The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Keewatin–Le Pas () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

that includes parts of the Provinces of

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and has the suffragan diocese of Churchill-Baie d'Hudson. Prior to 2018, it included as suffragan dioceses the Diocese of Labrador City-Schefferville dissolved in 2007 and the Diocese of Moosonee dissolved in 2018. As of 2006, the archdiocese contains 49 parishes, 3 active diocesan priests, 15 religious priests, and 42,000 Catholics. It has 3 religious nuns. The seat of the diocese is at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in

The Pas The Pas ( , ) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provincial capital, Winn ...

History

This largely barren land of lakes and forests, possessing timber and mineral resources but sparsely inhabited by

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

and a few Europeans, was first visited by pioneer missionaries in the nineteenth century, when

Norbert Provencher Joseph-Norbert Provencher (February 12, 1787 – June 7, 1853) was a Canadian clergyman and missionary and one of the founders of the modern province of Manitoba. He was the first Bishop of Saint Boniface and was an important figure in the histo ...

, Bishop of St. Boniface, sent Jean-Baptiste Thibault to

Île-à-la-Crosse Île-à-la-Crosse () is a northern village in Division No. 18, northwestern Saskatchewan, and was the site of historic trading posts first established in 1778. Île-à-la-Crosse is the second oldest community in Saskatchewan, Canada, followin ...

(1845), Louis-Francois Richer Lafleche (later Bishop of Three Rivers) to explore the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

district (1846) and

Alexandre-Antonin Taché Alexandre-Antonin Taché (; 23 July 1823 – 22 June 1894) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, missionary of the Oblate order, author, and the first Archbishop of Saint Boniface in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Alexandre-Antonin Taché ...

(later Archbishop of St. Boniface), to join Lafleche at Ile-à-la-Crosse (1846), and thence visit

Reindeer Lake Reindeer Lake is a large lake in Western Canada located on the border between north-eastern Saskatchewan and north-western Manitoba, with the majority in Saskatchewan. The name of the lake appears to be a translation of the Algonquian name. ...

(1847). These and surrounding missions were subsequently served by

Oblates In Christianity (specifically the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person associated with a Benedictine monastery or convent who is specifically dedicated to God and service. Oblates are i ...

of the

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

-Saskatchewan Provinces. The Apostolic Vicariate of Keewatin () was a Roman Catholic missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction in northern Canada which included the northern half of the Province of

, and was bounded on the north by the Arctic regions, on the south by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface, on the east by the then Apostolic Vicariate of Temiskaming, and on the west by the Diocese of St Albert and the then Apostolic Vicariate of Athabasca. Prominent among these since 1887 has been Ovide Charlebois whose administrative capacities, proved during sixteen years' ministry at Fort Cumberland, led in 1900 to his nomination as

Visitor A visitor, in English and Welsh law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution, often a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty, who can interve ...

of the Cumberland District Indian Missions, in 1903, to his appointment as director of Saint Michael's Indian Industrial School at Duck Lake (Saskatchewan), and in 1910 to his preconization as

titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Berenice Berenice (, ''Bereníkē'') is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name ''Pherenikē'', which means "bearer of victory" . Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The Latin variant Veron ...

and

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Keewatin, with residence at

. There were in the vicariate in the early 20th century 15 Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate, 8 Oblate Brothers of Mary Immaculate, 12

Grey Nuns The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, found ...

(Montreal), 16 Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate (St. Boniface), 4 more Grey Nuns (St. Hyacinth), 10 churches with 16 out-stations; 11,000 Indians,

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

, of whom 7000 were Catholics and 5000 non-Catholics or pagans (chiefly

Inuit religion Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit, an indigenous people from Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, and parts of Siberia. Their religion shares many similarities with some Alaska Native religions. Traditional ...

). Indian boarding schools at

Norway House Norway House is a population centre of over 5,000 people, some north of Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of the eastern channel of the Nelson River, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The population centre shares the name ''Norway House'' with the ...

(Oblate Sisters, 20 pupils), Beauval Residential School at Lac La Plonge rey Nuns (Montreal), 50 pupils a general hospital at Le Pas rey Nuns (St. Hyacinth), 25 beds a Catholic (French-English) school at Le Pas rey Nuns (St. Hyacinth) It was renamed and promoted Metropolitan See of Keewatin-Le Pas in 1967; its archbishop now has an ecclesiastical province. After the Diocese of Labrador City-Schefferville was suppressed in 2007, the province had two

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

s— Churchill-Baie d'Hudson and

Moosonee Moosonee () is a town in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately south of James Bay. It is considered to be "the Gateway to the Arctic" and has Ontario's only saltwater port. Nearby, on Moose Factory Island, is the com ...

. The Diocese of Hearst–Moosonee was erected on 3 December 2018 through the unification of the Diocese of Hearst and the Diocese of Moosonee, and that new diocese is a suffragan diocese in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

of the

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall.

Bishops

Diocesan bishops

The following is a list of the bishops and archbishops of Keewatin-Le Pas and their terms of service: * Ovide Charlebois, O.M.I. (1910–1933) * Martin Giuseppe Onorio LeJeunesse, O.M.I. (1933–1954) * Paul Dumouchel, O.M.I. (1955–1986) *

Peter Alfred Sutton Peter Alfred Sutton (October 18, 1934 – September 5, 2015) was a Roman Catholic bishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1960, Sutton was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Labrador-Schefferville, Diocese of Labrador-Schefferville, ...

, O.M.I. (1986–2006) * Sylvain Lavoie, O.M.I. (2006–2012) * Murray Chatlain (2012–2024)

Coadjutor bishops

* Martin Joseph-Honoré Lajeunesse, O.M.I. (1933), as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic *

, O.M.I. (1986) * Sylvain Lavoie, O.M.I. (2005–2006)

References

Archdiocese of Keewatin–Le Pas page at catholichierarchy.org
retrieved June 11, 2013

External links