Hope That Calls Us to Act

As we pray for the departed and the victims of war, our faith also turns us towards those who need our presence. As our parish approaches its fiftieth anniversary, we ask how we can preserve our heritage, live our faith within our families, share responsibility and use our gifts to build the future of our community.

Dear parishioners, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

At the beginning of November, we return to the names we do not want to forget. For some of us, the graves of our loved ones are here; for others, they are far from Canada. Yet distance does not interrupt prayer. In church, before a family photograph or at the cemetery, we speak the same names and entrust the same people to God. Our lives are woven from the lives of others: from the faith we have received, the love that raised us and the sacrifices we sometimes only truly understood later. Our prayer also embraces those whom no one remembers to pray for any longer. Before God, a life is more than the lines on a gravestone.

All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day also raise a question for those of us who remain. How do we live with the hope that death does not have the final word?

In his message for the Archdiocesan Day for Palliative Care on October 24 and 25, Cardinal Frank Leo connected these very days with care for the seriously ill. His message reminds us that illness does not diminish human dignity and that care must embrace the whole person.

As it approaches its fiftieth anniversary, our Croatian Martyrs Parish is entering a time of decisions. Our gratitude for the departed who built this community asks something of us: who will sustain its life today? As your pastor, I want us to speak openly about this, with respect for those who serve and an invitation to those who have yet to find their place. Our hope calls us to be present to one another in this way.

A communion that death cannot break

On the Solemnity of All Saints, we celebrate those who have reached the fullness of life in God. Their holiness is the fruit of Christ’s grace, welcomed in the circumstances of daily life. Holiness also grows in work that rarely attracts attention: caring for a spouse, raising a child, working honestly, forgiving and remaining faithful without recognition. We give thanks for the hidden goodness of the departed and entrust their eternal destiny to God’s mercy.

All Souls’ Day is precisely this prayer of the Church. Those who die in God’s grace and friendship but are not yet fully purified undergo a final purification before entering the joy of heaven. This is why we offer prayers for the departed, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. We bring our loved ones before the Lord, to whom both our life and our death belong.

We profess the communion of saints: the communion of the Church on earth with those being purified in purgatory and those who already behold God. Prayer for the departed belongs to this communion. When the parish celebrates Mass for its deceased members, it also brings before God the families who mourn them.

Faith in the resurrection does not require us to stop weeping. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Christian hope allows us to say how deeply loss hurts and directs us towards Christ, who died and rose again. For someone who is grieving, a quiet presence often means more than an explanation that closes the conversation too soon. We do not need to fill every silence; we need to make sure that no one is left abandoned.

In November, we remember in a special way Vukovar and Škabrnja and all the victims of the Croatian War of Independence. We pray for those who were killed, the missing and their families, and we take responsibility for peace. Remembering our own suffering also opens us to solidarity with persecuted Christians today. This year, on that same date, November 18, Red Wednesday reminds us of them, calling us to prayer and solidarity.

Care that continues when a cure is no longer possible

This is where our November prayer meets palliative care. Cardinal Leo emphasizes that such care can begin earlier in the course of a serious illness. It relieves suffering and addresses physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. It can help a family, amid their fears, find room again for conversation, gratitude and reconciliation.

In their statement of June 10, the Canadian bishops renew their call for accessible palliative care and their opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide. They emphasize accompaniment, pain relief and the dignity of vulnerable people. The Catechism distinguishes deliberately causing death from forgoing disproportionate medical procedures; ordinary care for a sick person remains an obligation. In difficult decisions, a family needs professional and spiritual support, rather than the feeling that they must discern everything alone.

What does this ask of our parish? That we remember the sick person and their family beyond the first call. That, in consultation with them, we offer help we can sustain: a visit, a ride, a meal or a break for the caregiver. That a priest be asked in good time to come for conversation and the sacraments. Respecting the wishes of the sick person and the family’s privacy, let us first listen to what help is truly needed.

In his message for this year’s World Day of the Sick, Pope Leo XIV emphasizes that care is given through a network of relationships among families, healthcare workers and the community. The Canadian program Horizons of Hope offers parishes resources for conversations about illness, dying, accompaniment and grief.

After the funeral, when others return to their responsibilities, a simple phone call, a place at the table and a willingness to listen to the same memory again are precious. Grief has no deadline. To families carrying this pain, I want to say: you have a place in our prayers, and I want you to have that same place in our daily care and presence.

This communion also begins in the family. Preparation for the sacraments invites parents and children to renew their faith together through regular family prayer and Sunday Mass. This cannot remain solely the responsibility of the child and the catechist. A child can hardly understand that the Eucharist is the centre of our faith if it always comes last in the family’s schedule. Families do have real responsibilities; sometimes they also face illness and the demands of caring for elderly and frail relatives. In the parish, they should find understanding and help in taking manageable steps. The parish should be a place of conversation and support, where people feel welcomed and noticed. Let us notice the new parishioner and the person standing alone: let us approach, introduce ourselves and invite them into conversation. Are we merely users of parish services, or are we a community that lives its faith together?

Such a community also needs the capacity to change. The tradition of faith is precious, but not every established habit carries the same weight. Saying that we have always done it this way cannot end the discussion or excuse rude behaviour and unjustified defiance. We need to listen to objections, explain the purpose of a change and assess its effects. Nor does novelty alone guarantee something good. Mutual respect, prudence and shared responsibility help us preserve our heritage and respond to what the community needs today.

The anniversary raises the question of our future

Our fiftieth anniversary in 2027 gives us an opportunity to thank everyone who has built this community. According to our plan, Cardinal Frank Leo will open the jubilee year with a solemn Mass on March 7, 2027, at 11 a.m. We also look forward to Bishop Robert Kasun’s planned visit for our celebration of St. Nicholas Tavelić on November 15, 2026, at 11 a.m. Preparing for the jubilee nevertheless calls for an honest look at our strengths. What we celebrate should continue in the life of the parish: in prayer, worship, care for others and people willing to take on a concrete share of service.

We would also like to publish a commemorative history for the fiftieth anniversary. We still need to assemble a team for this project. Sources need to be found, old photographs, earlier parish histories and parish bulletins reviewed, the evidence in individual records assessed, and the material prepared. Are there people among us who can give their time, patience and skills to this work? Preserving our heritage also means carefully checking names, circumstances and dates while we can still speak with those who remember them.

We also look towards the future through Cro Voice Canada. Our radio program needs volunteers; I am addressing our young adult group in particular. How can you help make the radio a lasting jubilee gift to the parish and a useful platform for the Croatian community in Canada? Let us speak openly about who can participate and how much each person can reliably commit to contributing.

Gratitude must become shared responsibility

Our parish choir has had no new members for years. Parishioners over the age of seventy-five continue to sustain the singing at Mass. I am deeply grateful for their faithfulness and effort. That gratitude also calls for a response from us: it is not fair for singing at Mass to continue to depend solely on the same older parishioners. I therefore appeal directly to those with musical gifts to place them at the service of the community. Support for the choir becomes real when someone makes the time and accepts the regular commitment this ministry requires. I do not expect everyone to be able to do everything, but we need people who will come, prepare and remain faithful to the commitment they have made.

We still do not have a stable team of altar servers. I mean older high school students and university or college students as well, not only young children. Your maturity, recollection and willingness to learn can mean a great deal to the liturgy and to younger people who are just beginning to serve. The parish needs your real contribution. We also do not have enough readers or people to take up the collection. When we organize banquets, finding volunteers to set up the hall is an increasing problem. We must say this honestly: a parish whose members are unwilling to become involved in its life is heading towards closure, however beautiful and well maintained its building or property may be. As your pastor, I cannot accept a situation in which, year after year, fewer people carry a greater burden while everyone else expects things somehow to keep running. That is why I am speaking about this now, while we still have the opportunity to change something. The future of this parish depends on how willing we are to commit ourselves to it today.

Being honest about what we can take on

As the jubilee approaches, we must therefore ask whether we have enough people, time and strength for what we hope to undertake. The Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Council have an important task in this: to help discern needs, plan responsibly and bring our aspirations into line with the resources available. This is our shared responsibility for the mission of the parish.

If our community does not have the capacity for celebrations on the scale we envisage, we need to say so clearly and honestly adjust their scope. Credibility requires us to promise only what we can stand behind. I do not want the jubilee to exhaust the same few families while others remain spectators. I want our experience of the jubilee to help us discover how much good we can do when more people truly become involved.

I invite you to gather on Wednesday, November 18, at 7 p.m. for our parish Mass for all the innocent victims of the Croatian War of Independence and for persecuted Christians throughout the world. Candles may be lit from Saturday, November 14, after the evening Mass, until that Wednesday.

Dear brothers and sisters, we owe the departed our prayers and gratitude, and the living our presence. In Christ, we learn that love bears the mark of eternity. May the Lord accompany, bless and protect you and your families.

Your pastor, Fr. Filip Pavlović