After five years as director of the
Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, Jesuit Father Bernard Carroll, SJ, is
retiring from the role, effective mid-February.
More than 100 people in the community, including Fr. Peter Bisson, SJ, Provincial of the
Jesuits in English Canada, the mayors of Midland and Tay, and local MP Bruce
Stanton, came to wish farewell to Fr. Carroll, on December 14.
Well-known colleague of the Jesuits, and native leader, Rosella Kinoshameg, presented Fr. Carroll with an eagle feather, one of
the highest Aboriginal honours. She also presented him with a deerskin stole, on behalf of the
Shrine’s Board of Trustees.
Fr. Carroll says he plans to take a “mini sabbatical” before starting work at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph,
providing spiritual guidance at Loyola House Retreat and Training Centre.
A few months after his departure, he says, the Shrine is expected to unveil a special doorway devoted to Pope Francis’s declaration of 2016 as the Holy Year of Mercy.
Martyrs’ Shrine is the National Shrine to the Canadian Jesuit Martyrs, and is a
ministry of the Jesuits in English Canada Province. This ‘house of prayer and
home of peace,’ honours the Jesuit missionaries and their companions who lived,
worked, and died there more than 350 years ago. It is located in Midland,
Ontario, in the heart of the Huron Confederacy of the 17th century.
More than 100,000 visitors from around the world and from all cultural
backgrounds are welcomed to the Shrine’s 75–acre landscaped grounds each
year. For more information, visit their website.
[Sources:
Simcoe.com, Martyrs’ Shrine]
