FROM THE DIRECTOR
Vol. 74 No. 2 2009
Dear Friends of the Martyrs’ Shrine,
What’s Inside Director’s Message Page 1 St. Ignace II, Canada’s Calvary Page 2 Who are These Holy Martyrs? Page 3 Novena to the Canadian Martyrs Prayers Page 4 Who Are We? Page 5 and 6 and 7 ** Tear-off Flap ** Prayer Petitions MSA Membership Renewal Prayer Requests
The Shrine and Vocations to the Priesthood & Religious Life Page 7 and 8
By the time you receive this edition of the Martyrs’ Shrine Message we will be well into our 2009 season. For these early days of May and June the weather has not been too spectacular. We, no doubt like you, have had our fair share of cool wet days. However, as the middle of July approaches and folks are contemplating what to do on their summer holidays, we are confident that the promised warm days of summer will give us our hoped for increase in the number of pilgrims attending the Shrine. Two of the three larger pilgrimages in the month of June were all lucky with respect to the poorer weather. They were all well attended and got through their pilgrimage events without any rain. I’m sure many prayers were sent heavenward to guarantee the good weather enjoyed by their thousands of pilgrims. Once again we have a full roster of ethnic pilgrimages for the months of July and August this 2009. Elsewhere in this publication you can find the 2009 schedule. In the article called Who Are We you will note there are two new Jesuits on the Shrine staff. When you visit us during July you will also discover that there will be three Franciscan theologian students doing a program in preparation for their final vows. You will also find one Haitian deacon, and two Six Weeks A Jesuit candidates with us as well. We will have a full and busy house during these months. The Walk Where They Walked program was quite a success this spring. We hosted some 900 students over the spring session. The fall session looks to be filling up nicely as well with some 550 students already booked to do the program. The success of this program continues to be a great blessing to the Shrine. This is especially true when one keeps in mind that these young folk are our pilgrims of the future. The Six Weeks A Jesuit program will be held once again this year. We have two fine young men who are doing the program meant to introduce them to Jesuit works and Jesuit community life. I invite you to pray for these men over the summer as they discern to what state of life God is calling them. For those who visit us in 2009 you will note all of the Shrine Church’s landings, steps and ramps have now been refurbished. The new church doors are also finally installed. The next Knights of Columbus project is the refurbishing of the siding on the upper level of the Shrine Church. Over the years this siding has lost much of its colour and has become stained with moss. The project will involve the power washing, sealing and re-staining of the siding. Our hope is to have the project done for the 2010 season. May the good Lord bless and keep you and yours over the summer. A friend in the Lord,
Rev. Alex Kirsten, S.J., Director
St. Ignace II, Canada's Calvary by Steve Catlin An open field of little significance or value in the mind’s eye of the modern world – ten acres surrounded by trees, and on three sides by a tiny stream. The site is some 12 kilometres from Ste. Marie and it is the centre of some archaeological controversy. Still St. Ignace II draws pilgrims from far away lands and from different walks of life in the hundreds each year. St. Ignace II is the spiritual heart of the Jesuit mission to the Hurons three hundred and sixty years ago and is still the humble attraction and monument of the faith for many pilgrims to Canada. On March 16th, 1649 St. Ignace II was home to many Wendat (Huron) families. It was an outpost mission village established within what was thought to be a safe distance from Ste. Marie II by St. Jean de Brébeuf. It was a new village, only a few months old, when it was attacked in the early dawn by the traditional enemies of the Wendat – the Iroquois. It fell very easily and was then established as a foray camp. Some of the Hurons escaped and ran to warn the neighbouring Huron village of St. Louis about the attack on St. Ignace by the one thousand strong enemy force of Iroquois. It was at St. Louis that Fathers Brébeuf and Lalemant were stationed: the spiritual strength of the Jesuit mission along with his new assistant – just barely ministering in this territory for six months. The two priests had time to escape to Ste.-Marie with the women and children. However, their calling from God was different. They were to encourage and minister to the eighty or so Wendat men and boys making a stand at St. Louis. The battle lasted for hours and the band was able to push back the enemy twice. However, sheer numbers made the walls come down, and the survivors were captured and taken back to St. Ignace II. From the story as given by eye witness accounts and recorded in the Jesuit Relations of 1649 by the Superior of the Huron Mission, Fr. Paul Ragueneau SJ, we learn that the two priests were made examples of over the next long hours of ritualistic torture. The details are well known to many and are recommended to be read by this author, however, what must be remembered at this time is the witness to the faith these devoted priests exemplified. Miraculously, the enemy never attacked the mission village of Ste.-Marie. Could the reason have been the response of Wendat warriors of other towns to come to arms to defend Ste.-Marie? Fr. Ragueneau, a man of deep faith saw a bigger hand at play here – the hand of God, through the intervention of St. Joseph, frightening the enemy so as to leave in haste – confused and overwhelmed by some unexplainable experience or vision. We leave the story of the past here. We could speak of the loving devotion for these two men shown by the French and Wendat when they were buried at Ste.-Marie; and the care and solemnity by which their remains were brought back to Quebec when the mission to the Wendat was abandoned. The site of St. Ignace II is within ten minutes driving distance from the Shrine, and has welcomed hundreds of thousands of people since its archaeological identification in 1946, most significantly the one thousand pilgrims of World Youth Day, walking there from the Shrine in solemn and prayerful procession. Much different from the chaos and destruction seen there in the not too distant past. We pray with others there – descendants of the Wendat from Quebec and Oklahoma and parts further abroad who annually visit the open field with mixed emotions – sadness for their former nation and hopefulness for a world of peace... Come and see – invited by the Lord – this little field of great courage and firmness of faith. Join your prayers with those of the communion of Saints and bring your burdens and sufferings to the spot where we believe God's will was done in Canada through the triumph of the cross. Page -2- Martyrs’ Shrine MESSAGE
Who Are These Holy Martyrs? Saint Jean de Brébeuf, S.J. Martyred March 16, 1649. Jean de Brébeuf, born in Normandy, was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 33. He was the first Jesuit Missionary in Huronia (1626), a master of the Native language, worked through all the district of Huronia for thirteen years, founded Mission outposts and converted thousands to the faith. He was known as the Apostle of the Hurons. He was massive in body, strong, yet gentle in character. Before leaving Normandy, he revealed his sentiments. “I felt a strong desire to suffer something for Christ.” He made a vow signed in his blood, never to refuse the offer of Martyrdom if asked to die for Christ. He was captured March 16, 1649 and tortured for hours. He was Martyred at St. Ignace, six miles from Ste. Marie, at the age of 56. Saint Isaac Jogues, S.J. Martyred October 18, 1646. Isaac Jogues was a priest only seven months and was 29 years of age when he came to Canada in 1636. He set out at once for Huronia. For three years he served at Mission outposts, instructing and baptizing. On a return journey from Quebec, he was captured by the Iroquois, brutally tortured, and made a slave. Thirteen months later he escaped to France. By the next year he was back in Canada and was sent as an emissary to discuss a treaty with the Iroquois. He went, “his heart seized with dread,” at the prospect of again falling into the hands of his torturers. He was seized at Ossernenan (now Auriesville, N.Y.) and cruelly beaten. A blow from a tomahawk gave him the crown of Martyrdom on October 18, 1646, at the age of 39. Saint Gabriel Lalemant, S.J. Martyred March 17, 1649. Gabriel Lalemant, a Parisian, became a Jesuit at age 19. His ambition was to labour in the Missions and he asked to be sent to the Canadian Missions. He was “one of the most feeble and delicate in health.” A scholar, he was professor of Philosophy, and dean of studies in French Colleges. He arrived in Huronia in September 1648 where in words of Scriptures, he was destined to complete a long time in a short space. In Huronia seven months, just beginning to speak the Native tongue, he was sent to assist Brébeuf in February 1649. He was captured with Brébeuf and tortured for seventeen hours at the stake. Gabriel Lalemant died on March 17 in his 39th year, at St. Ignace, six miles from Ste. Marie. Saint Antoine Daniel, S.J. Martyred July 4, 1648. Antoine Daniel was born in Normandy and became a Jesuit and was ordained a priest at 29. He answered a strong call to the Missions of Canada and was a Missioner near Bras d’Or Lakes (1632). He founded the first boys’ College in North America (Quebec 1635) and laboured in Huronia for twelve years. He mastered the language and dreamed of forming future catechists among the Hurons who would instruct other members of their tribe. The Mission was attacked by the Iroquois in July 1648. Daniel encouraged the converts to meet death as Christians should; he hastily baptized all he could and went out to face the enemy. His body was pierced with arrows and bullets.
The Iroquois set fire to the Chapel and threw his body into the flames. He was Martyred at Mount St. Louis, 12 miles from Ste. Marie at the age of 48. Saint Charles Garnier, S.J. Martyred December 7, 1649. Charles Garnier, a Parisian, a Jesuit, and a priest, was attracted to the arduous Missions of Canada. He came to Huronia at the age of thirty-one and for thirteen years laboured among the Hurons and Petuns. He was a victim of the Iroquois massacre of the village of Etharita, thirty miles from Ste. Marie. He refused to escape but exercised his charity to the end. Saint Charles Garnier was always a person of innocence and purity with a strong devotion to Our Lady whom he acknowledged looked after him as a youth. Gentle, innocent, fearless, he succeeded in winning many souls to God both at St. Joseph’s Mission and among the Petuns. Saint Noël Chabanel, S.J. Martyred December 8, 1649. Noël Chabanel became a Jesuit at the age of seventeen, a priest at twenty-eight, and was a successful professor and humanist in France. Experiencing a strong desire to consecrate himself to the Canadian Missions, he arrived in Quebec in 1643 and then travelled to Huronia. The enthusiasm of the young missionary quickly lost its glamour. Unable to learn the Native language, feeling useless in the ministry, sensitive to the surroundings, his life was to be one unbroken chain of disappointments, an ordeal that he himself called a “bloodless Martyrdom.” Tempted to return to France, he bound himself by a vow to remain in New France till death. For two years he stood in the shadow of death and then was slain secretly by an apostate Huron on the banks of the Nottawasaga, twenty-five miles from Ste. Marie on December 8, 1649. Saint René Goupil, S.J. Martyred September 29, 1642. René Goupil entered the Jesuit Order but had to leave because of ill health. He studied medicine and then offered his services to the Jesuit Missions in Canada. On his way to Huron country with Isaac Jogues in 1642, they were captured by the Iroquois, tortured and taken to the Mohawk country. On the journey to Mohawk country he begged Isaac Jogues to receive his vows. A month later he was martyred for making the sign of the cross on a little Native child. He was martyred at Auriesville, N.Y. at the age of thirty-five, on September 29, 1642. Saint Jean de LaLande, S.J. Martyred October 19, 1646. Jean de LaLande was a young layman who offered his services to the Jesuits of New France. He accompanied Isaac Jogues to the Mohawk Mission in 1646, knowing what he might have to suffer, gladly offering himself as a companion to Jogues and looking to God to protect him and to be his reward if the sacrifice of his life was demanded. With Isaac Jogues, he was tortured and threatened with death. He saw the martyrdom of Jogues on October 18. He himself was martyred on the following day at Auriesville, N.Y. Martyrs’ Shrine MESSAGE Page -3-
Invitation & Novena Prayers
We invite you to join in the Novena to the Canadian Martyrs and St. Joseph, September 17-25, 2009. During these nine days we honour all the Martyrs in preparation for the Feast Day Celebration on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 2:00 pm.
The Novena of Masses and the prayers including homily and veneration of the relics of Sts. Jean de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant and Charles Garnier will be offered each day at the 12:00 noon and 7:30 pm Masses in the Shrine Church.
We invite you to join us either at the Shrine or in your home for these nine days of prayer for the intentions of the Novena and the celebration of our faith through the intercession of the Martyrs.
PRAYER TO THE MARTYRS
Holy Martyrs and patrons, protect this land which you have blessed by the shedding of your blood. Renew in these days our Catholic faith which you have helped to establish in this new land. Bring all our fellow citizens to a knowledge and love of the truth. Make us zealous in the profession of our faith so that we may continue and perfect the work which you have begun with so much labour and suffering. Pray for our homes, our schools, our missions, for vocations, for the conversion of sinners, the return of those who have wandered from the fold, and the perseverance of all the Faithful. And foster a deeper and increasing unity among all Christians. Amen.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY
Glorious Queen of Martyrs, to whom the early missionaries of this country were so devoted and from whom they received so many favours, graciously listen to my petition. Ask your Divine Son to remember all they did for His glory. Remind Him that they preached the gospel and made His holy name known to thousands who had never heard of Him, and then for Him had their apostolic labours crowned by shedding their blood. Exercise your motherly influence as you did at Cana, and implore Him to grant me what I ask in this Novena, if it be according to His will. Amen.
PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH
(Patron of the Martyrs and of Canada) O God, who in your special Providence deigned to choose blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your holy Mother, grant, we beseech you, that we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in heaven whom we venerate on earth as our protector. You who live and reign in the world without end. Amen.
NOVENA PRAYER
O God, who by the preaching and the blood of Your blessed Martyrs, Jean and Isaac and their companions, consecrated the first fruits of faith in the vast regions of North America, graciously grant that by their intercession the flourishing harvest of Christians may be everywhere and always increased. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER OF PETITION
O God, who inflamed the hearts of your blessed Martyrs with an admirable zeal for the salvation of souls, grant me, I beseech you, my petitions, so that the favours obtained through their intercession may make manifest before your people the power and the glory of your name. Amen.
St. Jean de Brébeuf, pray for us St. Charles Garnier, pray for us St. Isaac Jogues, pray for us St. Noël Chabanel, pray for us St. Gabriel Lalemant, pray for us St. René Goupil, pray for us St. Antoine Daniel, pray for us St. Jean de LaLande, pray for us Holy Mary, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us Page -4- Martyrs’ Shrine MESSAGE
Who Are We?
Our Legal title is: “Martyrs’ Shrine”.
or as a beneficiary of a RRSP or RRIF.
Please Remember
Alex Kirsten, S.J. (Shrine Director) Fr. Alex was born in South Africa and came to Canada with his family in 1957. He entered the Jesuits in 1971 and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1979. After 20 years in high school education as school counsellor, science and religious teacher and in administration as President of St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba he returned to Toronto to be the Treasurer of the Jesuits in Canada for five years. Following this he was assigned in 2004 as Director of the work at the Martyrs’ Shrine. By his own admission, after 25 years in administration of one kind or another, he is delighted to be in a more pastoral work here at the Shrine. He readily admits that the last five years here at the Martyrs’ Shrine have been one of his best assignments so far. He loves the crowds of pilgrims and the festive atmosphere of the various ethnic pilgrimages. Fr. Alex enjoys music and a variety of sports. Be sure you drop by and say hello the next time you are at the Shrine.
Martyrs’ Shrine In Your Will and Estate
When you come to the Shrine you might see one or two of the Jesuit staff. More than likely you do not meet the other Jesuits and office staff. Staff members come and go and so I thought I would take this opportunity to let them introduce themselves to you and tell you a little bit about themselves.
Fr. Joe was born in Europe and grew up in Winnipeg, where he attended St. Paul’s High School. After completing studies in science he joined the Jesuits of English Canada in 1978. In that year he first saw the Martyrs’ Shrine when he attended the Feast Day with his fellow novices. Fr. Winston Rye taught them about the
There are also special perpetual memberships: For a family living or deceased . . . . . . . . . . . . .$125.00 For an individual living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 50.00 For an individual deceased . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 30.00
Please renew or enroll a friend or family member in the Martyrs’ Shrine Association
Joe Newman, S.J. (Treasurer)
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
Martyrs' Shrine welcomes many pilgrims who are fairly recent immigrants to Canada, and Father LeBlanc likes to contrast his own history in this country with theirs. Though he was born "merely" 60 years ago, in Nova Scotia, his father's family first set foot there in 1645. YES; that was in SIXTEEN FORTY-FIVE! Following his years of early education there, he joined the Jesuits in 1972. In 1980, in Toronto, he became a priest; then he was assigned to teach high school in Newfoundland. After several years there, he joined the Shrine Staff in 1994. The holy history of this place, and the GREAT diversity of its pilgrims and visitors, stir him HAPPILY to be at their service year after year.
Your enrollment contributes to the continuation of this ministry of prayer, healing and pilgrimage through the intercession of the Canadian Martyrs. Your contribution will greatly support the work of the Shrine, and you and your family will share in the spiritual community of prayers and Masses offered by the Shrine Staff. Every year members and benefactors of the Shrine Association benefit from one hundred Masses offered intentionally for them. As members of the Association you also receive the SHRINE MESSAGE. Annual family membership is $15.00
Steve LeBlanc, S.J. (Assistant)
Martyrs’ Shrine MESSAGE Page -5-
OTHER
Pat Coldricks, S.J. (Assistant) Fr. Patrick is a Jesuit Priest imported from the Pune Province in India. He was born in Nagpur, a city in Maharashtra State in India. He did his education in Pune, and joined the Society of Jesus in 1987, after working as a Marketing Executive for about 8 years. He was ordained on the 27th of Jan. 1988, and then thereafter worked in Pune, as an assistant Parish Priest, and after as a Director in St. Joseph's Technical Institute in Pune. He also spent a good many years at their Mission Station in Sangamner as assistant Parish Priest and as a Principal for about four years. After Tertianship he was named Parish Priest in Kolhapur city in Maharashtra. He had visited the Martyrs’ Shrine in the year 2006, and is very happy to be back to work here on a long term basis. Keith Langstaff, S.J. (Assistant)
All Souls Day
$50.00 Other: ______________
November We remember our loved deceased relatives and friends.
$25.00
___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________
Dear Father Director: I enclose my offering of: $15.00
Please remember the people listed above on All Souls Day and during the month of November. This portion of the form will be placed on the altar during the month of November.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
THE DEAD PARENTS CHILDREN HAPPY MARRIAGE ENEMIES THANKSGIVING THE JESUITS
Mark the petitions to be prayed for:
THE CHURCH WORLD PEACE SPIRITUAL NEED EMPLOYMENT THE SICK FAMILY NEEDS VOCATIONS
Father Director, I am happy to support the work of the Shrine.
Here is my donation. $_______________
Name: _______________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Postal Code: _______________________ Phone: _____________________
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history of the Jesuit mission to the Hurons. In 1983 he worked at Camp Ekon in Muskoka, and took part in a canoe trip from the camp to the Martyrs’ Shrine. The group was greeted by Brother Mara, who was at the Shrine in those years. Fr. Joe was ordained in 1990 and has worked at St. Ignatius Parish in Winnipeg and Canadian Martyrs Parish in Halifax. He has also served in the Native apostolate on and around Manitoulin Island. He arrived at the Shrine to be the treasurer in August, 1999. Some high points of the past ten years at the Shrine have been the many fascinating ethnic pilgrimages, the crowds of young people who came to the Shrine before, during and after World Youth Days 2002, the beauty of the grounds and the area around the Shrine, and the opportunity to help make the Shrine a “home of peace” for the thousands of pilgrims he met there.
Father Keith comes to us from his last posting, which was for seven years, as the Director of Pastoral Studies at Campion College of the University of Regina. He had previously been teaching and doing spiritual direction at the Archdiocesan Seminary in Toronto, namely St. Augustine's Seminary in Scarborough for ten years. At the same time, he taught Spirituality at the Toronto School of Theology. He holds advanced degrees in both Liturgy and Spirituality. However, he is not slow to admit that his early training at the feet of both John English and John Veltri at the Guelph Centre of Spirituality remain the source of his energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration for his apostolic engagement. Those who know
him best may slowly disclose that his favourite spot in Canada, and when he is truly overcome with Jesuit pride, he will admit to "even in the world", reveals itself as Martyrs’ Shrine and the reconstruction of Ste.-Marie. Quebec City, with it's possession of the other half of Brébeuf's skull, shines as his second most favourite place in Canada. Steve Parrotte (Assistant Director) Born in Brooklyn, New York. Graduate of Queens College, N.Y. in 1962 with a B.A. in English (Creative Writing). After serving in the U.S. Army, worked as a marine insurance underwriter, high school teacher, office manager, and merchant banker before accepting a posting to Toronto in 1970. Continued to work in merchant banking, and then other jobs worthy of mention only on book jackets, until an epiphany led me to church service in an entry level position with the Archdiocese of Toronto in 1985. Served at the Archdiocese under two Cardinals for sixteen years, and gradually evolved into Manager of the Supply & Services Department and the Building Manager of the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Toronto. Awarded the Archbishop’s Medal in 2001. A random encounter with a former director of Martyrs’ Shrine led me to my current position here as Assistant Director later that year. Acquired Canadian citizenship along the way and am currently living in nearby Midland, Ontario with wife Norma. Darlene Sunnerton (Office Administrator) Darlene Sunnerton is the Office Administrator for Martyrs’ Shrine. She will be married to her husband Robert thirty-seven years this September. After her children were both attending school, Darlene took on the task of keeping the Shrine office organized and flowing smoothly. She was trained by the director, Fr. Farrell and Joe Goetz, a former long-time Shrine employee. Darlene has two grown children, one daughter who is married and living in Port Perry and a single son who lives in Peterborough. Darlene moved to the Midland area 22 years ago from Alliston. She started working at the Shrine in 1989 and has worked for four Jesuit Directors - Fr. James Farrell, Fr. Don Beaudois, Fr. Robert Wong and the current director, Fr. Alex Kirsten. Over the past 20 years, she has enjoyed meeting many of the pilgrims who visit the Shrine through arranging tours and greeting people in the Office and on the phone. She is also the woman who is responsible for receiving, posting and replying to all of your thoughtful donations and the Novena mailings twice a year. You can find Darlene in the Office to answer any questions you may have or to help you plan your next pilgrimage to Martyrs’ Shrine. She looks forward to welcoming you to the Shrine. Darlene feels privileged to work in such a special place and to have met so many wonderful people over the years, including the Shrine staff, past and present.
News Flash!....... For those of you who have visited the Shrine this summer you will have noticed the absence of one of
the Shrine’s long standing Jesuit staff members. I mean Father Larry Brennan. Fr. Larry has after some fifteen years decided that his health no longer permits him to participate in the Martyrs’ Shrine ministry. This decision was made this past winter when his health began to deteriorate to such an extent that both Father Larry and our Father Provincial felt that retirement was best. The Jesuit community at the Shrine will miss him for his skill in always being able to find a bargain while doing the grocery shopping for the community. He kept us amply supplied with breakfast cereals, snacks and candies. We will miss his many anecdotes about his years on the northern Ontario missions. As a missionary he had a close affinity with our own Martyrs – Canada’s first missionaries. Fr. Larry will be missed by his many friends, especially the Shrine Jesuits and staff. His friends would often come up to the Shrine on the weekends and spend long hours exchanging stories and asking him for his sage advice. I know that Father Larry would love to hear from you. He can be reached at the La Storta Jesuit Community in Pickering, Ontario.
The Shrine and Vocations The Martyrs’ Shrine has over the years had many different functions besides the normal function of receiving pilgrims to this holy site. The Jesuit novices of course used to come to the Shrine for one of their first Jesuit apostolic assignments. That assignment was more often than not to clean up the grounds and rectories before we opened to the general public in the spring. For many years the newly ordained Jesuits came to gain their first basic pastoral skills in liturgy, preaching and confessional practice. Every few years however, some new function surfaced to keep the Shrine staff on their toes. For the last few years I’ve reported on the Six Weeks A Jesuit program that we run here at the Shrine for young men interested in becoming Jesuits. Martyrs’ Shrine MESSAGE Page -7-
The program offers the candidates the opportunity to live and work with Jesuits for six weeks all the while reflecting on whether God is calling them to live their lives in the Jesuits, as other religious, diocesan priests or as lay men. Once again this July and August we will have two young men as part of the Six Weeks A Jesuit program. We are now in our fourth year of this program which has met with some considerable success. Over the last few years the Martyrs’ Shrine has become known, even for non-Jesuits, to be a place conducive to the discernment of one’s vocation. We have hosted a variety of different Religious men and women who have found the Shrine to be a wonderful place to discover God’s call in their lives and to discern how to commit themselves to that call. In the past we have had many seminarians, deacons and priests who have come to the Shrine to do their personal retreats. This summer again we will have as retreat guests two men ordained as atransitional deacons from dioceses down in the United States who will join us for days ofreflection. We will also host three Franciscans with us for a month long experience as they prepare to be ordained deacons in their own Order. Finally, on September 26th this year we will once again host the novices of at least three Jesuit Provinces who will come to the Shrine for the weekend to celebrate with us the Feast Day of our own holy Martyrs. This year we will be honoured to have the Archbishop of Ottawa, Terrence Prendergast, S.J. as our celebrant and homilist at the Feast Day Mass. We are truly grateful to God Our Lord that He continues to invite us here at the Shrine to ever new and exciting opportunities – expressions of faith – a faith first brought to Huronia by the Martyrs of New France.
In your kindness please keep us in your prayers: SHRINE DIRECTOR: ASSIST. DIRECTOR: SHRINE STAFF:
Rev. Alex Kirsten, SJ Mr. Steve Parrotte Rev. Stephen LeBlanc, SJ Rev. Joseph Newman, SJ Rev. Patrick Coldricks, SJ Rev. Keith Langstaff, SJ
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR: Mrs. Darlene Sunnerton Martyrs’ Shrine P.O. Box 7 Midland, ON L4R 4K6 Tel: (705) 526-3788 Fax: (705) 526-1546
http://www.martyrs-shrine.com
Pilgrimages - 2009 July
Aug.
04 05 05 11 12 17-19 18 19 25 26
Korean Holy Crucifixion Community Slovak Tamil Catholic Community (Sat.) German Archdiocese of Toronto Youth Rally India, Pakistan (Sat.) Croatian Chinese Pilgrimage (Sat.) Portuguese
08 15 16
Filipino (Sat.) Walking Pilgrimage (Sat.) Polish
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22 22 23 23 27 29 Sept. 12 13 13 20 26 Oct.
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Hungarian Pilgimage (Sat.) Hispanic Pilgrimage (Sat.) Lithuanian Mission Sunday Communal Anointing Service Irish (Sat.) Archdiocesan Western Region (Sat.) Slovenian International Order of Alhambra 25th Annual Living Rosary Celebration The Feast of the Canadian Martyrs (Sat.) SHRINE CLOSES for the season