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March 7, 2025
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CNS photo/Lola Gomez
With the Lenten season just barely underway, the Canadian bishops' 'Journey Through Lent' video series is already drawing thousands of Catholic viewers.
And based on the trendlines of the past several years, more Catholics from Canada and abroad are expected to turn to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)’s annual video series for spiritual nourishment.
Consider that the 2024 English iteration of the program garnered a combined viewership of over 13,000 from the weekly videos posted from Ash Wednesday to Easter, nearly double the 7,100 views mustered in 2023. The French version also scored higher in 2024 with over 5,100 views compared to 3,000 in 2023.
This year is off to a strong start. St. Paul Bishop Gary Franken's Wednesday reflection has received over 2,800 views as of March 6. More impressively, Bathurst, N.B., Bishop Michel Proulx’s meditation has garnered 2,100 views, making it the most viewed French-language video in the history of this series.
Margaret Shea-Lawrence, director and commission secretary for the CCCB’s evangelization and catechesis office, said there are multiple factors driving this robust growth.
“I often get calls from people out in the Catholic schools,” said Shea-Lawrence. “I received a call from an individual who works in a Catholic health-care organization in Quebec, and he sends out the videos every week to his people in his organization of over 700 people. The momentum seems to be growing by word of mouth and by interest in particular organizations. We know that they're also used in parishes as well for small group reflection.”
Momentum for this initiative is evident in the CCCB’s plans to develop reflection guides to accompany the videos in time for 2026. The questions and exercises included in the guide could be completed individually or in a group setting.
Shea-Lawrence said the CCCB team evaluates the effectiveness of both the Advent and Lent video series after the respective liturgical seasons. Both the executive committee and the permanent council weigh in with feedback.
All parties involved, said Shea-Lawrence, are driven to ensure the videos promote the pillars of almsgiving, prayer and fasting and articulate how each “can encourage growth and healing the world” in the 40-day journey to Easter.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
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