Glory & PRAISE
Thousands of Catholics mark the first major event of the 100th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and there’s plenty more to come

Go to Galilee” just could become the rallying cry for the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s centennial celebrations.

Four thousand people who jammed Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium were invited to bring the Good News to the world – in effect to “go to Galilee” – as Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Miller delivered remarks following a Eucharistic Procession that kicked off the archdiocese’s jubilee year May 18.

Fathers Hien Nguyen and Gerald D’Souza, OCD.

Just as Galilee was the doorway to the pagan world in Jesus’s day, said Archbishop Miller, Catholics of the archdiocese are invited to take the Gospel into the world around them through public preaching as well as how they live their lives.

With hundreds of white-garbed children making their First Communion this year among the crowd, the archbishop reminded his audience that public processions such as the one before them allow Christians to approach God the Father while also delivering the evangelizing witness called for by the Archdiocesan Synod.

The public witness he spoke of had been dramatically enacted moments earlier as he and Archbishop Raymond Roussin processed around the running track, following a monstrance carrying the Blessed Sacrament, held aloft by a contingent of priests.

The bishops led hundreds of First Communicants and members of parish groups, many of them dressed in traditional ethnic dress and carrying multi-coloured banners.

Although the venue is more suited to hosting sporting events than religious celebrations, and the intense sun left many under the sheltered stands fanning themselves and passing water bottles throughout the 90-minute celebration, the crowd listened intently as the archbishop walked them through the significance of the event, and the anniversary it was commemorating.

Eucharistic processions recall the fact that Jesus not only leads us to God the Father, He is also with us as we enter the “Galilee” of today, said the archbishop. The challenge for today’s disciples remains the same as it was 2,000 years ago: “Go …and make disciples of all the nations,” said the archbishop.

“When we walk in festive procession, this walking recalls that we are to bring Christ, present under the sign of bread, into public view, onto our streets.”

His remarks also touched on the longstanding strength of the faith in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, as well as the historic significance of the archdiocese’s centennial year, related as it is to the 400th anniversary of the coming of the faith to Canada.

In two weeks, Quebec City will host the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, an event coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Quebec City, which became the first Catholic diocese in New France, and what today has grown to become Canada.

“Quebec played a leading role in the exploration of the continent and especially in the first proclamation of the Gospel to the peoples of the New World north of Mexico,” said Archbishop Miller. “Indeed, we cannot forget the women and men of faith who built Canada with Catholic roots, those roots that remain an inalienable part of our heritage as a nation.”

Returning to the central element of the day, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the archbishop reminded the crowd that in Jesus’s day, a number of His followers could not accept the extraordinary teaching, “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”

After losing many disciples, He turned to Peter and asked whether he too would leave. “Thanks be to God, Peter’s response was one that we too can make our own this afternoon in Abbotsford: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

The event ended with benediction led by Archbishop Roussin, who then joined Archbishop Miller in handing out commemorative certificates to the school children making their First Communion this year.

Upcoming events to mark the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s centenary include a gala anniversary dinner Oct. 31 at the Hyatt Hotel in Vancouver, an anniversary celebration at GM Place Nov. 23, and a Dec. 13 presentation of Handel’s Messiah, co-sponsored by the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

– Paul Schratz

Watch The B.C. Catholic for details, or visit www.rcav.org.