St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day!

Published on by stfranciskw

Today, October 4th, is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of our parish. We had a wonderful weekend of special Masses celebrating our saint, including a very special Mass on Sunday afternoon with Bishop Crosby, which also closed our 60th Anniversary celebrations. Bishop Crosby also blessed our new statue, St. Francis in Exultation, created by Timothy Schmalz.

Tonight we will have our annual Blessing of Animals, in the Peace Garden off the rectory parking lot. Please bring your pets to be blessed by Fr. Raphael, and please remember to wear a mask and social distance even though we are outside. You may want to stop and look at the other Timothy Schmalz statue we have in our Peace Garden, called Pets Are Blessed, which features St. Francis blessing the animals.

You may also be interested in learning more about our patron saint, by clicking here.

Or you may wish to learn more about our parish, by clicking here.

Finally, we invite you to again appreciate the wonderful memories compiled in our 60th Anniversary video below. May the Lord bless us with many more years as a “Christ-centred faith community seeking to be instruments of God’s peace.”

People & Planet First – Development & Peace

Published on by stfranciskw
Let’s put People and Planet First with Development and Peace — Caritas Canada’s new campaign!

In Canada, most people can speak out freely when injustice is committed. In many countries of the Global South, however, communities are threatened when they seek to protect their rights, especially their right to a healthy environment. This climate of insecurity is often fueled by the presence and influence of corporations, some of which are Canadian.

Undaunted, many vulnerable communities fight courageously to defend their rights, their lands and the environment against corporate harm.

This year, Development and Peace’s People and Planet First campaign invites you to stand in solidarity with them and celebrate their work!

St. Francis of Assisi Parish is looking for someone who would represent us at the Hamilton Diocese campaign workshop on Tuesday October 5th from 7 – 9 pm on Zoom. Please contact the parish office if you would like to represent the parish, or if you simply want to attend for yourself you can click here to register. Learn more at www.devp.org/en/campaign/people-planet-first/.

National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

Published on by stfranciskw

This day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.  This is also Orange Shirt Day, so we invite you to wear an orange shirt today as you take part in other commemorations and activities.

There are many opportunities to mark this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in our local community and online. We have links to several below, but we also invite you to look online for other opportunities that may suit your family.

Downie & wenjack online conversation on
national day for truth & reconciliation
National centre for
truth & reconciliation events

REEP Green Solutions Events

Published on by stfranciskw

Although these events are happening this week we wanted to let you know about them and introduce you to the REEP Green blog.

Healthy Yards Garden Tour Monday, September 27, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Join Rebecca Robinson, Healthy Yards Advisor, for a casual stroll near Lakeside Park to see a diverse array of healthy yard features, including rain gardens, infiltration galleries, and rain water harvesting.

register here

Caring For Rain Gardens, Trees, and Infiltration Features WEBINAR Wednesday, September 29, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Tune in to a webinar that will cover a variety of maintenance tasks that will keep your rain smart yard looking great and soaking up rain!  We’ll discuss seasonal steps for taking care of trees, rain gardens, rain barrels, permeable pavement, and naturalized landscapes.

register here

Ask a Healthy Yards Advisor 

Our Healthy Yards Advisors are happy to answer questions about your yard. If you have a specific question, submit it to our Ask a Healthy Yards Advisor form to get virtual advice on anything from planting to runoff management! 

ask a healthy yards advisor here

More Local Inspiration

Check out the journey of one of our participating homeowners whose yard went from muddy to marvelous via construction of a rain garden.

read the blog here