 |
 |
|||||||||||||
|
Home
> News & Events Archive
July 20, 2009 Mike MacDonald’s life took an unexpected turn after graduating with an education degree in 1974 from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He taught in Nova Scotia for a couple of years then accepted a high school teaching position in Calgary Alberta. It was in Calgary where his life took the dramatic shift. He took a group of students for a seven week visit to Mexico, fell in love with the place and for 27 years worked and taught in one of Mexico’s poorest provinces and now returns to Canada as Catechetical Coordinator for the Regina Archdiocese. His life changed when he invited a missionary priest to come and talk to his Calgary class and the priest then suggested the class come to Mexico. “I thought it would be a good one time experience so I took a group of 15 students to Mexico for 7 weeks.” It led to annual student visits for several years and in 1982 the same priest asked MacDonald to come and help him for a year working in the mountains and looking after 22 villages. “I took a year’s leave and that put Mexico in my blood. I decided that I would stay and learn a little more and when I’d learned enough I would go back to Canada.” 27 years later, fluent in Spanish, working and teaching among the poor in the mountain villages of Guerro, (the same state, incidentally in which Acapulco, an affluent tourist destination is located) he packed up his wife, 2 daughters and headed to Regina, Saskatchewan. There were several motivations for the move: his eldest daughter was about to enter high school and the educational opportunities were better, no medical coverage especially for the children and perhaps not insignificantly the Calgary foundation, Our Lady Queen of Peace that supported him for the last 13 years was unable to continue its support due to the recession. Another Calgary foundation picked up the tab and promised to support him for another 6 months and longer if necessary but he saw the Archdiocesan ad via the internet and decided it was time to comeback to Canada. His background includes 2 years as a seminarian in Ottawa, Professor of Sacred Scripture at a Mexican seminary, translator for his bishop in Mexico, Secretary to the bishop, Chancellor of the Mexican Diocese of Tlapa, Guerrero and coordinator of various development projects in Guerrero. As Catechetical Coordinator he will be responsible for the home religious program for rural students and Regional Coordinator for 6 Deaneries. His vision is to decentralize the Archdiocesan services and revitalize the Deanery structures. Frank Flegel Sister Anastasia's Announcement about Mike  Enlarge |
|||||||||||||
|
