Love and kindness to one another and to all who cross our paths throughout our lives is the fundamental tenet of our Christian Catholic faith. All members of our parish aspire and pray to the almighty and seek the intervention of St Mary and all the Saints, to help us remain true to those virtues every day of our lives. We also aspire to nurture our children with those fundamental Christian virtues. Our church is central to this because it provides all of us with the fulfilling presence of God, our Christian family, Spirituality, the Sacraments, the teachings of Christ and his Disciples.

We are also endowed with the longstanding, rich and unique traditions and culture of the geez-rite Ethiopian catholic faith and practice, which cements the unity that we all hold dear. The presence of elders, parents, youngsters and small children united in the Ethiopian-Catholic faith and prayer has for long been the primary anchor of our lives and has been passed on to us from past generations. The blessings we all receive from Jesus through our prayers, our mass, our partaking of the sacraments, our rejoicing with our Ethiopian-Catholic hymns and songs can only occur when we stay united in communion with Christ and with each other - across all generations in our congregation.

We pray that we all remain cognizant of our collective responsibility to keep the light of love and kindness burning not only in our lives, but in the lives of future generation Ethiopian-Canadian Catholics - many of whom are already among us, praise be to the almighty. God’s will is such that we all aspire to live in the path shown to us by Jesus, nurture the next generation to stick to that path and then we pass on to await resurrection and eternal life. We all pray and hope that the blessings that we enjoy through our Ethiopian Catholic faith and practice that has done so much for us, will be passed on to the next generation, so that they in turn solidly anchor their own lives - and when the time comes, their off springs’ lives on a positively evolved Ethiopian-Catholic faith and traditions.

As congregation that has been prevalent in Toronto since the mid-1990s and solidly came together in 2010, we have remained united and fulfilled by our church and the love and care that flows among us. We have also set a very positive and solid example to our children. With the unconditional love and guidance of our pastor Abba Isaias, we now have a long-established tradition of the monthly English mass for our children and periodic dedicated special mass for the family. Thanks to the tireless dedication of our volunteer Sunday school teachers, our children are also being nurtured to be true to their faith and rejoice in the company of each other.

The challenges ahead in this generational transition will be similar to those faced by our other sister congregations. Today’s children will soon become young adults and the vagaries of life and the callings of the flesh can result in diminishing returns. All around us in the society we live in, we witness the challenges others face and the triumphs some achieve in this pivotal generational transition. We need to keenly work on being in the camp of the latter. We must redouble our efforts to learn from both the mistakes and the positive outcomes of other “immigrant” congregations and ensure the continuity of our united Ethiopian-Canadian Catholic journey that has given so much fulfillment to the immigrant generation. Positively tackling the barriers of language, culture and the vagaries of life facing the young adults and children in our nascent congregation requires unity of purpose, an ever increasing dose of language and culture programs, consistency, abundant prayer and the dedication of all parents to meeting these challenges at home and elsewhere.

God’s blessings.