During his homily at his farewell Mass, Archbishop Ébacher thanked the congregation at the Gatineau cathedral for the inspiring examples they set for him. Photo by Deborah Gyapong / CCN.Parishioners celebrate Archbishop Ébacher 23 years of service to their archdiocese
By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
GATINEAU (CCN)--Hundreds packed the Gatineau cathedral on All Saints’ Day to bid farewell to Archbishop Roger Ébacher, who served the archdiocese for 23 years.
“Brothers and sisters, during these years of walking with you, I have received much from you,” Archbishop Ébacher said in his homily, flanked by the bishops of Ottawa, and Gatineau’s suffragan bishops from Amos, Mont Laurier and Rouyn-Noranda. “Every service in the Church is an exchange: we give and we receive.”
“I received from you so many inspiring examples, encouraging support, generous solidarity, as well as challenges,” he said. “For this, I thank you with all my heart.”
He spoke of how Jesus, “the good Shepherd,” sent him to join the people of the diocese in their pilgrimage following Christ.
“We are a people in motion, on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus,” he said. Though he would be retiring, the people of God would continue their march. He noted that in two years, the diocese would celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Archbishop Ébacher said he plans to continue living in Gatineau. He told the gathering that he would first look after his health, but that he planned to continue in ministry under the new Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher, who will be installed on Nov. 30. He also plans to do some writing.
Following the Mass, representatives of the church community paid tribute to the archbishop’s humble service and pastoral warmth.
Archbishop Ébacher stressed a ministry of a Church of Communion that included all the baptized in carrying out her mission, said Father Rodhain Kasuba on behalf of Gatineau’s 45 diocesan priest. Father Kasuba said Archbishop Ébacher also witnessed to the Gospel by his attention to the most fragile in society. At the heart of his episcopal ministry was Archbishop Ébacher’s confidence in his many “collaborators,” both men and women, in decisions touching the Church’s local life in Gatineau.
In our day, the ministry of a bishop has colossal responsibilities, Father Kasuba said, but Archbishop Ébacher faced them with courage and good humor. He fostered the sense of brotherhood among priests and remembered the important anniversaries of each priest with warm telephone calls.
Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast brought greetings on behalf of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) president Archbishop Richard Smith, who outlined Archbishop Ébacher’s extensive service to the CCCB, including 16 years on the conference’s Permanent Council.
Over the years, Archbishop Ébacher served on the CCCB’s theology commission, the French Sector liturgy commission, and as a member and chairman of the social affairs commission. He also chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, which published From Pain to Hope, which Archbishop Smith described as “the first Catholic guidelines in the world to be published on preventing and responding to sexual abuse.”
Archbishop Ébacher also served “whenever a Catholic bishop was needed to participate in ecumenical or social justice gatherings in Ottawa, or at special events organized by various government offices.”
Archbishop Smith noted his “impressive witness of humility and generosity,” and his stress on the importance of “communicating with his people and of being present to the local community.”
Lay representatives also praised the archbishop for his love and humble service to the people of the diocese.
Archbishop Ébacher has spent 32 years in the episcopacy: he was first ordained bishop of Hauterive (now part of the Baie-Comeau diocese) in 1979, and then elected Baie-Comeau Bishop in 1986. He has served the Gatineau archdiocese since 1988.
He was ordained priest in 1961 to the Amos diocese.
