Where the Rubber Hits the Road

September 5, 2016 Bishop’s Message on the subject of Euthanasia My dear faithful, The events of the past year regarding euthanasia have been a very troubling experience. On June 17, 2016, Bill C-14 received royal assent, making euthanasia and assisted suicide legal in Canada. In supporting euthanasia, both private and institutional voices have neglected the intrinsic value of life and have undermined the fundamental value of individual freedom of conscience. The program of support for euthanasia has been marked by misrepresentation and manipulation, which in turn has created significant frustration for many people of good will. Our country finds itself in a tragic position. This eventuality was not unforeseen. I wish to thank the many people who continue to work to protect life and who speak in favour of the sanctity of life. I wish to recognize many heroic people in the past, who prophetically observed the slippery slope down which our society was travelling. Their warnings, made in t...

Bishop Michael Mulhall, Bishop of Pembroke announced on Monday that I'm being transferred from my current assignment as pastor of St. Anne's Parish in Mattawa, Ontario to take up the same position on the Quebec side of the Diocese... in Chapeau (St. Alphonsus), Sheenboro (St. Paul the Hermit), and St. Joseph's (St. Joseph's) effective September 12th, 2013. This will be a bit of a home coming for me as I have twice before served in Chapeau (as both assistant and pastor) and already love the people and place. I look forward to renewing many old acquaintances there just as I do with those good folk I know from Sheen and St. Joseph's. Moving is the reality of life for all parish priests and this is far from St. Anne's Church - Mattawa being the first time I've changed parishes over the past 25 years. Still as much as I look forward to returning to the Upper Pontiac, it is always sad to say good-bye to a place such as Mattawa. Typical of communities in ...