On Wednesday, January 29th, we had a lovely bunch of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary for lunch. The FMM sisters are involved in missionary work around the globe and have a (large) house right here in Montreal, not too far from McGill. We got to know the sisters when they first came to join us for daily mass. Since then, they have become our new friends (especially Sister Marianna!).
Over lunch, they shared with us their lives and experiences as religious sisters. We cooked the lunch ourselves, so we were able to raise $141.53 for their Canadian northern missions just from lunch contributions from Newmanites!
On Saturday, Fr. Rosica from Salt + Light, came to cook a very special Saturday Night Supper in honour of our favourite returning NSS President (Julian had worked at Salt + Light with Fr. Rosica for two summers). It was a surprise for Julian planned out by Fr. Roscia, Holly and Ana. He treated us to a wonderful Italian meal and celebrated mass for us Saturday evening!
This week, we were excited to have Father Jake, former pastor of St. Padre Pio Parish, our partner parish in the Philippines (now a missionary priest to Regina, Saskatchewan) come visit us at Newman! He was here visiting his classmate and friend, our very own Father Gregory! We now know where Fr. Greg gets his sense of humour from!
During lunch on Tuesday, Father Jake shared with us pictures from the children’s feeding program we helped to fund in the community. It was remarkable how far our donations were able to go in the Philippines. They have held three feeding programs (one at Christmas, one in the schools, and another recently in the parish). They were also able to purchase school supplies for each child! We look forward to continuing our relationship with St. Padre Pio in the future!
