Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has been about 20 months since the Archdiocese of Vancouver adopted the motto “the Church Never Stops” in response to the challenges that faced us during the first year of the pandemic. As we approach the end of the second year of this crisis, I remain grateful that our local Church has indeed never stopped. Our mission of evangelization has continued without faltering.
The trials of this past year in some ways proved more challenging than those of last year: added restrictions on religious worship, increasing attacks on the sanctity of life, widening divisions in our society, and yet another painful reminder of the legacy of the Catholic Church’s involvement in operating government-established residential schools for Indigenous Peoples.
Amid these crosses and challenges, however, the Church never stopped. We continued to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. We witnessed the providence of God working in the Church in Vancouver in numerous ways:
No one knows what challenges may lie ahead in 2022. I am confident, however, that our Catholic community will continue to labour and pray with its customary dedication to ensure that the Church’s mission continues. It is to them that I dedicate this Annual Report, appropriately titled “The Joy of the Family.”
Placing our faithfulness and trust in God’s grace, and through the prayers of the Holy Family, we will continue to ensure that the Church in our beloved Archdiocese of Vancouver, “the Church Never Stops”.
The Archdiocese of Vancouver covers approximately 120,000 km², including B.C.’s Lower Mainland, and has roughly 446,000 baptized Catholics within its boundaries. It was established in 1863 as the Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia and in 1908 as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver.
Our seminarians underwent a full academic year during the pandemic. Despite many challenges, they had a fruitful year of ministry and community life at the Seminary. The Seminary of Christ the King accompanied young men discerning the priesthood by launching King’s Gambit, the first ever online seminary live-in.
We were blessed to celebrate the priestly ordinations of Fr. Richard Conlin and Fr. Raffaele Salvino.
In February, the seminarians in the Spirituality Year worked at the new Catholic Charities Men’s Shelter and the Door Is Open in the Downtown Eastside for their Discipleship Immersion Experience. Through ministering to the homeless and the destitute, they showed their trust in the providential care of God.
The Fiat Women’s Discernment Group has moved to an online format for the past year, allowing many young women from various locations to participate. Online tools have allowed the women to be introduced to cloistered communities, with our two local cloisters, the Dominicans and the Poor Clares, able to present their life and charism to the group for the first time.
Many of the young women in the discernment group are opening their hearts to God’s plan for their life and vocation. Some have begun intentionally discerning with specific communities while others are taking advantage of opportunities for human and spiritual formation so that they can respond to God’s will with their whole being.
Our nine new candidates for the Permanent Diaconate were finally ordained this fall after a long wait due to the pandemic. All nine already have their appointments from the Archbishop and many are already involved in the parishes and agencies to which they have been assigned. The current deacons are almost entirely back to their ministries. Those who were able continued their ministry during the pandemic, although some found it impossible in apostolates with strict restrictions.
During the past year, the Permanent Diaconate Office also began a program for the wives of deacons under the direction of Sue Coutant, a veteran leader in Marriage Encounter.
Proclaim has encouraged disciples to proclaim Jesus in their homes and communities. Through the specific tools of Alpha and Discovery, participants have been introduced to Jesus and invited to encounter the Holy Spirit and make a heartfelt decision to place Jesus at the centre of their lives.
Proclaim also accompanied and equipped disciples through online training for Alpha and Discovery, Proclaim peer groups, and an intentional accompaniment masterclass.
The 2020 Upper Room was offered in a hybrid model; participants attended online or in person at one of 11 parish host sites. In 2021, the hybrid model remained but a main live site was added, allowing participants to experience the event first-hand. Each Upper Room had a roster of noteworthy speakers including Matt Maher, Dr. Mary Healy, Tim Glemkowski, and Pete Burak.
Spirit Day was offered this year on April 24, 2021. The event was livestreamed to “satellite” sites and individuals at home.
The young adults of the Archdiocese turned eagerly to prayer and community life throughout the pandemic. Supporting one another online and in person, they continued to seek opportunities for growth in discipleship and fellowship. Various young adult groups joyfully hosted in-person gatherings as the COVID restrictions were relaxed in the summer
The Salesian Sisters successfully ran ‘Duc In Altum: A Year for Your Future,’ an eight-month program of formation and discernment for young adults. It provides the gift of personalized accompaniment in a co-ed environment and identifies avenues for personal growth and service of life. The next cohort begins in November 2021.
Hispanic Ministry includes ministry to farm workers, many of whom are Roman Catholic, and ministry to Latinos. Groups from a number of parishes provided welcome kits for migrant workers who had to quarantine when arriving in the country, and students from Sacred Heart School in Ladner made Christmas cards for them.
This year, Filipino Ministry celebrated 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.
In celebration of this anniversary, Filipino Ministry held a song writing competition which produced their theme song for the year: Gifted to Give. It has been used throughout the year to proclaim gratitude for the gift of faith.
One of the priorities of the Filipino Ministry Office is to promote priestly vocations in the community. With this goal in mind, two vocations promotion programs were launched: Come and See for those ages 15-18 and Come Follow Me for those aged 19-35.
The Filipino Ministry Office provides spiritual guidance to seven Filipino Catholic Associations which continue to be strong in their charisms, using virtual engagement tools to stay connected during the height of the pandemic.
Although there was no formal Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) training this year, several untrained catechists went through a weekly one-on-one meeting to learn how to do CGS presentations in person or over Zoom.
We are happy to have a new atrium (special classroom for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre to serve as a model for parishes and schools.
Spirit Day was offered this year on April 24, 2021. The event was livestreamed to “satellite” sites and individuals at home.
During the pandemic, almost 90% of PREP classes transitioned to online delivery using Zoom and Google Meets.
There was a renewed interest in family faith formation and how to be more welcoming to parents when they drop their children off each week at PREP time.
Vanspec volunteers have become more effective evangelizers when invited to think outside the box during the pandemic. They have shown a new way of teaching and creativity when planning and executing their online classes. Parents of two current students have become more involved in the faith after their children’s involvement in Vanspec.
Through the month of December, St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary Student Council encouraged students to extend a daily Act of Advent Kindness to a fellow student or teacher to spread love and light in an otherwise challenging year. These acts, though simple, served to brighten the day of a classmate and remind the school’s students and staff that they are all connected.
In April 2021, St. Helen’s School welcomed the Eucharistic Miracles of the World Exhibit highlighting and focusing on the different miracles associated with the Eucharist and the saints, specifically newly beatified Blessed Carlo Acutis. Following the exhibits, Fr. Alessandro Lovato led Grade 7 students in an informative session highlighting the monstrance and symbols of the Church, as well as leading the classes in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
At Saint John Paul II Academy, witnessing the student body grow each year has been one of the most rewarding aspects of cultivating a strong foundation before moving into a brand-new facility. Visiting the new grounds invigorated and cemented the school community’s desire to continue to walk with Jesus Our Living Hope while trusting in his providential plan.
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity took place online this year with daily prayers sent to over 100 Catholics who signed up.
Catholics and Lutherans gathered online for an evening of community, conversation, and reflection as Bishop Gregory Mohr of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Archbishop Miller reflected on the gifts of the Spirit.
Rabbi Jonathan Infeld and Archbishop Miller sat down to discuss COVID’s impact on their respective faith communities. About 100 participants tuned in live and many more watched a recording of the conversation.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Committee is collaborating with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to educate Catholics about human trafficking in Canada. An educational tool is to be published in the coming months. This project focuses on the injustice toward women and girls and calls all Christians to respect the human dignity of all persons and their human rights as expressed in the social justice teachings of the church.
In December 2020 the Catholic Charities Men’s Hostel moved from the red brick building at Robson and Cambie Street, where it had been located for more than 60 years, to the Comox Building at St. Paul’s Hospital. Along with the move came a new name: the Catholic Charities Men’s Shelter. The shelter offers 102 beds to homeless and transient men but has been operating at a lower capacity to allow for physical distancing during the pandemic.
Motivated by ongoing reflection and deepening awareness of the enduring harm caused by colonialism and the part that the Catholic Church played across Canada in the administration and management of former Indian Residential Schools, the Vancouver Archdiocese has taken strides this year to galvanize efforts towards reconciliation and healing for its role in this painful part of our shared history. In May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation in Kamloops, BC, publicly shared information that they may have found remains of children at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. This painful news confirmed what many intergenerational survivors of the residential school system had spoken about for years. The news from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation was the first of several investigations launched by Nations into the sites of former residential schools, including the St. Paul’s Indian Residential School on the Squamish reserve in North Vancouver.
With the news of the investigations taking place at the former school sites, Archbishop Miller released a statement in early June in which he committed to providing support to survivors, family members, and Nations impacted by these schools. His commitments included: mental health supports to survivors, investigative technologies for on-site work, and a firm commitment to make available all records related to residential schools. Over the subsequent months – and ongoing – work is now underway to honour and implement these commitments in meaningful and tangible ways, beginning with establishing relationships with each of the Nations directly impacted. The Archdiocese is now working together with the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations to help them fully access and review archival records and to support efforts to search the site of the former St. Paul’s Residential School in North Vancouver. This relationship has begun in a spirit of trust, guided by the wisdom of Nation Elders, Chiefs and Council leadership, and is based upon first listening to the truths of intergenerational survivors as the precursor to reconciliation, justice, and healing. While the Kamloops residential school is in the former geographic area of the Archdiocese – now part of the Kamloops diocese – dialogues between Nation and dioceses have been established and are ongoing, with a hope of establishing similarly collaborative and supportive relationships with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation in Kamloops.
To strengthen these initiatives and commitments to Indigenous peoples, the Archdiocese held a second collection on September 12, 2021 as part of the province-wide Bishops’ Campaign in Support of Healing and Reconciliation. This campaign, led by the laity, was held to provide Catholics the opportunity to support Indigenous peoples in this province. In the coming months, the Church will work with First Nations and Indigenous leaders to identify and support projects that support those impacted and make progress towards the Archbishop’s key commitments. It is the Archdiocese and Archbishop’s hope that these actions will help to restore trust and further our ongoing journey together with First Nations peoples towards transformative reconciliation and healing.
A working group of the Kateri Council of the Archdiocese has been formed to discuss translating the texts of the Mass, especially those parts recited by the people, using Indigenous languages, with a goal of inviting Indigenous peoples to participate in celebrations of Mass containing their traditional language.
This work is similar to that of other communities that worship in their own language, which was fostered by Vatican II. This work is also further to the Archdiocese’s commitments towards implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), specifically Article 13: “Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures…”
As Christians, we live in hope and preparation for the life to come. We take comfort in the promise of the Resurrection because we believe that life will change, not end. The Roman Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Vancouver (RCCAV) operates four cemeteries with one mission:
We prepare the living for the life to come; we bury the dead in the Catholic tradition; and we comfort the living with compassion and care.
In the past year the ministry provided:
The B.C. Catholic received 18 awards for Christian journalism this year, including first place in general excellence in newspapers from the Canadian Christian Communicators Association.
The Catholic Media Association, which represents Catholic media across Canada and the U.S., recognized The B.C. Catholic with nine awards including first place honours in investigative reporting as well as layout and design.
Project Advance 2020: Our Catholic Response to the Crisis raised $6.76 million, establishing the Archbishop’s Crisis Response Fund to help the most vulnerable during the pandemic. The Appeal also provided over $4 million in much-needed parish rebates to support parishes during this challenging year.
My Sunday Offering, which launched in March 2020, facilitated online parish offerings for 6,062 parishioners—over 3,100 of whom signed up for weekly or monthly offerings. These offerings have been critical in helping parish communities continue and, in some cases, adapt their ministries.
The Archbishop advanced his pastoral priorities due in part to the Ninth Annual Archbishop’s Dinner in October 2020, which had 685 benefactors and sponsors, raising $422,744 toward enhanced lay formation in the Archdiocese.
In 2020, 102,619 gifts from over 17,000 donors were made. Estate gifts have provided $1.84 million toward parish priorities and various ministries of the Archdiocese. 7 donors indicated a planned gift in their estate and became members of the Catholic Legacy Society. The increasing popularity of gifting publicly traded securities continued, with 73 donors gifting in this way.
The pandemic has not slowed the Archdiocese’s ability to grow and develop. Several projects have been completed in the 2020-2021 year:
Combined Statement of Operations for Pastoral Centre and Parishes of the Archdiocese of Vancouver Year ended December 31, 2020
The Finance Office is pleased to publish externally audited financial statements for the Archdiocese of Vancouver at rcav.org/finance/financial-statements
