WCR Sneak Preview

Sr. Victoria Mazur has just celebrated 75 years of religious life. But she remains active, attending community events and faithfully showing up for her 3 a.m. hour of eucharistic adoration. When something goes astray in St. Andrew’s Parish, Mazur is the first to get things back on the straight and narrow.

Read about this remarkable sister in the Sept. 13 Western Catholic Reporter.

The opening of the new St. Joseph Seminary and Newman Theological College continues to make news … not all of it happy news. Last week, a 7-metre cross was erected on top of the seminary bell tower, a beacon across the North Saskatchewan River Valley. But, alas, construction is behind schedule and the opening of the seminary, set for Sept. 14, has been postponed.

Next month, Montreal’s remarkable Brother Andre, Alfred Bessette, will be canonized a saint. Read his life story in this week’s WCR.

There’s lots more too in the Sept 13 WCR at www.wcr.ab.ca.

The new St. Joseph Seminary and Newman Theological College are getting closer to opening day. The Sept. 6 Western Catholic Reporter unveils the work that has gone into preparing the landmark statue of Christ the Teacher for its new home. We also talk with a local seminarian while he is moving into his new home — the new seminary residence.

We also have reports for the start of the new school year — a letter to parents from the Alberta bishops and a report on the opening Mass for Edmonton Catholic Schools.

Calgary last weekend played host to North America’s United Catholic Music and Video Awards, the first time the awards have been hosted in Canada. Freelance reporter Sara Francis was there and filed a report on the goings-on.

That’s just a sample of what will be available this week in the Western Catholic Reporter, www.wcr.ab.ca.

The Western Catholic Reporter is back from holidays and our first issue has a lot to say about young people following Jesus.

Freelance reporter Sara Francis reports on Jean-Pierre Ducharme and Billy Isenor who have just made their final vows as Franciscans. What led them to choose a vocation of poverty, chastity and obedience as Franciscans? Sara’s reports will tell you.

Deborah Gyapong, Ottawa correspondent for Canadian Catholic News, tells of a new Catholic movement in Quebec, Famille Marie-Jeunesse, where young people not only make the traditional vows, but also a vow of joy. In less than 15 years, 47 men and women have made permanent commitments to the lay consecrated order and 13 men have become priests. In highly secularized Quebec, it’s a sign of a new spiritual springtime.

The WCR’s staff reporters Ramon Gonzalez and Chris Miller bring you up to date on local happenings as well. Three new Catholic schools are opening in Edmonton, a St. Albert Knights of Columbus council has achieved international recognition and an Edmonton woman is drawn to recall nearly-forgotten supernatural events from 1949.

All this and much more in the Aug. 30 WCR at www.wcr.ab.ca or in your mailbox.

The Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage is in full swing this week with more than 50,000 people from across Western Canada in attendance. Our reporter Ramon Gonzalez spent a day at the pilgrimage, interviewing pilgrims and illustrating the event with a variety of photos.

Also in this week’s paper is a report on the drive to have Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha canonized. If canonized, she would be the first North American aboriginal saint.

The WCR this week includes an update on construction at Newman Theological College and St. Joseph Seminary, a report on a vacation Bible school in Stony Plain - Spruce Grove, and an article on an icon-writing workshop at Living Waters College of the Arts. You will also be able to find out the name of this year’s winner of the Kevin Carr Leadership Award.

Read about it at www.wcr.ab.ca. This will be the last issue of the WCR until Aug. 30.

Is Jesus just a good guy or is he really the Son of God? Father Scott McCaig, general superior of the Companions of the Cross, addresses that question at the annual Catholic Family Life Conference. Another priest, local pastor Father Paul Moret, told the conference that when we deny the devil’s existence, we allow him greater freedom. Bring Satan and his activities out into the open, Moret says.

This week’s WCR also features a major profile of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, recently named to a top post at the Vatican. There is a look at an archdiocesan summer camp, Camp Encounter, and a new book republishing Bishop Emile Grouard’s prayers written in Cree in the 1880s.

Is your marriage troubled? Read the story on Retrouvaille, a tonic for ailing marriages. Also, a seminarian from St. Joseph Seminary goes to Rome and writes about a new fountain dedicated to St. Joseph.

There’s lots of value to read in this week’s Western Catholic Reporter. Check it out at www.wcr.ab.ca or in your mailbox next week.

The Edmonton Archdiocese will have a new priest on June 28. Dean Dowle is slated to be ordained that day. As a prelude, the June 21 WCR will tell how Dean heard and followed the call to be a priest.

Another vocation is the lay vocation. Bob McKeon, social justice officer for the archdiocese, came to develop a passion for justice in a way that could not be predicted. McKeon told his story to a group of charismatic Catholics on June 12 and next week’s WCR will report on his talk.

Other highlights of the June 21 WCR will include a report on Archbishop Richard Smith’s contributions to a panel session on the Catholic press earlier this month, a report on the new Catholic high school being built in Sherwood Park and an article on a conference on Marian spirituality at Ephphatha House.

There will be lots more too. Read it all online on June 17 at www.wcr.ab.ca or in the print edition in your mailbox next week. And if you want to keep up to date on stories that we post on our website, follow the WCR on twitter at www.twitter.com/westcath.

It’s been five years since perpetual Eucharistic Adoration began at Corpus Christi Chapel on Edmonton’s west side. Regular “adorers” of Our Lord Jesus Christ at the chapel say their time of prayer has made a world of difference, changing their lives and bringing them peace. The WCR this week features a full look at Eucharistic Adoration in the chapel.

Keeping with the Eucharistic theme, reporter Ramon Gonzalez went to the annual Corpus Christi procession and provided a full report and a gallery of photos.

The June 14 Western Catholic Reporter will also provide the text of Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s talk at the May 27 session of Nothing More Beautiful.

And as the Year for Priests draws to a close, reporter Chris Miller provides a story looking at the effect the mothers of priests have on their sons’ vocations. And a Catholic News Service article examines Pope Benedict’s encouragement to priests in their ministry to teach, sanctify and govern.

Read all this and more in the June 14 Western Catholic Reporter at www.wcr.ab.ca.

Sacred Heart Parish in Wetaskiwin put its heart and soul into raising funds to bring in a National Evangelization Team to spur greater faith among parish youth. Now the NET team has gone home and more young people are involved in parish life. See the full story in the May 24 Western Catholic Reporter.

The WCR this week also has a full report on the Alberta March for Life held May 13 and a report on the Knights of Columbus convention in Lethbridge. In Quebec, Cardinal Marc Ouellet speaks out for human life and a newspaper columnist curses that he should die a long painful death. The WCR reports the story and comments in its own editorial.

The birth control pill is 50 years old. Has it lived up to its promises? Absolutely not, says a Catholic News Service report from the U.S.

Read all this and more in the May 24 Western Catholic Reporter.

Alberta’s Knights of Columbus are gearing up for their 100th annual state convention this weekend in Lethbridge. The May 17 WCR brings you highlights of K of C activities from around the province as well as a look-ahead to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s May 26-27 visit to Edmonton.

Next week’s Western Catholic Reporter will provide full coverage of the convention of Alberta Pro-Life and the annual Mass for the Holy Childhood Association. We’ll also take you on a trip to Portugal with Pope Benedict.

Watch for the May 17 WCR on Thursday, May 13 at www.wcr.ab.ca or in your mailbox the following week.

This week’s Western Catholic Reporter has several stories responding to the attacks on Pope Benedict and his supposed negligence in dealing with sexual abuse cases. At the annual Chrism Mass, Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith reiterated his “unequivocal support” for the pope while Calgary Bishop Fred Henry’s column responds to coverage of a sexual abuse case in Milwaukee.

The WCR this week also includes reporter Ramon Gonzalez’s coverage of the funeral of Spiritan Father Michael Troy. Reporter Chris Miller goes to Wetaskiwin to report on a group that provides support and faith education for new immigrants from the Philippines.

Editor Glen Argan tells of an exhibit of unique Spanish religious art that he witnessed recently.

That’s the April 5 WCR, available online now at www.wcr.ab.ca. But next week, there will be no issue because of the Easter break. Watch for our next issue to be dated April 19, which will include a supplement on religious vocations.

The feast of St. Joseph, March 19, will be a special day for Deacon Michael Schumacher. That’s the day he will be ordained a priest at St. Joseph’s Basilica. Next week’s Western Catholic Reporter will tell Michael’s story and how he started on the journey to the priesthood. Also in next week’s WCR will be our annual Summer Plans supplement. Read about Living Water College of the Arts, how some teachers spend their summer vacation and about the joys of parish celebrations in the great outdoors. Next week’s WCR will also contain reporter Ramon Gonzalez’s look at the ministry of bringing Communion to the Sick. There will also be a brief report on a local women’s choir that sings an abundance of Church music and many more stories as well.

What do you do when you realize all the myths that you have been taught about the Catholic Church are not true? Become Catholic, of course.

That’s the story of Julie and Darryl Tymchuk of Vegreville who plan to join the Catholic Church at Easter along with their eight daughters. Julie used to think Catholics worshipped Mary. But when Darryl began to research Jesus’ priestly prayer at the Last Supper, it started them on a years-long journey toward the Catholic Church.

Read their story and all about the Rite of Election, where 147 soon-to-be Catholics made their commitment to be baptized at Easter, in the March 1 Western Catholic Reporter.

Next week’s WCR also includes a full report on the new English language missal translation that will be implemented in churches across Canada in Advent 2011. The new translation is an attempt to more fully realize the dreams and spirit of the Second Vatican Council for the liturgy.

All this and much more will be published in the March 1 WCR later this week at www.wcr.ab.ca or in the print edition next week.

Next week’s Western Catholic Reporter contains a special supplement on Catholic Higher Education. Our reporters tell you about the effort Alberta colleges are putting into preparing teachers to work in Catholic schools as well as the preparation a seminarian gets before he is ordained a priest. Reporter Chris Miller also talks with Jason West, president of the Canadian Society of Christian Philosophers.

Our regular news reports include a report on World Marriage Day and the unveiling of the coat of arms for the Edmonton Archdiocese.

The WCR’s website is located at www.wcr.ab.ca. Stories will be posted on Thursday, Feb. 18.