Region of Canada
The General Administration asked the Provinces and Regions to present a six-year plan prior to the meeting of the Major Superiors in Rome (November 28 – December 2). The Region of Canada presented the following plan, based on our discussions during the Assembly in August and the subsequent meeting of Council in September. The plan was received without comment.
Ten-year Plan

Fr. Jim speaks to the assembly
With the accession of the new administration in November 2015, the Region of Canada considered it essential that it initiate a ten-year plan for the Region. The Region wanted to be assured that with the aging of its original members, it would be enabled to gauge with its members how the Region might continue. At this point the composition of the Region is as follows:
Name | Age | community | Region
ministry |
Canadian | Other
province |
Years in
Canada |
language |
Walter van As | 1923 | M | Retraité | NLV | 1951 | Fr/En | |
Herman Falke | 1928 | O | Retired | NLV | 1952 | En | |
Reinier van Leeuwen | 1929 | M | Retraité | NLV | 2002 | Fr/En | |
William Marrevee | 1936 | O | Retired/
superior |
NLV | 1960 | En/Fr | |
James Casper | 1938 | T | Retired | CAN | En | ||
Roger Phaneuf | 1938 | M | Retraité | CAN | Fr | ||
John van den Hengel | 1939 | O | Reg. Sup. | CAN | En/Fr | ||
Peter Sanders | 1940 | O | Ott. School Board Chaplain | CAN | En/Fr | ||
Claude Bédard | 1940 | M | Retraité: Procure | CAN | Fr/En | ||
Paul Tennyson | 1944 | O | Chaplain | CAN | En | ||
Richard Woodbury | 1944 | M | Sem. + par | CAN | Fr/En | ||
Peter McKenna | 1949 | T | Refugees | CAN | En | ||
Luc Coursol | 1950 | M | Retraité | CAN | Fr/En | ||
Maurice Légaré | 1954 | M | Econome | CAN | Fr/En | ||
Louis-Marie Butari | 1957 | M | Paroisse | RDC | 2016 | Fr | |
Gregory Murray | 1957 | O | Parish/ mission | CAN | En/Fr | ||
Dieudonné Tchouteu | 1962 | M | Projets | CAM | 2002 | Fr | |
Engelbert Fotsing | 1962 | M | Paroisse | CAM | 2014 | Fr | |
Giovani Pontes | 1963 | T | Parish | BSP | 2016 | En | |
Johannes Yuliwan Maslim | 1964 | T | Indonesian Community | INE | 2014 | En/Fr | |
Aegidius Warsito | 1965 | T | Parish | INE | 2005 | En | |
Elie Muzungu Kasongo Ngoy | 1967 | O | Paroisse | CAN | Fr/En | ||
Gustave Lulendo | 1973 | M | Paroisse et supérieur | RDC | 2008 | Fr/En | |
Anthony Purwono | 1974 | T | Youth | INE | 2013 | En | |
Willyans Prado Rapozo | 1982 | T | Parish | BSP | 2012 | En | |
Total: 25 |
In summary, there are 25 members divided along the three communities and different ministries: Retired with non full-time ministries: 9
Full time active in ministries 16
Chaplaincies (Yuliwan, Paul) 2
Refugees (Peter) 1
Parish ministry 9
4 in Montréal
2 in Ottawa
3 in Toronto
(CAN: 2 / Other entities 7)
Internal ministry (regional) 2
Other (youth + projects) 2
The following members of the Region of Canada have come originally from other provinces or Regions. The following graph shows their names and whether or not an agreement was made with the Province or Region of origin to remain in Canada for a set number of years.
Name | Date arrival | Agreement | Renewal/replacement |
Walter van As | 1951 | Life time | Na |
Herman Falke | 1952 | Life time | Na |
Reinier van Leeuwen | 2002 | Retraité | Na |
William Marrevee | 1960 | Life time | Na |
Louis-Marie Butari | 2016 | ||
Dieudonné Tchouteu | 2002 | permanent | na |
Engelbert Fotsing | 2014 | ||
Giovani Pontes | 2016 | ||
Johannes Yuliwan Maslim | 2014 | ||
Aegidius Warsito | 2005 | ||
Gustave Lulendo | 2008 | ||
Willyans Prado Rapozo | 2012 |
In August (8-11) the Region of Canada met to discern how it might plan to move ahead with a ten-year plan. We chose a ten-year plan in order to receive a sense of the membership of what they expected the leadership to do in the long term. At the end of the assembly the Region had adopted a twelve-point plan. The following seven points summarize the most important elements of the plan. From the initial survey of the members it appeared that these seven points received the highest level of interest from the members.
- Participation of members of other entities / participation des autres entités (21)
- Refugees and migrants (17)
- Vocation Ministry (14)
- UKI / La communauté indonesienne à Toronto (13)
- Dehonian Family / Famille dehonniene (12)
- The ministry of the Regional Superior / le ministère du Supérieur Régional (8)
- Invitation of students from other entities / étudiants d’autres entités (7)
From the assembly results and conversation we ascertained:
(1) A desire to retain viable, dehonian communities
(2) A desire to remain socially and religiously relevant
(3) A desire to keep alive a sense of ministry with the help of other entities
(4) A desire that our communities be international
(5) A desire to share our spirituality with others
(6) A desire to have a leadership that is open to the future
(7) A desire to seek whether young people might join us
Council action plan
1. Community life: that the leadership of the Region undertake action on the following points:
- That communities create a community pastoral plan (In what consists our following of Christ? What makes this community to be a religious community? What makes this community to be a dehonian, religious community? To what do we wish to give witness to the community at large? What is the pastoral project of the community?)
- That communities make an honest assessment of the relationship between community life and the ministries (if community life is of the essence of religious life, how can we make this visible in our daily programs and in our presence to one another?)
- That each community gathers on a regular basis to communicate with one another, to plan its life together, to strengthen its identity, to share our joys and sorrows, to explore future possibilities, to decide on common actions.
- That the superiors of the communities gather from time to time with the regional leadership to stimulate interaction of the three communities, to plan common actions, to meet with other new superiors in North America, to help grow our dehonian identity.
- That each of the communities assess their properties: their viability, their physical state, etc.
- That the Regional Superior undertake a visit of each of the communities at least once a year.
2. Relationship with other entities: that the leadership of the Region undertake action on the following points:
- That the Regional Superior speak with each of the members who have come to Canada from another entity and determine their understanding of their mission to Canada;
- That the Regional Superior create agreements with the entities from which our members have come in order to assure a commitment on their part to retain the member in Canada or to appoint another member of their entity to continue their mission in Canada;
- That the members of other entities working in Canada be invited after their first year of mission in Canada to become a member of the Canadian Region;
- That the communities in which the members from other entities have become members make every effort to become international.
- That the members of the Region be open to welcome all to leadership positions.
3. Refugees and Migrants: that the leadership of the Region take the following actions to integrate the work with migrants and refugees within the JPIC activity of the Region:
- That each of the communities undertake some concrete action on behalf of refugees and/or migrants;
That the Region work together with the USA Province, as part of a joint commission on migration;
- That two members of the Region be appointed as members of this joint North American commission on migration;
- That the Region through its blog will its blog dehoncanada.org will have a monthly feature on migration and refugees.
4. Vocation ministry: that the leadership of the Region establish and support a vocational ministry in Canada by:
- Establishing a vocation committee with a part-time vocation director;
- Making our current parishes in Montréal and Scarborough the main focus of the activity of the vocation committee
- Meeting of the Regional council with the vocation committee at least once a year and to strategize with them the activities of the members of the committee;
- Engaging the membership of the Region by the vocation committee through regular contacts with the communities and through a report at the annual assembly;
- Collaborating with the Vocation Committee of the USA Province.
5. Dehonian Family: that the leadership of the Region promote the establishment of the Dehonian Family in Canada by:
- Promoting the Dehonian Family in our parishes and our communities;
- Inviting David Schimmel, the director of the Dehonian Family Program in the USA, to introduce the program in our two parishes;
- Establishing a coordinator of the Dehonian Family for the Canadian Region;
- Participating in the international meeting of the Dehonian Family in Rome in May 2017;
- Making known the resources (The Spiritual Path) within the Region.
6. Dehonian Identity: that the leadership of the Region promote the study and understanding of our Dehonian identity and spirituality by:
- Studying and meditating on the Rule of Life;
- Participating in the retreat of North American Dehonians in 2017 and 2018;
- Making available to the members the writings on our Founder and our spirituality;
- Personally researching and studying the life and works of Leo Dehon;
- Participating in the work of the USA Provinces’ Dehon Study Center;
- Establishing a North American Dehonian Theological Commission;
- Participating in the regular international seminars organized by the International Dehonian Theological Commission.
7. Regional Finances: That the Regional Leadership undertake:
- An in-depth financial analysis of the finances of the Region;
- Study the possibility to invite lay participation in our Finance Committee;
- Study the possibility of a lay person as the Regional Bursar
- Study the capacity of the Region to assist other Provinces, Regions or Districts.
Regional Council / Ottawa September 21, 2016