Media Advisory - Canadian Catholic Bishops will be at Saint Joseph's Oratory to celebrate consecrated life in Canada

MONTREAL, Sept. 16, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - In celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) will host hundreds of religious, members of new ecclesial communities and secular institutes, as well as representatives of consecrated virgins, together with local clergy and interested Catholics, in a Mass of Thanksgiving, September 17, 2015, at 10:30 a.m., in Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal, Montreal. The Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau and President of the CCCB, will preside at the Mass at which all the Catholic Bishops of Canada will also be present. Father Eugene King, O.M.I. will deliver the homily. This celebration will take place during the annual meeting of the Plenary Assembly of the CCCB, which is being held from September 14 to 18 in Cornwall, Ontario.

There are in Canada, according to the latest statistics, nearly 14,000 women religious, over 2,500 religious priests and more than 1,000 religious Brothers. Announced in November 2013 by Pope Francis, the Year of Consecrated Life began on November 29, 2014, and will conclude on the World Day for Consecrated Life, February 2, 2016.

It will be possible before or after the celebration for media to interview men and women in consecrated life, as well as the official spokespersons for the CCCB and the CRC. The CRC spokespersons are its President, Sister Rita Larivée, S.S.A., and its Executive Director, Father Timothy Scott, C.S.B. The CCCB spokespersons are its President, the Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau; the Chairman of its Ad Hoc Committee for the Year of Consecrated Life, the Most Reverend Pierre Morissette, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme, who is also a former CCCB President; and the Most Reverend Richard Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton, who is CCCB Past President and also a member of its Ad Hoc Committee. The two CRC representatives and the three CCCB representatives will be available for interviews.

SOURCE Archdiocese of Montreal

S. Louise Stafford, Canadian Religious Conference, Phone.: [phone], Mobile : [phone]; Deacon René Laprise, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Phone: [phone], Ext. 225, Mobile : [phone]; Danielle Decelles, Saint Joseph's Oratory, 514 264 1764; Lucie Martineau, Archevêché de Montréal, 514 925 4304