SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Hundreds of Catholics from Yellowknife, across the NWT and nationwide gathered at Weledeh Catholic School on Sunday to witness the ordination of a new bishop.

Bishop Mark Hagemoen holds a pair of St. Patrick High School pompoms, one of three gifts he was given during the ceremony. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

Bishop Mark Andrew Hagemoen was appointed on Oct. 15 by Pope Francis, the first episcopal appointment during Francis' reign, to serve the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith.

"I admire Pope Francis very much, he's a man of our time with his perspective as one who's able to relate to the global self and relating faith to reason," Hagemoen said. "It's an awesome privilege and I hope I can fulfill the expectations of the Holy Father and the diocese."

The diocese covers the Northwest Territories, part of northern Saskatchewan and part of the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. It became vacant in December 2012, when then-Bishop Murray Chatlain was named Archbishop of Keewatin-Le Pas.

Members of the crowd included priests, bishops and Hagemoen's friends and family from Vancouver.

"I felt a lot of gratitude as there were a lot of people that came up from home in Vancouver, the churches, diocese, college, my parents," he said. "I was very grateful for the bishops and the priests, too. Coming this time of year this far north was a showing of support for the diocese, the region and just for me."

Chatlain also attended the ordination and gave Hagemoen three gifts during the hominy that welcomed him into the territory.

Those gifts were a pair of skis, a chasuble - the outermost vestment worn by clergy - made for bishop Murray by a Dene elder when he began his term at the diocese ... and a pair of green and gold pompoms from St. Patrick High School, which drew a round of laughter from the crowd.

"I'd never worn the bishops garb before, so I was already feeling a little different and holding the pompoms on top of it was the icing on the cake," the new bishop said. "It was a time of contrast, and I'll never forget the meaning (of the pompoms) though, (Murray's) a great teacher."

That lesson was to cheer about the faith and promote excitement in people about their religion, as well as to support the people he will serve.

It was an emotional ceremony for Hagemoen, who said he felt a sense of wonderment and awe during the proceedings, and even more after when Catholics who'd witnessed the ceremony were invited to seek the new bishop out to be blessed.

"There were people that are dealing with loss from people who have died prematurely, First Nations people who are dealing with making sense of and move through the residential school legacy, and trying to value the spirituality of the church and that of their culture," he said.

"I also had one young lady who was a student at UBC come up and said the spirituality was very powerful here, because it's raw and potent, which was an interesting observation and I knew what she meant. I sensed it too, not that spirituality is less in some places but it can be covered up.

"Cities are big places, while here people's hopes and needs are more apparent, at least in the lives of some people who came forward asking for blessings."

Now that the big show is over and he's met some of the people, Hagemoen's next step will be taking the next few weeks to get his feet under him before settling into his new duties.

"I plan to listen to people, really listen to people and listen again," he said. "Administration is not new to me so I feel comfortable carrying out the obvious things to keep things going, but responding to real needs and issues is going to take time, and not jumping to conclusions too quickly, especially as the guy from the south."

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