+Thomas Dowd

While my heart will always be with the former Expos, I thought I'd put on the Toronto jersey I got this summer for Halloween (and game 6). Go Blue Jays!

I concluded my week of parish pastoral visitation today, and my last event was a brunch at the home of a parishioner. She lives in the country, so I got to visit with her cats, chickens, and goats. I'm telling you, my diocese has everything! :-)

Today is the 5th anniversary of my appointment (technically called an "election") as diocesan bishop of Sault Ste. Marie. As a bit of a throwback, here is a letter I wrote to the people of my diocese for that day. Please pray for me, and for my diocese!

dioceseofsaultstemarie.org/documents/20...

The pastoral visit continues! In Skead, I did a deep dive into history, seeing a picture of Bishop Dignan celebrating Mass in the little church. In Garson, I made a visit to the First Baptist Church as well as the food bank. These "purple ladies" do so much to help others!

I started my parish pastoral visit in Garson and Skead this weekend, and showed this little cutie the statues of Mary and Joseph (and the child Jesus). She helped me hold the pastoral staff while her dad took the picture (which I post with permission). I love this job. 😀

A gorgeous day in Gore Bay for a visit from Premier Doug Ford, Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, Minister George Pirie, and our local MPP Bill Rosenberg to the site of the new Saint Joseph Lodge building. As Honourary Chairman it was my privilege to be present, and to reconnect with friends.

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that Fr. Hamish Currie, Pastor of the parish of Precious Blood Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie, passed away this morning. Wake and funeral details to follow. Please pray for him, and for his family, friends, and parishioners.

Yes, today is my 55th birthday. Here's a picture of me at a somewhat younger age. How times change! Please pray for me!

Today is my 14th anniversary of ordination as a Bishop. One thing for sure, it has never been boring. Please pray for me, and all the people I am called to serve!

I was looking forward to participating in our English-language retreat for priests this week, then this happened (result from this morning). Aarrgghh! I guess I'll be doing my retreat from home.

Another pic from the meeting with Pope Leo XIV on September 3. I was able to introduce myself and our beautiful diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. The man in the background is Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Final article from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity about the meeting:

www.christianunity.va/content/unit...

After a time of concluding prayer we all went our separate ways. Thursday was my travel day, so I returned to the Casa Romana on Traspontina for a meal and a good night of sleep. I was absolutely zonked, but also full of joy for our time together. It was a good 3 days.

Having finally decided on Sept 1-3, 2026, we got to work on the draft of our communiqué. You can read it here:

www.christianunity.va/content/unit...

We then returned to our working groups to, well, work! Finally we came back together in our plenary to decide one the truly contentious issue: the dates of our next meeting! I say that only partly tongue in cheek, as it isn't easy finding a common date for 24 people.

Our day began with a special private audience with the Pope. He greeted each of us one by one, offered a few remarks of encouragement, and then we had a group photo. Archbishop Flavio Pace was interviewed by Vatican News about the meeting:

vaticannews.va/en/vatican-cit…

Day 3 of our meeting of the Joint Working Group (Wed, Sept 3). I am posting this a couple of days later to make sure I got the photos and news articles associated with the day - like this one! A thread. 🧵

Finally, as a personal treat, I ran into Archbishop Gabriel Malzaire of Castries, Saint Lucia. We met back in 2003, when I had been a priest for barely a year and he was bishop in Dominica, and here we were, 22 years later. A most pleasant random encounter!

We then went out to dinner together, where we also met up with reps from various Protestant groups who have permanent representation in Rome.

We also received presenters from four ecumenical centres in Rome, who shared on their various programs. I wish there was a program for the training of ecumenical officers, but alas. Perhaps I need to design one.

Most of our day was spent listening to representatives of the different Roman dicasteries, who presented the work they do. Many of the World Council of Churches reps shared with me how they found it helpful, as they of course have much less familiarity with the inner workings.

Day 2 of our meeting of the Joint Working Group. A thread. 🧵

Third Pastoral Letter

For our afternoon discussions we broke into our working groups. I am in the group discussing salvation theology (soteriology) and its importance for Christian unity. I wrote a whole pastoral letter on the topic, which you can read here:

dioceseofsaultstemarie.org/letter3

Our afternoon session was taken up with a visit to the archeological excavations underneath Saint Peter's Basilica, which in 1950 rediscovered the tomb of Saint Peter himself, as well as a niche with contained what we believe are the bones of Saint Peter himself. Very impressive.

We began our first full day together with introductions and catching up on news from our local churches. We then welcomed Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, who offered us a brief reflection on our work. And of course, a group picture!

Day 1 of our meeting of the Joint Working Group. While a formal statement of what we accomplished will be published later, I am happy to share some personal reflections. A thread. 🧵

Supper was a nice time to reconnect with people, some of whom I had not seen in person since our meeting in Geneva last year, and some I was meeting for the first time. Of course, no celebratory meal is complete without gelato, so that's how we ended our evening.

The meeting is for the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, and I was very happy to see Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Orthodox Church, who is my counterpart as Co-Moderator of the group.

Then a solid siesta after lunch, to recover a bit from the flight. I bought a jubilee souvenir for someone back home, and made sure to get a pic of the church down the street as the sun was setting.

I flew Air Canada from Toronto yesterday and got to my residence on Via della Traspontina in Rome at around 11 am. Given it was Sunday I wanted to make sure I got to Mass, so I attended the "international Mass" at Santa Maria in Transpontina just before lunch.