For over 400 years, Jesuits and their colleagues have had a presence in Canada. Today they work coast to coast – from Vancouver to St.John's. In this series igNation invites you to join us as we travel across Canada stopping at cities where there are Jesuit apostolates to read personal reflections about the city and the work being done there. Today we stop in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
My Thunder Bay is the home of the Sleeping Giant and the Anemki (the Thunder God). Anemki-Wadge Anameogamik, – the abode or prayer grounds of the Thunder Spirit – now the name of our Spiritual Centre is composed of a square beam main structure and 2 log cabins, with its mandate – to provide a Sacred Place that is open to all who seek Spiritual Guidance and Enrichment. As an asset and under the aeges of St. Anne's Church, we now have a Board-in-Process that is sorting out the groups and programs the Centre will respond to.
In late April, it was a Native Traditional Spring Ceremony, in mid-May it housed an AA team from Winnipeg putting on an AA retreeat – now we are preparing the 5 day retreat for our deacon candidates and those who have participated in the 34 week Spiritual Exercises program at Kateri Church; we have been talking to Fr. Gerry McDougall, SJ as the possible director.
Thunder Bay has been the home of the Thunder Bay Native Apostolate since 1848 when Fr. Chone, SJ, encouraged a group of Anishnabek from Immaculate Mission Grounds on the banks of the Pigeon River to move to the banks of the Kaministikwia River, the southern boundary of the city of Thunder Bay, for its fertile farm land and the Mission Bay fishing grounds.
In 1905, the railroad expropriated the land on the banks of the Kam for its own purposes, so the community was moved to Squaw Bay and the foot of Mount McKay. It was not until 5 years ago a land settlement took place, restoring the land on the southern bank of the Kam to the native community.
Jesuits were responsible for the building and staffing of 5 parishes in Thunder Bay – St. Andrew's, St. Peter's, St. Patrick's, St,. Agnes, St. Margaret's, and St. Anne's on the Fort William First Nation, the latter now being served by Fr. Larry Kroker, SJ, the sole Jesuit presence in Thunder Bay. He also serves Kitchitwa Kateri Anameowegamik, a Native urban parish established in 1996, which welcomes all native peoples living in Thunder Bay and the surrounding area, (about120,000).
Fr. Larry is assisted by Fr. James Grant who also lives at St. Anne's. along with St. Anne's Permanent Deacon Vic Pelletier, and 3 native deacon candidates from Kateri Church who are to be ordained this September. All assist in the pastoral ministry to Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Armstrong, 150 miles north of Thunder Bay, and Sacred Heart Parish in Gull Bay First Nation. Lightening the load are Grace Esquega who is the director of Kateri Church and Penny Fitzpatrick who manages and coordinates all that happens at our Retreat Centre.
Related to the Jesuit works in Thunder Bay are two Christian Life Communities, and 2 lay facilitators of a 34 week Spiritual Exercise programs that have been operating out of both St. Anne's and Kitchitwa Kateri Churches for the past 10 years.
But it's not all work and no play. Fr. Larry has a boat moored at Squaw Bay on the Fort William First Nation, and when the weather and his health allow, you can see him out in the Bay trolling for the elusive Chinook salmon, or with his hunting friends of Gull Bay, calling on the banks of a creek for the just as elusive but much bigger bull moose that will barely fit into his freezer. The harvest has been good, so every year there are fish fries in support of the Kateri Chuch St. Vincent de Paul, and Sunday Moose soups at both Kateri and St. Anne's