The Church as an Expert in Humanity

On September 23rd, 2023, more than 200 people attended this daylong open house-style event called “The Church as an Expert in Humanity.”

The event took place at St. Mary’s Cathedral, the Cathedral Hall, and the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Calgary, Alberta.

The morning featured a Ministry Hall of Exhibits with 18 table displays of ministries throughout the diocese doing the best work on suffering, death, grief, and caregiving. In the afternoon, there were three-panel presentations.

The first panel involved Catholics of diverse cultural backgrounds speaking about hospitality and accompaniment in their respective traditions. It included a Filipino diaconal candidate, a Ukrainian laywoman working with refugees, an elderly Indigenous woman who is a community leader, and an Iraqi Catholic priest.

The second was called “Tell Me About the Hour of Death” where participants heard from two doctors, a priest, and a longtime pastoral care worker.

The third panel focused on papal documents pertaining to death, hope, and eternal life. A Polish Dominican sister who has worked extensively with the elderly spoke about John Paul II’s “Letter to the Elderly.”

Later, an evening program was held in Calgary’s Catholic Cathedral and included seven short testimonies by different speakers that “were narratively framed as echoes of the Seven Last Words of Christ.” Among the speakers were a privately sponsored Middle Eastern Christian refugee, a L’Arche core member who has a disability, and a young father whose daughter only lived for 38 minutes.

Afterward, Calgary’s Bishop William McGrattan gave some catechesis on the Anima Christi prayer, with a special emphasis on the line, “In Your wounds, hide me.”