Support Catholic education through the CCEF Annual 50/50 Raffle! With early bird draws and a portion of ticket sales benefiting local schools, your participation helps strengthen Catholic education across our community.
Tickets on sale to February 28, 2025. Buy your tickets now at www.ccefraffle.com.
Your Application package must include a completed Application for Employment, a resume and a cover letter describing suitability for the position.
Visit www.catholicyyc.ca/careers for more information and details.
As part of the Diocesan Pastoral Renewal in this 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, all civilly married couples are warmly invited to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony, presided over by Bishop William T. McGrattan on Saturday, September. 13, 2025 at 1:30 pm, at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Due to space limitations at St. Mary’s Cathedral, participation is limited to 30 couples.
Information Sessions will be held:
For more details and to register for an Information Session, visit Sacred Grace - Church Wedding for Civilly Married Couples - ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF CALGARY.
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The Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF) are pleased to share Sacred Fire Stories, a short film highlighting Indigenous-led healing initiatives that preserve language, celebrate culture, and support education. This powerful film showcases the real impact of reconciliation in action. Alongside the film, the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund Annual Report 2024 is now available, detailing the progress of over 200 projects supported by $18.9 million in funds raised since 2022. For more information, visit irfund.ca or contact |
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Did you know? Couples who dedicate time to enrichment activities are 30% more likely to report stronger communication and deeper satisfaction in their marriage (Journal of Family Psychology, 2020). For more info or to register, click here.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38). Pray with us as for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life in our Diocese.
"Getting up in the middle of the night and driving to Adoration for 3 am was an amazing experience. While meditating on the actual presence of Christ right before my eyes, I was struck by how more acute and aware my senses and attention were at this dark hour," shares one parishioner during the 40 Hours Devotion for Vocations. The response to this initiative has indeed been extraordinary.
Multiple parishes in our Diocese have held the 40 Hours Devotion for Vocations. Other parishes are scheduled to hold the Devotion in the coming weeks
To host the Devotion in your parish, please contact Fr. Derek at
Read a story from St. Augustine's in Taber about their experience with 40 Hours Devotion "The Eucharist is the core of our faith!"
Among the 20,000 respondents to the 2024 Renewal Survey in the Diocese of Calgary, 31% are 65 years or older, and 56% were born outside Canada. This underscores the importance of providing culturally sensitive pastoral care for seniors facing unique challenges.
The Diocese of Calgary invites clergy, pastoral care volunteers, hospital chaplains, and family members to this workshop, designed to equip those serving the elderly with the tools to address elder abuse and provide culturally sensitive support to ethnocultural elderly.
For more information and to register: https://www.catholicyyc.ca/seniors or call Mara at 403-218-5521.
Experience the Eucharistic Miracles of the World Exhibition at St. Bonaventure Parish 1600 Acadia Drive SE Calgary, AB, T2J 3B3.
Designed by Blessed Carlo Acutis and featuring 158 Eucharistic miracles from 22 countries, the display promotes awareness of the Real Presence in the Eucharist and Adoration.
The panels accompanied by photos and artwork were selected from 158 recognized accounts that date from as early as the third century.
On this one-year anniversary of the publication of the Pastoral Letter on the use of social media, “Let Your Speech Always be Gracious,” authored by the Episcopal Commission of Justice and Peace, here is a new CCCB video series and other resources to help readers – individually or in group settings – to unpack the rich pastoral and moral insights of the Pastoral Letter more fully.
The video series and resources are located at Pastoral Letter on the Use of Social Media.
Let your speech always be graciousA Pastoral Letter on the roles of social media in modern life was recently issued by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). It offers a reflection on both the good and harm which social media impacts individuals and communities. As we prepare for Lent, it may inform our decisions around fasting and of almsgiving related to our use of social media. Using insights from the latest CCCB pastoral letter, "Let Your Speech Always be Gracious," and the Holy Father's Lenten message, Bishop McGrattan highlights the seven commitments we should make to witness to core Christian values and help build a healthy online environment that serves the common good. |
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Transitions is a 15-week peer-led, God-centred support group that is designed to foster healing in its participants. It is facilitated within a confidential, safe, and respectful environment of community and belonging for individuals working through the pain of separation and divorce.
The group meets every Tuesday, beginning February 18, 2024 (7 to 9 pm) at the Catholic Pastoral Centre.
No fee to register – limited spots are available.
Register now at catholicyyc.ca/transitions
St. Michael's Catholic Community invites those grieving the loss of a loved one to an 8-week Grief Share program, featuring video seminars, group discussions, and a personal workbook. When: Tuesdays, Tue, Jan 14 to Mar 4 | 7-9 pm. Free will offering; $20 for the workbook. To register, contact the Parish Office at 403-249-0423.
Support Catholic education through the CCEF Annual 50/50 Raffle, where the jackpot could reach up to $1 million! With early bird draws and a portion of ticket sales benefiting local schools, your participation helps strengthen Catholic education across our community. Sales End Fri Feb 28 2025; Draw Date is Mon Mar 03 2025. Buy your tickets now at www.ccefraffle.com.
“Jubilee” is the name given to a particular year; the name comes from the instrument used to mark its launch. In this case, the instrument in question is the yobel, the ram's horn, used to proclaim the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This (Jewish) holiday occurs every year, but it takes on special significance when it marks the beginning of a Jubilee year. We can find an early indication of it in the Bible: a Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an “extra” year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years, i.e., every 49 years (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organise, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.
Quoting the prophet Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke describes Jesus’ mission in this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord,” (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus lives out these words in his daily life, in his encounters with others and in his relationships, all of which bring about liberation and conversion.
In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God's holiness transforms us. The frequency of Holy Years has changed over time: at first, they were celebrated every 100 years; later, in 1343 Pope Clement VI reduced the gap between Jubilees to every 50 years, and in 1470 Pope Paul II made it every 25 years. There have also been “extraordinary” Holy Years: for example, in 1933 Pope Pius XI chose to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the Redemption, and in 2015 Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy as an extraordinary jubilee.
The Diocese of Calgary and Salvation Army are once again organizing a “Winter Clothing Drive” for all participating parishes within the diocese. If your parish would like to receive a donation box, and participate in this worthwhile cause, please get in touch with Mara Capili at or 403-218-5521.
As the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has spread into Lebanon, thousands of families are facing displacement, and local agencies are providing shelter, food, medical care, and psychological support. Bishop William T. McGrattan urges us to join in prayers for peace and donate to trusted organizations to help those in need. To offer your support, you can donate online or by phone through the following organizations:
On the memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, we begin the second year of the Pastoral Renewal. We thank you for your commitment to the Mission of Christ in the past year, and we continue in our ministry to strengthen our parish communities on this path of renewal.
We are excited to share with you the new video that is being released as we begin Year II of the Pastoral Renewal. We ask that you view it and to share it with members of your Council, family, and friends.
Thank you.
St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
The Diocesan Renewal Leadership Team
https://www.catholicyyc.ca/
Father Tim Boyle continues the series for 2024/2025. This year will focus on "The Search for Wisdom", beginning Monday, Sep 16 at 10:15 am. Join in person at St. Martha's Parish in Lethbridge, or livestream. More info here
Explore a curated selection of FORMED.org resources that will immerse you in testimonies, teachings, and stories to support and deepen your commitment to the Diocese of Calgary's Pastoral Renewal.
Roger Foley, a Canadian man with disabilities, says that he has been offered euthanasia "multiple times." In a new 5-minute short film from "Dying to Meet You", Roger speaks out against being devalued as he fights for the support he needs to live. Watch video
A video, Papal Visit to Canada, One Year Later, has been produced by the Archdiocese of Edmonton with reflections from Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Archbishop Anthony Wieslaw Krotki, Archbishop Richard Smith, and Maskwacis Chief Victor Buffalo. The video highlights Pope Francis’ visit as a significant step on the road to healing and reconciliation, noting that the work and commitment will continue. It demonstrates that the Holy Father’s visit also made not only the idea, but the reality of reconciliation possible.
Walking Together: Into One Beat - A new documentary from Salt + Light on Pope Francis' penitential pilgrimage to Canada
In July 2022, Pope Francis visited Indigenous communities, celebrated Mass in Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium and at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and, most importantly, apologized for the Church’s role in the country’s Residential School System. Walking Together: Into One Beat features interviews with members of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in Alberta, Quebec, and Nunavut, who share their heartfelt stories as they prepare for the Holy Father’s arrival. After the visit, they offer their reactions, impressions, and hopes for this country of many nations moving forward, as one, on the journey of reconciliation. Watch it here.
A groundbreaking report published by the Ottawa-based Cardus Institute has given voice to Indigenous Canadians who are frustrated by secular society’s unawareness of — or unwillingness to accept — the fact that almost half of them are Christian. The executive director of the Catholic Civil Rights League, Christian Elia, says society should grant Indigenous Catholics the respect and personal agency that is due all Canadians. He said his organization has heard from many Indigenous Catholics who are “growing weary of the ongoing assumption that somehow they have been coerced into the faith, that it is inconceivable that they wish to be Catholic. This condescending attitude must stop.” Read more
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