Please send ANY items of interest to Ronald Tetreault at rontet@hfx.andara.com and they will be posted here. This news page is meant to "spread the word" about our parish activities, and how informative it is will depend on you.

Parish News Rev. Father Jose Thomas - Assistant Priest: Earlier you read in the bulletin that our Pastor, Fr. John, will be adding St. John the Baptist to his pastoral duties. Along with this change, Fr. Jose Thomas will become the Assistant Priest of St. John the Baptist and St. Agnes Parishes. Fr. Joseph will reside here at St. Agnes. We welcome Fr. Jose Thomas to our faith community. Fr. Jose Thomas was born March 10th, 1975 and raised in the Southern State of Kerala in India. He came to Canada in 2002 where he spent a year and half going through cultural integration. This included parish involvement at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (now known as St. Benedict's Parish) and at the Archdiocesan Catholic Pastoral Center while staying with the Moores Family. Fr. Jose enrolled in the Theology program at St. Peter's Seminary in 2004. After two years of study, he spent a year of Pastoral Internship at St. Ignatius Parish in Bedford. Following his pastoral year, he returned to the seminary to complete another year. Fr. Jose was ordained as a deacon at St. Ignatius Church in Bedford on May 11, 2007. Following his ordination, he spent a summer placement at Blessed Pope John XXIII Parish in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. He then returned the seminary for his final year and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Anthony Mancini on June 14th 2008. He then went Truro in August 2008 and has been enjoying his work as an assistant priest at Immaculate Conception with the missions for the last two years. Fr. Jose notes two things about himself: "I love Jesus and the Church." His favorite verse from the Scripture is "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15.16). Religious Education at St. Agnes: Children’s Liturgy is completed for the Summer months. We look forward to beginning this very special Ministry again in the Fall. If you are interested in becoming part of our St. Agnes Catechetical Team please do not hesitate to contact Tanya Thomson at the Religious Education Office 454-8281 or stagnesdre@hfx.eastlink.ca We have openings this Fall for Catechists, Assistant Catechists, Children's Liturgy Leaders, and Religious Education Committee members. Our Volunteers are the heart of our program, so please consider participating in this very valuable and meaninful Ministry. Registration forms for the 2010/2011 classes may be found on line at www.stagnesparish.ca and at the entrance to the church. Scouting at St. Agnes: On May 8th at ceremony held at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Steve Kent (Chief Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Governors for Scouts Canada) presented our senior Scouts, Francis Burns and Justin Henneberry, with The Medal of the Maple for Distinguished Youth Service. The Medal of the Maple for Distinguished Youth Service is an award created by the members of the National Youth Committee, designed to honour those youth who have significantly contributed to the movement and the spirit of Scouting through community service, extraordinary Scouting participation, and a solid system of personal values. Congratulations on your Scouting Achievement! The 26th Halifax Group of Scouts Canada offers programs for Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts at St. Agnes. These programs are supervised by our Group Commitee, which keeps Parish Council informed of these activities. Special Occasions: The Sacrament of First Holy Communion was celebrated on Sunday April 18th at the 10:30am Mass, and The Sacrament of Confirmation was conferred on Sunday April 25th, also at the 10:30am Mass. Congratulations, with Love and Blessings, to all those who recently received these blessed Sacraments, and also to their families. May the Lord continue to guide you, and may your faith continue to grow and strengthen in goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ. Treasures of our Church: Our beautiful new pipe organ, Opus 2566, was built in 1959 by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinth, Quebec. This instrument was a gift to the Sisters of Charity by John J. White and family of Boston, Massachusetts, whose daughter, Sr. Marie Agnes (White), played it for many years. This organ, a 3 manual 28 stop, was voiced in the classical tradition. It and the St. Mary's Basilica organ, built and installed at the same time, are considered to be two of the finest such instruments in Eastern Canada. The Motherhouse organ supplied the musical needs of the Sisters for over 50 years and was kept in exquisite shape. We are most grateful to the Sisters for their generous donation of this beautiful organ to the parish of St. Agnes, and in turn we will continue to keep up the legacy of the organ, both musically and maintenance-wise, so that future generations will be able to enjoy the spiritual sound of its music in praise of the Lord here at St. Agnes. The Parish wishes to express its sincere thanks to Mr. Robert Hiller, the representative from Casavant Frères, for his untiring efforts over the months to ensure our organ was installed and working properly. The care he has taken is quite evident in the delightful sounds that lift our spirits during our daily worship. You can't have failed to notice the fourteen magnificent stained glass windows which grace St. Agnes Church. These windows once added to the beauty and elegance of the Chapel of the Convent of the Sacred Heart on Spring Garden Road. The windows, which depict scenes from the New testament, were given to St. Agnes Church in 1979 by the Society of the Sacred Heart at the time when the convent chapel was demolished. The original Convent windows were destroyed in the Halifax Explosion and were replaced by ones made and installed in the chapel in 1925 by the Meyer Company of Munich, Germany, the same company which replaced the windows in St. Mary's Basilica and St. Patrick's Church. In 1979 the windows were crated and shipped to Franz Cuppens of St. John NB where experts redesigned them to fit the windows at St. Agnes. At the time of the rededication service, two plaques were unveiled. One bears the name of the original donors and the other the names of the parishioners and other benefactors of St. Agnes church who financed the construction and installation of the windows. They are located at the back of the church. The Liturgy Committee has contributed an informative essay on The Meaning of our Liturgy, which has been posted on this website. Special thanks to Cathy Murphy for seeing this through. Parish Committees play a vital role in making St. Agnes Parish a vibrant and faithful community. Why not consider joining one?