"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" #24

 

THEY DON'T SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE

In 2014, I had the pleasure of leading the Bishops and priests of the Dioceses of Saskatoon and Prince Albert.  The Bishop of Saskatoon unfortunately had the flu most of the week, but he would get up and show up from his bed a few times that week. The Bishop of Prince Albert was a down-to-earth former White Father Missionary in Africa,  Bishop Albert Thevenot.  The Diocese of Prince Albert was north of Saskatoon, but both in the Province of Saskatchewan. We met together in Saskatoon. 

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon is a dynamic and vibrant diocese located in Saskatchewan, in the heart of Canada’s prairie provinces, largely situated on Treaty 6 territory, which is also the traditional homeland of the Métis.

Stretching across 44,800 square kilometers from Macklin and Leader in the west, to Kelvington and Wadena in the east, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon includes some 75,000 Catholics served by 93 parishes.

From many backgrounds, speaking a variety of languages, with a range of socio-economic profiles, Catholics in the Roman Diocese of Saskatoon live in both urban and rural settings. There are First Nations and Métis Catholics, many served by the diocese’s most-recently created parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Saskatoon, and there are newcomers to Canada who connect to their ethnic community when gathering to pray and worship.

In the west are the many parishes of St. Joseph’s Colony, established more than a century ago by German-Russian pioneers, and served for many years by Oblate priests.

Around Muenster and Humboldt are parishes established as part of St. Peter’s Colony, another German settlement: this one grew up around the Benedictine Abbey established at Muenster: St. Peter’s Abbey.

There are also French-speaking communities established in the area of Vonda, Prud’homme and St. Denis, as well as a French-speaking-Catholic parish in Saskatoon: Sts-Martyrs-Canadiens. The diocese also includes a wide range of other national groups: Irish, Filipino, Polish, Iraqi, Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Ukrainian, Sudanese, Vietnamese, and others.

As you can see, language can be a problem even in northern Canada. I was told a story when I was there that I still remember plainly. It still makes me laugh and I like to repeat it to anyone I meet from Canada. It's about two American tourists, a husband and wife, who were visiting Canada. They go lost right outside Saskatoon. The husband sent his wife into a gas station to ask where they were while he waited in the car! The wife went in and asked about where they were. The man behind the counter answered her, "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan!" The woman left and hastened back to the car and said to her husband, "It's hopeless! They don't speak English!"