House blessing and renaming ceremonies have continued into 2017, with a focus on Community Outreach and Disability Service homes in Edmonton.

So far this year, 15 group homes have been renamed after Saints in an ongoing initiative by our Agency to further root the ministries we provide with our Catholic faith of offering care to society’s most vulnerable.

Direct care staff at their respective group homes selected their own Saints specifically to reflect the types of services their homes provide.

One home, for example, selected the name St. Raphael as he is the patron of medical workers, bodily illness, and happy meetings. Loosely translated, his name means “God heals.” Other homes are named after St. Roch, who devoted his life to the service of people who had serious illness, and Father Damien, who served as pastor and physician in a leper colony.

In the first few months of the year the following homes were named after Saints: St. Tabitha, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Louis IX, St. Gianna, St. Jerome, St. Gabriel the Archangel, St. Germaine, St. Andre Bessette, St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine, St. Bernadette, and St. Walter of Pontoise.

An additional 11 homes will be blessed and renamed after Saints in March, which will conclude the blessing of all homes in our Agency, as well as their adopting Saints as their namesake.