Abp Lepine on New Evangelization, care for the poor

(Vatican Radio) In Québec, the Bishops of Canada are continuing their annual Plenary Assembly. On Tuesday, they welcomed the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Archbishop Shevchuk is visiting Canada to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop in Canada, the Blessed Nykyta Budka, who later died a martyr in Kazakhstan.

The Bishops also discussed the pastoral understanding of the economic crisis and heard a report on the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council that detailed the contributions to the Council by the 104 Canadian Bishops who had participated.

Archbishop Christian Lépine is one of six newly appointed Bishops attending the Plenary Assembly for the first time. He spoke to Vatican Radio about the importance of the Bishops meeting together: “Being a bishop is about being with brothers, and being a brother with other bishops. So in a sense the first aspect of it is the fraternity.” But, he said, “this fraternity is for the service of the Church. So we’re here talking about the Church, about people, about the new evangelization, about helping people, about the mercy of God.”

Archbishop Lepine spoke about some of the major themes of the Bishops’ meeting: “One of the questions is not only for Canada, it’s for the whole world, in a sense, and certainly in North America and Europe: the fact that people get the sense that they live often without thinking about God – not always against God, but often without thinking about God and without God.” So, he said, one of the main questions for the bishops is “How do you reach people and how do you help them discover the love of God? And how do you help them put God in their lives, with Jesus Christ and his grace.”

Another challenge, he said, is “the challenge to always be there for the poor and those who suffer. It’s a permanent challenge, in every generation.”

You can listen to the complete interview of Archbishop Christian Lépine of Montreal with Christopher Wells: