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This event at St. Kevin’s Church gave members an opportunity to say goodbye to Father Pierre Charland (previously the Provincial of the Holy Spirit Province, OFM Friars) before he made the move to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, to be installed as the new Bishop there.
April 6, Quebec Area Retreat: A spiritually rewarding time for all of our sisters and brothers from the Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada who were able to attend!
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The New OFM Minister Provincial
The new OFM Minister Provincial and the new Vicar Provincial of the Holy Spirit Province, Canada:
Brothers Jean-Pierre Ducharme (middle) and Guylain Prince (right)
Diocese of Baie-Comeau (Canada)
18 February 2025
The Holy Father Francis has appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Baie-Comeau in Canada, Br. Pierre Charland, OFM, member of our Province of the Holy Spirit in Canada, until now Provincial Minister of the same Province since its creation in 2018.
Br. Pierre was born on December 20, 1962, in North Bay, Ontario. He vested the Franciscan habit on August 18, 1991, in the then Province of St. Joseph, continuing his philosophical-theological studies in Montreal and Strasbourg. He made his Solemn Profession on May 12, 1996, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 22, 2012. During his ministry, he has held various positions in the Province, including Provincial Vicar, Provincial Definitor, General Visitor, and parish priest. He was also a professor of spirituality at the University of Montreal and provided spiritual accompaniment at the Argenteuil Health and Social Services Center, while also supporting former drug addicts.
We extend our best wishes to our brother, His Excellency Mons. Pierre Charland OFM for his new ministry in service of the people of God.
From OFM website:
https://ofm.org/en/br-pierre-charland-ofm-appointed-bishop.html
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May 31, 2025 – National Workshop
October 30, 2024
Dear Fellow Ministers,
Good afternoon to you…I hope things are going well for you and your fraternity members.
I wanted to take this opportunity to share a number of informational items with you:
- As you all know, we recently held our Leadership Development Workshop in Cacouna, with 50 people participating. (FYI, there were 56 people originally registered but some had to cancel due to health issues). By all accounts participants thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Paul Donovan as our facilitator. As well, over the week-end, there was a strong sense of our regional fraternity celebrating being together once again. The challenge and the promise of applying what was learned towards the strengthening of our fraternities is a responsibility that we all share. The Regional Council wishes to thank all those who made the effort to travel to Cacouna and contribute to the success of the workshop!
- Once again, this year Regional Council wishes to encourage fraternities to contribute to the support of Franciscans International specifically in their advocacy for the protection of the human right to water. Please send your donations to the attention of our Regional Treasurer, Ms. Luba Legault by December 1, 2024, if at all possible. Our Treasurer will then collate all of the donations and forwarded a collective amount to Franciscans International on our behalf. We thank you for your generosity!
- As is our practice, we will shortly be preparing the next issue of the Regional Update, to be issued at the early part of Advent. Regional Council would like to invite members of each fraternity to share short anecdotes regarding family Christmas celebrations.. As we know, our Regional fraternity is blessed to have a rich cultural diversity. This next issue of the Regional Update will hopefully highlight this diversity through these Christmas celebration stories. We invite you to share a favourite Christmas tradition and/or celebration and forward it to Martha Gabriel (martha.rfec@gmail.com) by the 20th of November, 2024. Note Advent begins on Sunday, December 1, 2024 and we would like to get the Update out just prior to the commencement of Advent.
- Also, Regional Council wants to share with you that the week-end of July 18, 19, and 20, 2025 has been reserved at Cacouna for our Regional Elective Chapter. Please put a circle around those dates for next year. As planning for the Elective Chapter unfolds we will be keeping you updated.
- Finally, the National Centenary Task Group wants to remind us all that 2025 is the 800th anniversary of and the year of celebration of the Canticle of the Creatures. .The Task Group asks that you share with them plans of how your fraternity might celebrate the Canticle in 2025. Please forward these plans that you might have to the attention of Ms. Catherine Payne, (catherinepayne279@gmail.com) the National Director of Formation. Once you have had these celebrations the Task Group would also like to receive photos of your celebration. On their behalf, I say thank you!
That is all I have to share at this time. If you have any questions or need for clarification regarding the above items please let me know. Keeping the lines of communication open is important, so I ask that you confirm receipt of this email. Thank you!
Fraternal regards,
Gerry Gabriel
Minister, Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada (RFEC)
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July 16 – Regional Minister Message
July 16, 2024
Dear Fellow Ministers,
Good afternoon to you all…
I acknowledge that summer is a great time to rest, recreate and enjoy visiting with family and friends. It can also be a time for quiet reflection and this is what I would like to invite you and your members to do: reflect about what a gift our vocation to OFS has been .
In preparation for the next issue of the Regional Update I would ask that you and your members consider sharing your thoughts/feelings regarding the following two questions by emailing me at gerry.rfec@gmail.com.
- What has given me the greatest joy in being a Secular Franciscan?
- How has being a Secular Franciscan enriched my life?
The intent is to include a selection of the responses in the Update…so we thank you and your members for their contributions! You may recall that our Lenten issue of the Update had two articles on Francis receiving the stigmata. This was in keeping with the Centenary celebration recommendations. In this next issue of the Update we want to devote some attention to St. Clare. If your fraternity has any special celebrations of St. Clare (her feast day is August 11th), you are invited to highlight those as well, We ask for all your responses no later than August 15, 2024.
I would like to suggest that reflecting on the above two questions might serve an additional purpose. Our Regional Fall Workshop is focusing, in part, on our Vision and Mission as Secular Franciscans. It may be that our individual and collective responses to these questions will also provide helpful input to determining how we see our Vision and Mission as members of the OFS.
Once again, thank you for your interest and sharing!
Best regards,
Gerry
Minister, Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada (RFEC)