OBITUARY: Funeral for Fr. Jean-Marc Mireau held during Holy Week – Catholic Saskatoon News

Posted By: Kiply Lukan YaworskiMarch 26, 2024

By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News

Fr. Jean-Marc Mireau, a retired priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon known for his encouragement of vocations to priesthood and religious life, died March 24 at St. Ann’s Home in Saskatoon at the age of 80 years.

The funeral was held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 27 at the Cathedral of the Holy Family, 123 Nelson Road, Saskatoon, with Bishop Mark Hagemoen presiding. Mireau was also remembered and prayed for at the diocesan Chrism Mass the evening before, at 7 p.m. March 26 as part of the annual diocesan celebration of the ministerial priesthood.

Over the years, Mireau served in a number of parishes in the diocese of Saskatoon – most recently at the Trinité pastoral region parishes at Prud’homme, St. Denis and Vonda, SK, until his retirement in 2015. He continued to serve those communities on many occasions, even after retirement.

Mireau also served at parishes in Biggar, Cando, and Eston, SK, and in Saskatoon at St. Paul Cathedral, Our Lady of Lourdes, Holy Spirit and Holy Family parishes.

With a dedication to the spirituality of the Madonna House Apostolate at Combermere, ON, Fr. Mireau served as vocation director in the diocese of Saskatoon for a number of years, taking an active role in walking with those discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life — a ministry that he described as “dear to his heart.”

Mireau also served as a hospital chaplain at Saskatoon City Hospital and was the chaplain at E.D. Feehan and Bishop James Mahoney Catholic high schools for a number of years, as well as serving as a long-time chaplain and mentor to Catholic Christian Outreach on the University of Saskatchewan Campus, where he was known for his promotion of vocations and his dedication to offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

On Dec. 8, 2015, Mireau was appointed by Pope Francis as a “Missionary of Mercy” during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. As part of that call, Fr. Mireau travelled to Rome in February 2016, one of some 725 Missionaries of Mercy from around the world who met with Pope Francis and celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass with the Holy Father at St. Peter’s Basilica, before being sent forth to be “persuasive preachers of mercy” with a special role as welcoming, loving and compassionate confessors.

Interviewed at the time of the special Year of Mercy appointment, “Abbe Mireau” described the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a sacrament of joy. “When you are merciful to yourself, you can go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and receive the abundant grace of God’s mercy. Then it is your ministry to go out and be merciful to others,” said Mireau. “You can’t give what you have not experienced.”

The joy of journeying with the people of God – whether in vocation discernment or through the Sacrament of Reconciliation – blessed his priesthood, Mireau said in the Year of Mercy interview: “In spite of who I am, God is working, the Spirit is working. There is a lot of joy.”

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