Good evening, ladies and
gentlemen. I want to thank you all for
your kind welcome of me this afternoon.
I have just come from two retreats – one for our clergy, preached by a Benedictine
monk from Munster, SK, and the second that I preached for the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate, at Star of the North Retreat Hose in St. Albert. Not to mention the meeting that I was at
yesterday in Winnipeg, of the board of directors for the corporation of
Catholic dioceses and religious congregations dealing with the Indian
Residential School Settlement. Having
come back recently from World Youth Day in Spain, you can see that there are a
whole variety of topics that I could share with you on this evening. However, in planning for this evening a few
weeks ago, Ken Landry suggested that I speak of the proposed move of the
chancery offices from McLennan to Grande Prairie. I’d be willing to speak of these other events
as well, perhaps on a later occasion.
Let me stick for now with the subject that Sir Knight Ken Landry gave
me. The move to Grande Prairie … “if
that’s not too hot a topic, Your Grace”, is how he put it. It is indeed a hot topic.
When studying English composition and
the writing of essays in high school, I was taught a guiding principle of
composition: that any text without a context is a pretext. So even as I speak of the placement of the
chancery office, I want to set it in a context.
What can be said about chancery offices generally and the placement of
the seat of any diocese. How might we
then apply this to the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan?
By definition, the chancery office is
the collective of offices and functions by which a bishop governs his
diocese. It consists of the bishop’s own
office, and those of the chancellor, financial officer, accountants, directors
of pastoral ministry and welfare to the poor and needy, catechetical offices,
and archives. In most circumstances that
I know of, such offices would all be located under the same roof, but this is
not always the case. The chancery offices
are also normally in the same vicinity or town as the cathedral.
Although no stipulation of such
exists in Canon Law, the cathedral and chancery offices are usually located in
cities, where there is a sizeable population.
In the New Catholic Encyclopedia,
under the article entitled Diocese (Eparchy), it states, “In the age
that followed the Apostles, diocesan organization became clearer. Generally all local churches were in the
cities, and each city had its own bishop.
As the Church spread out into the country areas, these regions remained
in the control of the city bishop. In
Egypt and Mesopotamia there were churches in flourishing villages under the
ecclesiastical control of the city bishop.”
In the middle east of apostolic times, dioceses were established in this
way; as the Church spread to Europe and other continents, this practice of
situating the chancery offices and cathedral in a significant city continued to
be the pattern.
In Canada at least, I would say that in
several instances, the successful choice of a seat for the dioceses has been a
challenge, due to the fact that populations and resources have quickly shifted
in our pioneer country. In every
instance, the seat of a diocese was established in a given town or city, or in
any other place in the firm belief that this place would expand and grow. As time went on, in a number of these cases,
a subsequent bishop would move his chancery offices, usually moving the
cathedral as well, but not always. Let
me enumerate the examples of this in Canada that I personally know of:
·
The
original Diocese of Harbour Grace in central Newfoundland, was moved to Grand
Falls-Windsor in 1953, and renamed the Diocese of Grand Falls;
·
The
Diocese of St. George’s on the west coast of Newfoundland was moved to
CornerBrook, and is now known as the Diocese of CornerBrook and Labrador;
·
The
Diocese of Saint John, New Brunswick, was begun by including the whole of the
Province of New Brunswick, and was located in Fredericton, the provincial
capital. Very shortly afterward, however,
the seat of the diocese was moved to the port city of Saint John, which is
still the larger centre;
·
The
Diocese of Alexandria in south-eastern Ontario was moved from Alexandria to the
city of Cornwall in 1976. The dioceses
was renamed the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, and while the cathedral
remained in the town of Alexandria, a co-cathedral was designated in the city
of Cornwall;
·
The
Diocese of Sault-Ste-Marie, Ontario, while it has retained that name to this
day, saw a co-cathedral designated in North Bay when the chancery offices were
moved there, but the present chancery offices for this diocese are found in the
city of Sudbury;
·
The
Diocese of St. Albert was moved a few short miles and renamed the Archdiocese
of Edmonton in 1912;
·
The
Vicariate Apostolic of Grouard moved its chancery and cathedral to McLennan,
and became known as the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan;
·
The
Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith in the NWT moved its chancery offices to the
city of Yellowknife, although the name of the diocese remains the same, and the
cathedral is still located in Fort Smith;
·
In
1963, the Diocese of Prince Rupert BC was moved to Prince George, and the name of
the diocese changed to Prince George;
·
The
chancery offices for the Diocese of Nelson BC were very recently moved to Kelowna. It seems that the name of that local church
will remain The Diocese of Nelson, with the cathedral remaining in Nelson.
So, is there are any precedents in
Canada for moving the chancery offices to a different city? As you can see, it has happened many times
before. Without having done extensive
research into the histories of these many moves, I would conjecture that in
most if not all cases, the move was made because the population and resources
and travel routes shifted. The town or
city that was earlier thought to be or to become significant, no longer held a
place of significance. The bishop in each
case made a practical decision and moved to a place of greater influence within
his diocese.
You will notice that I made mention
of Grouard in that litany of moved chancery offices. I’m sure that nobody here needs to be reminded
that our diocese did not begin in McLennan, but in Grouard. In 1939, Bishop Langlois wrote to the Offices
of Propaganda Fide in Rome, requesting permission to move the cathedral and the
seat of the diocese, then a Vicariate Apostolic, from Grouard. When Grouard was chosen in 1903 and the
cathedral built there, Grouard was not insignificant. A strategic port on Lesser Slave Lake, it handled
a large volume of shipping traffic. Its
shops and services were unparalleled in northern Alberta, and it had every sign
of becoming a major city. So significant
was Grouard, in fact, that it was proposed to become the provincial capital
when Alberta became a province in 1905.
When that didn’t happen, and when railways overtook waterways as the
preferred means of transportation, McLennan seemed by the late 1930s as a very
logical choice to built a new chancery office and then a cathedral. McLennan seemed poised to become a bustling
city and to warrant such a move, as it already had sufficient industry and
businesses, the railway being a significant player. It seems to me that when the chancery moved
from Grouard to McLennan, it was because the bishop of the day was confident
that McLennan would become a booming city, and he wanted the Catholic Church to
be already there in a significant way.
Unfortunately, and it is most unfortunate but true, McLennan never
became that booming city. It has
diminished, while the post-war boom mightily increased the good fortunes of
many other communities across the nation and in northern Alberta. Shifts in population are still taking place
in this country.
As I have pondered this situation
since becoming bishop and residing in McLennan, I have become aware of many
realities that have an effect on me and on my functioning, some major and some
not so. In presenting my proposal to
move to Grande Prairie, I’ve highlighted what I consider to be two of the more
compelling reasons for such a change. On
the one hand is my need for access to airlines for travel beyond the borders of
our archdiocese; on the other is the ability to meet the personnel needs of the
chancery office into the future. Put
quite simply, there are several flights I need to catch throughout the year,
and I find the two hours’ drive from the airport to be a burden. And as our archdiocese develops and grows,
the staffing needs of the chancery will increase both in terms of number of
staff needed, as well as the particular skills being sought. I am not confident that the McLennan region
has an employee base to meet those needs.
It is now over 4.5 years since my
ordination as a bishop and my installation as the Archbishop of
Grouard-McLennan. In the years since
beginning this very singular ministry, I’ve succeeded in getting around to most
all of the communities of the diocese.
I’ve come to know our people and understand our resources and our
challenges. There is much that I have
been able to accomplish … all of this with the cooperation and devotion of the
clergy and of the baptized in our local church.
All the while, I’ve tried to find an image that might speak of this need
to relocate the chancery office and move into different quarters. The image that fits it best in my mind is a potted
plant. Anyone who finds joy in potted
plants knows of the need to re-pot any given plant as it grows, until it
reaches its greatest size. As a mere slip,
a small and pretty pot may suffice. But
as it grows, a new and larger pot is needed, with fresh soil and nutrients. You don’t want the plant to become pot-bound,
as that fact in itself will prevent its further growth and development.
I think you all know what I’ve
circulated already in my pastoral letters about this proposed move. I’ve provided no deadline. The cathedral will remain to be the present
St. John the Baptist Cathedral in McLennan.
We will still be known as the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan. Most of the meetings and events that draw
together people from around the archdiocese will still take place in Peace
River or McLennan.
Last summer, realizing that there
were many issues to be addressed in making such a transfer, I sensed the need
to put together a steering committee.
This committee is commissioned with the task of looking at all the
possible options in this move, at the same time developing a business plan for
the project. Two people from the
chancery office in McLennan (Paulette Carrier and Fr. Joseph Jacobson) were
joined on this committee by three people from Grande Prairie (Gerry Marcotte,
Garth Grubisich and Paulette Patterson).
For health reasons, Paulette Patterson has stepped down, and I have
found others from Grande Prairie and Peace River to take her place in mounting
a fundraising campaign. This steering
committee continues to meet and work on the details of this project. The committee informs me that the actual move
is most likely about 12 to 18 months away.
As you have heard, at least since
I’ve been bishop, our diocese lives pretty close to the bone. We thankfully have achieved, with some hard
work, a balanced budget for the archdiocesan operations. The end of each year shows either a sight
deficit or a slight profit. At the same
time, I know that the majority of our parishes struggle to survive. I do not foresee the cost of this move to
have a negative effect on the financial needs of any parish. A very initial projection of the cost of the
move is from $1.2 to $1.5M. The plan is
to raise this money within a short period of time, and these donations are to
come to this project and to this project alone.
It will not be taken from any parish holdings in the archdiocese.
The Knights of Columbus have always
taken great pride in their support for their priests and their parishes, for
their bishop and for this diocese. I am
grateful for this support, and I count on it. I cannot deny that my proposed move to Grande
Prairie has upset some people in the diocese.
There may even be some of you here this evening – faithful Knights and
fervent Catholics – who feel opposed to this move. Despite this, I count on your support for me
and my office, support that I hope will be expressed in three ways: prayerful,
moral and financial.
By prayerful support, I ask you to
pray for our archdiocese in all of its needs.
Pray for our parish communities and their vitality. Pray for our priests and seminarians and
religious Sisters. Pray for our youth,
that they may grow up to be faith-filled and believing Catholics.
By moral support, I ask you to try to
speak well not only of me but of all persons.
Refrain from repeating to others what may come to your ears as gossip
and innuendo. Stand up for the integrity
of every person. Give the other person
the benefit of the doubt. Whenever you
can say something positive about someone, say it in truth and in charity.
By financial support, I ask you to
promote a spirit of adequate giving in our diocese. This is not only in terms of cold cash, but
also the warmer currencies of time and talent.
We have all been blessed; encourage in the people around you a spirit of
giving in the measure each one has received.
The author of Psalm 116 asks the question, “What return can I make to
the Lord, for all of his goodness to me?”
I am open to any questions or
discussion, not only on this topic but anything you wish to raise. I thank you for your attention to these words
of mine.
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