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The Administration of Ecclesiastical Temporalities is currently delegated by the Bishop to the Executive Director. This office looks after the secular functions of the Diocese, including administration, finance, staffing, etc. In 1972 the Alberta Catholic Directory first lists a business accountant in the Bishop’s Office, Mr. E. Howard Smith. In 1979 Temporalities were overseen by a Business Manager, Mr. Joseph Comessotti and the two worked together until 1981 when Smith retired. In 1986 the ACD lists Comessotti as Business Manager and in charge of Revenue/Project Forward. In 1987 Financial Administrator, Rev. Robert Devine was appointed to replace Comessotti in looking after temporal affairs and Stewardship. In 1990 Rev. Devine began administering the Hospice of St. Jude as well as heading the Stewardship Program and Mr. Denis Doucet was hired as Business Manager. In 1991 Fr Pat Cramer became Vicar of Temporalities and Chairman of the Diocese Finance Council. In 1992 Dr. Marilyn Smelski headed the Stewardship Program and in the following year Colin MacIsaac became Finance Officer, working with Doucet and Smelski. In 1995 the Annual Bishop’s Appeal took over some of the role of the Stewardship Program. It was headed by Richard Garnett.
By 1997 there had been an overhaul of the Business Office with the arrival of Michael Chan who became the Chief Operating Officer, and Lydia Ducharme, who became Financial Administrator. They were joined by Colin MacIsaac in a new role as chief Administrative Officer. The Annual Bishop’s Appeal was being run by Dr. Robert Gall.

The Vocations Formation Team consisted of Bishop Paul J. O'Byrne and appointed Diocesan priests, who oversaw the progress of seminarians and those in discernment.

Formed to generate interest in the priesthood among young men. The Synod requested lay representation on the Committee. The Committee organized annual vocation awareness retreats, working with contact representatives in parishes. There were guidelines for the CDVAC. In 1980 the Committee had 12 members including the chair Fr. Hoschka, 5 women religious and 3 priests, 2 laymen, 1 lay woman and Bishop O’Byrne.
[Also known as the Calgary Diocesan Vocation Awareness Committee (CDVAC) or Diocesan Vocations Awareness Council]
In early 1995 Bishop Paul expressed to Bishop Roy of St. Paul that he was having difficulty getting the Vocation Awareness Committee reactivated for Calgary
[RCDCA 343.5342]
Minutes exist from 1977 and papers to 1998.

A Tribunal is an essential part of any diocese, and handles all aspects of canon law brought before the Bishop. This includes cases related to marriage and sacraments. The Tribunal of the Diocese was established with the first bishop.

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.

The Office of the Bishop aids the Bishop of Calgary in the administration of the Diocese. Initially informally organized, prior to the Second Vatican Council the staff consisted of clergy. As the administrative needs of the Diocese grew due to the growing population and complexities of modern life, the Office of the Bishop required more staff with specific skills. The Office aids the Bishop in organizing meetings, correspondence, schedules, logistics, relationships, and records.

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.

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]

By 1908 there was a small community of Catholic immigrants in homesteads to the south of Grassy Lake. Priests would occasionally travel there and celebrate Mass at the home of Joseph and Maria Ell or at hotel of John Ell. In 1910 Assumption Church was built 15 miles south of Grassy Lake on land donated by John and Joseph Ell. The land was in the midst of a settlement of Russian Germans who had come from the United States for many years known as Ellsville. It was first visited by Fr. Karl Meyer OMI from Lethbridge, apparently in 1911. In 1921 Fr. Hermes OMI was appointed to care for the mission, as well as others in the south-east. Fr. E.J. McCoy had been caring for Assumption from Bow Island and a petition had been sent to Bishop McNally from the parishioners asking for a German-speaking priest. In 1923 Fr. Hermes was still caring for the mission. After 1927 Fr. Bidault left these missions it was cared for from Bow Island. By 1946 the Grassy Lake mission was in need of repair and the parishioners wanted a new building in town. Fr. Rouleau at Bow Island bought an army hut, moved it from Medicine Hat and used it without much adaptation. In 1952-3 Fr. D.T. Sullivan had the hut renovated and it was blessed by Bishop Carroll on September 24, 1953 under the title of the former mission church which had been built fifteen miles from Grassy Lake. The former church was dismantled and the cemetery surrounding it was improved. In 1944 the Catholic Women’s League of the district of Assumption Church bought a disused school building for use as a parish hall. This was transferred to the Diocese that year. In 1956 this building was moved to the town of Grassy Lake and used there as a parish hall. Grassy Lake had been a mission of Bow Island until 1967 when it was made a mission of Taber. The mission remained a vibrant community until the mid-1990s. The exodus of young peopleIt was closed in 2001.

This volunteer organization was the first one established by the three bishops of the Calgary Covenant, although it later included members from other churches. The earliest minutes extant are from a June 1995 meeting at the Catholic Pastoral Centre when Catholics Marie Cameron, Oswald MacLeod and Karine Rietjens met with Lutherans Sid Haughen and Janet Wagar and Anglicans Terrie Teare and Caitlin Odlozinski. The meeting focused on the publication of the Fire in the Rose program by the Church Council on Justice and Correction. In 1996 the three churches formed the inter-Church Task Force of Family Violence, with Marie Cameron as Chair, and launched the Fire in the Rose program in September 1996. The program aimed at counteracting and preventing physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual abuse in the family and the community. Social worker Cynthia Wild was hired as the program’s coordinator. In 2005 it was determined, and approved by the three founding bishops, that the Taskforce should become part of Faithlink.

Active from 1967, the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission was discontinued in 2011 under the tenure of Kristoph Dobrowlski in the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. A landmark achievement was the signing of the Calgary Covenant on Oct 4, 1996 between Bishop O’Byrne, Anglican Archbishop Barry Curtis, and Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Stephen Kristenson. Here the churches pledged to work together in five key areas – spiritual, moral, social, intellectual, and organizational. This signing embodied the ecumenical spirit that followed the Second Vatican Council. Other notable achievements were the creation of the Sandstone Ecumenical Centre, a shared facility for Ascension Catholic and Mount Calvary Ecumenical Lutheran Parishes in 1988, the construction of Carter Place, a senior citizens complex, and the introduction of programs like the Fire in the Rose educational program aimed at preventing abuse in the family and community. The Commission had a role in building relationships, educating parish representatives in working ecumenically and coordinating ecumenical projects.

The Liturgical Commission Office was opened by Bishop Francis J. Klein in 1967. It became of special importance in its responsibility for implementing the new liturgical forms, rubrics, and music following the changes made by the Second Vatican Council. A decree was issued recommending the establishment of a Liturgical Commission, Sacred Music Commission and a Sacred Art Commission. Bishop Carroll had arranged for the formation of a liturgical commission which would also deal with sacred music. He felt that sacred art would fall within the scope of the Building Commission.

The first DLC minutes we have are dated Sept 25th, 1968.

The Diocesan Council of Liturgy worked with the Commission, its members were appointed, with Fr. Toole being the representative on the Commission. The first minutes of the Diocesan Council of Liturgy are dated Dec 11, 1967 but refer to a meeting on Nov 6. The first chair was Mr. Larry Hope. Other council members were Frs. Toole, Beeching, and Sr. St. Edwin.

Its purpose is to provide, under the aegis of the bishop, leadership and practical programmes for implementing liturgical renewal. Its scope covers everything related to liturgy – The Eucharistic sacrifice, design of altars and sanctuaries, sacred music, choirs, training lectors, auxiliary ministers etc. It fosters studies for deepening the understanding by clergy and laity of their roles in liturgy and active participation in it. It encourages the formation of liturgical committees in parishes. In 1977 its membership comprised: Fr. Dennis McDonald (chair), Carmel McConachie (secretary), Fr. Joseph Rigby, Greg McLellan, Greg Coupal, Keith Sorge, Sr. Dorothy Levandosky, and Brian Simpson.

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.

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]

Minutes exist from 1946, this was the longest serving standing committee in the diocese, made up of priests and laymen, professional planners and construction managers. Its task was ‘to give aid, direction and advice to pastors and parish councils on the planning of parish buildings and on additions and alterations. It is guided by the Diocesan Building Regulations. In 1977 its membership was Frs. LeFort (chair), Reg Sullivan, Bill Stephenson, and lay professionals Victor Bathory, Allan Marzocco and Mr. E.C. Thomas.

In 1975 discussions began concerning the need for the diocese to provide homes for seniors. The committee that developed was formed under the Cathedral and was recognized by the Societies Act with a goal to develop accommodation for senior citizens. Al Bourque was nominated chair on Mar 18, 1976, Tom Casy as secretary.

The Diocesan Pastoral Council was instituted in 1969 to involve lay persons in determining the priorities of the Diocese and its future direction. The first chair was Dr. Ray Whiteman, Director of Religious Education for Calgary Catholic Schools. It included laypersons from each parish and representatives from the clergy and women religious. Its purpose was to assist the Bishop in making decisions concerning the needs and development of the Church in southern Alberta, facilitate communication between Bishop and people of the diocese and to coordinate the activities of all the diocesan organizations. It became an important part of Diocesan decision-making although few parishioners understood or knew about the Council.
The Diocesan Synod recommended that the Council review its structure, role and effectiveness.
The ideal and the reality were necessarily at odds. Direct representation from all parish councils would have resulted in an impractically large meeting. Multi-parish councils were formed to elect a representative to Pastoral Council. This worked especially well in rural areas leading to a preponderance of rural representation on the Diocesan Pastoral Council. This problem of representation was ongoing.
Bishop Henry discontinued the Diocesan Pastoral Council in 1998.

The Diocesan Board of Administration was directed by O’Byrne to review the employment practices of the Diocese following early 1980s committee report on the position of women in the Diocese.

In May of 1977, the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development welcomed its first group: students from the Divinity School at Duke University in North Carolina. Thereafter CCIDD received more than 500 religious, social justice, academic and professional groups from Canadian and U.S. colleges, universities, high schools, churches and non-governmental organizations. From direct encounters with Mexicans and other Latinos in their communities, homes and places of work and worship, some 10,000 people from the United States and Canada have learned about the roots of poverty and oppression in Latin America and Christian commitment to social transformation. CCIDD was founded by Ray Plankey, a lay missioner from the United States who had previously worked in Chile. He and others created CCIDD to “promote experiential understanding of rural and urban poverty in Latin America and the Christian struggle to transform society.” With encouragement and support from Cuernavaca’s progressive and ecumenically-minded Catholic Bishop Sergio Mendez Arceo, and leaders from other churches, CCIDD embarked upon its mission. From humble beginnings in rented hotel rooms, CCIDD moved to its present location in 1981 and expanded the site in 1985.

While CCIDD closed in August 2013, its basic mission is being continued by Augsburg College's Center for Global Education (CGE) (http://www.augsburg.edu/global), which began through dialogue with the CCIDD founder Raymond Plankey back in the late 1970s and early 80s. CGE´s mission is to provide cross-cultural educational opportunities in order to foster critical analysis of local and global conditions so that personal and systemic change takes place, leading to a more just and sustainable world.

CGE is nationally recognized for its work in experiential, intercultural, and educational travel opportunities. More than 10,000 people have participated in our international travel seminars, which are well-known and respected for exposing travelers to a variety of points of view, especially the perspectives of those working for justice and human dignity. CGE also operates undergraduate summer and semester abroad programs in Mexico, Central America, and Southern Africa, which have served over 1,600 students from more than 300 institutions of higher education.

[Information from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine; https://web.archive.org/web/20140331182302/http://www.ccidd.org/aboutus.htm]