Our History

The Saskatoon Centre for Ecumenism was established in 1984 as the ecumenical office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon.

 The founding director, Fr. Bernard de Margerie, a priest of the diocese, was released from pastoral responsibilities to begin this new ministry full-time.

Revised Constitution of the Centre

From its founding, the Centre had a Board of Directors that was drawn from the various churches in Saskatoon.In 1988, the decision was made that an appropriate level of maturity had been achieved, and that it was time to move to a broader sponsorship. The Local Church Leaders' Group, a regular gathering of the senior leaders of the churches of Saskatoon, approved the revised Constitution of the Centre, and asked the churches of Saskatoon to determine whether they were prepared to sponsor the Centre and provide it with both financial and prayer support and the Centre was renamed, The Saskatoon Centre For Ecumenism.

The Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian and United churches, along with the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy joined with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon in sponsorship of the new ecumenical enterprise. Like our colleagues at the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montréal, the Saskatoon Centre had an inter-church board, but we were unique in also receiving the sponsorship and financial support of each of our partner churches.

Expanding our vision and mission

In 2000, the Centre adopted a new vision and mission “to promote visible expressions of unity by expanding our ministry throughout the prairies, attracting a greater involvement by all branches of the Church”. To complement the new mandate, the Board adopted a new name: The Prairie Centre For Ecumenism, or PCE. The small but significant change of name was intended to reflect awareness of a larger mission and ministry to the entire prairies