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Friar Ducharme awaits
ordination
BRENT MATTSON, B.C. Catholic
May 9, 2011
VANCOUVER — After
six years of formation, Franciscan Friar Pierre Ducharme will emerge
from Christ’s kiln a fully-formed priest after his ordination at
Holy Rosary Cathedral.
“It gives me more of an opportunity to be with people and journey
with them through baptism and marriages,” the Vancouver native said.
“I am looking forward to all the ministry that the priesthood has to
offer.”
Ducharme, the vocations director for the Franciscans of Western
Canada in Cochrane, Alta., hopes to see his order grow as his
ministry expands.
Ducharme began to think he was called to a religious life while
attending Corpus Christi College, but then gave up on the idea while
at University of British Columbia.
However, after graduating with a degree in history and classics in
2003, he wanted to continue his education and explore his faith on
an academic level.
He chose Edmonton’s Newman Theological College, and planned to
eventually go into ministry as a lay person. A number of his
classmates and professors who were Franciscans helped him discover
his vocation.
WHOLE NEW LIGHT
“I just saw the religious life in a whole new light and I saw myself
there in it,” Ducharme said. “It attracted me in the purest sense of
the word.” He entered formation in 2005 and graduated from Newman
with a master of divinity degree in 2009. He said being ordained is
one of many gifts he’s been given in his life. “I feel a very strong
sense of being a friar and being a Franciscan,” he said. “It’s all
about being with people. Getting ordained so I can minister to
people as an ordained priest is part of my longing to be with people
and journey with them.” Archbishop Michael Miller will ordain
Ducharme May 14.
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Friar Pierre Ducharme
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