Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Help bring some good news to our little town of Mattawa!  We've made the final cut in the TSN Kraft Celebration Tour and are competing against the City of Pembroke in the voting to win our segment of the population. On July 14 - til noon the next day, please go to the TSN-Kraft voting website and help us win this David & Goliath competition to bring the TSN Sportscentre crew to Mattawa... and the $25,000 they will grant the winner to help us develop a water park for our local kids. We have suffered greatly during this 'Great Recession' with the complete collapse of the forest industries that sustained employment for the past 150 years. Unemployment runs into the 20% range with many people having to leave their families behind in search of work so that they can financially help their family (and by extension the whole town) survive,  keeping their families sheltered and fed. We could really use the boost that winning this competition will bring. The project we are p...

Our local Pembroke Lumber Kings are Canadian National Hockey Champions, sending B.C.'s Vernon team to defeat!!! (Sorry Lady Janus! Maybe the Canucks will do better!) The Ottawa Valley rules!!! Congratulations Lumber Kings.... and THANK YOU for this great lift to all who call the Valley home. The Pembroke Lumber Kings are this year's RBC Cup national champions - The Daily Observer - Ontario, CA

A Tribute Dinner offered for the Clergy of my Diocese was part of the world wide "Year of the Priest" celebrations. It was a joint venture of the Diocesan Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Woman's Leagues, and it was very much appreciated by the clergy in attendance. Although the planning for this event preceded the recent revelations of documents demonstrating that our Diocesan administration of the day failed to follow its own stated policy in dealing with such allegations, denying victims who remained mute for many years, satisfied with assurances that their predator was under tight supervision - something that proved not to be true. It has not been pleasant to minister in what for a week was in the current cross hairs of the international media, and these days were certainly challenging for Pembroke's priests. The serendipity of events which brought this dinner quickly on the heels of these trials was a blessing for all the Diocesan family who celebrated tog...

An editorial from the Pembroke Daily Observer on the sex abuse scandals. A voice from the current 'ground zero' calling for the Church to act with justice. No more excuses in church abuse scandal - The Daily Observer - Ontario, CA

PLEASE visit and respond to the request I make on my facebook account. It would be greatly appreciated by all priests... but especially we here in the latest Canadian 'ground zero' of the sex abuse scandals. A Google search of just the names of the principals in this current revelation of prior knowledge brings 1870 news stories on this condemnatory piece of correspondence. WE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need your support. Please at least take the few seconds needed to register your 'liking' the idea of praying for priests in Pembroke and around the world. THANK YOU. Fr. Tim Facebook | Fr. Tim Moyle

Homily of Sunday, April 11, 2010 - Vinton - Padrereal2002 - AllMyBlog

If ever there was a time for the laity to come to the spiritual aid of their clergy, it's now! It's time for all Catholics to bend their knees in supplication for their priests who have faithfully offered their lives to the Church and to her 'Eternal Spouse', Jesus Christ. Sincerely folks, I ask you to pray for all victims of predator priests. I ask you as well to pray also for the clergy of our diocese. The very fact that the Charles Gibson, Diocesan lawyer was interviewed in preparation of this CTV media report, should have been clue enough of the need of the Diocesan spokesperson to deal with the media at weekend masses at the Cathedral. TV cameras also greeted those entering and leaving the other Pembroke parishes as well. At the very least, local clergy should have been alerted of the likelihood of the media's presence and instructed in how they should be dealt with.  Alas, no one thought of these details. The priests of the Cathedral were left on their own ...

Vatican, Canadian church officials tried to keep sex scandal secret - The Globe and Mail

Another priests' take on the Bernard Prince Scandal. What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » Cardinal Prefect [NOT RATZINGER!], Canadian hierarchy knew of abuse, covered it

Taken from NYT website. Click on the title to read the entire NYT story. In its statement, the Pembroke diocese said the victim ''was encouraged to refer the allegations to the civil authorities'' in accordance with Canadian church protocols, but ''his decision at the time was not to do so.'' However, the victim in a response to the diocese's statement e-mailed to The Associated Press disputed its account. ''At no point in my meetings with the diocese did they encourage me to call the police,'' he said. ''At no point did they offer to call the police on my behalf.'' The victim said that Windle never attended any meetings with him and church officials at the time.

For the first time in my career as a priest, I am embarrassed to belong to the Pembroke Diocese. Bishop Windle has (posthumously) dealt a horrific blow to the Church by not following the policy set by the Canadian Bishops. Our current Bishop gathered the priests together a few weeks ago and told us this would not happen; that there was no foreknowledge of Prince's crimes. So, either he spoke without knowing what the truth was (hardly instills confidence) or he lied to his priests (even worse!!) Life is NOT good these days. Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Cardinal prefect, Canadian hierarchy knew of Vatican official’s abuse

Friends, I ask for your prayers today. The priests of the Pembroke Diocese meet today with our Bishop, +Michael Mulhall to discuss the recent spate of sex abuse cases that have erupted in our Diocese. The event is called in large part as a result of priests calling the Diocese with concerns that the victims who brought these charges, might be re-victimized again as they process through the various criminal and civil legal actions. +Mulhall, concerned for the welfare both of these innocents and his priests, has called this day-long meeting so that the entire body of the presbytery might be able to share their thoughts and concerns with each other, and to him. He has also arranged for the presence of the legal firm that represents the Diocese in these matters so that they also might hear these same concerns. Clearly +Mulhall wishes that he (and by extension his priests) and the lawyers will speak with one, moral & just voice in response to this crisis. Please pray too that the...

The Diocese of Pembroke is one of those small semi-rural dioceses that comprise the majority of Catholic Diocese in Canada. Like most of these dioceses, there are one or two small local dailies that have traditionally been seen as being supportive of the activities of the Catholic churches within their community, focusing as they do on local events. The Pembroke Daily Observer is just such a paper. However, the days when such papers spoke only to local concerns seems to be coming to an end as more and more editors and publishers of these community based papers are publishing editorials and articles that present a challenge to Catholic morality and teaching. The Daily Observer, in an editorial published on Friday Nov. 13th, addresses the question of euthanasia, coming out strongly in favor of a proposed piece of legislation that is currently before the Canadian House of Commons. It has been the practice of most Canadian Bishops to not engage in debating such issues in the local pa...