Mass Times
REGULAR WEEKEND MASSES Location of the Following Masses Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy Gym 3100A Stewart Creek Drive Saturday Mass 7:00 pm Sunday Mass 10:00 am WEEKDAY MASSES Location of the Following Masses Office: Unit 108, 104 Kananaskis Way (Same building as the Canmore Registry) Monday No Mass Tuesday 6:30 pm Mass Wednesday 12:15 pm Thursday 12:15 pm Friday 8:30 am |
Contact UsOFFICE LOCATION
Unit 108, 104 Kananaskis Way (Same building as the Canmore Registry) OFFICE MAILING ADDRESS 2 Silvertip Trail Canmore, AB T1W 2Z7 OFFICE HOURS Monday - CLOSED Tuesday 9:00am - 3:30 pm Wednesday 9:00am - 3:30 pm Thursday 9:00am - 3:30 pm Friday 9:00am - 1:00 pm Phone 403-678-5022 Fax 403-678-1834 Emergency 403-675-5044 Pastor: Fr. Nathan Siray Parish Secretary: Ada Veronneau Deacon: Deacon Brian West Donations: Richard Veronneau 
|
Spiritual Reflections From a Priest in the Rockies
For much of His adult life, Jesus lived in the town of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The hills that surround the eastern shore of this sea, also known as the Sea of Tiberius, could abound with mustard trees. While their seeds are minuscule, a mustard tree is a dominating shrub and once they seed themselves, an entire hill side can be overtaken by mustard trees. One might even be bold as to say they are like a noxious weed, overtaking and dominating other vegetation that surrounds them.
It is telling that Our Lord would compare the Kingdom of God to a mustard tree, showing that while the message of His Gospel started with a chosen few, akin to tiny mustard seeds, His intention was for His saving message to overtake the entire world, and for all to come and believe that salvation comes solely from Jesus Christ and His Holy Church. While this is a progressively more challenging message to proclaim in a culture that has a decreasing longing for Christ and the promise of eternal life, Christians cannot waver in seeking to draw as many as possible to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord.
May we remain hopeful and courageous in seeking to draw others to the saving love of Jesus Christ and His Holy Body, the Church.
Fr. Nathan
"Let us do all things with the conviction that God dwells in us." St. Ignatius of Antioch, 1st century AD
For much of His adult life, Jesus lived in the town of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The hills that surround the eastern shore of this sea, also known as the Sea of Tiberius, could abound with mustard trees. While their seeds are minuscule, a mustard tree is a dominating shrub and once they seed themselves, an entire hill side can be overtaken by mustard trees. One might even be bold as to say they are like a noxious weed, overtaking and dominating other vegetation that surrounds them.
It is telling that Our Lord would compare the Kingdom of God to a mustard tree, showing that while the message of His Gospel started with a chosen few, akin to tiny mustard seeds, His intention was for His saving message to overtake the entire world, and for all to come and believe that salvation comes solely from Jesus Christ and His Holy Church. While this is a progressively more challenging message to proclaim in a culture that has a decreasing longing for Christ and the promise of eternal life, Christians cannot waver in seeking to draw as many as possible to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord.
May we remain hopeful and courageous in seeking to draw others to the saving love of Jesus Christ and His Holy Body, the Church.
Fr. Nathan
"Let us do all things with the conviction that God dwells in us." St. Ignatius of Antioch, 1st century AD
PHOTOS FROM THE FINAL MASS IN SACRED HEART CHURCH
On the First Sunday of Advent, the Bishop announced his desire and intention to designate Our Lady of the Rockies Parish as a Marian Diocesan Shrine on the day of the consecration of the new church.
As we move forward towards the Shrine, I am reminded of the nature of our Christian life here on earth as being on a pilgrimage… from this earthly life to heaven as God beckons us, from immaturity to the maturity of faith, from death to life…
On Sunday, January 28, 2018 at the 11 am Mass, we will have Bishop William McGrattan celebrate our last Mass here in Sacred Heart Church. This, for sure, will bring about great sadness as we let go of our current church building. This will bring about feelings of being without a home as we will be celebrating Sunday Masses in the gym of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy. This will bring feelings of uncertainty as we become truly vulnerable to elements over which we have no direct control. But are not these the common experiences of human life?
In fact, when we think of our ancestors, the Israelites, being pushed out of Egypt, they too grumbled when they found themselves living in the desert. They constantly reminisced about the past, as though it was better than their present state.
I suspect that we too will feel this when we move out of this church and experience the inconveniences, the unfamiliar spaces, the awkwardness, being around different people, and not having our special spot or favourite pew. However, just like the Israelites, we are called to see the big picture of God. We are not closing down as a parish. We are not shrinking. Instead, we are being called to a greater participation in the work of the New Evangelization!
Sometimes we may feel that tourism is hurting us as a parish, as many people come and go. We know the ups and downs, the slow seasons and the peak seasons, the half-filled church and the overly packed Masses.
Becoming a shrine parish, we have been given this special role in our diocese to celebrate tourism and not curse it. We are called to bring out the spiritual elements of that trek towards the Rockies, teaching others the path of pilgrimage. Ours is not just a pilgrimage towards the new church building, but also, ultimately, towards God in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies will become the gateway to spiritually experiencing the special presence of God, on the way to the Rockies, and on the way back to our ordinary lives.
We pray the Shrine will become a humble beacon of Christ through His Church, a testament of the discipleship of Mary and of the faithfulness of God.
Just as the Rockies feel like the crowning glory of God in the magnificent beauty of His creation, we hope that through the dedication of the Shrine to Our Lady, we can honour her as the crowning glory of God in all of creation.
May we all be graced on this pilgrimage, as we leave this church towards the Shrine Church. May we not curse the way even when inconvenienced. Let us instead, find in our journey the blessings of God and the lessons of love that we are to learn. May we be the best of teachers to others on how to make a pilgrimage to God.
To those of you who are visitors, I urge you to join us on this pilgrimage to the Shrine Church. Join us at our Sunday Masses in the gym of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy. Join us for weekday Masses at our temporary parish office. While we are without a church building, we never stop being Church.
Hopefully, when the Shrine Church is completed, we can truly offer you greater hospitality here in the Rockies.
God bless you.
Our Lady of the Rockies, pray for us!
In Christ,
Fr. Wilbert Chin Jon
Pastor
As we move forward towards the Shrine, I am reminded of the nature of our Christian life here on earth as being on a pilgrimage… from this earthly life to heaven as God beckons us, from immaturity to the maturity of faith, from death to life…
On Sunday, January 28, 2018 at the 11 am Mass, we will have Bishop William McGrattan celebrate our last Mass here in Sacred Heart Church. This, for sure, will bring about great sadness as we let go of our current church building. This will bring about feelings of being without a home as we will be celebrating Sunday Masses in the gym of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy. This will bring feelings of uncertainty as we become truly vulnerable to elements over which we have no direct control. But are not these the common experiences of human life?
In fact, when we think of our ancestors, the Israelites, being pushed out of Egypt, they too grumbled when they found themselves living in the desert. They constantly reminisced about the past, as though it was better than their present state.
I suspect that we too will feel this when we move out of this church and experience the inconveniences, the unfamiliar spaces, the awkwardness, being around different people, and not having our special spot or favourite pew. However, just like the Israelites, we are called to see the big picture of God. We are not closing down as a parish. We are not shrinking. Instead, we are being called to a greater participation in the work of the New Evangelization!
Sometimes we may feel that tourism is hurting us as a parish, as many people come and go. We know the ups and downs, the slow seasons and the peak seasons, the half-filled church and the overly packed Masses.
Becoming a shrine parish, we have been given this special role in our diocese to celebrate tourism and not curse it. We are called to bring out the spiritual elements of that trek towards the Rockies, teaching others the path of pilgrimage. Ours is not just a pilgrimage towards the new church building, but also, ultimately, towards God in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies will become the gateway to spiritually experiencing the special presence of God, on the way to the Rockies, and on the way back to our ordinary lives.
We pray the Shrine will become a humble beacon of Christ through His Church, a testament of the discipleship of Mary and of the faithfulness of God.
Just as the Rockies feel like the crowning glory of God in the magnificent beauty of His creation, we hope that through the dedication of the Shrine to Our Lady, we can honour her as the crowning glory of God in all of creation.
May we all be graced on this pilgrimage, as we leave this church towards the Shrine Church. May we not curse the way even when inconvenienced. Let us instead, find in our journey the blessings of God and the lessons of love that we are to learn. May we be the best of teachers to others on how to make a pilgrimage to God.
To those of you who are visitors, I urge you to join us on this pilgrimage to the Shrine Church. Join us at our Sunday Masses in the gym of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy. Join us for weekday Masses at our temporary parish office. While we are without a church building, we never stop being Church.
Hopefully, when the Shrine Church is completed, we can truly offer you greater hospitality here in the Rockies.
God bless you.
Our Lady of the Rockies, pray for us!
In Christ,
Fr. Wilbert Chin Jon
Pastor
BUILDING THE NEW CHURCH
|
ST. JOSEPH
|
|
Things you may want to know
Our LogoAs a Marian parish, we entrust ourselves to her maternal protection.
Our Lady of the Rockies, Pray for us. 
Booking for 2019We will be moving out of the current church in February 2018. We are not able to make bookings in 2018.
|
Learn About the Catholic Faith
Free & Confidential |
Our School
Homilies |
Contact Us
|
|
Welcome to your parish in Canmore.
Our Lady of the Rockies Parish now only covers the Town of Canmore, Alberta. The pastor is Fr. Nathan Siray. St. Mary's Church in Banff is its own parish under the pastorship of Fr. Dan Stevenot. You may access their new website here. 
|
