Summary of this Issue

Liturgical overview of the month of March is available.

The history of Lent.

A Lenten Prayer Vigil Initiative is proposed across from the abortion mill. We are looking for prayer warriors to get involved. A Blog shows the effect of this prayerful witness.

For Latin lovers, there will be a Mass in Latin every Sunday at 4:30 pm at Saint Patrick’s Basilica during Lent.

Oprah Winfrey was impressed by some real Catholic nuns she had on her show.

Information and videos on Chalice, a great Canadian charity is available.

A captivating journal of reflections on a week spent with the poor in Central America.

Videos links in this issue: three short musical videos, and an informative EWTN interview dealing with the vibrant and growing Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

The Vancouver Olympics provided an opportunity for a better perspective on Canada by the Americans.

A captivating book review of Canadian Converts is available.

A group of Ottawa Pro-life General Practitioners would like to expand their membership. Prayers are requested for this initiative.

Upcoming Events of Note:

• February 27^th: meeting with Phil Lees, Head of the Family Coalition Party of Ontario.

• March 3^rd: Recapturing Reason: Adult Faith lecture series at St. Patrick’s Basilica.

• March 7^th to 9^th: Lenten Mission at St. Patrick’s Basilica.

• March 8^th: CCO welcomes Cardinal Leveda to Ottawa.

• March 9^th: Reflections on the Poor in Central America at Annunciation of the Lord Parish

• March 13^th: Dr. Ian Hunter talks on his conversion experience at St. Patrick’s Basilica.

• March 13^th: The Resting Place – teaching on prayer & spiritual life at St. Mary’s.

• March 20^th: Men’s Breakfast at St. Augustine Parish featuring Marcel Dion.

• July 16^th -18^th Journey to the Father - recommended activities for those with High School children or grand-children.

Oprah meets some real Catholic nuns

Oprah Winfrey recently lined up a series on alternative communities and wanted Catholic nuns to be a part of the mix. Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor Michigan (median age twenty-six, with approximately 100 members) decided to accept Oprah's invitation. Click HERE to read article and see videos.

This is a great Canadian based charity doing wonderful work. Visit:

http://www.chalice.ca/

Here are a few videos explaining some of their initiatives:

This is a great Canadian based charity doing wonderful work. Below are Web sites summarizing some of their initiatives. 

KENCAN (Kenya – Canada) Medical Mission: clihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSdVOXT3mGA

The Sponsorship Program:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vxsuT3TOi0

This lent and easter (spring), Chalice wants to establish 33 youth participation groups in Canada (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFb6gwMa-Yw )

A great charity well worth supporting particularly during this Lenten season.

Reflections on the poor of Central America

Last November, Dick & Louse Fiala (Annunciation of the Lord Parish) spent a spirit-filled week in a medical mission with the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic…..what a way to spend a holiday in the Carribean!!

Dick wrote a journal of his one week adventure. To read this captivating report, click HERE (it takes about 10seconds seconds to download the PDF).

The Pembroke-based medical mission in which the Fiala’s became involved is called Friends for Life. It has almost no overhead All the work is done by volunteers who fund their own airfare and other travel expenses. The work they do in the bateyes of the Dominican Republic is indispensable as illustrated in the above report.

If you wish to support this cause your tax receiptable donations can be sent to:

  Friends for Life
  c/o Celine Britton
  402 Centre Street
  Pembroke, ON K8A 1J6

For more information yous can contact Dick at dickfiala@rogers.com

This is another great charity worth supporting particularly this Lenten.

Videos of the Issue

This Time of Forty Days

You Are Always There (Canadian Tenors)

Musical leaf-Whispering Hope

………………………………………………………….

Longer Video (28 minutes): Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

Below is a link to an Interesting interview with the vibrant and growing Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. EWTN (Fr. Mitch Pacwa) interviews two members from the community who speak briefly about the Traditional and Novus Ordo Mass, Art, architecture, etc….informative and good food for thought: http://www.gloria.tv/?media=54821

A side benefit of the Vancouver Olympics is that it fostered a Canada/US perspective you won’t see every day. Enjoy!
 
For years we have complained that the majority Americans don't know nearly enough about Canada. While I suspect this will still be true after the Olympic Games, this piece (see link below) by Tom Brokaw on NBC puts our relationship in perspective. The images are beautiful, the writing is outstanding and the feeling you are left with is uplifting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYoTJItSPt0

Book Review of “Canadian Converts”

Click HERE to read an insightful review of this captivating book by Herman Goodden, from Catholic Insight Magazine.

Canadian Converts is one of the first books published by Justin Press, a new Ottawa-based Canadian Catholic printing house. Click HERE for details of this and other books. These books can also be purchased at St. Patrick's Gift Shop.

Pro-life General Practitioners Needed

Ottawa Pro-life doctors would like to expand their membership in order to provide better coordinated services to our community. Pro-life GP’s are therefore invited to join this association.

For more info, please contact Dr. Joseph Clarke at:
      Email: joseph_clarke3@sympatico.ca
      Phone: 613-563-0343 (private line at office)
      Fax at office: 613-563-2211.

All are invited to pray for this important initiative. Please pass this on.

UPCOMING EVENTS

INVITATION Family Coalition Party Meeting

The Family Coalition Party (FCP) will be meeting on

WHEN: Saturday, February 27th at 1 pm

WHERE: Laroche Room of the Hintonburg Community Centre 1064 Wellington West.

Phil Lees (leader of the FCP) will speak. We will discuss organizing riding associations, choosing our areas of activism.

Please come and show your support!

Wednesday Adult Faith Series at
Saint Patrick’s Basilica

Continues on March 3^rd 

WEDNESDAY ADULT FAITH SERIES

We live in a secular culture. The attitude of many towards Christianity is scepticism if not outright rejection.  Surveys indicate that atheism is a growing concern.

Question:  What are you doing to address the issue?   

We all receive the following admonition in 1 Peter 3: “Should anyone ask you for the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply, but speak gently   and respectfully”.

Are you ready to explain   and defend the basic tenets of our faith?   Are you equipped to articulate our faith? 

 Dr. Tim Lau will be offering seven Wednesday sessions beginning on February 24^th and ending April 7^th 2010.  These sessions will provide you with a foundation to conform to St.  Peter’s admonition.  Each session will be held in the Saint Patrick Basilica Scavi (basement), from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.  All are welcome. 

Click HERE for more info.

Saint Patrick Basilica Lent Exercises

March 7^th to March 9th

Father Martin Hilbert, a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto, will preach three days of Lenten exercises here on Sunday (March 7^th); Monday (March 8^th); and Tuesday (March 9^th).

On Sunday, March 7^th, Father will preach at the 9:30 a.m., 11 am, and 12:15 pm Masses. The weekday evening exercises will take place beginning at 7 pm in the church on Monday and Tuesday at the Basilica.

Click HERE for more info.

Reflections on the poor of Central America

Last November, Dick & Louse Fiala (Annunciation of the Lord Parish) spent a spirit-filled week in a medical mission with the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic. They will give a presentation on their contribution to this mission on Tuesday evening, March 9^th at 7:30 PM at Annunciation of the Lord Parish, 2414 Ogilvie Rd.

The Resting Place

Talks on prayer by Marcel Dion -- Feb. 13^th & March 13^th at St. Mary’s Parish

An ongoing teaching series on prayer and the spiritual life called "The Resting Place" is being given by Marcel Dion, Director of Spritiual Formation at St.Mary's parish in Ottawa (see below for details).  It is being held once a month in the parish hall on Saturdays from 9:45 am to 12 noon.  Future sessions will be held on Feb. 13 and March 13, 2010.
 
Archived audio of the past talks is available on-line by going to the St. Mary's Parish website (link below) and clicking on "Spritual Formation" on the menu (in red) in the upper right corner: 
 
http://www.stmarysottawa.ca/index.htm

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Each session will include a time of praise and worship, two presentations on prayer and the improvement of our prayer life, as well as time for questions and answers.  Anyone interested in learning about and deepening their experience of prayer is encouraged to join us.

 Join us for this ongoing teaching series on prayer. Among the many graces available to us during this Jubilee year is the grace to “put out into the deep” in our spiritual lives. Marcel Dion – our Director of Spiritual Formation – draws from the wisdom of John Paul II, Doctors of the Church, as well as Catholic Mystical theology to help us understand why pursuing growth in the interior life is not only our chief obligation and our greatest privilege but an exciting adventure as well!

 As John Paul II taught “...it is prayer that roots us in this truth [that without Christ we can do nothing] and constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with Him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness.”

"It would be wrong to think that ordinary Christians can be content with a shallow prayer that is unable to fill their whole life. Especially in the face of the many trials to which today's world subject faith, they would be not only mediocre Christians but 'Christians at risk”

John Paul II Novo Millennio Ineunte

CCO Welcomes Cardinal Levada to Ottawa

CCO presents their second annual fundraising gala on Monday, March 8th, 2010 in Ottawa with His Eminence William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Holy Mass with Cardinal Levada - Notre Dame Cathedral at 4:30 on March 8^th with Gala Evening at The Westin Hotel - Cash bar at 5:45, Dinner at 6:45 125$ per ticket with 60$ tax receipt. For Tickets or information contact:

CCO Headquarters:  613 736 1999   ottawamtm@cco.ca

For more information please see event poster

Cardinal Levada serves as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia. On May 13, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI elected Levada to be his successor in this highly important post.

Basilica Adult Faith Series

Saturday, March 13^th, at 7 p.m. in the Scavi of Saint Patrick’s Basilica:

Upon This Rock:
Reflections of a Recent Convert

Ian Hunter
Professor Emeritus, University of Western Ontario
President, Hunter Arbitration/Mediation Services
London, Ontario

Why would someone, at age 61, leave his church to become a Roman Catholic? ….especially someone like author, professor, and lawyer Ian Hunter, whose upbringing was in an evangelical Protestantism that considered Catholicism an abomination and the Pope likely the Antichrist?

What culture shock awaits the recent Protestant convert? Come and hear Ian Hunter speak to these questions and more.

Click HERE for details.

Men's Breakfast St Augustine Parish 

Saturday March 20^th, 8 am to 10 am: Men's Breakfast Men’s at St. Augustine Parish (1060 Baseline Rd …use East side-entrance). The speaker will be Marcel Dion, Director of Spiritual Formation at St. Mary’s Parish.

An inspiring, informative talk and a nutritious continental breakfast preceded by Praise & Worship music, all for the modest cost of $4.00 (at the door).

Please confirm by calling Denis at (613) 228-7646 or e-mail breakfastformen@gmail.com.

Click HERE for details.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS 

7:00 - 9:00 p.m., St. Mary's hall, 100 Young St.

Fellowship and discussions for newly-married Catholic couples will take place over several Saturday sessions.  These will deal with how to grow from anger to intimacy. Please bring your favourite veggies, fruits or desserts.

Sat., Mar.  13, Personal Responsibility and Emotions;
Sat., Apr. 17, The Perfect Apology;
Sat., Jun. 12, Roadblocks to Forgiveness.

RSVP: André & MaryBeth Pion (613-723-0150).

JOURNEY TO THE FATHER

This is an excellent summer event for families and youth...mainly High School teenagers. It is very affordable and it is less than two hours from Ottawa, St. Raphael’s, Ontario (near Cornwall)….so plan your family holiday early…..

What is this conference about? You!

Enjoy amazing live music that uplifts your spirit.

Hear speakers who understand your hopes and your fears. They speak straight from their hearts.

Make peace with the Father and feel that peace in your life.

Experience your faith in an exciting new way.

Meet other teens just like you

When, where?

July 16-18, 2010
St. Raphael's, Ontario (between Ottawa and Montreal)

Adults (age 21+) Thinking of bringing a group?
Email us at signmeup@journeytothefather.ca and we'll send you a great promo dvd and info package.


Watch our 2008 promo video online
Click here to view the Photodex video now!

Watch our 2007 promo video online
Click here to view the video now!

Listen to/download audio of talks from some past conferences
Click here to listen to the audio now!


Proudly supported by:
The Catholic Diocese of Alexandria - Cornwall

The Conference

This is the tenth annual Journey to the Father Conference. This exciting adventure in the Catholic faith is modelled closely on the Franciscan University of Steubenville High School Aged Conferences. Two main differences are the smaller size ( 500) which does create a more intimate atmosphere to the conference and our Canadian speakers. After relying on American speakers the first few years, we have made a conscious decision to use our own talented and spirit-filled speakers and we have been delighted with the response.

Our teachings are faithful to the Magisterium ( as are those from Franciscan University Conferences) and we try to present the beautiful teachings of the Catholic Church in ways that our youth can understand and be drawn to.

The program is a mix of dynamic talks, beautiful liturgies, great music, with enough social time and opportunity for sports to allow the youth to meet new friends and relax. We have several young speakers and we invite other youth, especially our Disciple Team, to witness during the weekend.

We set up a book store with a variety of Catholic merchandise for sale. We also invite a number of organizations and groups to exhibit at the Conference. These are groups which offer " a next step" for young people finishing high school and have included in the past, the National Evangelization Team, Catholic Christian Outreach, Regnum Christie, religious orders, St. Francis Xavier University, and Youth Blaze among others.

All our food is prepared on site with a good variety of meals and options for people with special food requirements.

We lay ground sheets to accommodate about 200 males or females each in their respective large tent. Chaperones sleep with their groups and we have 24 hour security in these tents. The site is also well supervised throughout the weekend.

Over 400 volunteers are involved each year in staging this conference for our youth. We are very proud of the support we receive from people of all ages in our Diocese. They in turn, enjoy meeting the wonderful young people who attend these conferences and their Chaperones.

We ask for your prayers as we prepare for this wonderful event.

http://www.journeytothefather.ca/conference.html