Brian Jenkins

"Did you hear the one about the two Catholics praying for a new bishop, ...?"

I'm convinced that God has a sense of humour. Almost daily I see signs. I see it in my own life as well as that of others.

A recent incident illustrates the point. For some time, a friend and I have been aware that the local archbishop, Msgr. Jean-ClaudeTurcotte, had reached retirement age and had submitted his resignation to the Holy Father. So, we added to our prayer intentions one for his successor and that he be ardently pro-life. Well this prayer had been answered in a most unexpectant way, not to say abundant. Whereas when I prayed, I had focused upon the head of the Church here in Montreal - i.e., the archbishop position, and yet God surprised me by answering this prayer with not one but two pro-life bishops.

On July 11, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named two auxiliary bishops to Montreal. Father Christian Lépine is regular attendee at the National March for Life. I saw him there this past May and I am told of his presence in previous years.  Further he has attended other pro-life events such as the October, 2010, pro-life conference also in Ottawa. A brief description of his life in ministry may be found here.

The second appointee as auxiliary bishop is

Father Thomas Dowd. Father Dowd, the second youngest bishop in the Catholic Church. He is also profiled at the same link as Father Lépine, yet a more exhaustive meeting with him may be found on his blog found here.

So, as we all know our Heavenly Father heeds and answers our prayers and at times answering these bountifully and unexpectantly.