Go Back 4th of October: The feast-day of St. Francis of Assisi, whose rule we are observing and the first day of our Novitiate. Holy Mass was celebrated at St. Thomas of Aquinas Church in Halifax. His Excellency, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J. presided Mass and the investiture of seven Franciscan Novices. Br. Timothy Potter, Br. Kevin Hanna, Sr. Bonnie MacDonald, Sr. Thelma Hanna, Sr. Michelle Orichefsky, Sr. Erin Izzard and Sr. Stéphanie Simard took on the grey habit of Novices with the Franciscans of Halifax to live in chastity, poverty and obedience. All the local members of the Companions of the Cross, a religious community of priests, as well as priests from various parishes in the diocese came to concelebrate Mass and to witness the thirst within the Archdiocese for consecrated life. A big crowd attended both Mass and the following reception. Once again we are astonished at the huge support and the interest that was shown. It was a blessing for us to be surrounded by our family members  and to receive so much support from friends and even total strangers on this first day of our new life. God truly is blessing us, is encouraging us to keep going and not to look back. All the thank-yous in the world wouldn't be enough to express our gratitude to all who have been at this Mass and especially to the members of the prayer communities who arranged the reception. 11th of October: As the Main-Charism of our community is Evangelization, Fr. Donato and Fr. Fletcher, Companions of the Cross (St. John the Baptist Parish) decided that it would be a good experience for us, if we helped St. John the Baptist Parish to conduct a door to door survey. Our whole community took part in that  survey. With a whole week of rainy and cold days we were able to complete our part of the survey on October, 20th. It was an interesting experience for us. We met many people; some were interested in Faith and the Catholic Church and welcoming, some were not interested at all, and one even said: "Is there a monk at my door....???". This showed us, that there is indeed an enormous need for evangelization in our secular society. 28th of October: His Excellency, Archbishop Prendergast and Deacon Ron of Gananoque, Ontario shared the Dinner table with us. After Dinner Deacon Ron spoke to us about his ministry with our native Brothers and Sisters. He also spoke about Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and her influence in his ministry and our society.