"Whoever Welcomes this Child in My Name..."

On October 27 th after the Celebrations of the Gift of the Holy Spirit around Esterhazy, I had the delightful occasion to be a part of the 50th Anniversary of Sacred Heart/Sacré Coeur School in Estevan.
The celebrations began with the Church's great prayer of thanksgiving, the Eucharist at the Parish Church in Estevan. The young people were very much involved in this Liturgy.

I need to say a particular thank you to Mason, who was courageous enough to be with me at the Chair and assist me with his presence during the homily. In the Gospel reading, Jesus was teaching his followers that the greatest ones in God's eyes are those who are the least in the eyes of the world. In our schools, our children don't have the ability to be the principal or the teachers or the school board members. Since they are the ones who know that they need us, Mason and his friends are the important people in Catholic education.

After Mass we went to the school where we were welcomed by the Principal, Charlene Holiday and had a meal together, prepared and served by some of the young people from the High School.

On the right of the picture is Sr. Jacqueline Lussier, CSC who is the Parish Minister at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows at Lampman. Next to the left is Fr. Lorne Crozon, the former Pastor of St. John the Baptist, Estevan and to my right is Fr. Joel Rama, the newly installed Administrator of the Parish and next to him is Fr. Peter Nijssen, an Associate Priest at St. John the Baptist. We are missing the second Associate Priest in the picture, Fr. Callistus Ibe.

As a point of explanation, Fr. Rama is on loan to or diocese from the Philippines. Since he is not incardinated into the Archdiocese, he is installed as Administrator of the parish in which he carries out the duties of pastor.

Here's a closer look at Fr. Joel.

After lunch we all gathered in the Gym and I had a little time to talk to the students, which I found very enjoyable. Then we lit the candles on the birthday cake, had the official cutting and we all had some.


On the far right is our newest Deacon, Louis Kim Nguyen who I think was glad to get back home to Regina after all our confirmations and anniversary celebrations. We met many children and youth of our Archdiocese that weekend. They are such a blessing to us.

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