Monsignor Ambrose MacKinnon celebrates 50 years of priesthood

September/October 2011

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On August 27, 2011, Monsignor Ambrose MacKinnon’s 50th anniversary of ordination was celebrated in Inverness, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Fr. Ambie was ordained on August 20, 1961. Scarboro missionary Fr. Gerald Curry attended and read the following message sent by Fr. Jack Lynch, Superior General of Scarboro Missions:

(Credit: Dante Carrer)
Fr. Ambie MacKinnon with his brother Joe MacKinnon, grandnephew Calum, and sisters Jane Hayes and Margie MacKinnon on the 50th anniversary of his first solemn mass in Stella Maris parish, Inverness, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

On behalf of Scarboro’s General Council, I wish to extend greetings to the family and friends of Monsignor Ambrose MacKinnon who gather to honour and give thanks to God who has blessed Fr. Ambie during his 50 years of priesthood.

Of his years of missionary service in the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and in the Bahamas, I know that Fr. Ambie would be the first to say that gratitude has to be extended first to God and secondly to hundreds of people who have supported him in his ministry with their care, their concern, and above all their commitment to the teachings of Jesus and their hope that the community of the Church will always be a living testimony to the values of the Reign of God.

While I am sure that is what Fr. Ambie feels and believes, we, his family, friends and colleagues have to acknowledge his gifts and above all his gift of people. Fr. Ambie has been primarily a man of deep and sincere faith in God and in God’s love for all. He has a profound love for the church and reverence for the Eucharist. He is gentle, with a proud, strong love for Cape Breton and his Scottish Gaelic heritage. He possesses a sense of humour and laughter that touches the hearts and souls of each and every one of us.

Ambie, we thank you this day for all of your gifts and we give thanks to God for you and your priesthood. God has been revealed to us in your warmth and kindness and we, your Scarboro family, are eminently proud of you and your priesthood. Congratulations Ambie. May God continue to be with you and bless you in your priesthood for many years to come.

On behalf of the General Council, our sincere congratulations,
Fr. Jack Lynch, S.F.M., Superior General

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