The Archdiocese of Vancouver starts its next 100

By Bernard Murphy

Also See: Extraordinary form of Mass alive and well

"We feel a sense of joy, of hope for the future!" Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, told the congregation at Holy Rosary Cathedral Sept. 19 after the cathedral bells had finished pealing for the centenary of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The official name of the peal, or part of a peal, they played was, "A Touch of Plain Bob Minor."

Marie Sarabia / The B.C. Catholic Alan Ellis, another ringer, checks on the bells after they have finished their task.

It was on Sept. 19, 1908, that Pope Pius X, now a canonized saint, signed the papal bull that said, "We ... raise by these presents the aforesaid Diocese of New Westminster to the metropolitan dignity; and we declare its see transferred from the city of New Westminster to the city of Vancouver, whence it is to be hereafter called the Archdiocese of Vancouver."

At the same time the Pope decreed that what had been the Archdiocese of Victoria would become a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vancouver and would become the Diocese of Victoria.

Archbishop Roussin offered the cathedral's noon Mass with Coadjutor Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB; Father Glenn Dion, rector of Holy Rosary; and a number of priests concelebrating.

The 100th anniversary year is being observed with a number of celebrations. The first event was a "Rally in the Valley" May 18.

The Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession around the running track at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, followed by Archbishops Roussin and Miller, hundreds of children dressed in white who were receiving their first Holy Communion this year, and parish groups carrying banners.

In remarks after the procession, Archbishop Miller said the challenge for today's disciples remains the same as it was 2,000 years ago: "Go ... and make disciples of all the nations."

"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."

Archbishop Miller linked the rally event to the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, held two weeks later in Quebec City. The congress coincided with the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Quebec City, which became the first Catholic diocese in "New France," what today has grown to become Canada.

The actual day of the anniversary, Sept. 19, was marked by a peal of bells by the Holy Rosary Cathedral bell-ringers. The word "peal" denotes the ringing of an entire defined sequence of "changes" in which the bells are rung in a great variety of orders. In B.C. change ringing is also heard in Victoria's St. Andrew's cathedral and in the Westminster Abbey church in Mission.

The first recorded peal in Canada was rung at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver in 1911, so it was appropriate that the Vancouver centenary was greeted with bells.

The Vancouver Society of Change Ringers welcomes not only new prospective ringers of all ages, but also visitors, to their practice sessions every Saturday morning from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Meet at the bottom of the stairs to the higher tower. Visitors must be prepared to climb a lot of stairs (three flights).

More information is available from tower captain Eve Munns at 604-224-0233 or pmunns@shaw.ca, and from the web site, www.vscr.ca.