Streams and Pastors

Forgive the lull, gang -- the news scene remains relatively quiet and your narrator's fallen prey to the flu bug going 'round (to be sure, not the best thing for the writing). In the meanwhile, though, those who enjoy keeping tabs on the traveling circuit are in for a treat as the next 36 hours bring a flood of streams from events on both sides of the border.

The Hat-a-Thon begins north of the 49th, where today and tomorrow are seeing an ecclesiastical "Winter Olympics" of sorts, with the unusual twin ordinations of the new auxiliaries of Canada's largest local church, the 1.7 million-member archdiocese of Toronto. Soon to go live from London, Ont. is the first of the rites, elevating native son Bishop-elect Bill McGrattan, and tomorrow in TO brings what's become the higher-profile of the two -- the ordination of Bishop-elect Vincent Nguyen, the first non-white prelate ever named to the Canadian bench, a descendant of one of the saintly Vietnamese Martyrs... and at 43, his adopted country's youngest high-hat of all.

For the first time since the 42 year-old nominee and two of his brothers fled Vietnam in the early 1980s, Nguyen's seven siblings will be reunited for tomorrow's ordination. While McGrattan will be responsible for, among other things, the mega-see's vibrant cast of lay movements and one of its newly-created four regions (each led by an auxiliary), Archbishop Tom Collins named Nguyen his top lieutenant, tapping the trained engineer as his chancellor and moderator of the curia in advance of the November appointment.

Our friends at Salt + Light are running both streams with a full-tilt portal, including worship aids and all the other goodies.

Closer to home, meanwhile, this evening sees Part One of Bishop Kevin Rhoades' rollout in Fort Wayne-South Bend, where he formally takes the reins as Bishop John D'Arcy's successor tomorrow.

The Indiana rites begin with 7pm ET Vespers in South Bend's Co-Cathedral of St Matthew -- a nod to the Indiana diocese's second city -- and wrap with tomorrow's 2pm Mass in the Fort's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Both will be streamed (live and on-demand alike) and the diocesan weekly's posted its all-out welcome edition.

PHOTO: Diocese of Juneau

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