How did “Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall” end up on a blanket in Italy?

Marie, a parishioner at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood, shares a special moment from this past summer:

“At the beginning of July, I was blessed to be in Trieste, Italy on time to catch the tail-end of the 50th Italian Catholic Social Week held there prior to Pope Francis’ visit. Part of the festivities included multitudes of small booths set up in the parts of Trieste that receive high pedestrian traffic (similar to Ottawa’s ByWard Market). At one of the booths, there was a group of people creating a “Peace blanket”. They insisted I write a message on one of the squares.

Due to a bit of a language barrier on both sides, I didn’t quite catch who the recipient of the blanket was going to be. Would it be Pope Francis? Had he received a previous one? I’m not sure. Nevertheless, the colourful squares hanging in the booth prompted me to participate, so I hastily wrote, “Greetings from Canada!” on one and signed it as “Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall”. The recipients gasped happily and said, “Oooh! Canada!”

Greetings to Italy from Ottawa-Cornwall

Why did I sign “Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall” instead of my own name? I’m a bit baffled by that myself. I guess it could be because I do feel connected to this Archdiocese as a whole, and I’d just been visiting the booths of other Italian dioceses. Whatever the reason, I’m very proud to be a resident of the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall – we have so many wonderful things happening here, so naturally the enthusiasm I have for my ecclesial home will go with me wherever I go.”

This article was originally published by the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall.