St. Dunstan's Basilica Parish

To mark the Sundays of Lent, we will celebrate sung Evening Prayer at 6:30 in the lower church chapel from March 10 through April 7. This will be followed each evening by a 45 - 60 minute Lenten reflection offered by Fr. Keith. All are welcome to any and all! March 10: Lent & the Liturgical Year; March 17: Forgiveness - Part 1 (Luke 15: 11 - 32); March 24: Forgiveness - Part 2 (Matthew 18: 21 - 35); March 31: Our Ways and God's Ways (Matthew 20: 1 -16); April 7: Exodus...Then and Now.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered on Monday April 1 at 7 pm in the church.

The Grade 6 class is doing a food drive for three needy food banks as part of their Lenten preparation. They will be collecting foods for St. Vincent de Paul Society, Anderson House and the UPEI Food Bank. Please assist them through your generosity. We will be collecting food during Religious Education classes or before Mass on Sundays. Please look for the signs. The youth thank you!

Join the St. Dunstan's Knights of Columbus for a Saint Patrick's Day brunch Sunday March 17 following the 10:30 Mass. Admission is by donation with proceeds given to the PEI Special Olympics.

Exploring connections between the beatitudes, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Join Fr. Martin Carter for this Lenten study on three Thursday evenings (7 – 8:15 pm, March 21, 28 & April 4) in the Knights of Columbus Room in the basement of St. Dunstan's Basilica.

Our Lady of Fatima Council #824 will hold their regular monthly council meeting on Thursday, March 14 at 7 pm in the council chambers.

On March 2, after the 5 pm Mass in the K of C room, we will share our experience and information about the Blessed Virgin Mary as our Spiritual Mother. We will have a light lunch, a presentation on Our Lady of Knock, fellowship and Rosary. Please enter via the Adoration Chapel, Dorchester St. entrance or downstairs after the mass. For more information, please contact Ray or Marilyn Yu at 902- 628-2397, raymaryu@hotmail.com, docmarilyn2013@eastlink.ca

As a way of marking the centennial of our present Basilica, we will be providing some historical sketches over the course of this year. Our thanks to Fr. Art O'Shea for these. Today, we'll start way back…
Two hundred years ago the Diocese of Quebec was the only Roman Catholic Diocese in what is present-day Canada. In the summer of 1812, Bishop Plessis of Quebec made an extended tour of our Maritime region, remaining two weeks on Prince Edward Island, where Father Angus MacEachern was at that time the only priest serving the scattered Catholic population here. The Bishop spent two days in Charlottetown where there was yet no church. As he was leaving here, he directed Father MacEachern to arrange the building of a suit- able church and he designated its proper location: a high point in the town overlooking the harbour – the site of the present St. Dunstan's.

Automatic debit is an option for those who would like to contribute using that means. Please contact the Parish Office for information.

1ST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH: Parishioners who are able to donate non perishable food items, please bring them to the weekend masses for the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. Donations may be left near the angel holy water fonts at the entrance to the church. We hope that you can continue to give generously to support the needy in our parish community.

The Parish is partnering with the Holland College Heritage Carpentry program to repair/rebuild the three sets of front doors. The center doors have been removed and once they are reinstalled, the other two sets will be removed in sequence for the same treatment. We are pleased with the cooperation of the Heritage Carpentry Program instructors and students.

The church building, which was to become the first cathedral of the newly-formed Diocese of Charlottetown in 1829, was erected on the site of the present church in 1816. It was replaced by a larger wooden building in 1843, which itself gave way to a magnificent stone structure, destroyed by fire in 1913. This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the dedication of our present St. Dunstan's Basilica, the fourth cathedral of the Diocese of Charlottetown. As a way of marking the 100th Anniversary of our Basilica, Confirmation and other catechetics classes from across the Diocese will be invited for tours of our Diocesan Cathedral. Our thanks to the organizers, Charlene Peters and Fr. Art O'Shea.

Knights of Columbus Council #824 are once again pleased to offer these beautiful calendars. Knights will have them available following weekend masses for a suggested donation of $15. All proceeds are returned to Catholic Missions to support their work with First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities.

Fr. KEITH KENNIFIC has been appointed Rector of St. Dunstan’s Basilica and will begin January 8. Fr. Martin Carter will remain at St. Dunstan's as Associate Priest.

A new book entitled “Understanding The Impact of the Addicted Person: A layperson's guide to recovery" has recently been published by Jim Good, retired family addictions counsellor. Available for purchase at the St. Dunstan’s parish office for $20. For more info call Jim at 902 963-2794.