Saint-Léonard (de Port-Maurice) Church was officially erected on Sunday, Dec. 22, 1889. Three days later, the church was consecrated during the Christmas Mass, and 130 years later, Archbishop Lépine came to celebrate an anniversary Mass.

“The church is called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic, but also the existential peripheries,” said Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in March 2013. He did not wait until he was elected pope to make the “peripheries” central to his message, a central focus of our attention.

Auxiliary Bishop Alain Faubert, V.G., of Montreal, welcomed those gathered Dec. 14 at the diocesan offices for a day of reflection and fellowship: “In the name of the Lord, thank you for your presence. In the name of children and vulnerable people, thank you.”

People living in peaceful countries rejoice as Christmas approaches, but how do Christians living in the Middle East feel at this time of the year? Carl Hétu, director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association known as CNEWA, explains.

Are you familiar with the Marian devotion Mystical Rose? On the 13th of each month, the Montreal Lithuanian parish community of Notre-Dame-Porte-de-l’Aurore holds evening prayer sessions devoted to the Mystical Rose representation of the Virgin Mary, a request from Mary to Sister Emilia in the 1930s.