Thousands of Roman Catholics gather at MTS Centre for centennial mass

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This article was published 03/05/2015 (3792 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s safe to say that until Sunday, there hadn’t been as many prayers in the MTS Centre since the Winnipeg Jets were bounced out of the playoffs last month.

Thousands of Roman Catholics gathered in the facility that the Jets call home to worship and celebrate a century since the Archdiocese of Winnipeg was created.

And, instead of a whiteout of hockey fans, many of the seats in the lower bowl were filled with youths in white robes waiting to be confirmed.

With Winnipeg Archbishop Richard Gagnon presiding, parishioners from churches across the province travelled to Winnipeg to worship together.

“This is the most that have come together since 1984 when John Paul II visited,” Archdiocese spokesman James Buchok said.

“It’s very exciting and very spiritual. It’s a very faith-filled gathering. People made a great effort to be here. The farthest away people came is Camperville.”

More than 12,000 people were in attendance. There are 160,000 Catholics in the archdiocese with 67 parishes, 22 missions and 10 reduced service churches.

Since the archdiocese was formed in 1915 by splitting it off from the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, there have been seven archbishops.

The boundary of the archdiocese is the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, south on the west side of the Red River to Winnipeg, then from the north side of the Assiniboine River west to between Portage la Prairie and Brandon and south to the American border.

Buchok said 823 children were going to be confirmed at the mass.

Winnipegger Teresita Soliven, who worships at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Winnipeg, said it was uplifting to be able to worship with so many fellow Catholics.

“Especially when everyone sang Glory to God, I felt for everyone around the globe,” Soliven said.

“I really prayed for world peace. That’s what I felt.”

Christine Andrews and her two-year-old son Holden travelled from Morden for the mass.

“It’s a pretty amazing atmosphere to be in,” Andrews said.

“It’s nice to see everyone gather together in this big setting with your (religious) community. And it’s also special because my niece is being confirmed.”

Matthew Bencharski, who goes to St. Anthony of Padua in Winnipeg and whose 14-year-old daughter, Isabel, was to be confirmed, said the gathering “was pretty intense.”

“I come here for concerts and Jets games, but it’s a very different feeling here. The energy is still here even though it’s not a concert or a hockey game. Everyone’s all celebrating the same faith.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca