By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News
A memorable day of joy and celebration at a Saskatchewan lake was recently organized by volunteers from Saints-Martyrs-Canadiens Parish in Saskatoon.
The summer day trip provided an opportunity to enjoy nature and the outdoors together as a community — including for those without resources to undertake such an outing on their own, said volunteer Dennis Will, who coordinated the event along with parishioners Dénis Tassiako and Marie-Jeanne Will.
“The screams of joy when we picked kids up from their homes for the day’s event was heart warming to say the least,” said Dennis Will. The event at the Prairie provincial park included lunch, games and visiting, and supper.
About 75 parishioners — children and adults — were part of the Francophone Catholic parish day-long event, he said, noting there was excellent participation from everyone who attended.
“The parishioners spent some time singing and dancing. It was great. Strangers came to watch and listen, even though they didn’t understand the language. They could feel the happiness in the voices,” he said. “One song and dance was very moving. The French title is «je suis dans la joie» (my heart is filled with joy)… Everyone’s heart was filled with joy.”
“Everyone commented on how meaningful the day and fellowship was to them. One woman I spoke to had tears running down her cheeks as she talked about how meaningful it had been to her. Everyone is already talking about next year.”
Video – «je suis dans la joie»
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Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon: rcdos.ca