In the Catholic Church calendar, we remember St. Monica on August 27 and St. Augustine of Hippo on August 28. They both lived in the 4th Century in Northern Africa and Italy. St Monica is the patron saint of mothers. She had a great influence on people in her life: through her prayers and humble…
Statement on Notre Dame fire
It is with profound sorrow that we learned today about the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The iconic church is much more than just a monument as it represents the soul of the city of Paris. It is especially a tragedy since this happened during the holiest week of the Christian year. We…
World Communications Day 2019
This is the theme chosen by the Holy Father Pope Francis for the 53rd World Communications Day, to be held in 2019: «We are members one of another» (Eph 4,25). From network community to human communities. The theme underlines the importance of giving back to communication a broad perspective, based on the person, and emphasizes…
The Meaning of Baptism
Leon Bloy once wrote, “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” The vocation to become a saint is the vocation of each baptized person, therefore it is a vocation for all of us who have been baptized. This Sunday we celebrate the…
Mary Mother of God
A reminder that January 1, Solemnity of Mary Mother of God is a Holy Day of Obligation. Mass times: Monday December 31st: 5 PM Tuesday January 1st: 8 AM, 9:30 AM, 11 AM, 12:30 PM, 5 PM, 6:30 PM (Spanish) 8 PM
Ordination of Father Guy and Deacon Felix
On Saturday December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrated an ordination in which two men were ordained: one to the diaconate and one to the priesthood. This is indeed a cause for great joy for the Church of Vancouver and for the Cathedral! Guy Zidago, originally from Ivory Coast was ordained a…
40 Hours Devotion.
Forty Hours Devotion This is a special period of continuous prayer during which the Eucharist is exposed in a monstrance for adoration. The devotion begins with a Mass followed by continuous adoration over a 40-hour period, and it ends with a Mass and Benediction. In the Bible the number 40 is associated with a sacred…
Is Christ our King?
On this Solemnity of Christ the King, it is good to ponder the origin of this celebration. It is quite recent in the Church liturgical calendar. Consider the world in 1925. There was atheistic Communism in Russia, Fascism in Italy, and soon to be Nazism in Germany. North America was heading toward the Great Depression….
Why Purgatory?
The Catholic Church presents to us in November the themes of death, judgement, heaven and hell. This is done to both encourage and challenge us in our faith journey. From Scripture and the Catholic Catechism, we can get an idea of what happens after death. The staff from Catholic Answers wrote the following article in…
The Three States of the Church
The Catholic Catechism teaches about three states of the Church (N. 954): “When the Lord comes in glory and all his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are…