Greetings St. Peter’s ‘Listening To Indigenous Voices’ Dialogue Series Participants,
As you know, we have been scheduled to meet for our second LTIV gathering at St. Peter’s Parish this Thursday evening (Oct. 13th).
Unfortunately our Elder, Bob Philips, has been experiencing back issues that has caused him great pain and at times immobility, including last night. He e-mailed me this morning to say that he would have to regretfully cancel his scheduled events this week, including out LTIV gathering. His presence is quite important to the spirit of our gathering, so rather than proceed without him it would be best to cancel our gathering this week and make up for it in January.
Here is how our new LTIV dialogue gathering schedule will look like in the coming months:
- Thursday, November 10 @ 7-9 pm (Session #5: Ties of Kinship)
- Thursday, December 8 @ 7-9 pm (Session #8: Dispossession, Dependency & Oppression)
- Thursday, January 12 @ 7-9 pm (Session #11: Re-Indigenization)
My apologies for this change in our schedule. I hope this new January time works for everyone.
Let’s keep Bob in our prayers for a quick recovery. He is confident… it is a small broken bone within his back that just needs to heal. But as many of us would know from back issues, it doesn’t take much to cause temporary pain and immobility.
Please keep me in your prayers as well… I will be going to Israel and Egypt next week with the Our Lady of Lourdes parish pilgrimage for 3 weeks… for a safe and blessed pilgrimage.
Blessings to each of you,
Trevor Scott, sj / Fr. Michael McGourty
It’s that time of year to begin registrations for this year’s Sacramental Preparation Programme. We are accepting registrations for ALL children, in both Public and Catholic schools, wishing to prepare for the celebration of the Sacraments of First Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation next spring.
Thanksgiving is a North American holiday. If I remember my school lessons correctly, it derives from the experience of the first European settlers here in North America and their experience of their first few years here on this continent. The way we were taught about this holiday when I was in elementary school recalled how difficult these first Europeans found the bitter winter to survive on their own and how unprepared they were to make it through this difficult climate. They were so unprepared for the conditions they found on this continent that it was only with the help of the Indigenous Peoples who knew the land and the ways of growing here that they were able to make it through those initial days. Once they had learned to grow crops in this territory and figure out how to survive the conditions on this continent, they were so grateful that they began to have a special feast called “Thanksgiving” at the end of the growing season to celebrate the goods of this land and the great opportunities that they had discovered here. From my school days, I recall a part of those initial Thanksgiving celebrations involved celebrations with the Indigenous People who had helped these first settlers to make their lives possible here. That is why so many of our celebrations still highlight the many vegetables and local products that were handed over to the Europeans by the Indigenous People to help them survive.
The parish office will be closed due to thanksgiving holiday on Monday, October 10. Mass will be celebrated at 10 AM in the Church. and there will be no adoration on that day.
This is a presentation of the processes in the therapeutic setting which promote healing, lessen stress, depression and anxiety. It is a presentation of how psychotherapy contributes to the amelioration of unhappiness. This talk, with examples, would be of interest to those practicing psychotherapy and those with a curiosity about, what in the clinical space, facilitates healing.