There are different kinds of gifts, (…). There are different kinds of service, (…). There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work

- wrote st. Paul (1 Cor 12, 4).

This can be easily confirmed in the parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Mississauga, where for 25 years there has been a children's choir “Jubilee 2000” initiated by Oblate Father, Fr. Janusz Jajeśniak OMI, who, with the help of lay volunteers and the involvement of parents, evangelizes through singing.  Their ministry not only evangelizes the parishioners but the children themselves and their families frow in faith. Many of them, thanks to the choir, are closer to the faith and the parish where they grew up and formed friendships and even started families.

The celebration of the anniversary of the choir's existence and activity took place last Sunday during a thanksgiving Mass, presided over by Father Provincial Jacek Nosowicz OMI. There were invited guests who have been the choir's animators in the past, as well as the Missionary Sisters of Christ the King, who work beautifully with the oblates in more than one Ontario parish. Currently, it is Sister Halina Pierożak who is in charge of the schola of more than 40 children, who regularly gather for rehearsals, animate Sunday Mass and participate in numerous integration and educational trips.

After the Eucharist, the current parish pastor, Fr. Bogdan Osiecki OMI, began an anniversary banquet in the parish hall, attended by about 300 people, including invited Oblates, Missionary Sisters, parents of children belonging to the Choir over the past 25 years, as well as past and present coworkers of the choir. Special “guests” of the banquet were children currently belonging to the group, as well as members of the Choir from past years.  On stage there was a show of musical talents of choristers from 25 years ago and children currently forming the “Jubilee 2000” choir.

(s. Halina Pierożak MChr; Fr. Tomasz Jarosz OMI / correction: Fr. Daniel Janulewicz OMI / Photos: Andrzej Dutkiewicz, Tadeusz Woliński)