As Calgary expanded, in 1981 the Diocese removed part of Corpus Christi's geographical territory to found a new parish. Fr. Jack Bastigal was the founding pastor. On Feb 28, 1982, Fr. Jack and Fr. Patrick O'Byrne, associate pastor, celebrated the inaugural liturgy for approximately 350 people in the gymnasium of St. Bede Elementary School. A week later the name, Ascension, was announced. A rectory was purchased on Bearberry Crescent, and an office was shared with Mount Calvary Church of the Lutherna Triune Congregation. This sharing culminated in the opening of a shaed church facility in 1988. Rev. R. Schoenheider was the Lutheran pastor. The new building was blessed on Nov 20, 1988 by Bishop Paul J. O'Byrne and Lutheran Bishop Robert Jacobson.
In 1907 Tinchebray Father, L. Forget visited Beiseker. Mass was celebrated in the home of Ludwig Schmalz and family. In 1909 the small Catholic community began work on a formal church, completing the building in 1910. A rectory was added in 1914 but it wasn’t until 1920 that Beiseker received its first resident pastor. The church was expanded in 1926. The rectory, which was destroyed by fire, was rebuilt in 1944 and a new, enlarged church was completed in 1956, when it was blessed as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There were 140 registered members in 1956 and 450 in 1972. By the 1980s there was significant loss of population as young people moved out of the area and by 1996 there were only 142 registered members.
Established 1984 in Canmore. It was a project of the Western Bishops rather than the Diocese of Calgary.
After the community of Bellevue was established in 1903 when the mine was opened the Catholic population was visited by Oblates. Fr. Ronald Beaton came in 1914 and established the parish, built a church which was finished in 1915 on land donated by the Western Canadian Colliery Company. The title, St. Cyril was chosen by Fr. Beaton.
In 1922 the Calgary Council of the Knights of Columbus raised funds to establish a camp for boys in unfortunate circumstances. Camp Cadicasu was improved over the years and is used as a summer camp for youth and adult groups.
A new constitution of the Presbyteral Council of the RC Diocese of Calgary was signed by Bishop Paul O’Byrne and the Moderator and Vicar General, and chair of the Presbyteral Council V. Rev. John Schuster on May 11th, 1992 and revised on December 9th, 1997.
While the official name of the organization is the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Calgary, it is known as the Council of Priests. Governed by the Code of Canon Law its express purpose is to ‘provide a forum for the full and free discussion of issues of pastoral concern in the Diocese,’ and to aid the Bishop in the governance of the Diocese, seek out means for more effective ministry and to ‘be representative of the unity of the priests as a whole.’
Although all priests of the Diocese are said to have an ‘active and passive voice’ there are three categories of members who attend meetings. They are:
- Ex officio members; priests who are Vicars General, Chancellor, Moderator, members of the College of Consulters.
- Those appointed by the Bishop (maximum of five).
- Those elected by the presbyterate. Although the Bishop appoints the Deans for each deanery or pastoral zone, who are the deanery representatives on the Council, the dean may, with the Bishop’s permission chose to relinquish his place to another elected priest.
Although the bishop is not a member of the Council of Priests he is the ex officio President of the Council. The chair is normally the Moderator and the members elect a vice-chair and also, if required, a treasurer. The executive secretary is responsible for taking and distributing the minutes etc.
There will be no less than eight monthly meetings per year
Quorum is 2/3 Council membership. The executive committee – President, chair, vice-chair, and executive secretary prepare the agenda. Standing committees may be designated by the council according to its needs.
The Council is only consultative by its nature. Decisions of the Council are normally reached by consensus but if that is not possible in the view of the presider then a majority vote will decide.
The Council may be dissolved by the bishop but only after consultation with the Metropolitan. The Council ceases to exist and its functions revert to the College of Consultors when the Episcopal See becomes vacant.
The Council of Priests produced a newsletter 1968 to 1970.
Came into existence in 1989 under Bishop Paul J. O’Byrne. In the early 1990s the chair was Andrew Puczko. Apart from advising and reporting on financial matters for the Diocese its role was to assist the bishop in the alienation of goods according to the guidelines established by the CCCB. Established under Canon law, and a successor to the Diocesan Administration Board, its goal was to ‘assist the bishops as key advisors on major finances, although it did not have a role with fundraising per se.
[Minutes of Share Life Board of Governors, Oct 2, 1991 RCDCA 321.5229]
The Dandelion Club and College was founded by Fr. Patrick (Pat) O’Byrne. He chose the name for this youth ministry programme. The dandelion is tenacious, sturdy, gregarious, and radiant and so was the ideal symbol for young Alberta Catholics who met each summer from 1948 in Claresholm, 1949 in High River, 1950 in Fort MacLeod and in the 1950s in Banff. A reunion was held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Calgary Nov 25-27, 1987, at the Banff School of the Fine Arts.
Early homesteading settlers in the area around Hanna were occasionally served by the Tinchebray Fathers from Castor, forty-five miles north of the town of Hanna. May 3, 1910 marked the first visit by Father Lucien LeConte S.M.T who visited a parishioner in his home, to which many visits were made thereafter. Hanna’s church was begun in 1915 and officially offered Mass for the first time in June, 1916. The building was later blessed by Archbishop Emile Legal on June 29, 1917. Rev. A. Darvell, a Franciscan on temporary leave from England was the very first resident pastor, arriving in July, 1921. In the early years of the church and its Mass, many parishioners traveled great distances by means of horse and carriage. It has been noted that during the years of the Depression when both food and money were scarce, Mass was held in the basement to save heating costs and was only offered during Lent. These struggles among the parishioners during the Depression created a ‘special’ sense of a bonding community.
During the 1940s, the ladies of the Altar Society were often called on to help out in any way they could, particularly with church and community work, which furthered the common themes of working together in order to persevere. In 1946, resident pastor Fr. M.A. Harnett invited the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception to come to Hanna. The Sisters were a huge part of life in Hanna. They are rooted in the prophetic vision of St. Vincent de Paul who urged the need for a community of women who could reach out in compassion to all communities alike, with a special relationship to the poor and needy. They taught catechism and began directing the parish choirs, along with teaching music for all who wanted to learn, both inside and outside of the church community. The Sisters however, withdrew from Hanna and community in the early 1960s. This was in part due to post-World War II social developments inclusive of a more vigorous feminism and many women wishing to work for better employment opportunities and also in-part due to the declining numbers of religious in the surrounding communities all across the country.
In 1955 a new church had been erected for which Father Harnett managed to collect funds in his travels abroad in both Canada and the United States. The church was dedicated on September 1, 1956, by Archbishop MacDonald. The old church had been moved to Delia in July 1955, 36 kilometres away from Hanna, and has served there ever since.
The 1960s brought change in the form of geographical reconstructions. The Calgary Diocesan boundaries had been established before the Canadian Northern Railway was finished. As a result, Hanna, which is on the “Goose Lake Line” and on the highway from Calgary to Saskatoon, was not in the Calgary Diocese, although all its geographic connections were in that direction and it was only one-mile north of the Diocesan boundary. The railway curved north because of the conformation of the Hand Hills and a divisional point was established which became the town of Hanna in August, 1912. Hanna had no easy road or rail connections with Edmonton, and half of its potential parishioners lived in the Diocese of Calgary. Relocation of the Diocesan boundary was first broached in 1936 by Archbishop O’Leary of Edmonton, but for various reasons was not completed until June 7, 1965, after a delegation of parishioners from Hanna asked for the change. After 1965, when the borders of the Diocese were altered to embrace Hanna, St. George’s own boundaries themselves shifted several times. In 1965 the Calgary Diocese transferred responsibility for St. Timothy’s Mission at Sunnynook from Oyen to Hanna. In 1974, Hanna began serving Youngstown, 56 kilometres to the east. The mission was restored to Oyen in 1975, while St. George’s geographical borders were re-drawn again on 1980. Because of the vastness of the region for which Oyen was responsible, the Diocese was prompted to return Youngstown to the care of Hanna. At the same time, it gave Brooks the portion of St. George’s Parish south of Pockville.
[Reference needed]
The Vatican Council’s new understanding of mission was embraced early in the Diocese of Calgary. Mission Council was established in 1970 according to the wishes of Bishop Paul J. O’Byrne, with Fr. Joseph Toole playing a pivotal part. The immediate concern of the Council was to activate the relationship of the people of this Diocese with Fr. Malo in Peru and to take a complete look at the Diocese and its mission commitments as a whole. The first need was to conduct a mission education program and this was started in Fall 1971 with the aid of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Fathers.
In 1972 negotiations started with the Spiritan Fathers to promote joint efforts towards Mission work. Fr. Louis Connelly and Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue volunteered together with Fr. James M. Hagel, a diocesan priest. In March 1983 Fr. Toole was the Director of Mission Council and John Stoeber was Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Council worked with a National Mission Council and a Western Regional Council.
In 1969 the Council sent Fr. Louis Malo to assist in an Alberta-sponsored mission in Lima, Peru. He was the first native Calgary diocesan priest to enter missionary work. A small group of lay people formed a committee, the Alberta Mission Committee, to act as a liaison with Fr. Malo in Peru to assure him of moral and financial support. This major initiative was nurtured and overseen by Fr. Joe Toole. In 1980 Fr. Malo returned to the Diocese but was missioned again to South America in 1982 to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where he remained for the rest of his life.
In 1974 Mission Council established a partnership with the Diocese of Chikwawa in Malawi. It was chosen because it lacked personnel – there were 19 priests for 61,000 people, and it was a young diocese. This was the first time in Canada that a Catholic diocese had joined an overseas missionary community in sending and sponsoring missionaries to the Global south. In the 1970s Spiritan priests served for the Diocese and in the 1980s Fr. Jim Hagel and Fr. Larry Bagnall served there. When the missionaries withdrew from Chikwawa in 1985 it was because the young diocese could now stand on its own.
In 1982 Mission Council gave a grant of $10,000 to CCIS to support the ‘mission’ work being done for refugees and immigrants who were temporarily housed at Cabrini House. In 1983 Mission Council committed itself to supply a counselor for the Calgary Interfaith Welcome and Recreation Centre.
In 1973 Mission Council became involved in fundraising, principally in October (Mission month) and Advent, which concentrated on Diocesan projects.
As mission awareness increased it became clear that home missions particularly the Indian reserves deserved attention. As of May 1976 the Council accepted responsibility of the financial support to the reserves in the Diocese as well as the Drop-In Centre, then known as the Inner City Project under the Council of Social Affairs. Mission Council helped sustain faith on the Tsuut’ina Reserve largely since 1980. In 1996 Sr. Annette John was parish administrator at Our Lady of Peace Parish.
In 1986 the Father Latour Native Pastoral Centre was established at 216 – 18th Ave. SW, Calgary. This was a year of new beginnings. The first lay missionaries, Patricia and Luis Flores were missioned by Bishop Paul in June to the Diocese of Tehuacan, Mexico. The family was involved in parish ministry in the rural area of Los Reyes Mezontla. A lay missionary formation program was created. Funding was also given to some ethnic communities – the Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese and to a Native Leadership Training Program.
Aims are to assist and advise the bishop on mission matters, to coordinate all missionary efforts outside and inside the Diocese, foster greater lay involvement and raise and distribute the necessary funds for mission work in the Diocese. It differed from all other services in the Diocese as it had to raise its own budget.
As the Mission Council evolved its constitution was revised in 1978 and 1985.
Two missionaries were sent to the North West Territories (the MacKenzie Missionary Project) on July 1, 1989, prospective seminarian Roland and Mount Angel seminarian Hans Englehart.
Funding was obtained by asking groups like the Knights, Church Extension, Teachers’ Association and making general appeals. It also received an allocation from the Annual Bishop’s Appeal, $85,000 in 1993.
Sr. Cecily Graves FMM was working as a Native Catechist in 1993. In 1992 she was listed as being on Mission Council staff, and as Coordinator of Religious Instruction on the Reserves.
SEE Dictionary of Canadian Biography: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/laurier_wilfrid_14E.html?print=1
Secretary-Treasurer of the Medicine Hat Separate School Board in 1916.
During the Jubilee Year of 2000, Fr. Fred Monk of St. Mary’s, Cochrane, began collecting a loonie a week from parisioners to build an orphanage in La Montaña, a region in the State of Guerroro, Mexico. Upon successful completion of the project, Fr. Fred visited La Montaña and was taken to many poor villages in the diocese by Alejo Castro, Bishop of the Diocese of Tlapa, inspiring a partnership of hope and support that became Mission Mexico. Through donations, it has funded projects such as scholarships, micro-economic endeavors, construction and administration of the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, and many others that help improve quality of life in the poor areas. A major campaign is a school mail out on or around December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and designated Mission Mexico Day.
Fr. Fred retired from active ministry in 2017, leading to the formation of the Transition Committee in January 2018, a subcommittee to handle transferring control of Mission Mexico to the Mission Council of the Diocese of Calgary.
Other key members of Mission Mexico include Leslie Davies, who began working with the poor in Mexico in 2001 and served in the Diocese of Tlapa as a witness and human rights activist. Michael MacDonald became the on-site project coordinator in September 2013 after living in Southern Mexico and working as Bishop Castro’s assistant for decades.
Requested by the Synod, a Youth Ministry function had in fact begun on August 25, 1983.
The first Youth Ministry Office person listed in the Alberta Catholic Directory was in the 1985 edition – Robert Cook, the coordinator. Fr. John Schuster was the liaison priest. He was in Rockyford at the time. Following the Calgary Diocesan Synod the recommendations stated that issues pertaining to youth were ranked as the third most important to the people of the Diocese. The Synod asked that an Office for Youth Ministry be established under a youth minister, using volunteers and that a Youth Coordinator be established in each Deanery. Meetings in early fall of 1994 between Sr. Maria Nakagawa, the Synod Implementation Committee and Anthony Hulse established a vision for youth ministry in the Diocese and early in 1995 Hulse was appointed chair of the Diocesan Youth Ministry Commission.
The need for St. Ann’s Church in Calgary arose out of the moving of St. Patrick’s chapel. St. Patrick’s was built on the east of the Elbow River 1883. The C.P.R train station was built to the west of the Elbow and this shifted the cities development to that area. Thus, St. Patrick’s chapel was moved to near the current location of St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1884 to be part of the growing city. Some Catholics though remained near St. Patrick’s previous location in the east. Due to the significant travel distance (to St. Patrick’s or Holy Cross) to mass each Sunday the Catholics in this area desired a new Chapel.
Thereby, in May 1908 Catholics in the area requested that they could have a Chapel closer to them in the east. For fifteen dollars a month a store (9th Avenue between 11th and 12th Street S.E) was rented out to serve as the Chapel for around forty people. The first mass was said by Rev. L. Culerier O.M.I (assistant at St. Mary’s Cathedral). Later Rev. J. Lestanc O.M.I. would also preside over mass for the Chapel. This location was not large enough for the resident’s needs. Mass was even held in Haskins Hall (9th Avenue between 12th and 13th Street S.E.) and in another store (9th Avenue and 12th Street S.E.).
At this point (1908) there were only around seven or eight families in the area using these make shift Churches. The residents requested to Bishop Legal on April 15 1909 for a proper Church to be created. They received permission to build a Chapel on 1500 8th Avenue S.E..
The Church’s name came from Father Lestanc who had been a mission priest at the small makeshift Chapels. He was devoted to St. Ann and he hoped that giving it such a name would encourage more vocations.
St. Ann’s opened for Mass on August 8, 1910. Father Jan and Father Nelz were officiating. The canonically erection was on December 16, 1910 and the Church was served by priests from St. Mary’s until December 1911. It was entrusted by Bishop Legal to the Priests of St. Mary’s of Tinchebray (who would serve from 1911-1916). Rev. L. Forget S.M.T. was the Churches first pastor and Rev. L. Anciaux S.M.T. was the assistance.
St. Ann’s first school opened in 1910 and was located over the Church’s vestry. Then they created a one room school and basement in the Church. By 1911 the needs of the population demanded that a larger four-room school (two rooms opening 1912 and the other two in 1918) was to be created (21st Avenue and 9th Street S.E.). This school was in an important and convenient location for the parishioners and they decided to move the St. Ann’s Church in 1913 to 8th Street and 21st Avenue S.E. In this new location the Church served Catholics from south and east from the Bow and Elbow River to Midnapore. This area was presided over until 1927 (when Holy Trinity mission was built) and more territory was lost in 1931 when Our Lady of Perpetual Help took charge of the Holy Trinity mission.
The Priests of St. Mary Tinchebray let in 1916 and then Rev. W.E. Cameron became the first secular priest for them. The priest’s first rectory was built in 1915 by the community and this building was later sold to the Precious Blood Sisters in 1951. At that time Rev. E.L. Doyle built a new rectory for the Priests.
In 1958 the community saw the creation of a new Church. This was built with the support of Msgr. Doyle and was blessed November 23rd by Bishop Carroll. The old Church building was then used as the parish hall until 1965 when a new one was created.
The population of the Church expanded to 200 families by the 1970s, but was decreased as the surrounding population aged (by 1999 there were 76 families). The Church kept a close tie with St. Ann’s school until 1984 when it became a Francophone Elementary, Junior High and High School. The Church had ties with Lithuanian Catholics and held Reconciliation and Mass for them yearly. Father F. Mongeau also celebrated mass for a First Nations population from 1992 to 1995. In 1995 the Spanish community of St. Mary’s Cathedral used the Parish hall and facilities of St. Ann’s (until St. Paul’s Church became theirs). From 1994-1996 Father Rolando Badiola served the Filipino communities monthly Mass from St. Ann’s. In 2000 St. Ann merged with St. Mary’s Cathedral. By 2002 the Korean congregation moved to St. Ann’s and the Parish became known as St. Ann’s Korean Parish.
Born on Dec 31, 1878 in St. John, New Brunswick, his family moved to Boston, Mass. when he was young and attended school there. His was a late vocation; at the age of 29 he entered St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish to study for the priesthood. Smith went on to study at the Grand Seminary, Montreal and St. Augustine’s, Toronto before being ordained for the Diocese of Calgary by Archbishop McNeil on Dec 27, 1916. After serving for a year in Toronto Smith was made assistant priest at St. Mary’s Cathedral until he was loaned to the Winnipeg Diocese for the year 1918-1919. On his return to Calgary he was made pastor of St. Ann’s, Calgary and he was appointed rector of St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1924, a position he was to retain for 42 years until his death in 1966.
On Feb 8, 1937 Fr. John Smith was made a domestic prelate and he became Dean of Calgary on Jun 8, 1941. He served as a member of the Bishop’s Council under McNally, Kidd, Monahan, and Carroll. On Jan 29, 1942, Monsignor Smith celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Monsignor Smith was made Protonotary Apostolic ad instar on Mar 31, 1960 and he became Dean for South Calgary on Aug 8, the same year.
On July 21, 1966 Smith suffered a heart attack, entered Holy Cross Hospital and he died on Aug 5, 1966, at the age of 87. His funeral was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Tuesday, Aug 9, 1966, the celebrant being Bishop Wilhelm, the sermon was preached by Bishop Carroll. His body is interned in St. Mary’s Cemetery.
This is the official agency of the diocese for coordinating all activities relating to the education in faith of all members of the diocese. It assists the bishop in his role as chief catechist of the diocese.
In 1985 it joined with the FCJ Christian Life Centre to institute the TEAM program (Together Enabling Adults for Ministry). The Synod recommended that the Office be expanded and that training be provided for spiritual directors.