National Family & Life Week

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Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Diocese of Calgary invites all the faithful to celebrate the joy and beauty of family and life during the National Family & Life Week, May 13-19. They have compiled a list of amazing resources from CCCB to help you make the most of this special week.

This year's theme, “Love hopes all things,” is inspired by the words of Saint Paul, the Apostle: “[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7). This theme, linked to Amoris Laetitia, a discourse on love by Pope Francis, guides us towards hope, a theological virtue that renews our relationship with God and others.

The pastoral kit includes a message from the CCCB President, the NFLW2024 logo, a catechesis, prayer intentions and daily activities for families and parishes, graphics for social media campaigns and pastoral suggestions for a Mass for family and life.

Download Toolkit in English | French

St. Pius X CWL Flower Fundraiser

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We are, once again, inviting you to be a part of our Fundraising plant order this spring! As always, there is a great selection of hanging baskets and potted annuals, with several new items this year. Prices are the same as last year!

Our Group Savings:	Retailers sell for up to:	Our Price (+ GST)
6" Potted Annuals	$14.50	$ 9.99
7" Potted Annuals	$18.75	$13.25
8" Dahlias	$21.00	$16.50
12" Standard Hanging Baskets	$54.00	$38.50
13.5" Premium Hanging Baskets	$66.00	$44.00

Here are the instructions for our group. This platform is open to other groups as well, so for best selection, order early!

The website is open for orders starting on Monday, April 15th and will remain open until May 20th. Do not submit any orders after this date - our group code will be closed at that point and you will not be able to link to our group. Please read through all of the instructions below. The most important step is the GROUP CODE. Please ensure that you understand the instructions before proceeding. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Danuta Allart at 403-289-7992 or . Supplies are limited, plants are in high demand. Thank you!

Instructions

Your order will be processed and delivered to St. Pius Catholic Church, Calgary, for pickup from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon on May 25th, 2024.

Happy shopping!

St Mark CWL 50th Anniversary

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Everyone is invited to:

Thank you to all volunteers!

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National Volunteer Week is from April 14 to 20, 2024, and we're taking a moment to celebrate the incredible impact volunteers have on our parish communities!

Our volunteers, the quiet champions of our parish, embody love in action. They uplift those in need, prepare the sacred liturgies and sacraments, maintain our sacred spaces, and nurture our young during their formative years. Their dedication echoes far beyond the Holy Week preparation and Easter Sunday—a constant reminder of the impact one person can have in the lives of many. We’re profoundly grateful for their presence and the grace they bring to our Church.

Volunteers and Parish Ministers: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?” 1 Thessalonians 3:9

Your dedication and service to the Church and our parish community fill us with deep gratitude. Please know your efforts are seen and greatly appreciated. Blessed by your generosity, we thank you for embodying the heart of a missionary disciple!

Impact Report of the Diocese of Calgary

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We are excited to share with you the 2023 Impact Report of the Diocese of Calgary. As we reflect on the past year, we celebrate the growth, resilience, and profound impact of our actions. This report highlights how, through faith and collaboration, we continue to move towards becoming true missionary disciples in our world today!

Download Impact Report 2023 (PDF) | or online at catholicyyc.ca/2023impactreport

Special thanks to photographers Bandi Szakony (St. Elizabeth Hungary, Calgary), Annie Chirka (St. Peter's, Calgary), Yuan Wang, and to SFXC and Feed the Hungry for sharing some of their photos for the Impact Report!

Faithfully Printable

Please print the curated monthly Faithfully for distribution to parishioners without access to digital devices, including those in your local health care or long-term care facilities and those who are shut-ins.

Download PDF (April 2024 edition)
File is printable on tabloid size papers (3 pgs - double sided), or letter size papers (6 pgs - double sided)

St. Luke's Garage Sale

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St. Luke's Garage Sale is on Saturday, April 20 from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.

Donations

Drop off your donations in the MPR between 10:00 am and 7:00 pm on Wednesday April 17 or Thursday April 18 ONLY (NO Friday Drop-off)

All your donations are most appreciated. BUT PLEASE:

Clothes, shoes, hats, wigs or lingerie (save clothes for the Corpus Christi Clothing / Textile Drive)
Magazine, textbooks or encyclopedias
Large items (sofas, appliances)
Computers, printers, etc.
Baby items (beds, high chairs, car seats, strollers, etc.)

We will accept pocket books, novels, children's books, puzzles, small plants, seasonal items, sporting equipment, tools, pictures, frames, housewares, linens, jewelry, craft & yarn, etc. Small appliances and electronics in good working order.

Corpus Christi Clothing / Textile Recycling Drive

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Our Clothing / Textile Drive is scheduled for 1:00 - 7:00 pm daily May 11-20, 2024

Clean out your closets & bring your unwanted clothing & textiles of all types to:

CORPUS CHRISTI PARISH HALL PARKING LOT
5931 – 4^th ST NW
(CORNER of THORNDALE ROAD and 4^th ST NW)

Items need to be clean and dry.
Please ensure all textiles are delivered in clear secured bags.

A textile is any item made from cloth, leather or an artificial fabric like vinyl. Any textile item can be recycled and given a second life.

We accept any textile in good useable condition including bath mats, bedding (comforters, sheets, pillow cases, blankets), belts, boots, bras, coats, curtains/draperies, dresses, hats, flip flops, jackets, jeans, jerseys, pajamas, pants, purses, scarves, shirts, shoes, shorts, skirts, slippers, socks, stuffed animals, suits, sweaters, sweatpants, sweatshirts, table linens, ties, towels, t‐shirts, undergarments, handbags...

If donating shoes, boots, mitts, socks please tie them together.

NOTE: This is for TEXTILE RECYCLING ONLY – we cannot accept rags, suitcases, hard toys, commercial laundry textiles, items from hotels or hospitals, etc. items with sponsor logos, uniforms, sports equipment, team uniforms, fabric scraps, fabric rolls, fabric books, mattresses or mattress pads, rugs, upholstery, pet clothing or beds.

Do not bring items that are wet, moldy, smelly, oily or paint covered.

NO BOOKS - bring them to St Luke's Garage Sale (along with your suitcases, hard toys, sports equipment, fabric rolls)!

This is a community service project of Corpus Christi CWL.

Email Cheryl for more information.

What do we do with your donated textiles?

Used textiles do have utility and value, and this creates opportunity to divert textiles out of the waste stream, revive the product’s life, or reincarnate the raw materials.

Some items may be donated to other organizations or individuals, or used for other projects.
Talk to us if you have a special item you want to donate but do not want to be recycled.

We sell approved items to Trans-Continental Textile Recycling Ltd (TCTR), a British Columbia owned and operated company that has processed recycled textiles since 1990. TCTR takes full responsibility for the complete processing and distribution of all the textiles collected, from usable clothing to industrial wiping rags and textile waste.

Wiping rags. Approximately 8,000 pounds a day of unwearable cotton and cotton blend clothing is sorted and cut in our facility into wiping rags for industry. The wiping rags are a better and more environmentally sustainable alternative to paper wipers, and provide local businesses with a local supplier of wiping rags.
Useable clothing is shipped to developing countries, mostly in Africa. Did You Know that over 70% of the world's population wear second hand clothes? Because of the efficient processing system we have at TCTR, we are able to deliver clothing to those who need it, at a price they can afford. We can deliver a T-shirt, for example, to a port in Africa, for as little as 14 cents.
Textile Recycling. Trans-Continental TCTR initiates the process of recycling various materials of knitted clothing such as wool and acrylics, as well as woven materials, sorting them into many grades: unwearable material of no cotton content, for example, wool knits and wool wovens, acrylics of solids and mixed colours, and others, which through a process of “pulling” are remade into thread and re used to make new clothing and textiles. You may be surprised to know that you can find recycled textiles used as stuffing, insulation and soundproofing in your furniture, car and house and even in the clothing you are wearing. Even our waste cuttings from the wiping rag process are baled as a low quality grade and sent to mills to process into a thread of low grade.
The complete processing of the textiles, including what would be considered “waste”, ensures that no textile article will go to landfill. TCTR ensures that this responsible and ecologically sustainable model is performed here in Canada by Canadian workers in a safe and socially responsible workplace.

Money raised is used to support a variety of projects and not-for- profit organizations.

Download poster. Big Pile of Clothes

Holy Spirit Spring Flower Fundraiser

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Spring is in the air and we are offering our Spring Plant Fundraiser, featuring high quality bedding plants, hanging baskets, planters, herbs and veggie plants grown in a Southern Alberta greenhouse. They are available for purchase online at Growing Smiles until May 10 with pickup on May 25 at Holy Spirit Parish. To order go to https://holyspiritcwl.growingsmilesfundraising.com/home

40 Hours Devotion in the Diocese of Calgary

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“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.

Holy Spirit, Calgary - Fri morning, Apr 5 at 7 am to Sat evening, Apr 6 at 11 pm
St. Anthony's, Calgary - Fri, Apr 5 at 3 pm to Sun, Apr 7 at 7 am
St. Martha's, Lethbridge, Fri, Apr 12 at 8 am to Sat, Apr 13 at midnight
St. Michael's, Calgary - Fri, Apr 19 at 4:30 pm to Sun, Apr 21 at 8:30 am - (followed by Vocations Rally in the afternoon)
St. James', Okotoks - Fri, May 24 at 4:30 pm to Sun, May 26 at 8:30 am.

Walking Together – A Path for Healing and Reconciliation

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Almost a year has passed since our provincial convention in Edmonton when Archbishop Smith and Chief Wilton Littlechild shared their thoughts on our truth and reconciliation journey; and a journey it is, as it is rooted in knowledge, introspection, and conversion much like our own personal faith journey.

In September 2023, following a provincial meeting, a communique was sent that said we would try to send out a monthly communique to help us on this journey. So often good intentions do not materialize; but that does not mean the issue has evaporated. Sometimes the issue is so overwhelming it’s difficult to know where to begin. Father Cristino, at our retreat, suggested we begin with friendship, our friendship with God and with each other.

Each day God gives us a new thought to ponder through His Word Jesus. Often God uses this thought to nudge us to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, visiting a shut in or praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Our Truth and Reconciliation journey can begin the same way, with God giving us a nudge when we pray and ask the Lord to give us the grace to understand this journey to which we have been called. Where do we begin? Archbishop Smith suggests beginning by listening and reading the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Which one is being placed on our heart? Our Alberta Bishops heard land acknowledgements to which they encourage us to use, in our words, at our meetings. A land acknowledgement indicates we are thanking our indigenous ancestors for welcoming our ancestors (European Explorers) to this land. They welcomed them in friendship and that is what we are encouraged to do now…forge friendships and to answer the call: Here I am Lord, Send Me!

At our midwinter meeting our council was nudged to accept the invitation to help youth ages 12-17 (mostly women at this time) who are directed to Alberta Campus Base Treatment Centres by providing them with quilts. Each person will receive their own quilt and when they leave the centre the quilt will go with them – a reminder that there are people who do love them. All 5 diocesan councils are invited to participate by encouraging their members to make twin size quilts (70”X 95”) made of cloth. The project is one of wrapping young people in an outward sign that there are people in the community who love them. Presently there are five care centres - two in Edmonton, one in Lac la Biche, one in High Prairie, one in Lethbridge. We invite all CWL quilters and friends of CWL quilters to participate in this love project. More information will be posted on our ABMK website and shared at our diocesan conventions.

Have a very blessed day as it is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Judy Look
ABMK Past President/Archives Indigenous Committee Chair

A Great Symphony of Prayer

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A Great Symphony of Prayer: The Our Father as a Programme of Life

Embark on a spiritual journey with the CCCB's engaging webinar series, “A Great Symphony of Prayer,” in response to Pope Francis's Year of Prayer initiative, hosted by Dr. Josephine Lombardi. Crafted by the Jubilee Office in Rome, this series offers deep dives into prayer through specially prepared booklets. This is a unique opportunity to connect with the divine and join a global community in prayer. When: Tuesdays at 11 am MT from Apr 2 to Apr 30, 2024. Register Now

Hope on the Horizon

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Young Adults 19-30: Hope on the Horizon Summer Mission

Join the "Hope on the Horizon" Summer Mission from August 6-21, 2024 hosted by the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Catholic Street Missionaries. This event, for young adults aged 19-30 in downtown Vancouver, offers an immersive experience into street missionary work. Participants will engage in prayer, service, and outreach to the homeless, alongside training and recreational activities. Food and accommodation included. For details and registration, visit: catholicstreetmissionaries.org/horizon.

Lent & Social Media

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Let your speech always be gracious

A 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.