Cathedrals of Canada - 5. Baie-Comeau

The Diocese of Baie-Comeau in Québec is another of the remarkably small Dioceses of Canada with an overwhelmingly Catholic (98%) population it still musters only 90,000 Catholics.  The Diocese is also an example of the Canadian phenomenon of frequently changing names.  In 1882, the Prefecture Apostolic of Golfe St.-Laurent was erected out of the Diocese of St. Germain of Rimouski (itself only erected in 1867 from the Archdiocese of Québec).  By 1905 it had been raised to the status of the Vicarate Apostolic of Golfe St.-Laurent.  In 1945 territory was lost to the Vicarate Apostolic of Labrador, although it was regained in 2007 when the Diocese of Labrador-Schefferville, which never had a population greater than 20,000, was suppressed.  In the same year (1945) the Vicarate Apostolic became the Diocese of  Golfe St.-Laurent, becoming, in 1960, the Diocese of Hauterive, and, in 1986, the Diocese of Baie-Comeau.  The Catholic population (98%) rose from 28,000 to 95,000 during the second half of the 20th century, although it fell to 90,800 by 2006.

The Eudists were a major influence in the life of the Diocese and every Ordinary from 1905 to 1956 was a member of the Eudist Congregation.  It's no surprise, therefore, that the modern Cathedral of the Diocese is dedicated to St. John Eudes.  Built between 1958 and 1960, it is shockingly modern in materials and design.  According to the Diocesan website, it will appeal to lovers of religious architecture...

The Structure of Catholicism in Canada

From those early days of the Archdiocese of Québec (1659) and the two Suffragans (1819), the structures of Holy Mother Church in Canada have developed into the normal structures of a National Hierarchy, Ecclesiastical Provinces (17), and Sui Generis Jurisdictions (7).

The following Ecclesiastical Provinces of Canada (Archdioceses: Suffragans)

Edmonton: Calgary, Saint Paul in Alberta
Gatineau: Amos, Mont-Laurier, Rouyn-Noranda
Grouard-McLennan: Mackenzie-Fort Smith, Whitehorse
Halifax-Yarmouth: Antigonish, Charlottetown
Keewatin-Le Pas: Churchill-Baie d’Hudson, Moosonee
Kingston: Alexandria-Cornwall, Peterborough, Sault Sainte Marie
Moncton: Bathurst, Edmundston, Saint John, New Brunswick
Montréal: Joliette, Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Saint-Jérôme, Valleyfield
Ottawa: Hearst, Pembroke, Timmins
Québec: Chicoutimi, Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Trois Rivières
Regina: Prince-Albert, Saskatoon
Rimouski: Baie-Comeau, Gaspé
Saint John’s, Newfoundland: Corner Brook and Labrador, Grand Falls
Sherbrooke: Nicolet, Saint-Hyacinthe
Toronto: Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines, Thunder Bay
Vancouver: Kamloops, Nelson, Prince George, Victoria
Winnipeg (Ukrainian): Edmonton (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), New Westminster (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), Saskatoon (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), Toronto (Ukrainian) (Eparchy)

The Archdioceses of Saint-Boniface and Winnipeg are sui generis and there are also sui generis jusisdictions of Canadian Military Ordinariate and the Eastern Catholic sui generis Eparchies of Saint-Maron de Montréal (Maronite), Saint-Sauveur de Montréal (Melkite Greek), Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto (Slovakian), and Mar Addai of Toronto (Chaldean).

The 2001 Census found that 12.8 million Canadians, 43% of the population, identified themselves as Catholics. A survey conducted in 2000 found that outside of Québec, weekly Mass attendance was 32%, down from 75% in 1950, while in Québec, which accounts for about a quarter of the Catholics in Canada, the rate of weekly Mass attendance was 20%, down from 88% in 1950.

In the end of the 1960s, Canada had 21,191 Priests. In 2000, it had a mere 9,832.

Today, three Canadian Dioceses are vacant: Timmins, Alexandria-Cornwall, and Saint Paul in Alberta.

According to the Annuario Pontificio 2011, the three largest Dioceses in terms of numbers of Catholics are Toronto (1,931,000), Montréal (1,590,150), and Québec (1,040,690), which, between them have more than one third of the whole Catholic population of Canada.

Sowing the Seeds of Catholicism in Canada

The seeds of the Catholic Faith in Canada were sown by France, eldest daughter of the Church. So in a sense Canada is the senior Granddaughter of Our Holy Mother the Church. Even before the arrival of Jacques Cartier, French sailors had landed and, as good sons of the Church, had consacrated the lands of Canada to God and to His Blessed Mother. The first Mass on Canada's shores was celebrated on 7th July, 1534 by the Chaplain to the Cartier expedition. The foundation of the settlements at Sainte-Croix and Annapolis (Port Royal) was the first permanent presence of Holy Mother Church in Canada.

The first serious missionary endeavours began with the foundation of Québec by Samuel de Champlain. Franciscans (1615), Jesuits (1625), the Ursuline Nuns (1640), the Congregation of Notre Dame (1653) and Suplicians (1657) were the early pioneers.

Until 1659, Canada, known as New France, was a vicarate of the Archdiocese of Rouen. In that year, Pope Alexander VII Chigi appointed François de Montmorency-Laval as Vicar Apostolic of New France. In 1674 Pope Clement X Altieri created him first Bishop of Québec, the first Diocese of Canada.

1763 was a year of potential disaster. By the Treaty of Paris, Angican English forces occupied New France. The Protestant English proposed to substitute an Anglican for a Catholic Hierarchy, as had been done in England and Ireland two centuries earlier - in violation of the Treaty of Paris, which had confirmed the liberty of Holy Mother Church in New France. The English authorities proceeded to protestantize education and to interfere in the nomination of Bishops and insisted upon the title of Superintendent of Catholic Worship for Catholic Bishops, reserving the title to their own Anglican pretenders. They forbade the Franciscans, Jesuits and Suplicians to accept novices. Only the latter retained their property in the general confiscation of 1774. Providence has strange ways and it was the wave of refugees from the French Rebellion that swelled the diminishing ranks of the Clergy of Canada. However, this period of open persecution was not to end until 1819, with the elevation of the See of Québec to an Archdiocese, with Suffragan Vicarates Apostolic of Upper Canada (based upon the Diocese of Kingston) and Nova Scotia (based upon the Archdiocese of Halifax).