On Sunday June 8th, 2025 (Pentecost Sunday), the Spiritans were blessed by the presence of Bishop Vincent Nguyen, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto (Eastern Region) who presided at our Mass at St. Joseph’s Parish, Highland Creek. In his homily, the Bishop reminded us of the importance of recognizing that the Holy Spirit is constantly active in our ordinary lives and any of our actions of love and compassion are guided by the Spirit and are a manifestation of Christ alive in the Church. Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, is the foundation date of the Spiritans, founded in 1703 in France by Claude-François Poullart des Places in order to minister to the forgotten of society.

A PENTECOST REFLECTION…

When I was in high school there were two founts of knowledge — the teacher and the textbook. What they taught we learned. I recall a reflection entitled Teaching — Old and New: “How long ago, it seems, the days / When to profess was to possess — / When a teacher’s might was in her being right.” That was then.

Today when I glance into high school classrooms I see most of the students in small groups working together, with the teacher as overseer. Individual research has greatly increased due to the prevalence of the computer and its encyclopedic possibilities. The teacher and the textbook are no longer the only founts of knowledge. That is now. Do people see the teaching church stuck in “then”? Life moves on and it remains self-assured, giving the impression it already has the answer to whatever issue may arise, a never changing anchor in an ever-changing world.

The Pentecost story tells us: “each one heard the disciples speaking in the native language of each.” The message spoke directly to them. Is that true now? It would appear not. In our Food for Thought section we’re told that one reason why people don’t go to church is: “It (church) isn’t relevant to our lives. It’s too remote and emotionally disconnected.” Oblate Fr Ron Rolheiser, a widely read Catholic writer, is convinced that the greatest need of today’s church is a vocabulary of faith, a vocabulary for today’s people and their experiences, “We don’t have the words” he says. The result? We bore.

Good teachers are good communicators: they speak the language of their hearers. Bad teachers have one thing in common — they don’t connect, they don’t communicate— they are b-o-r-i-n-g. They may know it all, but they fail to get it across. Jesus recommended that we bring out from the storeroom what is new as well as what is old. The Church has a past to preserve, but also a present to influence and a future to create. It was interesting to hear Pope Benedict XVI’s successor as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Levada, say recently “the living tradition is much larger than the simple and strict passing on of existing answers, insights and convictions from one generation to another.” And he added, “If we would give more attention to social issues during our liturgies more people might show up because they would feel that these celebrations would concern their lives, would offer them something more.” Like Oliver Twist they request, “Please, may I have some more.” In another Food for Thought, Marist Fr Sean Fagan writes: “In today’s world the Church needs to teach, which means explaining and convincing, rather than simply declaring what we are obliged to think and to hold. Aristotle’s dictum is still valid, that no teaching takes place until someone has actually been taught.”

We have all experienced the classroom way of learning: texts, lectures, discussions and exams. Others among us have learned by becoming apprentices — today’s co-op learning. There is a third way of learning — the way of discipleship, the way Jesus chose to educate. He invited men and women to follow him, spend time with him, hang around with him, pick up his way of doing things, see how he related to others, pick up his values. They became his “disciples” through ongoing contact with him. A disciple never graduates, but remains a lifelong learner, getting the hang of things as time goes by. In this Pentecost/May issue of Spiritan we meet such disciples. Like Mary, they are lifelong learners. They try to meet people where they are — the only possible place they can encounter them. They face the challenge of becoming missionaries to themselves in their international groupings. They invite others to interpret the presence of God in their own situations and through their own cultures. They themselves begin to find the Christ of other cultures, the Risen Christ, in other cultures.

Teaching — Old and New continued: “In our time / To profess is no longer to possess / To teach now is to learn, going from attempt to attempt / Trying to remember the old hard truth / And to dig it up, good as new, with dirty hands.”

Fr. Pat Fitzpatrick, CSSp - “Spiritan,” Vol. 31, # 2 - May 2007

The Spiritans of the TransCanada Province join other Catholics, other Christians, and peoples of different faith traditions around the world in thanksgiving for the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, and we keep him in our prayers as he takes up the heavy burden as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. 

“Pilgrims of Hope” is the theme of the Jubilee of 2025, a theme reflected in the opening words of Pope Francis’s Bull of Indiction, entitled “Spes non confundit. Hope does not disappoint.”

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The Spiritans around the world celebrate with thanksgiving the life of the venerable Fr. Francis Libermann, CSSp, (1802-1852) who is considered to be “The Second Founder of the Spiritans.” By merging his missionary Society of the Holy Heart of Mary with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, he gave new life to the Spiritans and opened the way for a new wave of missionary evangelization.

Novena for Libermann Day (From Jan. 24 - Feb. 1, 2025)

On October 2 every year, the Spiritans remember a young seminarian, Claude-François Poullart des Places (1679-1709). Claude was not yet an ordained priest when he founded the Spiritans on Pentecost Sunday, 1703 but he had a deep calling to form a community of young men who would be dedicated to the Holy Spirit and who would minister to the poor and be willing go to where ever they were most needed by the Church.. Soon this little community flourished as more people were attracted to the simple lifestyle and the dedication of the Spiritans. By 1732, the first Spiritan was sent to Canada. The Spiritans invite you to join us in our novena of prayer from September 23 to October 1 as we prepare for Des Places Day. Novena to Claude Poullart des Places: English French Portuguese

From July 8th to 12th, the Spiritans of the TransCanada Province gathered at Queen of Apostles Retreat Centre in Mississauga, Ontario for a meeting known as a “Chapter.” Over 30 Spiritan confreres and Lay Spiritans attended, including our Superior General and his 1st Assistant from Rome (Fr. Alain Mayama, CSSp & Fr. Jeff Duaime, CSSp). Also in attendance, as observers, were the Provincial Superiors from both the USA & Quebec. The Chapter moderator was Fr. Michael Onwuemelie, CSSp, one of our Nigerian confreres working in California. This assembly takes place every four years and is a time of prayer, information sharing, discussion and discernment of our ministries. We try our best to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and see what changes we need to make to best respond to the needs of the people here in Canada. Are there ministries we are doing now that are no longer necessary or relevant? Are there new ministries to which we are being called? How will we best be able to carry out any new commitments? How will we make the most use of our resources, both material and personnel? These were among the questions we discussed during this important week of renewal. During the week, we also re-elected our present Provincial Superior, Fr. Oliver Iwuchukwu, CSSp and suggested appointments for our Provincial  Council. As we departed on the Friday afternoon, the mood and the spirit of the confreres and our Lay Spiritans was positive and we felt affirmed to go forward in the mission of our congregation. “Cor Unum et Anima Una” - One Heart & One Soul, the motto of our congregation. 

For the first time since COVID, the TransCanada Spiritan confreres & Lay Spiritans were able to be together for our Advent retreat held at the Jesuit Manresa Retreat Centre in Pickering, ON. Later in the evening, the confreres and Lay Spiritans gathered with some of our staff, friends, and supporters at our annual Advent appreciation dinner held at St. Joseph’s church in Highland Creek, ON.

On Friday July 28th, 2023, the Spiritans were blessed with a visit by Archbishop Francis Leo, fairly recently appointed as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto. The visit was warm and informal as we gathered for a social followed by dinner. During his time at the Laval House community where we gathered, he got to meet each of us personally and he spoke of the wonderful contributions the Spiritans have made to the Archdiocese over the years. He highlighted the importance of having both missionary and Religious life represented in the Archdiocese and the witness we give drawn from our mission experience. He expressed gratitude and hope for a growth of the Spiritans here and in Canada. We are very grateful to Archbishop Francis for taking time from what must be a hectic schedule to spend the evening with us. We look forward to ongoing collaboration with the Archdiocese to bear witness to the Gospel. Our door is open and welcoming and we hope Archbishop Francis will visit us again and always feel at home.