By Andrew Ehrkamp,  Grandin Media

[Archdiocese of Edmonton – Canadian Catholic News] – The screens, small and big, will be turned off as this year’s Lac Ste Anne Pilgrimage comes to a close, but organizers say the spiritual power and connection it has generated remains long afterwards.

For the first time in generations, the five-day pilgrimage which attracts thousands of mostly indigenous people from across Canada was spiritual and not physical, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pilgrimage has been an official, annual event for more than 130 years, and First Nations people have had the tradition of coming to the lake for spiritual and physical healing for generations before that.

The year’s in-person pilgrimage July 25-29 was cancelled in an effort to maintain social distancing, protect pilgrims — many of whom are elderly or in poor health — and avoid the spread of COVID-19.

In a normal year, an estimated 35,000 people make a pilgrimage to the lake, an hour’s drive west of Edmonton, camping on the grounds, wading into the lake or fill canisters with its healing water.

Instead, organizers worked to keep alive the enduring spirit of the healing and spiritual renewal pilgrimage with a virtual Lac Ste Anne event that included live-streamed Masses celebrated by bishops from Alberta and the Northwest Territories, video messages, and other programming.

Preliminary figures show that the virtual pilgrimage had 15,346 views on Facebook and 2,417 on YouTube.

This year’s virtual pilgrimage included recorded and live events from across Western Canada including the Way of the Cross prayer service from the Northwest Territories led by Bishop Jon Hansen, CSsR, the live opening flag-raising ceremony by Chief Tony Alexis of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, as well as daily Masses broadcast live from the dioceses of Mackenzie-Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, Keewatin Le-Pas in Manitoba and Grouard-McLennan in northern Alberta.

One of the traditional events that was offered online this year was the Twelve Step Pledge and Prayer for inner healing, which was pre-recorded by Archbishop Emeritus Sylvain Lavoie of Keewatin-Le Pas.

Based on the principles of Alcoholic Anonymous, pilgrims make a sobriety pledge. Pilgrims pledge that they will give up whatever addictions that challenge them – smoking, drinking or other ills – and, at the pilgrimage, to keep praying to Ste Anne for her intercession to heal them.

Normally it’s a three-hour event that goes well into the night. Instead, Archbishop Lavoie asked pilgrims online to make those pledges in silence, and if they are able, to hold a lit candle in their hand. He will then pray for those making pledges to Christ instead of laying hands on them.

“The focus is on inner healing,” Archbishop Lavoie said. “It brings people to a deeper level and opens them up to receive that inner healing that God is waiting to give us if we come and ask Him for it.”

Archbishop Lavoie introduced the Twelve Step Pledge and Prayer to the pilgrimage. He has written Walk A New Path, a book about the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which he has been a part of since the 1970s. He noted he’s used the AA program himself for his own personal growth and healing.

Archbishop Lavoie has been attending the Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage for more than 40 years. He is the spiritual director and chaplain of the Spirit of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert, AB.

Even if pilgrims had to participate online, instead of onsite, First Nations leaders say the spirit of the pilgrimage – and its healing – continued this year.

“Our great-grandfather, the one who signed the treaties, brought us to this area for a reason because he said the healing begins in this area,” said Chief Rod Alexis, the former chief of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation and the grandson of the last hereditary chief.

The Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation call it Wakamne, or “God’s Lake,” and to the Cree it’s Manito Sahkahigan or “Spirit Lake.” Lac Ste Anne was renowned for its healing waters and for its spiritual significance to indigenous people long before Catholic missionaries arrived in Alberta.

“The pilgrimage, in a spiritual way, took place because all of us I believe prayed and were united in these days,” said Fr. Les Kwiatkowski, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy church in Enoch. “We were together.”

“We don’t have to be here but we can be spiritually connected to this holy place,” said Yvonne Rain who was born and raised on the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. “One thing that I know our First Nations people have is a real close connection with the Creator. And they won’t lose faith.”

Rain was one of a group of elders that gathered at the Lac Ste Anne site to record the praying of the rosary Cree, Dene, Nakoda and English – one of the new events at this year’s pilgrimage. A great-grandmother, Rain said she’s inspired by St. Anne, mother of Mary, grandmother of the Christ and the namesake of the lake that attracts First Nations pilgrims from across Canada to its healing waters.

Fr. Kwiatkowski said he never imagined that the in-person would be cancelled, and he recalls the sombre meeting of the Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage trustees where the decision was made.

“People understand that we can’t celebrate this year, but they say that they understand and they pray and, in a spiritual way, they are with us and we are with them,” Kwiatkowski said.

There was mixed reaction from pilgrims, ranging from sadness to resignation and some anger, when the announcement was made. It was an additional adjustment after the temporary cancellation of all Masses with a congregation. Masses have since resumed under certain conditions to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

“We’ve had that experience in the past few months where we couldn’t have physical Mass and people say they need the Eucharist, they need the place especially for native people, being physical, touching, being together is so, so important. This is a different experience for all of us,” Kwiatkowski said.

“I miss when thousands of people are coming and camping. There’s life here. There’s very much life here. Obviously it will not be the same but in a spiritual way we can connect.”

In spite of that news, faith leaders came together to provide a full slate of events and Masses.

“That’s the beauty and the spirit of this place and of the people who come here to celebrate the pilgrimage every year,” Kwiatkowski said. “In the spirit we are united. We so many priests and bishops who feel the same way that we are connected and we can have this celebration in a different way.

“They pray for the people who normally gather here. There is that contribution and the connection to the people whose hearts are here.”

“I thank the good Ste Anne for allowing us to meet once more time,” said elder Ella Arcand who has attended the Lac Ste Anne pilgrimage for decades from the time she was a child.

“It is here that a lot of us relate to prayer. Before there was the Catholic Church here, my grandma – she lives three miles from here – she said there was a trading post, a school here, a post office, the Metis their settlement, the native people gathered,” she said.

“They are the ones who saw that figure on the lake. They said it was the good Ste Anne. It is a beginning, that we did not lose the spirit of Ste Anne to take care of us. Ayhai (Thank you!)”

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