Sherbrooke Record e-Edition

Saint Patrick’s welcomes new parish priest

By Gordon Lambie

It is coming up on two months since Father Esua Andrew Forka took on the role of Parish administrator for the Saint Patrick’s Catholic Parish in Sherbrooke, but the priest said that

although there is a natural adjustment period for everyone involved in such a transition, he felt welcomed right away.

“This is the kind of open, accepting parish that anyone in the world would be happy to be a part of,” Forka said,

sharing that although he is quite different from former Parish Priest Father Pierre Doyon, the community expressed no hesitations about the change in leadership. “Father Doyon did a great job here for 29-30 years,” he

added. “The parish is alive and active.”

While clear about the fact that his role is to carry out the vision of Sherbrooke’s Archbishop in the community, Forka said he is keen to do the work of helping to revitalize the Parish in a number of ways.

Vincent Cuddihy, Chairman of the Wardens’ committee for the parish, said that in recent years Saint Patrick’s had become a bit passive in its operations due to a number of factors. Father Doyon’s illness, combined with an aging and shrinking English-speaking population in the region had led to a lower number of masses celebrated on a regular basis.

“With the Covid we were flat out shut down for months at a time,” he added, sharing that the community is very interested in taking advantage of the new momentum that comes with Forka’s arrival.

Asked about changes on the horizon, Forka said that there are several different plans in the works ranging from restarting the parish’s family and youth ministries, to outreach on the streets of town.

“It’s a parish right in the heart of the town, so it should be able to be a spiritual light,” the new priest said, sharing an intention to offer prayer right on the streets of Sherbrooke’s downtown core. “We are here to take care of all the English community, and we should be able to meet them where they are.”

Forka noted that unlike the majority of Roman Catholic parishes in the region, Saint-patrick’s is what is known as a ‘personal parish.’

“It is different from other parishes in the archdiocese in the sense that a parish, canonically, is a community of the faithful, stable in a territory. That territory is well defined, and everyone living there is called to be a part of that parish,” he said, explaining that a personal parish, by contrast, is not tied to territory but some other kind of purpose like serving a particular cultural or linguistic community. “Saint Patrick’s parish was created in 1887 as a personal parish to cater to all anglophones in the archdiocese of Sherbrooke. This is their parish and they have every right to be here.”

As a result of that open door and lack of specific territory, both Forka and Cuddihy said that the congregation at Saint Patrick’s is very culturally diverse, drawing many practicing Catholics who feel more comfortable worshiping in English than in French.

“You cannot force someone to worship God in a language they are not comfortable with,” the priest said.

Forka, who was born and grew up in

Cameroon, said that although he once dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player, and later a doctor, he felt called to the priesthood starting from a young age. After a series of spiritual experiences, he joined the Claretian Missionaries and embarked on a road that saw him live, study, and serve the church in Nigeria, Cameroon, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the United States before ending up in Quebec.

“I’ve seen a lot,” he said with a chuckle, adding that he also took an extended trip to Mexico at one point to help add Spanish to the list of six languages he can speak.

Prior to his recent transfer to Saintpatrick’s, the priest served for a year and a half in Lac-mégantic.

“As a priest we are always open for missions, so I said yes I will come here to help,” he said.

Aside from his goal of making the parish dynamic again, Forka said that his specialty is in “ecclesiastical administration” which he explained as being “like a lawyer for the church.”

“The rights of each and everyone should be respected,” he said, expressing a particular interest in making sure that people do not claim to act on behalf of the church in ways that are abusive or not aligned with the church’s mission and rules.

Matters of procedure and formal training aside, however, the priest said he is looking forward to working with the local community on new initiatives.

“It’s going to be very different,” Cuddihy said, pointing out that some of the new energy and interesting ideas can be seen in events like the Corpus Christi procession that the church led through the streets of downtown this past weekend along with members of several other local Catholic communities.

“As they welcome me, I am welcoming them,” Forka said, optimistic that the partnership will be a strong one as he and the members of the parish get to know each other better.

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2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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