The Development and Peace 50th Anniversary Solidarity Quilt was on display at St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church for the Sunday morning mass on June 12.
The quilt is a work in progress, and the collected patches represent the way that Canadians, through the outreach of development and peace, have acted in solidarity with the poor and marginalized peoples of the world, said a release from the congregation.
The unfinished quilt represents the Western Canadian dioceses up to this point, the release said. It will continue onto Manitoba and Ontario until it reaches Quebec just before Easter 2017.
Once it has reached its destination, the quilt will be stitched together with patches representing the Eastern Canadian Dioceses, it said. The result will create an immense quilt; a work of human hands that will represent the solidarity that has been lived by Canadians and people of the Global South throughout the 50-year history of development and peace.
This Solidarity Quilt pilgrimage is an opportunity to thank Canadians who have so generously made these 50 years of solidarity possible, it said.
The Kamsack congregation’s patch for the quilt, made by Helen Rose, includes the archdiocesan shield, highlighting its patroness, Our Lady of the Rosary, along with the sheaves of prairie wheat and Canadian maple leaves.
It “highlights God’s gifts of creation and our call to work in solidarity with the soil and all living things,” it said. “Saskatchewan’s motto, Land of Living Skies, is emphasized in the top half of the square with the open spaces of the prairies inviting all to watch and appreciate God’s ever-changing canvas of sky, from incredible sunsets, imaginative cloud formations against a background of blue, clear star-gazing and northern lights to the power of lightning amidst gathering dark funnel clouds.”
