On April 12, 2023, Jesuits and friends gathered to honour Magis award recipient, Rosella Kinoshameg, and Golden Jesuit Jubilarians Father Godefroy Midy and Father David Nazar at the 15th Annual Jesuit Provincial’s Dinner – Toronto.
This annual fundraising dinner which helps raise funds for men in formation, acknowledges Jesuits celebrating 50 years in the Society, and presents the Magis award to noteworthy recipients.
Rosella has had a long friendship with the Jesuits of Canada having co-laboured in the Indigenous Apostolate for almost 40 years. She has been a key figure in the Province’s understanding of Indigenous-Christian spirituality and has served as a bridge-builder between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Her extensive volunteer work has brought people closer to Christ through a deeper understanding and incorporating of Indigenous traditions, culture, and symbols.
As a registered nurse and healthcare professional, Rosella was a key figure in the province’s study of diabetes in Indigenous peoples, during the 1990’s. As Chair of the Wasseandimiikaaning Board of Trustees, Rosella has worked closely with the Jesuits at the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre and other Jesuits on important Indigenous issues. Her service extends beyond the Anishinabe sector of the diocese to the national level, where she served as a founding member of the Catholic Aboriginal Council of the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops.
In 2000, she was mandated a DOS, (Diocesan Order of Service), which was inaugurated in 1975 and is unique to the Sault Ste. Marie Diocese. It is granted to laypersons who wishes to make a lasting commitment to service in the Church. In 1996, Rosella was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Sacred Letters from Regis College, Toronto. The papal medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice was bestowed on Rosella in 2015. This “Cross of Honour Medal,” is conferred by the Pope for distinguished service to the Church.
Rosella’s ties to the Jesuits started early in her life. She was baptized by Jesuit Father J. Dwyer and made her First Communion at the Residential School in Spanish. She was married in Sudbury by Jesuit Father Daniel Hannin. Her late father was a church organist who always took the family to church.
An Odawa/Ojibway from the Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation Territory, Manitoulin Island, Rosella is the youngest of 12 children. Married for 54 years, she is a mother of five, grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of three.
The Jesuits celebrating 50 years in the Society of Jesus are Father Godefroy Midy and Father David Nazar.
Born in 1932, Fr. Midy, was born in Haiti and after receiving his PhD in Montreal, his apostolic commitments have extended throughout the Church of Haiti: at the Haitian Conference of Religious, as a companion of the steering committee and advisor in various commissions, throughout the dioceses, archdioceses and religious congregations. He was a leading figure in the widespread movement within the Church that led to the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. Midy was the main architect of the establishment of the Society of Jesus in Haiti after the departure of the Duvaliers. Even today, he is a member of the vocational discernment team for the Jesuits of Haiti, a lecturer, and a retreat leader in several religious congregations. He is also a member of the team of the Manrèse Spirituality Centre.
Born to a family of Ukrainian immigrants in Canada, Fr. Nazar had the unique experience of practicing faith in two different Rites, the Byzantine and Latin, in the Catholic Church. He established the Jesuit District in Ukraine, served as its provincial superior and was also involved in the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) there. Prior to his work overseas, he served as provincial superior of the Jesuits in the English Canada Province, superior in the Jesuit community in Manitoulin, Espanola, pastor at Wikwemikong and superior of the Jesuit community in Ottawa. Since 2002, he has been overseas where he served as professor of theology in Moscow and superior of the Jesuits in Ukraine for 13 years, among his many other responsibilities. Since 2015, Fr. Nazar, has been serving as rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Known as the Orientale, this Catholic institution of higher education is the premier centre for the study of Eastern Christianity in Rome, Italy. It is one of three international academic institutes the Holy See has entrusted to the Jesuits.
