From Friday June 6 to Sunday June 8, twenty-two deacons and wives from seven dioceses and archdioceses across Ontario gathered at beautiful Villa Loyola in Sudbury to participate in three days of personal development and sharing in diaconal community. Our host Bishop, Most Reverend Jean-Louis Plouffe, Bishop of Sault Ste-Marie, gave a stirring vision of the Church, and the need for diaconal service to all those who have been neglected by both Church and society. His Excellency encourages his deacons (and indirectly, us) to reach out with compassion and acceptance to the 85% (in his Diocese) of those who are Catholic, but have felt alienated or moved away from the Church for some reason. He believes that much more mercy and courage to risk with compassion are needed in our lives. He calls us to be more human, with the humanity of Christ integrated into our lives of service.

Deacon Armand Danis, leading diaconate leaders and wives in discovering spiritual charisms


Deacon Armand Danis was the spiritual director of the personal development program for OCADL 2008, which focused on the spiritual gifts or “charisms” given by the Holy Spirit to help diaconate leaders serve God, His Church, our Ordinaries, and the deacons and candidates we serve in our Archdiocese or Diocese. We were led in a thoroughly engaging workshop through presentations and exercises based on “the Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory”. The instructional materials are published by the Catherine of Siena Institute, and have been developed and validated over several years. More wil be posted here about the Convocation in the next few weeks.