It’s that time of year once again. Beginning the weekend of October 19th and ending on the weekend of November 24th, the CWL will be collecting membership fees before and after Mass. The fee this year is $40.00. Payment can be cash, cheque or e-transfer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Come join us in building fellowship through an evening of intellectually stimulating board games. Discover a world beyond mass-market titles like Monopoly, Sorry!, and Uno. Modern-day board games rely less on a lucky roll of the dice or the flip of a card and more on good design that rewards thoughtful analysis and good decisions. These games can be a good alternative to chess, cribbage, or bridge.

Friday, October 25, 2024, 5:30 PM–10:30 PM (ish) in the Church Hall

Loose Itinerary: Board gaming 101 orientation plus Q&A (~15 min.) Pizza & icebreaker game (~30 min.) Main-event gaming (remainder of evening) To get the most out of the event, please arrive at the start time so you don’t miss the orientation, Q&A, and pizza. Latecomers may need to wait for enough players to start a game. Please note: modern games are not toys, and some are like Fr. Mariusz’s motorbike—very expensive—thus, attendees are asked to treat the games with care and respect. Children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For more information or questions, contact Rhona-Mae Arca at 403-803-6835. Please Note: Please call the office to register for this game night, as we need # numbers for ordering pizza.

Parish in-person gathering - led by presenters via Zoom for all Parishioners and Parish Leaders

Save the dates (Dec 3-5): Join us from 7 to 8:30 pm for an inspiring Advent Mission featuring three renowned speakers reflecting on our Pastoral Renewal priorities:

• Tue, Dec 3: Brett Powell (Archdiocese of Vancouver) on Forming Missionary Disciples
• Wed, Dec 4: Bishop Scott McCaig (Military Ordinariate of Canada) on Being a Church of Encounter and Witness
• Thu, Dec 5: Mary Rose Bacani Valenti (Salt + Light TV) on Strengthening Family Life

  Save the dates (Dec 3-5): Join us from 7 to 8:30 pm for an inspiring Advent Mission featuring three renowned speakers reflecting on our Pastoral Renewal priorities:

The Bereavement Team is holding a gathering to support parishioners who are grieving on Tuesday, October 08, at 10:00 AM in the church hall. You are welcome to join them in prayer and fellowship. 

Our Pastoral Care Training Course is scheduled for Saturday, October 26 and November 16th in the church hall from 08:30 AM - 3:30 PM. We will start both days with mass and then move into the facilitated portion of the course, which offers opportunities for group discussion and reflection. The information is valuable and enriching for both personal and ministry purposes and includes.... An overview of Pastoral Care, Empathy versus Sympathy, Caring with Faith, Facing Suffering and Loss, etc. Our present team is invited to join us for an inspirational refresher (either to attend partial or full days) - please register so we get numbers and can have printed material for you. Fr. Mariusz is reimbursing our parish registrants' registration fees. Nancy is vetting and providing security screening for our new volunteers. Register by accessing any of the registration strategies in the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18_wp_7ZWPa4QfpWuF4tH3nVA8I3Ee-7r/view?usp=sharing

Our Lady of Fatima urged, "I want you to pray the Rosary every day for peace in the world, the conversion of sinners, and an end to wars." Let's make an effort to obey Mary's call and pray the Rosary daily. In our parish, the Rosary is prayed every day after the Holy Mass, and on Sundays, it is prayed before the Mass.

 The Rosary prayer is a prayer that unites everyone, as everyone can find something for themselves in it. A mystic may devote themselves to meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, a contemplative may imagine Gospel scenes, and an activist may pray the Rosary quickly, ten by ten. The prayer is simple and suitable for the poor and the rich, for children, adults, and the elderly. We all learned it as children, and in adult life, we may reach for the rosary in difficult moments, problems, troubles, and doubts. Soren Kierkegaard said: "A man without faith stumbles over a blade of straw, with faith he moves mountains." This also applies to the rosary prayer – those who use it speak about miracles, strengthened faith, and achieving the impossible.

 The origins of the Rosary prayer date back to the times of the Desert Fathers in the third and fourth centuries. They used strings to count repeated prayers. The word rosary is not only associated with the prayer itself but also with the characteristic chaplet (prayer rope) used to count the number of repeated parts of the prayer. The spread of the Rosary prayer is attributed to the Dominican Blessed Alain de la Roche (†1475), who initiated the Church's tradition according to which the Blessed Virgin inspired St. Dominic Guzman to pray the Rosary for the conversion of heretical Albigensians and sinners.

The Rosary prayer, which consists of the repeated 'Hail Mary', is a call to Mary, the Mother of God, asking for support. A humorous analogy on Facebook compares the rosary prayer to little Jesus pulling Mary's robe, shouting: "Mom, mom, mom..." In a similar way, we call to Our Lady for help as we move the beads of the rosary. Although God is the one who works miracles, Mary intercedes for us and asks with us, as if she were crying out to God on our behalf. Mary cares for us when we feel bad, like a real mother. Each of us carries a different image of a mother in our hearts based on our experiences, but Mary surpasses even our imaginations. St. John Paul II often spoke about the intercession and role of Mary, entrusting his life and pontificate to her.