Saturday, December 12, 2009

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples - Diaconate Ordination being prepared

In 2007, Canada Post produced a stamp honouring Grand Chief Membertou of the Mi'kmaq People on the 400th anniversary of bonds of friendship being established between the aboriginals of Nova Scotia and the French settlers at Port Royal. Next year, there will be celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the baptism of Membertou (and his people). Here is a description of this bond on the website of Multicultural Trails of NS:

Grand Chief Henri Membertou led a group of Mi’kmaq who hunted and fished in the area encompassing a basin of water, which in 1604, the French named Port Royal and known today as Annapolis Basin. Membertou was a great leader in his district, and had a tremendous following. He was Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Mi’kmaq, and was very respected by all.

It is said he went out, in season, to lead his followers in battle against the Mi’kmaq’s ancient enemies to the south (present day Maine), the Armouchiquois. The French were later to fight the Armouchiquois, a turn of events which is undoubtedly one of the reasons why Membertou "showed an unswerving loyalty" towards his French allies.

He expressed his faithfulness to the French by allowing himself to be baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in 1610. He died the following year on September 18th, 1611. Both Mi’kmaq and French paid tribute to him in a solemn funeral.

He was so influential a figure in Mi’kmaw society that within the next fifty years many, if not most, Mi’kmaq had also converted to Christianity.

A monument was erected at Port Royal in 1985 to mark the 375th anniversary of the baptism of Membertou and his family into the Catholic faith in 1610.

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The anniversary of Membertou's conversion to Christ and baptism is the theme of this year's address by the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for today's National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples, which coincides with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe:


As recommended by what is now the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Catholic, December 12 has been designated “National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples”. The date was not chosen by chance, for it is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. This is a feast that reminds us the message of salvation is for all humanity.

With preparations well underway to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Baptism of the Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Membertou in 1610, the Bishops of Canada join Aboriginal Catholics in remembering this historic event. It is also an occasion to recall the teaching of Christ to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28.19).

In keeping with the spirit of the April 29, 2009 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and representatives from Aboriginal communities in Canada, the commemoration of the Baptism of Chief Membertou serves as an opportunity to renew and strengthen our common bonds of faith, reconciliation and trust with Aboriginal Catholics.

Pope John Paul II reminded us that “not only is Christianity relevant to the Indian people, but Christ, in the members of his Body, is himself Indian” (Address at the Shrine of the Canadian Martyrs, 15 September 1984). The National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal Peoples is an invitation to all Catholics across the country to be united with their Aboriginal brothers and sisters in prayer and in witness that “we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body” (1 Corinthians 12.13).

+ Pierre Morissette
Bishop of Saint-Jérôme
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

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A couple of days ago, I met with Jeff Nelson and his wife Janet as we look forward to his ordination as a Permanent Deacon in the Archdiocese of Ottawa on Holy Family Sunday, December 27 at St. Theresa's Church, Ottawa.

Please pray for Jeff, his family and his parish as this milestone in his faith journey approaches.

After our meeting, a staffer took our picture:


  1. You're putting on weight.Too many fries?

  2. I'm LNU...I've never been baptized and never will BE, and today, i'm claimed by Mi'kmaq elders, medicine men and women.. they carry oral history and ancient ceremonies and knowledge. Recent elders from underground, just resurfaced, they too claim i'm a pouin, kinap, scorcer, etc, they claim i'm among the most power fullest shaman to have graced Mi'kmaq in centuries. I come from a long line of shamans and hereditary chiefs, both sides of my parents, genetics can be traced to ancient Mi'kmaq bloodlines and history of shamans, traditional chiefs. I'm extremely physically strong and can heal the sick, and raise the dead and have, and can request souls to be sent home from both alive and dead. I can control wind, water, rainbows, at will, they listen to my beckon and calls, lightening struck me, I can stay underwater for prolonged periods of time, gifted with super speeds and incredible strength, some say i can teleport many miles, never tried, others claim we possess the power to fly and come back to life, i was under water for 25 minutes and have come back to life or didn't die at all, anyones guess what takes place would be as good as mine, all i can say is i can commune with the animals and elements with out uttering a word. I can take direct hits from lightening yet feed wild animals out of my hands and sit with them while they do their business, quite pleasent, more so then you non LNU

    My family gene pool derives from the exact geological locations...loved by late chief Membertou.. the spelling and meaning is off, the real definition is a blood condition, he was named after his blood, hyper blood condition, i have exactly this condition, i produce over 5 times the adrenaline then average humans and my bones are 5 times stronger, spiritually anything is possible physically when the two world is joined by beings like me, and we are LNU - True Man, we are MI'KMAQ (MIKMAQ), and we are a resurrecting LNU, we can never be genocide, never be assimilated colonial parasites, even if you killed off last of our women and breed them out to dilute LNU genetics, you will be diluted, we have the ability to resurrect an army if called upon.

    Be warned, the time is near, be LNU (True man, anyone can) when ending is near to the new era, or be banished to a dark place where you hunt and collect your foods in the dark forever.