New bishop speaks of ‘God’s voice’ in vast North

(Vatican Radio) The vast, cold North is a place of “tremendous blessing”, where one can encounter God in profound ways, said the new bishop of Canada’s northernmost diocese. Bishop Mark Hagemoen was ordained for Mackenzie-Fort Smith on 15 December.

Born and raised in Vancouver, the Canadian North is not a total unknown to him. He had several experiences there prior to his episcopal nomination. As a young man, before entering seminary, he practiced geology in the Yukon. He also participated in various service projects in the North with students from Vancouver’s Catholic colleges.

He said he was struck by the open spaces, vast terrain and the warmth and excitement of the northern people.

As many as 70 per cent of his new diocese’s population is First Nations. Through his various pastoral assignments in Vancouver, he came to know the First Nations people and culture.

The First Nations, he said, possess “a tremendous depth of spiritualty, a desire to honour creation and to honour the Lord of creation and to seek God’s will and way sin the basic aspect of life.”

“There is a reverence for God and a reverence for his creation, a desire to hear God in the simple things in life and to see and honour God in how people deal with each other,” he continued. “And so in many ways the spirituality of the First Nations, in my experience, is one that looks at the heart of life very basically but also head-on.”

A hiker and outdoorsman, the bishop said he is now looking forward “to the blessings of the plains, the tundra, and of experiencing God’s voice in the quiet and the emptiness of the vast North.”

He recalled the words of the bishop-emeritus of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, Denis Croteau, to priests and religious missionaries.

“The North is a place of tremendous blessing ,” he said, “but it is also a place where one needs to be aware that the quiet and emptiness of the North…is holy and, in a good sense, wonderfully terrible. You hear God’s voice and you confront yourself in a whole new, profound way. If you will, the silence shouts out at you. So, I’m looking forward to…that experience and to the next path of growth and holiness that the Lord calls not only myself but the diocese that I’m called to serve there.”

He said he plans to start exchange programs between schools in Vancouver and his new diocese, but his first year of his ministry will be dedicated to learning about the faithful and visiting the various communities.

“Listening has to be the first posture,” he said.

- Listen to the full interview with Bishop Mark Hagemoen:
Report and interview by Laura Ieraci