I got this note via e-mail:
Dear Fr Zuhlsdorf,
Since you were so kind as to post a blog entry about the creation of the new personal parish for the traditional Mass in Vancouver, I thought you would be interested to know that we now have a website: www.holyfamilyvancouver.ca
In the next couple of days we should be posting some photos of the inaugural Mass on the Feast of the Precious Blood, and also the full text of the Archbishop’s decree establishing the parish, which is a grand document showing a clear understanding of the Holy Father’s intentions for the motu proprio.
Loading ...
Thanks, Father.
That’s timely and very useful for me.
This church is the parish I attend. When I moved to Vancouver last year, I left behind the very liberal Diocese of Nelson and now am blessed to attend Mass at this FSSP parish. What a difference! The High Mass is like stepping in to heaven.
How blessed you are in Vancouver. I sit here with tears in my eyes as I looked at photos from your first Mass. Seeing our dear Fr. Deprey, who was our priest for a short while in Fresno….
Holy Family Parish is very dear to my heart. It was the parish of my wifes family and is where we were married. Within a year I was baptized Catholic thanks to the holy priest who was pastor at the time. He told me, ‘Don’t doubt for one minute that one day you will become a catholic!’ He passed away 3 weeks before our wedding sitting in his chair in his recory office.
Holy Family is famous for an exquisite pipe organ and had been blessed with superb organists, musicians and choirs over the years. It had a Kolping Club which was an organization named after a German priest. It took care of immigrants and was a social focal point of the mens group.
It was also famous for the annual St. Nicholas show. St. Nicholas, dressed as a bishop and attended by servers and jingly bells would enter the hall below the church and proceed to amaze the kids with his intimate knowledge of their previous years activities. He would give out goodies and then vanish into the crowd only to return in another year.
The building had been ‘adjusted’ over the years to allow for handicap access and of course the liturgical adjustments as well. Hopefully it will be properly restored to its former glory.
It was so wonderful to see the photos with Father Deprey. We love each of our FSSP priests who have graced our parish; but we still miss Father Deprey at St. Stephen the First Martyr in Sacramento. He is an excellent teacher, preacher and confessor. As has been mentioned before, no one can come close to those crystal clear bell-like tones when he sings. If Vancouver is fortunate enough to have three priests chanting the Good Friday Passion, and Father sings the narration with the coloratura passage at the end, it is something you won’t forget. And he is so thin! A good wind would blow him away. May God bless the new parish, its parishioners, Father Deprey and his new assistant.
We are truly blessed in Vancouver but it did not happen over night. It took 19 years to get to this point and the road was not always easy. With pray, sacrifice and a real confidence that our Lord would provide. Also with the gracious generosity of three very good Bishops, Priests who gave us so much support and help from the Archdiocese, and laity who never gave up. Every time our community was granted one more thing we were overwhelmed with the generosity of our Lord for it was far more than what we expected. We give thanks every day. Yes and one more thing to be grateful for is we have Fr. Deprey and FrGeddes .
Congratulations to the faithful of Vancouver! Take good care of Father Deprey, as he generously provides for you. We “shared” Father with St. Stephen’s in Sacramento, once a month at Our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara, CA (a two and half hour drive One way for him.) As always, our prayers are with him.