Peterborough Mission Outreach

This June 9^th-19^th the IVE held a popular outreach mission at one of the IVE's newest parishes, St. John the Baptist, in Peterborough, Canada.

As this was the parish's first outreach mission, the missionaries, Fr. Edgar Díaz, newly ordained deacons Octavio Cortez and Felix Fuentes, and a group of seminarians, sisters, and minor seminarians, took on a variety of apostolates, such as a children's oratory, house and school visits, and the nightly missionary acts which typically accompany IVE popular missions, in an attempt to reach the most people and have the greatest impact on the community. The mission officially began on Thursday, June 9^th with a Mass celebrated by His Grace Nicola de Angelis, the bishop of Peterborough. During the Mass the missionaries were given the missionary mandate and received their mission crosses. The next day at Sacred Heart parish the missionaries participated in a diocesan wide lecture on faith and reason where they were able to meet with many of the local clergy as well as some seminarians and other young people. Saturday, June 11^th was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and many of the parishioners participated in offering a day of perpetual rosaries to Our Lady. That evening a prayer vigil was held in preparation for the solemnity of Pentecost, in which the minor seminarians and some of the men of the parish took part.

On Monday, June 13^th, the first missionary act was held. It began with a rosary procession, after which came a short doctrinal point followed by the main sermon preached by Fr. Edgar. The sermon was followed by a song to the Blessed Mother and a flower procession, wherein the children from the oratory offered flowers to Mary. To close out the act, the missionaries played songs and acted for the parishioners. Similar missionary acts were held each evening with the exception of Wednesday on which day there was held the annual parish festival. About 125 parishioners and a large group of children from the neighborhood attended the festival. All had a good time. The missionaries provided both activities and entertainment for the event. Saturday was a day dedicated to young people. Groups of youth from Peterborough, Cobourg, and Toronto came for this Youth Day, which was held at Sacred Heart Parish in Peterborough. This was the first encounter with an event hosted by the Institute for some of these young people. The main talk was given by Fr. Juan Carlos Sack, IVE. He spoke about the Church and the need for authority and unity in it. Other talks were given to the teens by religious and lay volunteers in a workshop format which allowed them to choose from various topics such as the Culture of Death, love and dignity, chastity, addictions, and vocations. The day came to a close with celebration of the Holy Mass with His Grace Nicola de Angelis, the bishop of Peterborough. On Sunday, June 19^th, the final day of the mission, a closing Mass was celebrated at St. John the Baptist Parish in which Fr. Edgar confirmed a group of 16 young people. The Mission Cross was also blessed as is customary at the end our IVE popular missions. After the Mass a reception was held and the missionaries were able to say their final good byes to the parishioners.