Canada’s bishops began their 2024 plenary assembly Sept. 23 with the ancient invocation of the Holy Spirit Venite Creator Spiritus, but in their message to Pope Francis they spoke, in another Latin phrase, of a new modus operandi in the Church.

The 79 bishops of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) met over five days at a conference centre situated in the shadow of Mont Ste. Anne, near the national shrine of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, east of Quebec City. The location was chosen as the Archdiocese of Quebec this year is celebrating its 350th anniversary.

The first day of the plenary is both the front-facing portion of the assembly, but it also serves as a day of tone-setting for the entire week. In addition to the historic anniversary dimension, CCCB president Bishop William McGrattan of Calgary noted the bishops also gather on the “eve of the second session of the Bishop’s Synod on Synodality in Rome and in anticipation of the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025.”

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These two events established the framework for both the day and the working sessions to follow.

Moncton Archbishop Guy Desrochers is the episcopal point-person for Canadian celebration of Jubilee 2025 and spoke to the CCCB planning for events in both Rome and Canada. Desrochers noted that Pope Francis has directed the theme of the jubilee year, Pilgrims of Hope, towards the Christian virtue of hope because he knows we are “in need of hope, because of war and poverty, and a lack of solidarity.”

“The intention of the Pope behind the Jubilee 2025 is to give us hope in this dire world we live in,” said Desrochers.

“I think the purpose of this is to unite us, in fact, to go on pilgrimage is a way to unite us. In every diocese, we are trying to reach out to all the people so that they will celebrate. Even if they can’t go to Rome, they can celebrate in their own diocese locally in many ways.”

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Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, delivered the plenary keynote remotely from Rome. Grech spoke directly about the implications of the “synodal process” for episcopal ministry. 

The bishop is the “indispensable subject of the synodal process,” Grech said, noting the synod encourages a “healthy decentralization.” It is a “new scheme, new method,” but “without the bishop there is no ecclesial discernment.”

Identifying “service” as the foundation of episcopal authority, Grech admonished the gathered bishops to “never forget that for the disciples of Jesus, yesterday, today and always, the only authority is the possibility of service.”

Over the five-day session ending Sept. 27, which was closed to the public, the bishops were to spend two lengthy sessions discussing a CCCB “organizational review.” 

“We will be receiving recommendations that are the result of a two-year process of research, review, consultation and discernment guided by the Permanent Council to see where and how we might improve the governance, administration and functioning of the conference. The steps of listening to the bishops and the CCCB staff has been in modelling the synodal method,” McGrattan said.

The end of the first day of the XVI General Assembly was concluded with a 15-minute bilingual address from the papal nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, who told the bishops there is “no fruitful ministry without communion with the See of Rome.”

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“Beyond organizational considerations and important sharing of resources, given that we wrestle with many pressing spiritual, moral and social issues, living as we do in a society characterized by polarization and division, it is absolutely necessary that we bishops reserve and enhance not only the unity of faith and worship, but a collegiality that is affective and effective among ourselves.”

The previous day, the bishops joined Quebec Cardinal Gerald Lacroix and Pope Francis’ special envoy Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, for a solemn Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame de Québec, in thanksgiving for the first Catholic diocese of North America.