Catholics to throng MTS centre for centennial mass

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Fans will turn seats over to the faithful at the MTS Centre Sunday for what could be the biggest Roman Catholic mass since the Pope came to Winnipeg.

A year in the planning, 14,000 parishioners from over 90 parishes — as far south as the United States border — are expected to attend the service to mark the 100th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.

Thousands more will be able to tune in to services through the Internet.

“A lot of planning has gone into it for sure,” Archbishop Richard Gagnon said by phone. “It’s a great celebration of our father, our anniversary and probably the largest gathering of Catholics since the visit of the pope in 1984 at Birds Hill.”

The provincial park hosted Pope John Paul II in September, 1984.

Promotional literature struck a note of grandeur for the occasion, with descriptive superlatives like “The Grand Liturgical Celebration, The Great Jubilee of our Centennial Year.”

“It’s going to be very special,” said Rob O’Keefe, the chairman of the planning committee that’s put in long hours for the last five months to organize the logistics.

The event will open with an aboriginal smudging ceremony. A choir of 150 voices has been assembled, a youth band will play intro music as people are seated.

Joining 100 clergy from across the country will be dignitaries, including Manitoba’s Lt-Gov., Philip Lee, and NDP cabinet minister David Chomiak to represent the province along with First Nations representatives, O’Keefe said.

Even the Holy See is sending someone. The mass’s special guest is the Most Reverend Luigi Bonazzi, the Apostolic Nuncio, or Vatican ambassador, to Canada.

“We are going to turn the MTS Centre into a worship centre and that’s no small feat,” O’Keefe said, with a chuckle. “It wasn’t designed to serve communion. It’ll probably be the first time people in church will run for the front seats.”

The MTS Centre is happy to host the event,said Scott Brown, a spokesman for True North, which owns the arena. “We’re looking forward to it,” he said. “Anytime we can do something like this, for any denomination that’s looking to host an event with these numbers, we’re open to it.”

The archdiocese played a major role a hundred years ago, when western Canada opened up for settlement, providing religious comfort to thousands of immigrants.

A century later, the Roman Catholic church in Winnipeg is enjoying a resurgence with new immigrants.

While Canada’s secular trends show one out of every four Canadians has no religious affiliation, the majority of people who did claim a religion — 12.7 million — were Roman Catholic, according to a 2011 National Household Survey.

The mass Sunday is one of several services planned to mark the centennial.

The highlight is a sacrament of confirmation for 800 young teenagers. They are celebrating a year of catechism with their initiation into the church.

Doors open at noon with 400 volunteers to supplement MTS staff. Parishioners will see the floor of the MTS Centre turned into a massive altar with various staging areas and some seating. Services start at 1 p.m. and conclude at 4 p.m.

Archbishop Gagnon will preside over the mass, with the help of priests from throughout the archdiocese.

The entire event is being livestreamed over the net, through the archdiocese website and the Vatican’s Salt and Light TV ministry, with a priest, Father Thomas Rosica, as broadcast host..

In 1984, John Paul II celebrated a mass for thousands at Birds Hill Park as part of an 12-day visit to Canada. Some 13.5 million Canadians turned out at stops in the first week alone.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca