As other religious societies struggle with an aging membership, the Ottawa-based Companions of the Cross continue to grow and on May 24 welcomed another four priests into the community at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa.

It was a fitting celebration as the Companions earlier in the month celebrated Foundation Day May 2, marking 40 years since the founding of the order.

Newly ordained priests Eran Amarasingha, Michael Horianopoulos, Sebastian Muggeridge and Tim Silver now join the 41 other priests belonging to the order, which also supports nine current seminarians and three applicants. 

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With their strongest presence in Ottawa, the Companions also serve in Toronto, Halifax, Saint John, Houston and Detroit, preaching at various parishes, retreats, conferences and campuses. The order is also expected to operate in Montreal this year. With nearly 50 priests now belonging to the Companions, Fr. Raymond de Souza summed the order up nicely in a recent column in the National Post, saying the order is “a hopeful manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our time, a genuine matter of holy pride for Catholics in Canada.” 

Since Fr. Bob Bedard founded the Companions of the Cross with only four seminarians in 1985, the order has managed to boast impressive growth over the last four decades thanks in large part to its unique sense of community and brotherhood among members. 

“In general, young people in the generation of today are yearning for community and belonging. They see these young, zealous, joyful men as priests and seminarians living and ministering together in unity as brothers, and that is very attractive off the bat,” said Saint John Bishop Christian Riesbeck, one of two Canadian bishops, alongside Military Ordinariate Bishop Scott McCaig, who are Companions of the Cross. 

“Fr. Bedard always believed the quality of our lives together would positively affect the quality of our ministry as brothers. Just the fact that we are living together, praying together, sometimes even vacationing together, really enhances priestly fruitfulness, holiness and our relational growth over the years.” 

Riesbeck noted the characteristics of joyfulness through brotherhood are what swayed him to pursue a priestly life as a member of the Companions back in the early 1990s. 

“In my first year at university, I attended a young adult retreat with St. Mary's Parish’s youth group. I remember being impressed by the joy that I saw in these young people and my peers. I had a truly powerful experience in the Sacrament of Confession that led to a transformative experience where I started getting involved with the Companions,” he said. 

While discerning the priesthood, he joined the community in the fall of 1991. He recalls feeling at home with the Companions due to the sense of brotherhood he witnessed among each member. He was ordained in 1996 and would eventually become Bishop of Saint John in 2019.

Having experienced a vocation to the order firsthand, he predicts that a similar call is still being felt by young people in discernment today, contributing to the order’s continued growth. 

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“ Those prominent feelings that still exist today, if not more so, when you look at society today, where so many people are experiencing dissatisfaction with the way things are. Young people are searching for meaning and purpose, longing for communion and wanting to be seen and heard. There is an increased desire for authenticity and joyful witness, and we are seeing that with the Companions of the Cross brothers in a very real way,” Riesbeck said.

Manas Khurana has been with the Companions for seven years and has studied at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit for six years. He was also drawn to the order during a time of deep discernment. 

“ I was just in adoration, and my heart was stirred. I felt the Lord calling me to community life and to the Companions. I always appreciated their evangelistic approach,” said Khurana, a Catholic convert.  

“Here was an order open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, open to the charisms, and for me, not being at the point in my life where I was open to the charisms, I sensed the Lord working in that. It was something that I wanted to be a part of.” 

The order’s commitment to a thriving community is increasingly vivid when compared to other Catholic orders that continue to face decline. While not by any means a large order, it is a growing one, something the larger, more established orders are struggling with. Fr. Julio Fernández Techera, a Jesuit priest and rector of the Catholic University of Uruguay, stated in a recent cautionary essay that in a few years, “the society will have disappeared from several European countries and will become insignificant in others in Europe, America and Oceania.” 

Scala News highlighted a significant drop in the number of Redemptorist Brothers as well, noting that there were 759 Brothers in 1992 and only 336 in 2020 due to a lack of new candidates. 

The growth of the Companions of the Cross is not solely due to a growing young adult appeal for Catholic brotherhood. The order’s desire for passionate ministry through evangelization and renewal has allowed for parishes and entire dioceses to benefit from its members' leadership.  

“Fr. Bedard would encourage us to wave the white flag of surrender and to roll out the red carpet for the Lord, so to speak, by letting Him lead. Our charism is evangelization while living and ministering together as brothers while inviting people into that initial and ongoing encounter with Jesus, mobilizing the Church, forming lay people and uniting people in mission,” Riesbeck said. 

“The mission of the Companions has inspired our vision here at the Diocese of Saint John, ensuring that all parishes are welcoming, invitational and vibrant communities where people are evangelized, discipled and missioned to go and make disciples of others.” 

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As part of its 40th anniversary festivities, the order has released an  online preaching series that delves into Bedard's words of wisdom, with various Companion priests providing preaching summaries of some of his famous words. An ongoing online book study delivered by Fr. Kevin Darwent is also available on the Companion's website. 

A new documentary from Catholic filmmaker Kevin Dunn on the life of Bedard, entitled Permission: Fr. Bob Bedard's Vision for the Church, is set for its official release this month.