Weakened by Mass De-Christianization, Two Canadian Dioceses Merge
Abp. Terrence Thomas Prendergast.
Pope Francis has unified “in the person of the bishop” two dioceses that will now become one. This decision was motivated by the “decline in the numbers of the clergy and in religious practice”.
On April 27, 2018, the Holy See Press Office Bulletin announced the Holy Father’s decision to unite the diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and the archdiocese of Ottawa, both situated in the province of Ontario, into one single ecclesiastic entity.
The sovereign pontiff has placed 75-year-old Archbishop Terrence Thomas Prendergast at the head of the new diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall-Ottawa. Ordained in 1972 for the Society of Jesus, Archbishop Prendergast became auxiliary bishop of Toronto, then archbishop of Halifax, then of Ottawa, the country’s capital, in 2007.
After becoming Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in 2016, with the mission of studying the possibility of merging with the neighboring diocese, the prelate sent a letter to the faithful pointing out the “decline in the numbers of clergy and in religious practice.”
The ravages of the de-Christianization of society are spreading in this country where Catholicism developed so quickly all the way up until the 1960’s.
Faithful to the Tradition of the Church and her missionary spirit, the Priestly Society of St. Pius X has a dozen chapels in Ontario, including Ottawa and Toronto, and directs Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in New Hamburg.
Sources: Zenit / I.Media / FSSPX-Canada / FSSPX.News – 5/7/2018
