The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas has its sixth bishop with the installation March 19 of Archbishop Murray Chatlain, the first non-Oblate priest to shepherd the archdiocese since its creation originally as a vicariate apostolic 103 years ago in March 1910.
Archbishop Pedro López Quintana, of Spain, the Vatican's Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, had been scheduled to install Chatlain as archbishop at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, the archdiocesan seat, in The Pas, but was replaced by Archbishop James Weisgerber of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, as Quintana was in Rome for the installation of Pope Francis the same day.
The 6 p.m. installation mass, preceded by the choir of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Cathedral singing the hymn Ava Maria, inaugurating Chatlain as the new archbishop, was steeped in tradition and featured the pomp and pageantry the Roman Catholic Church is so well known for on such high and solemn occasions, including having the new prelate cooling his heels in front of the closed doors of the cathedral in chilly -12 C temperatures, with a wind chill of -17 C, while everyone else assembled was inside the church. The concelebrated mass, featuring Latin and Eastern Rite archbishops and bishops from across Canada, lasted an hour and 42 minutes.
Following tradition, Chatlain knocked on the front doors of the cathedral, seeking admission, as he patiently waited for Father Bill Stang, O.M.I., vicar-general, chancellor and the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, to go to the back of the cathedral and open the doors, inviting him in and presenting him with a crucifix to venerate.
Stang also read aloud the papal bull promulgated by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI last Dec. 6, appointing Chatlain as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas. In a less formal moment, Chatlain quipped inside to the congregation he had been wondering how long it was going to take "Father Bill" to open the doors on the last evening of winter.
Chatlain, 50, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Saskatoon in 1987. He pastored parishes in the diocese as well as parishes in northern Saskatchewan that are part of the Yellowknife-based Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith.
The Vicariate Apostolic of Keewatin was erected on March 4, 1910 and Bishop Ovide Charlebois, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.), was appointed as its first ordinary on Aug. 8, 1910 and installed as vicar apostolic March 7, 1911.
Almost six years ago, Chatlain was named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, located primarily in the Northwest Territories, but also dipping slightly into northern Saskatchewan and extending into western Nunavut, on June 23, 2007 and became bishop on May 10, 2008. He remains apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith for the time being, until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop, for the diocese, which covers about 1.5 million square kilometres and has about 25,000 Catholics, and is made up of about an equal number of aboriginal and non-aboriginal adherents.
Since 2008, Chatlain has been a member of the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He studied Dene at La Loche, Sask., which is in the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas.
The Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas takes in some 430,000 square kilometres and comprises the northern parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The farthest point west is La Loche, Sask., near the Alberta border. The farthest point north is Lac Brochet here in Manitoba and the farthest point east is Sandy Lake in Northwestern Ontario.
The archdiocese has 45 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 37,380. Four diocesan priests, 11 religious-order priests and seven religious women serve it, according to statistics provided by the Ottawa-based Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) established the first mission at Ile-À-la-Crosse, Sask. in 1860.
Chatlain succeeds Archbishop emeritus Sylvain Lavoie, a professed Oblate from the order Les Oblats de Marie Immaculée, or The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.), whose resignation had been accepted by the Pope last July 16 for reasons of health. During the interregnum between archbishops, Stang served as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.
Lavoie, 65, who currently resides in Saskatoon, resigned pursuant to canon 401, §2, because he had become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health. He was back in The Pas for the installation of Chatlain last week, however, and presented his successor with his crosier, held in the left hand and shaped like a shepherd's crook, to symbolize he bears the staff as the spiritual shepherd of Roman Catholics in the archdiocese.
Sister Andrea Dumont, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph Roman Catholic religious order, who spent 14 years in Guatemala and since returning to Canada has lived in Grand Rapids, Easterville and now Thompson, where she is based at St. Lawrence Church, brought greetings on behalf of the religious sisters of the archdiocese, while Father Eugene Whyte, O.M.I., the past pastor at St. Lawrence, brought greetings on the behalf of the religious priests.
A member of the OMI's Lacombe Province, Father Eugene was born in Ireland, raised largely in England, and arrived in Canada in 1967 to work as a chemist in the Patent office in Ottawa. He later taught in Kitimat, British Columbia and was ordained a priest in 1988.
Father Eugene had previously served in locales ranging from the eastern coast of Labrador to Shubenachadie, Nova Scotia, Thunder Bay, Kenora and Fort Francis in Northwestern Ontario, and then to Zimbabwe for three years before arriving in Thompson in 2005. He was posted to St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Beauval, Saskatchewan last summer after a year-long sabbatical ended.
In keeping with the diverse makeup of the archdiocese, Marie Black proclaimed the First Reading from the Second Book of Samuel in Dené, while Evelyn McCallum proclaimed the Second Reading from Saint Paul's First Letter to Timothy in Cree, followed by Father Joseph Subhash, MSFS, the current co-pastor of St. Lawrence in Thompson, and a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, from Therthally in Kerala on the Malabar Coast in southwestern India, who proclaimed the Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 1, verses 16, 18-21 and 24. The Lectionaryfor Sundays and Solemnities used by theRoman Catholic Church in Canada formass is based on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible and theformula,generally speaking, consists of three readings: The firstreading is usually from the Old Testament, except during the Easter season when it isoften taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Thesecond reading, or epistle, ismostly taken from the Letters of Paul, but sometimes other New Testamentepistles, or the Book ofRevelation. The third reading, or the gospel, isselected based on a three-year liturgical cycle - Matthew, Mark and Luke.John is usedmostly in Lent and at Easter.
Lavoie had been on medical leave since December 2011 at the time of his resignation last July. He was archbishop for almost 6 1/2 years, shepherding a primarily First Nations flock, as he had done for most of his years as a priest. Lavoie was ordained a priest in 1974 and on July 11, 2005, Lavoie was appointed coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas and in less than nine months succeeded Archbishop emeritus Peter Sutton, who retired to Ottawa on March 25, 2006.
Chatlain was born in Saskatoon and earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Saskatchewan before entering St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario where he completed a master of divinity degree.
Bishop Ovide Charlebois, the first ordinary of the Vicariate Apostolic of Keewatin, remained in office until his death in November 1933 and was succeeded by Bishop Martin LaJeunesse, O.M.I., who served until his retirement in April 1954.
Bishop Paul Dumouchel, O.M.I., who was appointed vicar apostolic in February 1955 and served until his retirement in November 1986, succeeded LaJeunesse. The Vicariate Apostolic of Keewatin was elevated to archdiocese status on July 13, 1967 and Dumouchel became its first archbishop. Sutton, who had been ordained as bishop of the Diocese of Labrador-Schefferville in Newfoundland in July 1974, was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Keewatin-Le Pas in January 1986 and archbishop in November 1986.