Category: BC Catholic

In 2023, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Proclaim team gathered testimonies from Vancouver Catholics who were inspired to pick up the mantle of Christ and lead ministries in their communities and parishes. 

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the #WeAreProclaim campaign, highlighting stories of everyday missionary disciples boldly living and sharing the Gospel. 

Now we’ve launched We Are Proclaim 2.0, and a new group of evangelizing Catholics is stepping forward to share faith stories and describe how working in Catholic ministry has enriched their relationships with God and their fellow Catholics.

From parish leaders to parents, students to seniors, Proclaim 2.0 puts the diversity of the Church on full display. These stories highlight the courage, creativity, and compassion that define the Church in Vancouver and those who answer the call to service.

The common thread uniting each testimony is their mission: to proclaim the name of Jesus, Proclaim director Eric Chow told The B.C. Catholic.

“Through these stories, we hope you’ll be inspired, challenged and reminded: you are not alone in the mission. We are a people sent. We are missionary disciples.”

The annual Upper Room conference, which launched the original Proclaim movement, will take place on September 20, at Pacific Academy in Surrey. 

We will be publishing these inspiring stories over the coming weeks. 

Journeying from restlessness and emptiness to beloved son of God

By Alfredo Chu

In my early years after arriving in Canada, I lived for the moment—parties, pleasures, and chasing every temporary high the world could offer. If I earned it, I spent it. Life was loud, fast, and fun on the surface, but deep down, I was restless, spiritually empty, lost in confusion, not knowing who I really was or what I was living for.   

Then came marriage. Gabriela and I loved each other deeply, but that first year was no honeymoon. Once we moved in together, the differences in our lifestyles clashed hard. Suddenly, love had to meet reality, and I wasn’t ready. I doubted myself as a husband. As for being a father, I didn’t think I had what it took. I felt overwhelmed, unqualified, and, honestly, scared.

That’s when I knew I needed something more, and not just advice or quick fixes. I needed transformation from the inside out.    

So I returned to church, not just to find answers, but to find God. And he met me there.

Patient, kind, steady, he began reorienting my life, peeling away my layers of pride, fear, and selfishness, and showing me a new way – his way.    

The timing couldn’t be more striking.

As we honour the retirement of Michele Smillie after nearly three decades of pro-life work for the Archdiocese of Vancouver (see page 2), The B.C. Catholic is also publishing Terry O’Neill’s Page 1 investigation revealing how the B.C. government is quietly promoting euthanasia behind the scenes, with little to no oversight.

Smillie and I both began working for the Archdiocese around the same time, and from the beginning our paths intersected in two essential missions: communicating truth and defending life.

At one point, a friendly rivalry even developed between our offices over which one had the more important mission. With her office’s Pavel Reid backing her, I was outnumbered, but it’s been a privilege ever since to report on the work they carried out.

She started out by assisting Father Joseph Hattie, OMI, in what was then the Office of Marriage and Family Formation. Father Hattie was a force in the Canadian pro-life movement and helped establish Vancouver as a hub of leadership and witness. He also had strong thoughts on media.

I remember a conversation with him in Rome while we were attending the canonization of St. Eugene de Mazenod in 1995. At the time, I was still working in secular journalism and shared how I had become disillusioned. He looked at me and asked whether I prayed for journalists.

Since that moment, praying for journalists has become a part of my spiritual life. Two years after that conversation, I was hired by the Archdiocese as editor of The B.C. Catholic.

Over the years, I’ve seen Smillie’s work become central to the Archdiocese’s pro-life mission. From rallies and conferences to post-abortion healing and education, she has been a steady voice and coordinator of work that has rippled throughout B.C. and beyond. Programs like Rachel’s Vineyard, which she championed despite early controversy, are now seen as essential.

She has always maintained a spirit of hope, which is something the pro-life movement needs to hold onto. As she says in her interview this week, it’s not about the defeats. It’s about the steps forward. And so we continue to take them.

In recent years, those steps have included investigative journalism that the mainstream press refuses to do. Led by veteran reporter Terry O’Neill, we’ve exposed how medical assistance in dying (MAiD) has expanded from a rare exception for the terminally ill into a normalized practice that touches nearly every kind of suffering.

Over the years, through freedom of information requests, O’Neill has revealed how Fraser Health quietly pressured patients toward euthanasia in contradiction to its own “patient-led” policies. He’s reported on palliative care experts who resigned when asked to incorporate MAiD into hospice work.

Dioceses can foster a more synodal Church by adopting diocesan-wide gatherings, says Father Pierre Ducharme, the Minister Provincial for the Franciscan Province of the Holy Spirit in Canada and former pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Richmond.

One of five Canadian delegates at the 2024 Synod on Synodality’s international parish priests meeting, Father Ducharme is emphasizing the importance of the newly released Pathways For The Implementation Phase Of The Synod document, unveiled by Cardinal Mario Grech on July 7.

The universal Church is now a few weeks into an 18-month process for dioceses and parishes to begin finding ways to foster more synodal congregations.

Father Ducharme told The Catholic Register earlier this year that more guidance would be required to help dioceses and parishes properly understand how to transform the 57-page final document into an applicable resource. Pathways succeeds on that account, he said, and there are a few standout suggestions.

“One that comes to mind is that dioceses can have diocesan-wide gatherings,” said Father Ducharme.

“That could gather the leaders of the diocese and parishes. I’m not talking about just pastors, but a combination of priests and lay leaders. There are suggestions about looking at the existing diocesan structures and saying, ‘how can we ensure these are more synodal.’ Along those lines, there are suggestions about implementing more women in leadership roles within a diocese.”

Cardinal Mario Grech, the General Secretariat of the Synod, unveiled Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod on July 7 to offer dioceses and eparchies a framework on how to meaningfully contribute to the journey of walking forward together.

Prescribed as a guidance document, the 24-page text defines the recommended responsibilities for a diocesan or eparchial bishop, delineates the tasks of synodal teams, and outlines how to engage with the 2024 synodal assembly final document during this phase. Pathways explains how ecclesial discernment is a method for determining the concrete practices that best achieve the overall vision.

Father Ducharme appreciates the document’s overall sentiment that “nothing is stopping the bishop from being a part of the team.”

It appears this togetherness and openness mindset is already well underway in the Diocese of Victoria under Bishop Gary Gordon. On June 13, its Diocesan Permanent Pastoral Synod (DPPS) convened for a plenary assembly and immersed in listening circle discernment and prayer exercises. Bishop Gordon wrote in a reflection, weeks later, how attendees “shared stories of vulnerability, insight, and grace. They spoke of how listening built trust, and how that trust brought real hope.”

Father William Hann, the diocesan vicar general, emphasized the importance of creating such a welcoming environment for sharing in the present worldly context and how that sets the stage for progress to follow.

Thirteen young people from the Archdiocese of Vancouver will join more than half a million others from 146 countries in Rome this week for the Jubilee of Youth, part of the Church’s Jubilee Year celebrations.

The Vancouver pilgrims include individuals and groups from Holy Rosary Cathedral, St. Patrick’s, and St. Andrew’s parishes in Vancouver, and St. Peter’s in New Westminster. They gathered July 11 at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre for Mass and a reflection session to prepare spiritually for the pilgrimage.

They will be among some 1,000 Canadian youth expected at the July 28–Aug. 3 events, which include a special Canadian gathering July 29 at Sant’Andrea della Valle Church. The two-hour celebration will feature a youth-led welcome, bilingual Scripture readings, faith-sharing, musical performances, and witness panels with youth and bishops. It will conclude with a commissioning prayer and symbolic sending forth.

Several Canadian bishops, along with priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and lay leaders, will be present. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited the faithful across the country to pray for the young pilgrims as they seek to deepen their relationship with Christ and offer a powerful witness to the Church’s life in Canada and around the world.

While 68 per cent of attendees will be from Europe, young people will be coming from four other continents and from war zones and areas of serious conflict, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, a pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, said July 23.

“Essentially, this moment of celebration and joy also aims to embrace all young people around the world, indicating that it will be a genuine moment of peace and peace-building in the world,” he said at a Vatican news conference.

“I am thinking in particular of the Christian young people of Ukraine, the Middle East, Syria, Gaza, and Iran,” said Lamberto Giannini, Rome’s prefect, who coordinates maintaining law and order in the city. The seven-day event during the Jubilee of Hope will be “in communion with all of them, because it is for them above all that hope is offered today, and not just any hope, but as we have been taught, the hope that does not disappoint,” he said.

The Vatican news conference featured representatives of the Italian national, regional, and local governments, as well as police and civil protection authorities. They provided many details about what is slated to be the largest of all the jubilee celebrations scheduled for the Holy Year, which has drawn nearly 17 million people so far, the archbishop said.

CAMROSE — Kevin Keech never expected a detour into the Catholic Church when he first pursued a career in policing, let alone a call to serve at the altar. But after years of discernment and personal trials, the retired Camrose police sergeant will be ordained to the permanent diaconate on July 22 at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton.

Bishop Paul Terrio, retired bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul, will preside over the ceremony. Keech is one of three men being ordained that day and will serve at his home parish, St. Francis Xavier in Camrose, where he and his family have been active for many years. He joins a growing group of 36 permanent deacons serving the Archdiocese of Edmonton.

Keech’s faith journey began in childhood with a Protestant upbringing, followed by years spent largely outside the Church. His return to faith took root after meeting Amelia, the devout Catholic woman he would eventually marry in 1990.

“She kindly invited me to tag along” to Easter liturgies, he recalled. “My introduction to the Easter Triduum was as a non-practising Lutheran who had not attended a church in years. What a surprise it was!”

Their growing family — daughters Megan, Letisha, and Kayla — was the centre of their life together. But it was a near-fatal work accident in 1994 that caused Keech to question the trajectory of his life. He began to discern whether God was calling him toward something deeper.

In 2000, Keech became Catholic. Yet even after entering the Church, faith was not a quick fix.

“I still had an incredibly stressful career to contend with,” he said. “The stress of the job had built up … I struggled to find balance in work, marriage, and family life.”

Eventually, with help from his parish priest and the sacraments, he began to rebuild.

One of the hidden influences during those difficult years was his mother-in-law Maria. “Parishioners referred to her as a prayer warrior,” he said. “I realized that she had been my silent spiritual director.”

Following her death in 2019, Keech began to sense a new prompting — one he believes Maria had quietly interceded for. “It was during my morning prayer routine on several consecutive days that I began to feel a strong calling to the diaconate,” he said. “I felt as if what Maria wanted to tell me on earth was now coming via the Holy Spirit in a way I could no longer ignore.”

He retired from his second career in information technology and applied to the archdiocese’s diaconate formation program in 2020.

“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will,” he said.

OTTAWA — As the Jubilee Year of Hope unfolds, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has released a video and pastoral resources to mark the fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, July 27.

Developed by the CCCB’s Office for Family and Life, the initiative invites parishes, families, and communities across Canada to recognize the elderly not as symbols of decline, but as vibrant carriers of faith and hope.

Filmed in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the promotional video highlights the importance of intergenerational relationships between children and grandparents — both biological and spiritual. It acknowledges the reality of children living far from their grandparents and the creative ways communications technology helps maintain those bonds.

The campaign is anchored in the message of Pope Francis for this year’s World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The annual observance, instituted by the Pope in 2021, is held on or near the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne — the grandparents of Jesus — celebrated July 26.

In his message, Pope Francis encourages both society and the Church to see the elderly as the pinnacle of life — those whose wisdom forms the foundation for a better future.

“Embracing the elderly helps us to understand that life is more than just the present moment, and should not be wasted in superficial encounters and fleeting relationships,” he wrote. “Instead, life is constantly pointing us toward the future.”

“Christian hope always urges us to be more daring, to think big, to be dissatisfied with things the way they are. In this case, it urges us to work for a change that can restore the esteem and affection to which the elderly are entitled,” he said.

In Catholic tradition, the elderly are seen as guardians of memory and faith — witnesses to hope who quietly shape the spiritual fabric of families and communities. The CCCB video and resources underscore this role, drawing attention to the value of intergenerational bonds rooted in trust, prayer, and mutual care.

To turn reflection into action, the CCCB is offering resources to enrich both family and parish life. Families are encouraged to organize storytelling sessions with elderly relatives, create spiritual bouquets, and light candles for their intentions.

Parishes are invited to offer blessings for grandparents at all Masses July 27, invoke the intercession of Sts. Joachim and Anne, and consider launching initiatives such as “adopt-a-grandparent” programs, coffee gatherings, novenas, or a dedicated Ministry for Grandparents.

These pastoral ideas echo Pope Francis’s call for a “revolution of tenderness and care” to help “restore hope and dignity to those who feel forgotten.”

This day is a reminder that hope is not reserved for the young or the strong.

It’s been a busy few weeks, so we’re taking this space to catch up on recent letters, including some farewells and welcomes for Archbishop Miller and Archbishop Smith. — Editor

 I congratulate Archbishop J. Michael Miller for his foresight and the initiatives he introduced to foster vocations in our Archdiocese.

As a past president of the Serra Club of Vancouver, I saw how his strategy of appointing young priests as vocation directors helped build strong, authentic relationships with youth. With Serra Club support, these directors visited schools and parishes, promoting a culture of vocations.

Fathers James Hughes and Mark Schwab stood out for their charisma and dedication. The founding of Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the St. John Vianney Fund further strengthened vocational growth, inviting seminarians from around the world.

What a legacy Archbishop Miller leaves after 18 years of pastoral leadership.

Cleto Dos Remedios
Vancouver

The parishioners of Pembroke, Ont., were blessed to have Archbishop Richard Smith — then Bishop Smith — as our shepherd. I understand what the people of Edmonton must feel in saying goodbye to a good bishop.

I now pray that Our Blessed Mother will wrap her arms around Archbishop Smith as he begins his new mission in Vancouver, leading her Son’s flock with strength and love.

Susan Dagenais
Pembroke

Catholics across the Archdiocese are invited to pray, fast, and witness to human dignity.

The first 40 Days for Life campaign in Vancouver began in 2010 through a collaboration of Catholic and pro-life leaders, including Betty Green, John Hof, and Cecilia Von Dehn, with support from the Archdiocese. 

Archbishop Miller’s 2010 letter encouraged us to be “ardent witnesses to the dignity of human life,” and Father Larry Lynn, our pro-life chaplain, continues to lead with compassion and clarity.

Today, all 77 parishes have been invited to participate. Whether by joining the vigil at 32nd and Willow, hosting Eucharistic adoration, or praying the Reverence for Life prayer, every effort unites us in responding to 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Could The B.C. Catholic help spark renewed interest in parishes that haven’t yet joined? This is the largest coordinated pro-life witness in the world — and well worth promoting.

Nancy Lim
Member, 40 Days for Life Coordinating Team
Vancouver

When the Archdiocese moved its central office from Robson Street, the homeless shelter remained on site for another seven years thanks to Archbishop Miller, who secured an agreement with the developer to keep the doors open until new accommodations were found.

That meant 100 to 120 homeless men had a warm bed every night and coffee in the morning. Yes, the freight elevator sometimes failed, the ceiling leaked, the washers broke, and staff worked through power outages by flashlight.

In a message for Sea Sunday, Cardinal Michael Czerny acknowledged that while seafarers witness the “boundless beauty” of the seas, they also endure its “physical, spiritual, and social darkness.”

The Catholic Church observes Sea Sunday on the second Sunday of July each year, praying and advocating for seafarers and all who work at sea.

Ahead of this year’s observance, Cardinal Czerny, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, released a reflection on the often-overlooked labour of seafarers.

He began by highlighting the millions of workers in the maritime industry — from ship crews to dockworkers, coast guard personnel, and customs officers — whose “hidden efforts,” he wrote, bring many of our daily necessities to shore.

“Today as well as in the past,” he wrote, “seafaring can entail absence from home and land, for months and even years. Both the seafarers and their families may miss significant moments in the other’s life.”

In addition to long separations, many seafarers are “threatened by injustices, exploitation, and inequality,” the Cardinal said.

He also praised the Church’s seafarers’ ministry, which provides pastoral care and advocates for the rights of maritime workers. Known internationally as Stella Maris — Latin for “Star of the Sea,” an ancient title for the Blessed Virgin Mary — the ministry operates in hundreds of ports around the world.

This “ministry of the sea,” Czerny wrote, helps “bring the peripheral into the centre” by encountering maritime workers in person and in prayer, improving their material and spiritual conditions, defending their dignity and rights, and promoting stronger international cooperation.

In the second half of his message, Cardinal Czerny reflected on two episodes in Church history connected to the sea.

First, he recalled the Apostle Paul’s journey to Corinth — a major port city — where Paul found a large following but soon faced divisions within the new Christian community. Czerny said Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians offers encouragement today to “work for increased unity, not only among people who are different from each other, but also among people who are experiencing division and mutual tensions.”

He also noted how the sea has long served as a channel for evangelization. “The Church today,” he wrote, “can draw inspiration from the inhabitants of shoreside communities who were the first to hear the utterly new message of Christ from seafaring apostles and other missionaries.”

“We cannot,” Czerny concluded, “be open to life’s possibilities if we prefer the comforts of the familiar.”

In the Archdiocese of Vancouver, parishes are invited to include seafarers, as well as port chaplains and volunteers who support them, in the prayers of the faithful.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued a two-page Note on Prayer for the Jubilee of Hope. The note, written by the bishops’ Commission for Doctrine, outlines characteristics and forms of Christian prayer, and concludes by sharing prayer resources, compiled by the bishops’ Ad hoc Committee for the Jubilee.

Published as part of the CCCB’s ongoing efforts to encourage spiritual renewal during the jubilee year, the document invites the faithful to rediscover the heart of Christian life through prayer. 

It offers a reflection on how prayer connects believers more deeply with God and one another, and emphasizes that prayer is rooted in trust and hope.

This resource forms part of a wider national initiative to encourage participation in the jubilee, proclaimed by Pope Francis for 2025.

A Note on Prayer

Prayer is a universal human activity. It can be found in every country, in every period of human history, at every age of life. It expresses the awareness of a relationship with a Being greater than oneself, distinct from oneself, present within oneself.

Christian prayer is clearly marked by faith in God who has made himself known, not only as the Creator of the universe, but as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The faithful pray to the Father through the Son in the Spirit.

We learn to pray, just as we learn to speak, walk or sing. The Gospel offers a profound insight into this. Impressed by Jesus’ prayer, the disciples ask him to teach them how to pray: he teaches them the “Our Father,” with its two poles: God and humanity. Several other Gospel passages show Jesus at prayer, in close contact with his Father (abba = dad), jubilant under the action of the Holy Spirit (Mt 11:25–27), in anguish before death (Lk 22:39–46), and confident on the Cross (Mt 27:46; Lk 23:46). The great prayer recounted in chapter 17 of Saint John’s Gospel reveals the heart of Christ.

Prayer is personal, that is, it expresses and enriches the faith of each person, unique and precious in God’s eyes. It is also communal, since it is lived in union with others, whether physically or spiritually present, those living in this world and those who have already entered into eternity. It is spiritual:

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Rom 8:26)

Prayer takes on different hues: adoration before God’s unfathomable mystery, thanksgiving for his countless and unceasing benefits, petition in the face of daily difficulties, intercession for our sisters and brothers in humanity. It can be vocal (out loud), mental (in the mind through meditation); the body participates (seated to listen; kneeling to adore and implore), eyes closed and recollected.

Pilgrims will once again take to trails, parks, and parish pathways this summer as two popular pilgrimage series invite Catholics to walk in prayer and fellowship.

Fraser Valley Camino | July 22–25

Now in its third year, the Fraser Valley Camino will lead pilgrims 83 km over four days, from St. Anthony’s Parish in Agassiz to St. James in Abbotsford. The route passes through St. Mary’s in Chilliwack, then Yarrow and Sumas, ending on the Feast of St. James the Greater.

Organized by St. James Parish and part of the Jubilee Year’s theme of “Pilgrims of Hope,” the Camino offers a chance to grow in faith through shared prayer, walking, and reflection. Pilgrims are welcome to walk the entire route or join for shorter segments.

Registration closes Monday, July 14. For details, visit beholdvancouver.org/events or contact the parish at 604-864-8800 or stjamesabbotsford@gmail.com.

Holy Family Caminos | July & August

In Whistler, Our Lady of the Mountains Parish is again offering its Holy Family Caminos — a series of walking pilgrimages with daily Mass and retreat-style reflection. Pilgrims must bring their own food and gear for the wilderness treks.

• August 17–22: St. Joseph’s, Squamish to Our Lady of the Mountains (96 km). A challenging six-day backpacking pilgrimage through remote terrain, with five nights of camping.
    Cost: $25 admin fee plus $18 group campsite fee.
• August 29–31: Mount Currie to Our Lady of the Mountains (50 km). A three-day route with two nights of camping.
    Cost: $25 admin fee.

Pilgrims will hike scenic trails and spend time in silence and community, with daily liturgy and reflection along the way.

To register or request packing lists and waiver forms, contact whistlercatholicchurch@telus.net.

Whistler Hiking Masses | July–August

The parish is also offering short outdoor Masses on local trails this summer. All start at 9 a.m. on Saturdays:

• July 12: Blueberry Trail (2 km)
• July 26: Train Wreck (2.6 km)
• August 9: Rainbow Falls (5 km)
• August 23: Loggers Lake (2 km)

Your voice matters! Join the conversation by submitting a Letter to the Editor here.