ARCHBISHOP EBACHER'S VISITS TO ST. MALACHY AND OUR LADY OF VICTORY

Further to previous announcements, the following is the Archbishop's schedule during his visits to our two parishes:

ST. MALACHY - Prior to the regular 7:00 p.m. mass, various committee members will meet with the Archbishop to discuss parish activities. Afterwards, he will be available to greet parishioners as they arrive for the 7:00 p.m. mass and he will assist Fr. Gyan in the Eucharistic celebration. After the celebration, parishioners are invited to stay in the church for some fellowship and refreshments with Archbishop Ebacher.

OLV - The Archbishop will greet parishioners arriving for the 9:00 a.m. Eucharistic celebration and he will assist Fr. Gyan in that celebration. After the mass celebration, all parishioners are invited to the church hall to meet the Archbishop and to partake in various refreshments. Archbishop Ebacher will then meet with members of the OLV Wardens and PPC, again to review ongoing administrative and spiritual challenges of our two parishes.

The visit will end with lunch at a parishioner's home.

The purpose of the PPC is to: act as a consultative body to the Pastor and in co-responsibility with the Pastor, provide leadership, direction, education, resources and encouragement in the parishes’ accomplishment of their mission as expressed under the four poles of church life: liturgy, faith formation, fellowship and transformation in accordance with the vision of the Church of Gatineau. Over these past 6 years “The Parish Pastoral Council of the Parishes of Our Lady of Victory and St. Malachy” has strived to meet and support the spiritual needs of its faith community, as laid out in these guidelines.

However, the current PPC finds itself in need of reexamining its current structure as well as the scope of its mandate so that its original purpose can be best supported. This comes about in the wake of our community’s committees and councils continuous struggle to both attract new blood and to establish open and ongoing dialogue so that the operational & spiritual needs of our 2-parish community are best met.

To be specific, in the 6 years since the re-establishment of the joint-PPC, only one or the original members of the committee has been replaced. Also, while past meetings to discuss the financial and spiritual needs of the community have drawn attendance and interest, attempts to gain feedback about tried faith initiatives have gathered little or no response.

The reexamination of the current PPC structure and mandate will attempt to address:

1. What is needed to attract individuals to lend their talents in a manner that best suits their time commitments, while addressing the spiritual needs of our faith community;



2. How to best support on-going dialogue within our faith community so that spiritual needs are best represented and acted on;



3. What the core spiritual needs of our community actually are; and



4. Given the current demographics and general interest of this 2-parish community, determine whether there is there a need for a body that supports initiatives beyond the core needs?

Pride makes itself felt in every aspect of life.

In dealings with one’s neighbour, self-love makes us hyper-sensitive, inflexible, proud impatient; it causes us to exaggerate our ego and our rights, to be cold, indifferent, unjust in our judgment and in word One delight in speaking about one’s actions, of one's insights and experiences, of difficulties, of sufferings, even when there is no need to do so.

In practices of piety, one takes pleasure in looking at others, observing and judging them: one is inclined to make comparisons with them and to believe oneself better; to see only defers in them and deny their good qualities: to attribute to them intentions and aims which are not noble, and even to wish them ill.

Self love ... leads us to feel offended when we are humiliated insulted or passed over, or when we are not considered, esteemed or made a fuss of as we had hop ed for.

We have to distance ourselves from the example and prayer of the Pharisee and learn from the publican. My God, he says, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner. It is an aspiration which can often be repeated, fostering as it does in the soul a love for humility, and bringing its importance to our attention when it is time for prayer.

Liturgy Committee