Brett Thoms
Bryson October 2, 2022
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Catholic parish in Bryson, marked its 75 anniversary recently.
The church was full of parishioners to hear a mass from the bishop of the Pembroke diocese.
The history of Catholic church in the area stretches back to folklore surrounding Jean Cadieux, a fur trader who is said to have died after a battle with the Iroquois near the the present day Bryson power power plant, on the L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet in 1709.
Before Cadieux died he wrote the Lament of Cadieux which . . .
commended his soul “into the hands of the immaculate mother of God to be brought to the bosom of the saviour,” according to a pamphlet overviewing the history of the parish. This served as the basis for the Parish’s name.
In 1892 a Catholic mission called the The Immaculate Conception mission was founded in Bryson, which later evolved into Immaculate Conception parish in 1947.
“It’s a gathering to thank all those who journey with us for 75 years so we just paid tribute to them, it’s 75 years of making disciplines,” said Wayne Maloney, one of the parishioners of the church.
“The gospel today was the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith, the bishop gave an example of his own life about how he didn’t believe in god 24 years of age and it through reading the word of god, scripture that he came to faith,” said Michael Goring, the current priest of the parish. That was the essence of the message.
“In 1947 the church became a parish instead of a mission, which means you have a full time pastor and so he have a list of pastors that have served since 1947,” said Goring about the distinction between a mission and parish in Catholic administration.
After the mass the parishors of the church held a lunch at the Bryson Lions hall, which was packed.
