La Grande Mission

At the crossroads of his personal evolution, much like the Church that was soon to enter into the Second Vatican Council, the Cardinal launched La Grande Mission in 1960, a considerable operation inspired by the experience of a mission carried out in Milan by Cardinal Montini (future Pope Paul VI), and which had as its theme “God is our Father”. La Grande Mission was an opportunity for reflection on the milieu. It sought to identify current pastoral needs. It called everyone to inner conversion. A vast plan of preaching and meetings aimed at rediscovering the fundamental theological truths of the Church, about the responsibilities of the laity, and about Christian communities.

The assessment of this “Grande Mission”? It was beautifully organized, it certainly reached a considerable number of faithful and gave them reason to reflect. We were in Christendom... but also in the early hours of the Quiet Revolution, socioreligious changes were brewing. La Grande Mission was an intense moment in ecclesial life.

The Second Vatican Council

This was surely the other great event of the second era of the episcopate of Cardinal Léger. Four sessions were held (1962-1965) which, every autumn between September and December, led him to Rome. The Cardinal's participation in the discussions of the Council was important and appreciated. His interventions, fed by the consultations he had conducted in Montreal with groups of faithful and priests which were developed in Rome during the course of the Council, were listened to attentively and had their influence.

On December 5, 1965, three days before the end of the Council, the Cardinal addressed a letter to all the members of the Church of Montreal, priests, religious, and laity. He delivered the last impressions of the happy and enthusiastic conciliar Father that he was.

"The Second Vatican Council met the expectations it set before itself. (It) was a new Pentecost... It is in the very spirit of the Gospel that gave it strength and led to a radical purification, according to that spirit. It sought to renew Christian life and behaviour.”

A lighter Church

Before, during, and after the Council, Cardinal Léger worked to modify certain features of the diocesan Church. He showed an openness to the assumption by the laity of their social responsibilities, particularly in the field of education. For example: St. Paul's College was entrusted to the laity (1961). Lay people, instead of priests, were appointed to the three posts of commissioners who were left to be decided on by the Archbishop of Montreal at the C.E.C.M. (1964).

The Cardinal believed that the Church ought to be relieved of certain powers, of a certain substitute role. Omnipresent until then, she accepted to be relieved of loads that she could no longer carry, and that society had become able to assume.

A present Church

The desire to make the Church present in Montreal society ultimately characterized the episcopate of Cardinal Léger. Newly present in the territory: 109 new parishes, new missions, ethnic and ritual communities – all erected in seventeen years. His presence in the Church and in the city took the form of 5,000 addresses, homilies, and speeches given in a very wide range of settings. A visible, active, and growing presence in the 1950s became more discreet, capable of detachment, and sharing in the 1960s.