About Us
The True Catholic Faith and the Traditional Latin Mass in Eastern Canada
Our Lady of Joy Mission is a Traditional Catholic mission founded on the 12th of September 2013, whose purpose is to maintain the true Catholic Faith and the Traditional Latin Mass in Eastern Canada.
Our Lady of Joy Mission is based in Stilesville, New Brunswick and provides the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments in six provinces, namely: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec and Ontario.
Our Lady of Joy Mission does not approve of the changes imposed upon Catholic faithful and clergy at Vatican II and after. We firmly condemn:
Religious Liberty, understood as a moral freedom to choose one’s own religion;
False Ecumenism: the belief that all Christian sects belong to the one true Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ;
Collegiality, as per Vatican II, which deprives the bishops of their power in governing their flock;
and the Novus Ordo Missae (or New Mass), as implemented in 1969.
Given the grave errors against the Faith promoted by apostate Rome and the local clergy, Our Lady of Joy Mission is not in communion with Francis or with the modernist hierarchy, but is certainly in communion with « all those who profess the Catholic and Apostolic Faith ».
Our Story in a Few Words
The Flat in Dieppe
Our Lady of Joy Mission, founded by Father Pierre Roy on the 12th of September 2013, began quite modestly in a flat located on Rue Evangeline in Dieppe, New Brunswick. The Mission’s purpose was to take proper care of those different groups of faithful being served by the Society of Saint Pius X in the Maritime Provinces, by setting up a chapel in the city of Moncton.
The flat was quite full: the sitting room, dining room and kitchen served as a chapel, the bedroom as a sacristy, and the storage room as a confessional. This humble starting-point led to the rapid growth of the various groups of faithful in the Maritimes and, after one year, it had become impossible to fit all the faithful coming to gather on Sunday.
Thus we became renting a funeral parlour chapel for Sunday Masses. After a few months, the Novus Ordo bishop got in touch with the owner of the funeral parlour, and made sure we were shown the door.
The Church in Lakeville
This forced us to begin searching for other options, and so we began renting a small church in Lakeville in August of 2015. The church formerly belonged to the United Church, and had been bought by a neighbour.
Thus the Novus Ordo bishop of Moncton, by means of his persecution, ended up helping us improve our lot. We remained in this church until May of 2020.
In September of 2017, Our Lady of Joy Mission obtained a rectory close to the church in Lakeville. It was to lodge the priest who, up until then, had been living in a flat in the city of Dieppe (not the same one which had first served as our chapel).
This rectory, placed under the patronage of Saint Michael the Archangel, was to be sold in December of 2020.
Saint Joseph Church in Stilesville
In March 2020, by the grace of God, we were able to purchase a church in Stilesville, New Brunswick; it was yet another property of the United Church which had been put up for sale. Renovations begun in May 2020 allowed this church to become a suitable site for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. The church was placed under the patronage of Saint Joseph.
In September of 2020, we became owners of a large 37-acre (i.e. 15 hectares) property located just behind the new church in Stilesville. The property included a log cabin which now serves as the rectory. This allowed the Lakeville property to be sold, and for the entirety of the Mission to be moved to Stilesville.
We are now well settled in, thanks be to God, and we thank the Lord for all His benefits.
Bishop Pierre Roy
Father Pierre Roy was ordained a priest on the 17th of June 2011 in the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), and spent the first five years of his priesthood in Québec, serving the chapels of Sherbrooke and then Montréal.
After five years of ministry in the SSPX, during which time he would visit the Maritime Provinces monthly beginning in 2012, he made the decision to leave the Society on the 3rd of June 2016, due to a manifest will on the part of the authorities of the SSPX to place themselves under the yoke of the Novus Ordo hierarchy.
On the 3rd of June 2016, Father Pierre Roy wrote an Open Letter to the Faithful of Acadia and of Québec, in which he explained his departure from the SSPX. Here are a few excerpts from that letter:
“I was born and raised in the arms of the Society. I owe everything to the work of Archbishop Lefebvre. This is why I am well aware of the gravity of the action I take before God and before yourselves, and aware also of the duty one day to account for myself before the Tribunal of the Just Judge.
“For several years already the authorities of the Society - they no longer cloak themselves - have been organizing a reunification with Apostate Rome. Is it legitimate to place oneself under authorities who do not have our Faith, or to accept from them a recognition, so long as they demand “no compromise”?
“ You know, dearest faithful, that the Society has always called it illegitimate to align oneself with those who have removed themselves from Tradition and no longer profess the Faith in its integrity.
“Not putting in practice the advice of St. John nor that of Our Lord Jesus Christ (“Beware of false prophets,” Matthew 7:15), in discussion after discussion, and meeting after meeting, we eventually silence our suspicions, which are more than legitimate and healthy in the face of persons who deny the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“In the meanwhile, having on the day of my baptism renounced not only Satan and his works, but also his seductions, I cannot accept that my immortal soul be sold to the conciliar sect, nor accept even that it be put up for sale. Consequently, the fact that the superiors of the Society have shown on numerous occasions their amenability to a practical accord (in the absence of Rome’s conversion) suffices for me to take this step, prudently, not before having prayed at length and taken counsel with wise priests. There is no question for me whatsoever of remaining silent about what is being done.
“I must confess that to speak openly of the treachery we are living through is a very delicate business if one remains within the Society. Which is why I am leaving: for the ability to preach the truth in its integrity, since I must someday answer for each of the souls entrusted to me. To keep silent was no longer possible without making myself guilty before God.
“This is why I have decided to remain for the moment in the Maritimes. The faithful in these parts lack frequent access to the true Mass and the true Sacraments. They are mostly without spiritual help. They raise their children without the support of the Church. Therefore I thought it best to keep to this region and concentrate my efforts on developing these small groups that have so little access to the sacraments.”
Since the 3rd of June 2016, Father Pierre Roy has devoted himself to visiting those groups of faithful – located in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec and Ontario – who wish to have recourse to his ministry, either having no other option due to circumstances, or finding the ambiguous stances of the Society of Saint Pius X to be an unacceptable compromise for their Faith.
On the 7th of January, 2024, Father Pierre Roy was consecrated a Bishop by the Most Reverend Rodrigo Ribeiro da Silva in Sao Paolo Brazil. Bishop Roy’s apostolate remains in Eastern Canada.
The Life of Our Community
Our Lady of Joy Mission is not strictly-speaking a parish. Therefore newcomers should not expect to find in Stilesville a very diverse range of parish activities.
We are well aware of the needs of the faithful in these troubled times and we are doing what we can to assist them in their needs. But we try to resist the temptation to engage in an uncontrolled activism.
We believe that in our troubled days the contemplative life, which has always been at the very heart of the Church, is that which has suffered the most serious attacks from the enemies of God and consequently that it is for the contemplative life that we must take the most care.
This is why the members of the community of Stilesville strive to dedicate themselves to prayer and manual work of all kinds, according to the adage of Saint Benedict, father of Western Monacheism: Ora et Labora, Pray and Work.
The community of Stilesville places great importance on the liturgical life by reciting every day in common the offices of Prime, Sext, Vespers and Compline.
We believe that nowadays we should prefer a return to the sources of religious life: prayer, study, readings, work. This is how the monks of the past spread Christian civilisation throughout Europe and this is undoubtedly how Christian civilisation will flourish again.
Future Horizons
Our Lady of Joy Mission remains in the hands of Divine Providence, and leaves its future in God’s hands. The present situation in the world and in the Church leads us to expect a quite sombre future, but a glorious resurrection one day.
Everything which the Lord shall send us, be it trials or joys, we accept whole-heartedly; we ask Him only for His mercy for our misdoings and sins which human frailty leads each one of us to commit.
The Mission is open to receiving vocations of those who should wish to come and support its apostolate in the Lord’s vineyard. While waiting for these labourers whom the Lord of the harvest would deign to send us, we shall do everything in our power to maintain the true Faith and the true Catholic Mass in Eastern Canada.
We patiently await the glorious resurrection of Our Holy Mother the Church, ever mindful that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”
