of the Executive Committee and Permanent Council who will serve for the next two years
- interreligious and ecumenical dialogue
- persecuted Christians in the Middle East
- human trafficking