First-ever on Manitoulin at Holy Cross Church ‘grandmother church’
LITTLE CURRENT—Over 150 Roman Catholic priests, ministers of the church and parish representatives from across the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie will be gathering on Manitoulin Island to celebrate the solemn rites of the Chrism Mass on March 13 at Holy Cross Mission in Wiikwemkoong.
Bishop Thomas Dowd was in Little Current over the past two weeks following the passing of St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church’s pastor, Fr. George Gardner, and sat down with The Expositor to discuss the gathering, what the Chrism Mass means to the Catholic parishes and the symbolic reasons behind holding the mass in Wiikwemkoong.
“Once a year, the bishop blesses the holy oils used in the church,” said Bishop Dowd. “There are three holy oils used in the church, the most important of which is chrism—which is why it is called the Chrism Mass. These oils have an organic component and therefore can go off if left too long.”
The other two oils used in the mass, the oil of the catechism and the oil of the sick, can be blessed by a priest, but the chrism oil itself must be blessed by a bishop. Each of the oils are scented. The chrism oil is used for confirmations, ordinations, the blessings of churches and altars, and baptisms and symbolizes strength and the gifts of the Holy Spirit—it is often called myrrh. The oil has traditionally been made with balsam, explained Bishop Dowd, but this time around the chrism oil will be made utilizing cedar oil, one of the sacred medicines of the Anishnaabe and a plant with many medicinal uses.
Traditionally, because the oils are received and distributed across the diocese, the Chrism Mass offers the opportunity for priests to gather with their colleagues. Like many things, COVID has proven challenging over the past two years and this will be the first real opportunity to hold the Chrism Mass in its traditional sense.
The priests of the diocese will be meeting at the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre on March 12, with the Chrism Mass itself taking place the following afternoon at Holy Cross Church in Wiikwemkoong.
The decision to hold the Chrism Mass in Wiikwemkoong is grounded in history, explained the bishop. “In 1837, Wiikwemkoong was the site of the first Catholic community in the North and that community was the largest in Northern Ontario at the time,” said Bishop Dowd, who investigated the history of the diocese when he was first assigned to the region and discovered some very interesting facts about early days in New Ontario, as it was then called.
“Wiikwemkoong had a larger population than Sault Ste. Marie at the time,” he said. “New parishes are created as sub-parishes of an existing parish,” noted the bishop. As the original Catholic Church in Northern Ontario, Holy Cross is the “Grandmother Church,” said the bishop. “So jurisdictionally, every other parish in Northern Ontario is either a sub-parish or a sub-parish of the church in Wiikwemkoong.”
When the locks were being constructed in Sault Ste. Marie, the bishop at the time moved his seat of operation to that community. “It was just a lot easier to travel,” said Bishop Dowd, pointing out that the diocese at that time extended along the shores of Lake Superior.
Plans are to hold the Chrism Mass in the afternoon with the community joining the clergy from across the diocese joining in circle, figuratively speaking, said Bishop Dowd. A community feast hosted by Wiikwemkoong chief and council will follow.
“We will be organizing a bus from the hotel to Wiikwemkoong,” said Bishop Dowd, cognizant of the need to preserve parking at Holy Cross.
The event will be a true meeting of many cultures, he noted, and the languages being spoken will likely include English, French, Italian, Spanish and, of course, Anishinabemowin.
In his research, Bishop Dowd came across a hymnal containing no less than 300 hymns written in Ojibwe. An accomplished linguist, the bishop speaks seven languages and provided The Expositor with a quite credible rendition of a well-known Catholic hymn in Anishinabemowin.
Bishop Dowd was appointed as the seventh Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie on October 22, 2020. He was formally installed as bishop on December 17, 2020 at the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption in North Bay. Although the diocese has two cathedrals, one in North Bay and the other in Sault Ste. Marie, the administrative offices are centrally located in Sudbury.
