It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that Fr. Hamish Currie, Pastor of the parish of Precious Blood Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie, passed away this morning. Wake and funeral details to follow. Please pray for him, and for his family, friends, and parishioners.
Yes, today is my 55th birthday. Here's a picture of me at a somewhat younger age. How times change! Please pray for me!
Today is my 14th anniversary of ordination as a Bishop. One thing for sure, it has never been boring. Please pray for me, and all the people I am called to serve!
I was looking forward to participating in our English-language retreat for priests this week, then this happened (result from this morning). Aarrgghh! I guess I'll be doing my retreat from home.
Day 3 of our meeting of the Joint Working Group (Wed, Sept 3). I am posting this a couple of days later to make sure I got the photos and news articles associated with the day!
Our day began with a special private audience with the Pope. He greeted each of us one by one, offered a few remarks of encouragement, and then we had a group photo.
Archbishop Flavio Pace was interviewed by Vatican News about the meeting.
We then returned to our working groups to, well, work! Finally we came back together in our plenary to decide one the truly contentious issue: the dates of our next meeting! I say that only partly tongue in cheek, as it isn't easy finding a common date for 24 people.
Having finally decided on Sept 1-3, 2026, we got to work on the draft of our communiqué. You can read it here:
After a time of concluding prayer we all went our separate ways. Thursday was my travel day, so I returned to the Casa Romana on Traspontina for a meal and a good night of sleep. I was absolutely zonked, but also full of joy for our time together. It was a good 3 days.
Final article from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity about the meeting:
Most of our day was spent listening to representatives of the different Roman dicasteries, who presented the work they do. Many of the World Council of Churches reps shared with me how they found it helpful, as they of course have much less familiarity with the inner workings.
We also received presenters from four ecumenical centres in Rome, who shared on their various programs. I wish there was a program for the training of ecumenical officers, but alas. Perhaps I need to design one.
We then went out to dinner together, where we also met up with reps from various Protestant groups who have permanent representation in Rome.
Finally, as a personal treat, I ran into Archbishop Gabriel Malzaire of Castries, Saint Lucia. We met back in 2003, when I had been a priest for barely a year and he was bishop in Dominica, and here we were, 22 years later. A most pleasant random encounter!
Day 1 of our meeting of the Joint Working Group. While a formal statement of what we accomplished will be published later, I am happy to share some personal reflections.
We began our first full day together with introductions and catching up on news from our local churches. We then welcomed Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, who offered us a brief reflection on our work. And of course, a group picture!
Our afternoon session was taken up with a visit to the archeological excavations underneath Saint Peter's Basilica, which in 1950 rediscovered the tomb of Saint Peter himself, as well as a niche with contained what we believe are the bones of Saint Peter himself. Very impressive.
For our afternoon discussions we broke into our working groups. I am in the group discussing salvation theology (soteriology) and its importance for Christian unity. I wrote a whole pastoral letter on the topic, which you can read here:
