I was happy to see my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast announce the opening of the new St Francis Xavier Parish Church on August 25. The community enjoyed the celebration together, filling the new church for the official opening.
The ribbon-cutting event began with a traditional drumming ceremony led by Danny Metatawabin and dancers led by Janie Kataquapit on the riverbank next to the new church. The gathering then took part in a Catholic ceremony to consecrate the new church. The ceremony was led by local parish priest Father Kingsley Njoku, S.M.M.M., of St Francis Xavier Church and was joined by Bishop Pierre Olivier Tremblay, O.M.I., Diocese of Hearst-Moosonee and Bishop Alan Edward Campeau, Diocese of Thunder Bay. The event was also attended by 17 regional priests from northern Ontario and northern Quebec, as well as representatives from the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, based in Espanola, Ontario. As part of the ceremony, Catholic relics associated with St Kateri Tekakwitha also arrived with Father John O’Brien, a Jesuit priest with the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario. St Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680) is recognized as the first North American Indigenous woman to be canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church.
During the ceremony, Chief Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin also addressed the gathering to thank the visiting Catholic leadership for attending and to speak for the community in expressing their appreciation for the opening of the new church.
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