National

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Your Eminences, Brother Bishops, distinguished guests, and members of the CCCB staff,

To the members of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, I present the President’s Report, which summarizes the activities and achievements of the Conference since our last Plenary Assembly at Mont Ste-Anne in 2024. I wish first to acknowledge and sincerely thank the members of the Permanent Council, the Executive Committee, the General Secretariat, and the staff of the CCCB for their dedicated work on behalf of the Conference.

A New Pope

In the past year, the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV were the most significant events in the life of the Catholic Church. We were given a lasting memory of Pope Francis at his final public appearance in Saint Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday, when he offered a brief blessing and wished the crowd a Happy Easter, before passing away on Easter Monday. Some Bishops from Canada, myself included, together with several guests here present, were able to attend the Papal funeral. I extend gratitude to all who prayed for Pope Francis and for the Catholic Church during that time of transition.

The Canadian Cardinals who participated in the Conclave, together with all the faithful, rejoiced at Pope Leo XIV’s first appearance on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica. The election of a new Pope is always an occasion of great joy for the whole Church. Our new Holy Father, like his 19th-century predecessor and namesake, takes the helm during a time of profound political, social, cultural, and technological transformation. We are experiencing the accelerated growth of digital media, bio-engineering, and artificial intelligence, each of which threatens to undermine the dignity of the human person. These are the “new social challenges” of today that urgently call for the Church’s faithful witness to the Gospel in our own times.

The Jubilee Year of Hope

This Ordinary Jubilee Year has as its goal the renewal of Christian hope. It invites us on a pilgrimage of conversion, to celebrate reconciliation, and to restore justice. The CCCB Ad hoc Committee for the Preparation of the Jubilee has developed numerous resources for possible use or adaptation by dioceses, eparchies, parishes, schools, and ecclesial movements. The webinar series entitled A Great Symphony of Prayer, led by Dr. Josephine Lombardi, was recognized by the Catholic Media Association as Best Streaming Scripted Series at their annual Gabriel Awards.

In May, the Standing Committee for Family and Life honoured families as vital sources of hope who embody God’s love, protect life, and bear witness to the Gospel in society. The Jubilee Year’s social dimension also inspired Forgive Us Our Debts, a pastoral letter by the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace. This letter draws from the Jubilee tradition of debt forgiveness, echoing this year’s campaign by Development and Peace–Caritas Canada, which calls for transformative financial reforms to assist countries in the global South burdened by unsustainable debt.

Many Canadians, particularly young adults, have walked through the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica, immersed themselves in prayer and catechesis, and participated in the Eucharist with Pope Leo. On July 29, at the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, a bilingual scriptural reflection was held, accompanied by witness talks by youth and Canadian Bishops, musical expressions of worship, and faith sharing. The event concluded with a commissioning prayer and symbolic send-off, encouraging Canadian youth to continue their Jubilee journey “firm in faith, joyful in hope, and active in charity” (Collect, Jubilee Mass).

Inter-generational Faith

The Jubilee Year is an intergenerational encounter in which each age group receives a particular “sign of hope” while at the same time passing that hope on to the next generation. This theme was reflected in the English Sector Episcopal Commission for Evangelization and Catechesis’ pastoral letter, Call to Witness and Proclaim: Evangelization and Catechesis in the Family, as well as in the CCCB’s promotion of the Fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, whose theme was “Blessed are those who have not lost hope” (cf. Sir 14:2). A short video featuring a family from St. John’s, Newfoundland highlighted and celebrated the role of grandparents in the lives of their three grandchildren and parents, bearing witness to the “living sign of hope” across generations and through time.

1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea

This year also marks the 1700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., at which the Nicene Creed was adopted, a profession of faith still shared by Catholics, Orthodox, and many other Christian denominations. It remains our foundational creed, articulating Christology, ecclesiology, soteriology, and Trinitarian theology. A key development of the Council of Nicaea was the adoption of the philosophical term homoousion to describe the unity of the Son with the Father. We will revisit the Nicaean legacy tomorrow, with the help of Hiermonk Gregory Hrynkiw, a member of the Byzantine-Catholic Hermitage of the Three Holy Hierarchs in Saskatoon.

Synod on Synodality

The final session of the two-year XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was completed last October. I am grateful for the opportunity to have participated in that event, along with other Canadian episcopal and non-episcopal delegates. The Final Document, approved by Pope Francis, is the culminating text of the Synod on Synodality. A synodal Church rests on the ecclesial foundations of communion, participation, and mission. Pope Leo has since approved a preliminary three-year plan for the implementation of the Synod, which we are now invited to take up in our dioceses and eparchies. This week, Bishop Alain Faubert, as Chair of the newly-established CCCB Ad hoc Committee for the Implementation of Synodality in the Catholic Church in Canada, will outline how the CCCB can support Canadian dioceses and eparchies in this important post-Synod phase.

Christian Unity

Our ecumenical efforts with the Orthodox Churches in Canada have borne fruit through the support of His Grace Bishop Boulos, Ordinary of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Ottawa, Montreal, and Eastern Canada. There is hope that a permanent dialogue will soon be established between the CCCB and the Coptic Church in Canada.

This week, the Episcopal Commission for Christian Unity, Religious Relations with the Jewish People, and Interfaith Dialogue will present its proposed National Ecumenical Strategy. This is the fruit of two years of work following the CCCB’s earlier review of our ecumenical dialogues. With the ecumenical guests present today, we will have the opportunity to review this timely proposal, which represents the local expression of the Church’s universal call to unity. Such dialogue addresses the pastoral, theological, and missionary needs of the Church in Canada in practical ways.

In closing, despite the positive message of the Jubilee Year of Hope, the continuation of war in many parts of the world remains a grave concern. The CCCB has called on the Catholic faithful several times this past year to pray and fast for peace, remembering the victims of war and violence, both living and deceased. Pope Leo has reminded us that “peace is built in the heart.” May we continue to make the conversion of hearts and the pursuit of world peace the focus of our common prayer this week, once again imploring Our Lady, Queen of Peace, to intercede for us.

As we enter into this week’s meeting of the Plenary Assembly, conscious of the conversations and decisions that lie before us, let us ask the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to guide our discernment, strengthen our communion, and draw us closer together as brothers in Christ, Shepherds of the Church in Canada.

 

The Most Rev. William T. McGrattan
Bishop of Calgary
President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

https://www.cccb.ca/announcement/presidents-report-plenary-assembly-2025/

 

Follow Daily Video Updates from CCCB Plenary Assembly

Produced with Salt + Light Media, these daily videos share timely highlights of the CCCB Plenary Assembly now underway in Montreal, Sept. 22–26. The Bishops of Canada gather in prayerful discernment to serve the Church’s mission.

The first video is now available, with new episodes released daily throughout the week. Watch them on the YouTube channel here:

 

EN: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKPm9ivAroOM33s11WfVnPpBrXWvJlEt2