Bishop celebrates pastor installation of Fr. Paul Oshin during celebration at Muenster parish

[Photos by Joan Hill]

By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News

Bishop Mark Hagemoen celebrated Sunday Eucharist with St. Peter Cathedral parishioners at Muenster, SK, on Nov. 19, 2023, offering special prayers to officially install Fr. Paul Oshin as pastor of the parishes of St. Peter, Muenster; St. Scholastica, Burr; and Holy Trinity, Pilger.

Fr. Demetrius Wasylyniuk, OSB, of St. Peter’s Abbey, Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen, and pastor Fr. Paul Oshin (Photo by Joan Hill)

Oshin was appointed pastor of the three Humboldt-area parishes earlier this year. He previously served at St. Paul Co-Cathedral, and as a hospital chaplain in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, as well serving as pastor to the Athabasca region parishes at Black Lake, Fond du Lac, and Stony Rapids in the northern diocese of Keewatin-Le Pas.

The installation prayers by Bishop Hagemoen offered an opportunity to reflect prayerfully on the role of the pastor, highlighting the priest’s sacramental ministry through a series of prayers at different spots throughout the church building: the altar, the ambo, the tabernacle, the baptismal font, the entrance of the church, the confessional, and so on.

Bishop Hagemoen will continue travelling to parishes in the diocese to install other recently-appointed pastors in the weeks ahead.

“This isn’t a required ritual, but it is something that is an option, and we have chosen to do that because of its simple but rich symbolism about the relationship of the pastor — the priest — with the people of God,” explains Bishop Hagemoen.