On October 6, the birthday of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, the pastoral team of the parish of the same name, launched its pastoral project called the “Halte Marie-Rose”, a project enthusiastically initiated and nourished in the hope of “being Church open to today’s world.
Approximately fifty people had the pleasure of attending and listening to Ms. Chistiane Lafaille, pastoral worker and initiator of the project, animatedly express her great satisfaction at seeing the project realized.
Bishop Claude Hamelin also recalled the importance of places of welcome in order to extend the presence of the Church to the general population. Delegated by the SNJM community, Ms. Odette Côté, Communications Director, testified to the joy of the Sisters at seeing the spirit of their foundress reflected in this pastoral and parish project. Then came a surprise! Before his departure for the Synod, Bishop Gendron, greatly rejoicing in the realization of such a project in the Diocese of Saint Jean-Longueuil, sent a message of congratulations and support to the team of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher Parish by means of a pre-recorded video.
For Christiane Lafaille, the “Halte” is an opportunity to gather and involve the parish community of LeMoyne and Greenfield Park. As we know, the parish is gradually losing its places of worship. When La Mosaïque was founded, Saint-Josaphat church was sold to that organization. Last year, Saint-Anastase Church became the property of a developer and was demolished after 50 years of existence. And very shortly, Saint-Maxime church will probably be closed. . Faced with this eventuality, it was important to find alternatives to keep the parish and its parishioner’s people alive. The “Halte” hopes to do this while at the same time confirming the commitment of the universal Church to be a Church on the move, a missionary Church.