“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when He is revealed…
Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth…, love one another deeply from the heart.”
1 Peter 1:13,22
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves…
Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring…”
-1 Peter 1:13
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
A Parish Home
St. Peter Catholic Church, 100 Argyle Steet, Regina, SKÂ S4R 4C3 is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina.
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Welcome, parishioners and visitors, Catholics and non-Catholics. This web site introduces our services and the thought behind them, offers useful prayers and contact info, describes some charitable opportunities here, and gives parish news.
The typefaces can be made bigger or smaller using the control above to the right. If you come across any religious terms you don’t know, a link to a dictionary of Catholic and Bible terms is available at the bottom of each page. If you seek sacraments, please see the icons in the menu (above) symbolizing baptism, reconciliation, confirmation, the Eucharist, holy orders, matrimony, and anointing.
Our church is wheelchair accessible. We continue to implement some COVID protocols (see “For your safety” in the next section). Although we have not resumed children’s liturgy, we invite children to keep coming. All of us are called to be nourished at God’s table.
This website has been made to work with recent versions of all popular web browsers. Some functions might not work on some older browsers. Of special note, the tools we use to serve the website no longer supports Internet Explorer.
Children and youth: Our art classes for ages 8-18, have resumed! New sign-ups are always welcome; click on the page graphic to the left for the sign-up sheet and more information.
To see what other activities there are for children and youth within our Archdiocese, click here.
Except during COVID time (we have had to remove unwashable items that more than one person might touch), we put out “Celebrating Children at St. Peter Parish” / “Pew Art” cards in the pews. One side has tips for parents and reminders to other parishioners to be welcoming, starting with “Relax! God put the wiggle in children…” The other side is for parents and children optionally to draw or write on, ideally as an aid to help the children learn God’s love, come to understand the Mass, and focus on prayers. You are welcome to print these from home and bring them to use if you wish. Click here for the PDF file (3 double sided cards per sheet). Thank you, parents, for joining us with your children!
Office: 306-545-4411, stpete@sasktel.net
Office hours are Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. The outside door is closed during lunch break.
To prevent crowding when we’re open, please call ahead.
Our parish is in the Coronation Park district, 3-4 minutes’ drive west-southwest of Northgate Mall.
For anointing of the sick (not at a hospital) in our parish area, dying or death issues, or appointments for Confession at our parish, please call 306-807-0960 between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
For hospital chaplain numbers, who arrange for anointing there, please see our site’s section, “Preparing for Eternity.”Â
If you belong to another parish, please arrange with your pastor for anointing. If you have no parish, please call the one closest to you.
St. Peter Parish Bulletins and Other News
Please click here for the June 19 insert about the “Doctrine of Discovery” and “Terra nullius.” Also see the new Vatican document on this topic, from our Apr. 2 2023 insert, page 2. This will be an important topic for everyone to know about for a long time, since it is closely related to colonial/genocidal history which has caused so much pain in our country, which pain we must try to relieve and which damage we must do our best to prevent from continuing.
A PDF viewer is needed to display our bulletins and other files.
The Archdiocese of Regina also has an active Facebook page that notifies of, and facilitates discussion about, current events included or not included in the bulletin section of their webpage.
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We hope and pray that you and yours stay well. Although the worst of that pandemic seems to be behind us, now we are also grieved that rising housing, food, and other costs are impoverishing many.
St. Peter Parish actively and gladly supports a number of local charities, but we cannot give out church money to people or buy their groceries, gas, rent, etc.
For we cannot tap into “the riches of the Vatican” or even the accounts of bigger churches nearby. And if we give out to one, we would have to give out to many, which would quickly deplete our account and close us down. So please understand, our parish cannot afford to directly provide for people’s material needs, legitimate and urgent though they are.
What we can do, and energetically do all the time, is facilitate and motivate our members to give clothes, food, and donations through the proper channels. Our groups have also donated wheelchairs, helped with Salvation Army collections, made food for nearby schools lots of times, and much more. But our primary services, and the world’s greatest needs, are spiritual and moral.
For financial and related emergency aid: Food support, 306-777-7000. Food, shelter, etc., 1-866-221-5200. Mobile crisis, 306-757-0127. If youâre not sure who else to call, please phone or text 211, or start a web chat at sk.211.ca (service available 24/7). More numbers and web links are on the last page of our bulletin.
Some Prayerful / Charitable / Social Groups at St. Peter Catholic Church
(See more in the Serving Together section.)
To Grow in Holiness
Regular Mass Times: in English, Saturdays at 5:00 p.m., Sundays at 10:00 a.m., and Tuesdays to Fridays at 9:00 a.m.
Exceptions/Special Days:Â On the third Wednesday of the month during the school year, Mass starts around 9:15 a.m. instead of 9:00 a.m. Note, Mass on the first Tuesday of a month used to be at noon, but that is no longer the case.
Sometimes there are other exceptions, detailed in the bulletin. Occasionally a funeral will need to be done on short notice, in which case a change of Mass time would not be in the bulletin.
Mass in Tagalog (Filipino) is normally on the first Sunday of the month at 5:00 p.m.
What is the Mass? And why is it great and necessary? Good questions, certainly. Two short introductory videos can be found here and here. The topic is further explored in “Why Catholic? Why Church?” and in resources in the “Always Learning” section of our website.
For your safety at church: On Feb. 28, 2022, COVID-19 mandates were no longer in effect in Saskatchewan, but we continue to recommend safe practices. We remain “Mask friendly;” that is, we kindly invite everyone to continue to wear protective masks, but even if you don’t, you are just as welcome here. Our policy is no judgment and obedience to proper health authorities. We continue to offer hand sanitizer, and ask that those who come up to Communion use it again before receiving (you can use it sparingly, do not immerse the host in it). We invite everyone to continue to social distance.
If you are avoiding church because of COVID risks from crowded indoor spaces, please consider coming to weekday Mass, when relatively few people come, or coming on weekends but wearing a filtered mask or two masks. Being physically present at Mass and receiving the Lord in Communion (with due reverence and love, in a state of grace/purity from serious sin) does you very great good.
If you are sick with COVID symptoms, we pray that you will be better soon, but we ask you not to come in until you are better, for the safety of the vulnerable.
Online Masses and other videos from our Archdiocese are available at their YouTube channel.
If you would like to read along, the readings, Psalm, and Gospel of the day are available for free at Universalis.
Donations to St. Peter Parish: At our parish we become holy through baptism, we are brought to repent of deadly sins and receive forgiveness, we are strengthened and delighted with spiritual food, we find the most beautiful ways to make great positive differences together in the world, and we are readied for eternal life. It is the Lord working through the Church, but it costs us significantly to do our part. Your financial contributions help make this possible. Donations can be made to us by cash or cheque (mailed or brought in), or by other means such as credit card, direct debit, or e-transfer.
While many reconciliatory events have happened â in particular Pope Francis’ visit and apologies to Canada’s Indigenous, Inuit, and Metis (see www.papalvisit.ca and the appropriate section of www.vaticannews.va for details) â since we posted the following to our webpage, it remains central and pressing:
On July 13, 2021, Archbishop Donald Bolen wrote, “…Saskatchewan bishops are launching a province-wide Appeal to raise funds to support Indian Residential School Survivors and their communities, as a way of engaging more deeply in our own ongoing commitment and response to the Truth and Reconciliation process. [Y]ou can visit this website to make a contribution…: https://dscf.ca/catholic-trc-healing-response/
The funding priorities are guided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commissionâs Calls to Action involving a financial commitment, and here I would highlight #61, which calls for support of community-controlled initiatives for healing and reconciliation, language and culture, education and relationship building, and dialogue between Indigenous spiritual leaders and youth; and the Calls to Action which address cemeteries of former residential schools (#73-76). We would look to be guided by Indigenous communities here in Saskatchewan in terms of the allocation of funds, with a goal of building and strengthening relationships along the way…
This province has many wounds in its history, but this is the deepest, beginning with the First Peoples of this land, their experience of colonization, and most acutely, their experience of the Indian Act and the residential school system…
Chief Cadmus Delorme has commented how Indigenous and church people of today have inherited the present situation. I quote, âNobody today created residential schools. Nobody today created the Indian Act. Nobody today created the 60’s scoop. We all inherited this.â Itâs helpful for us to hear that. But it is for us to rise to the occasion to be instruments of healing and reconciliation…”
archregina.sk.ca/news/2021/07/13/launching-appeal-survivors-and-their-communities
Before and after this appeal, many of us should ask, “As a non-Indigenous person, how can I help?” Our Archdiocese has recommended the answer from Cowesses First Nation (click here).
Our Archdiocese also posted a very touching poem, “Angels: 215 >, 1820 â 1979 ‘The Past is Always Our Present'” by Louise Bernice Halfe.
For those who are suffering intensely, please click here for some phone support numbers. Please know that you are in our prayers and in our hearts.
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when He is revealedâŚNow that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truthâŚ, love one another deeply from the heart…
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind…[R]ejoice insofar as you are sharing Christâs sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed.
1 Peter 1:13,22, 3:8, 4:13
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind…[R]ejoice insofar as you are sharing Christâs sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed.
1 Peter 3:8, 4:13
In the Regina Area
Recently posted to our Archdiocese website:
“This is not my Project”
by Marrick Kowalski
âOne of the most fundamental statements of faith is this: your life is not about you. Youâre not in control. This is not your project. Rather, you are part of Godâs great design. To believe this in your bones and to act accordingly is to have faith.â This quote from Bishop Robert Barron sinks deep into my soul. At first glance, it seemed harsh, but the more I mulled it over in my head and heart, the more freedom I felt.
This is not your project. As someone who works in ministry, I find it very easy to get caught up in the idea that it is my project, my youth night, my classroom visit, my prayer night, etc. If my goal is to provide a safe space for young people to be themselves in the light of their identity as children of God and create opportunities for growth in head knowledge and heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, then these things cannot be my projects. I am not in the business of converting hearts; Jesus is. My job is to facilitate encounters with Jesus so that others may know and love Him.
Recently, Fr. Steve, Deacon Kevin, and I had the opportunity to take the Eucharist, Jesus truly present, into the elementary schools associated with the Parish (St. Kateri, Deshaye Catholic, and St. Pius). We did a Eucharistic procession where we went from classroom to classroom, spending a few minutes in each room (more on Eucharistic Processions here: https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/who-we-are/our-faith/eucharistic-procession-guidebook.pdf) I had gone into each of the schools the week before to prepare them. We talked about what to do when Jesus entered the classroom and what to do if you ran into Jesus in the hallway. Over 1200 students were given the opportunity to encounter Jesus in a new way.
At the beginning of the procession, Deacon Kevin read the Gospel of the woman with the hemorrhage. Students were invited to reach out just as that woman did. Walking into a grade 6 classroom was humbling, and seeing 27 arms reaching out for healing from Jesus was striking. It was striking also to walk into a preschool or kindergarten room and see all those little people kneeling on the floor, hands folded in front of them, saying a prayer to Jesus in their hearts. It was awesome to walk into a gymnasium and see that the class had intentionally gathered together and waited for Jesus to come to them.
One moment that sticks out to me when I think about this experience is a moment I also pray these students donât forget. Although we asked everyone to try to stay in their classrooms as long as possible, there are always those few that end up needing to leave for whatever reason. After stopping at each of the classrooms, the procession headed back to the office to finish in prayer together over the intercom. We passed a few grade 1 students in the hallway. Without being prompted, they fell to their knees. Fr. Steve bent down and placed the monstrance right in front of their faces. It was so close they could have touched Him. These young people just looked at Him with such love in their eyes. It was a beautiful reminder of a childlike faith and trust. It was truly a moment of being face-to-face with the Lord. A face that gazes back upon us with such love and mercy when we want to hide ours in shame.
All three processions were met with nervous excitement; however, students, staff, and administrators have all asked to be able to participate in this opportunity again. The hard part about being in ministry is that we donât always (sometimes very rarely) get to see the fruit of our labour. I may never know the impact this experience may have on the staff and students of these schools. I may never know the number of seeds planted in the hearts of those who encountered Jesus in the Eucharist that day. What I do know is that this is not my project.
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If you like podcasts, we invite you to check out our Archdiocese’s Thinking Faith episodes.
Informed by St. Peter’s Successors
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Pope Francis’ Message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations (excerpts)
This Day is a precious opportunity for recalling with wonder that the Lordâs call is grace, complete gift, and at the same time a commitment to bring the Gospel to others… Led by the Spirit, Christians are challenged to respond to existential peripheries and human dramas, ever conscious that the mission is Godâs work; it is not carried out by us alone, but always in ecclesial communion, together with our brothers and sisters, and under the guidance of the Churchâs pastors. For this has always been Godâs dream: that we should live with him in a communion of love…
In the course of our lives, this call, which is part of the fibre of our being and the secret of our happiness, comes to us by the work of the Holy Spirit in ever new ways. It enlightens our minds, strengthens our wills, fills us with amazement and sets our hearts afire. At times, the Spirit comes to us in completely unexpected ways. So it was for me when, on 21 September 1953, as I was on my way to an annual school celebration, I was led to stop by a church and go to confession. That day changed my life and left a mark that has endured to the present day. Godâs call to the gift of self tends to make itself known gradually: in our encounter with situations of poverty, in moments of prayer, when we see a clear witness to the Gospel, or read something that opens our minds. When we hear Godâs word and sense that it is spoken directly to us, in the advice given by a fellow brother or sister, in moments of sickness or sorrow⌠In all the ways he calls us, God shows infinite creativity…
Godâs call, we said, includes a âsendingâ. There is no vocation without mission. There is no happiness and full self-realization unless we offer others the new life that we have found. Godâs call to love is an experience that does not allow us to remain silent. Saint Paul says, âWoe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!â (1 Cor 9:16). And the First Letter of John begins with the words, âWhat we have heard and seen, looked at and touched â the Word made flesh â we declare also to you, so that our joy may be completeâ (cf. 1:1-4)…
Within the Church, all of us are servants, in accordance with the variety of our vocations, charisms and ministries. Our common vocation to give ourselves in love develops and finds concrete expression in the life of lay men and women, devoted to raising a family as a small domestic church and working as a leaven of the Gospel to renew the different sectors of society; in the testimony of consecrated women and men who are completely committed to God for the sake of their brothers and sisters as a prophetic sign of the kingdom of God; in ordained ministers â deacons, priests and bishops â placed at the service of preaching, prayer and fostering the communion of the holy People of God. Only in relation with all the others, does any particular vocation in the Church fully disclose its true nature and richness. Viewed in this light, the Church is a vocational âsymphonyâ, with every vocation united yet distinct, in harmony and joined together in âgoing forthâ to radiate throughout the world the new life of the kingdom of God…
May the prayer that Saint Paul VI composed for the first World Day of Vocations, 11 April 1964, accompany us on our journey:
âO Jesus, divine Shepherd of souls, you called the apostles and made them fishers of men. Continue to draw to yourself ardent and generous souls from among the young, in order to make them your followers and your ministers. Give them a share in your thirst for the redemption of all⌠Open before them the horizons of the entire world⌠By responding to your call, may they prolong your mission here on earth, build up your Mystical Body which is the Church, and be âthe salt of the earthâ and âthe light of the worldâ (Mt 5:13)â.
May the Virgin Mary watch over you and protect you. With my blessing.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 30 April 2023, Fourth Sunday of Easter.
FRANCIS
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A common theme in Pope Francis’ teaching concerns a major historical development in our time, the plight of countless refugees. In his 2020 encyclical, On Fraternity and Social Friendship, he writes:
Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. Let us not remain mired in theoretical discussions, but touch the wounded flesh of the victims. Let us look once more at all those civilians whose killing was considered âcollateral damageâ. Let us ask the victims themselves. Let us think of the refugees and displaced, those who suffered the effects of atomic radiation or chemical attacks, the mothers who lost their children, and the boys and girls maimed or deprived of their childhood. Let us hear the true stories of these victims of violence, look at reality through their eyes, and listen with an open heart to the stories they tell.
Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, 261, from the Vatican website.
“This family has suffered immeasurable loss.”
On the topic addressed by Pope Francis above, our parish has been asked to put out the word for a Syrian family that needs help. Another church in Regina has verified to us the validity of this fundraiser, which is being done through GoFundMe, which in turn guarantees that donations go to the right person(s).
“Nadem Rajab and his son were killed when their home was bombed in Syria. His wife, Souaad Mahli, and seven of their children survived and they are now refugees living a very difficult life in Lebanon. We are raising money to sponsor Souaad and her family to give them a new life in Canada. This family has suffered immeasurable loss. Bombs and gunfire have taken brothers, sisters, children and parents. While Souaad and her family have escaped the ravages of war in Syria, their situation in Lebanon is far from perfect. Syrian refugees are treated badly in Lebanon, and life is very hard. Many Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon are being burned…” For more information or to donate, please go to gofund.me/3751a25b.
Help Get Them Out of There
Over 10 years:
No Electricity. No Heat. No School. Little Food.
Another family particularly needs someone with refugee sponsorship know-how or relevant knowledge and ability to assist:
Dear friends, I need your help for the private sponsorship of my brother, his wife and four children. For almost 10 years they have been living in a tent, in horrible circumstances, in Lebanon. No heat, no electricity, not enough food and NO School for the children. In early January 2022, their neighborsâ tent caught fire and the family died. Now my brotherâs children are afraid to go to sleep.
There is already a small group of good people in Regina who have formed a community group, willing and able to help, but we need more people, most importantly a leader who will take on responsibility for the application and coordinate the fundraising efforts. Please message me if you can help in any way.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Abdelkarim and Rawda Al Elaiwy,
306-552-6678
St. Peter Parish is a small church that does not have the financial resources or staff know-how to arrange for sponsorship of refugees, but we urge anyone who might be able to help to do so.
On Mar. 15, 2022, the Archdiocese of Regina Facebook page advised:
To consider sponsoring a refugee, or helping support those who are already safe here in the Archdiocese, you can contact Tashia at ttoupin@archregina.sk.ca.
Tashia can also be reached at 306-352-1651, ext. 6740.
Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truthâŚ, love one another deeply from the heart…
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind…
[R]ejoice insofar as you are sharing Christâs sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed.
1 Peter 1:22, 3:8, 4:13
Thank you for visiting. May God bless you.