Sing to the mountains! We're turning 100!
Archbishop invites Catholics to Rally in the Valley May 18

By Laureen McMahon

The kickoff event for this year's Vancouver Archdiocesan Centennial celebration will take place May 18, and parishes are busy gearing up for the Eucharistic procession organized for Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, a venue with plenty of parking which can accommodate 5,000.

Neale Adams / Special to The B.C. Catholic Vancouver has undergone a remarkable transformation in 100 years, but the North Shore Mountains in the distance and Holy Rosary Cathedral in the foreground have remained fixtures through it all. A number of events throughout the archdiocese will commemorate the centenary. The first is a Eucharistic procession May 18 at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, top right.

The celebration has a two-fold significance, explained archdiocesan vice-chancellor Barbara Dowding.

The Eucharistic Procession, she told The B.C. Catholic, will be a solemn, traditional, prayerful and uplifting beginning to the centenary celebrations which will tie in nicely with the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City in June.

"By welcoming such a large number to Abbotsford we will demonstrate in a very visible way the centrality of the Eucharist in our lives and the life of the Church.

"Focusing on the Eucharist will also allows us here in Vancouver to join with the Congress in spirit as we give special recognition and honour to our centenary year First Communicant children and adults."

The Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia was established on Dec. 14, 1863. It became the Diocese of New Westminster Sept. 2, 1890, then the Archdiocese of Vancouver on Sept. 19, 1908.

The Eucharistic Procession will begin at 2:30 p.m. and conclude at 4 p.m. and both Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, and Coadjutor Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, will attend.

After the procession of Jesus in the Eucharist carried in a monstrance will be benediction. Plans include the archbishops presenting the first communicants with a commemorative certificate, said Dowding. The program may begin with the Rosary in various languages.

Parishes are being invited to send three to five representatives to carry a parish banner in the procession.

"We expect that each parish will create a banner which will incorporate features of their particular parish life and relate them to the Eucharistic Year," Dowding added.

Parish groups like the Catholic Women's League, the Legion of Mary, and the Knights of Columbus are also encouraged to create a banner, Dowding said.

Other centenary events include: a gala dinner and dance at the Hyatt Regency Hotel featuring Dal Richards and his orchestra Oct. 31, a celebration at GM Place Nov. 23 with special guest Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, and a performance Dec. 13 at the Orpheum Theatre of Handel's Messiah by the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

More information at www.rcav.org.