Trip to Pembroke for the Episcopal Consecration of
The Most Reverend Michael Mulhall on Sept. 21st, 2007

by Steven Decarlo

The Trip to Pembroke

Among the many people from the Diocese of Peterborough who set out to attend the Episcopal Consecration of The Most Reverend Michael Mulhall as Bishop of Pembroke, there were a great number of young people. About 25 of them in addition to a number of adults took the VEYO bus on the evening of Thursday September 20th in order to be in Pembroke the night before and rest up for the 10 am Ordination Mass at St. Columbkille Cathedral on Friday morning. As many know, Bishop Mulhall is a native of Peterborough and a former Vicar General of the Diocese of Peterborough. This is why many people from his own hometown did not shy away to make the three-hour bus ride to Pembroke in order to witness this rare occasion which is as much an honour for him as it is for his home Diocese.

The Ride to Pembroke

The pilgrims from Peterborough left the VEYO Centre at five o’clock p.m. on the legendary VEYO bus, with none other than Fr. Norbert as our driver. Along the way, we prayed the rosary and had a pizza dinner to snack on. Although it was a three-hour ride, the engaging conversations and breathtaking scenery along the way more than made up for the hours on the road. Music was the entertainment of choice and some of VEYO’s finest musicians were on hand to offer their talents for all to hear. The bus made a quick stop in Barry’s Bay to pick up ten more young people who joined us for the remainder of our trip to Pembroke. After this brief stop, it was destination Pembroke!

The Night Before

We arrived in Pembroke at about 8:30 p.m., where the bus group parted ways for the night. About eight people stayed the night at the Marguerite Retreat Centre, where they had their very own bedrooms to spend the night. The Marguerite Centre was a former Grey Nuns convent in the heart of downtown Pembroke which had been converted into a retreat centre. From there, after settling into our cozy rooms, we all took cabs to have a late-night dinner at East Side Mario’s, where we had … you guessed it … pizza … again! The rest of the bus group were invited to stay overnight at nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Church, where they had a great time relaxing and getting excited about the next day’s events. The people at the retreat centre were treated to a scrumptious, hearty breakfast, while the group at the parish had delicious and equally hearty food personally prepared and delivered to them by the generous, ever-giving parish priests and staff of our Lady of Lourdes Church. After the breakfast, Fr. Norbert drove down to the Centre, picked up the rest of the group and, thanks to pretty thorough directions from the local parish priest, found his way through the narrow winding streets of downtown Pembroke to beautiful St. Columbkille Cathedral, where we were dropped off and walked up to and into a magnificent piece of Catholic architecture. Small though it is, the Cathedral is a little jewel among the Catholic Churches of the area. For the occasion it was made even more dazzling with sizable flower arrangements everywhere.

Soon after we had entered the Cathedral, we were informed that we had to go to the Church hall downstairs because of space issues, where we watched the Ordination ceremony on a closed-circuit telecast. Not surprisingly, the available chairs filled up quite quickly and many had to stand during the two-hour-plus Mass. As it turned out we may have had the better seats after all being able to follow the ceremony on television and thus able to see likely more than the hundreds in the standing-room-only Cathedral upstairs.

The Ordination

The main celebrant and the presiding Bishop of the Ordination was The Most Reverend Luigi Ventura, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada. The co-consecrators were The Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop of Ottawa, and The Most Reverend Nicola De Angelis, Bishop of Peterborough. They and the then Monsignor Mulhall processed into the Cathedral along with other 25 to 30 bishops, well over 100 priests from Pembroke and Peterborough, altar servers (our very own Paul Long, who is a resident in the House of Discernment, had the honour of being an altar server), readers, and Knights of Columbus. The actual ordination ceremony took place after the reading of the Gospel, when Bishop Mulhall was presented to Archbishop Ventura for Ordination as Bishop. Then, the Apostolic Letter from Pope Benedict was read to the congregation, in which the Holy Father nominated Mons. Mulhall as Bishop of Pemrboke. After that, Archbishop Ventura gave a homily about the Episcopate and its meaning. Bishop Mulhall was then examined by Archbishop Ventura, which was followed by the Litany of the Saints. Bishop Mulhall lay facedown before the altar, while the rest of the congregation knelt and called on the Saints to pray for the candidate. The three main consecrators laid their hands on the new Bishop, followed by the other bishops in attendance. The ancient and scriptural gesture of the ‘laying on of hands’ is the symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit coming down on the candidate and consecrating him bishop. Archbishop Ventura said a Prayer of Consecration, followed by the Anointing with Sacred Chrism, the Presentation of the Book of Gospels and the Investiture with his Episcopal Ring, Mitre, and Crozier. After all this, our Monsignor Mulhall was now Bishop Mulhall! He was installed as Bishop of Pembroke by solemnly taking his seat on the cathedra, the bishop’s chair in St. Columbkille Cathedral. He exchanged a Kiss of Peace with his brethren bishops, which was followed by the Eucharistic Celebration. For those watching in the Church hall, Holy Communion was brought down by a priest. After the Eucharistic Celebration, Bishop Mulhall expressed his personal thanks to God and to all those in attendance, especially to his parents, and walked down the aisles of the Cathedral giving his blessing to an applauding crowd to a backdrop of awe-inspiring choir music.

The Reception

After the Ordination Mass a reception in the Church hall followed, where there was a seemingly endless line of well-wishers and a likewise endless supply of food. Bishop Mulhall was surrounded by his new flock, with whom he visited, chatted and patiently posed for pictures. We also had the chance to present to the new Bishop a gift from VEYO, a portrait of St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus. This picture was recently given to VEYO by the Sisters of St. Joseph from Mount St. Joseph Convent on Monaghan Road in Peterborough. Bishop Mulhall’s family home is right next door to this convent, which made the gift especially meaningful. It was presented by Eric Mason and John Perdue, who are both presently residents at the House of Discernment. Bishop Mulhall also posed for a picture with all the seminarians and House of Discernment residents, who all came along on the trip. After enjoying a few snacks and visiting with people from near and far, it was time to leave. Our bus group gathered on the VEYO bus, which was parked at a near-by funeral home. The owners of the funeral home were very friendly and hospitable which was very much appreciated as we needed a bit of time and space not just for parking the bus, but also for getting changed and resting up before Fr. Norbert took us on an afternoon of sight-seeing in north-eastern Ontario on a glorious fall day. 

Visit of St. Mary’s Church in Wilno. Ontario

After driving along Highway 60, we spotted St. Mary’s Church in Wilno, and decided to drop in for a look. Wilno is the city in the Madawaska Valley where the first Polish immigrants settled in Canada. The church itself is located on a hill overlooking spectacular scenery. Inside, the church is beautifully decorated with bright colours, magnificent statues and artwork, and heavily detailed architecture. We prayed, sang, and chanted the Divine Mercy Chaplet, an appropriate devotion since the Church hosts large pilgrimages every spring on the Feast of Divine Mercy. After some picture taking and more admiration of the heavenly atmosphere … and acoustics, we purchased some religious keepsakes, statues, books and pictures from the gift shop located in the back of the church. We took a group picture on the steps outside and sped away to our next and final stop.

Visit to Madonna House

Our final stop was at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario. Madonna House is a lay community of men and women who live out the message of love proclaimed by Jesus Christ. Community members live, work, pray and socialize together. They live a humble, simple life of love and community. The community was founded in 1947 by Catherine Doherty, a Russian immigrant who decided to found a community based on love and poverty. Frank Brick, one of our seminarians for our Diocese, had once spent some time there in their Spiritual Formation program. We toured the House grounds, chapel, lakeshore and gift shop, where many of us bought more religious articles. We also toured the site on the grounds where the statue of Our Lady of Combermere is located. This statue shows Our Lady running with Her arms wide open to embrace Her children. There are two expressions on either side of Her face, happiness and sorrow reflecting the moods of people who come to Her and ask for Her intercession. We took another group picture at the statue and boarded the bus to head home. Before we went off, we, along with two of the House members, implored Our Lady of Combermere’s intercession for a safe bus ride home. After we said our goodbye’s, we were off to Peterborough.

Arrival in Peterborough

The arrival back home was mostly uneventful … mostly! We arrived at Sacred Heart Church / the VEYO Centre at about eight-thirty, in good time for Mary Macfarlane, the official photographer from the Diocese for the occasion, to e-mail some of the pictures from the Ordination ceremony to the Peterborough Examiner and to the Catholic Herald. The rest of us ordered pizza, unpacked, socialized and rested up after an extraordinary trip to Pembroke and a moving experience at the Ordination ceremony of a new bishop of the Church.

Final Reflections

Personally, I found this whole trip to be a very excellent spiritual experience. It is a rare experience to see an Episcopal Ordination, even rarer an Episcopal Ordination of a priest from our very own Diocese. As I am in the House of Discernment, seeing an example of someone laying down his life for Christ and His Church is something to reflect upon. I am sure that this sentiment is shared by the other House residents, seminarians, priests and bishops, indeed by all who attended. The office of a bishop must be a rather difficult one. It requires God’s abundant assistance to perform this crucial shepherding of His people. Let us pray for Bishop Michael Mulhall and for all bishops, priests, deacons, and for all those who teach and preach the Catholic faith in union with our bishops.

Did You Know?

	The ordination Mass was held on the 21st of September, the Feast day of St. Matthew the Apostle, which was also the 125th anniversary of the Episcopal Ordination of the first Bishop of Pembroke AND also the 182nd anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains right here in Peterborough, which was Bishop Mulhall’s home parish.
	• Bishop Michael Mulhall was born in February 25, 1962.
	• He  studied at Trent University and studied Theology in Rome
	• He was ordained a priest in 1989
	• He served in Huntsville and Hastings parishes as well as at the Holy See’s Congregation for Oriental Churches in Rome
	• In 2003, he was appointed Chancellor for Spiritual Affairs. In 2004, he became Vicar General.
	• Bishop Mulhall is only the 4th priest originating from the Peterborough Diocese to be ordained a bishop. Bishop David Joseph Scollard was born in Ennismore in 1862 and was Bishop of Sault Sainte Marie Diocese. Bishop Richard O’Brian was born in Peterborough in1874 and was Bishop of Peterborough Diocese and Archbishop of Kingston Diocese. Bishop Francis Marocco was born in Peterborough in 1913 and was Bishop of Peterborough from 1968 to his death in 1975.