Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

This church literally turned away a mother and infant into the -20 degree cold. They didn’t allow her to wait in the doorway so she can call for a ride. They kicked her out on the spot. At midnight mass of all nights. Practice what you preach. Don’t just talk about how mother Mary was turned away and the worlds a better place and then go and turn away woman and babies on the same day you preach it.

Great place of worship. Proximity to all sides of Callingwood is good.

This church has a very loyal and dedicated priest. We are very fortunate in having him in our parish.

I miss Fr. Marc. This church was amazing about 2 years ago. It used to be so warm, welcoming to all diverse communities and the sermons actually meant something. Right now it’s all bleh. Too many covid rules and the choir and attendee demographic has changed too much for me. Makes me feel unwelcomed, out of place and too stressed out to attend any service.

Having our wedding during Covid was very stressful to say the least. My wife and I understand there are certain restrictions that Alberta health services and the archdiocese of Edmonton have put in place to keep everyone safe during these times. The initial times we met with Father Leo, he was very friendly and welcoming. He would tell a lot of jokes and kept things light which was refreshing for both my wife and I. The day of our rehearsal, his whole demeanour changed completely. He was very rude and borderline confrontational. We were explaining our Filipino traditions veil, candle, etc. to him during the rehearsal and he threw his arms up in frustration and screamed “well I don’t have any of those things! And you didn’t bring them with you today either?!??” We thought to ourselves..wow that was weird, Father Leo was never like that before..what changed? Was it because it’s a few days before our big day and he knows that there’s no changing our minds for seeking out another priest or church for our big day? Maybe his true colours were finally showing? Only the good Lord knows. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe he was just having a bad day. Unfortunately, we were sadly mistaken. Just as everyone was gathering inside the church ready to approach the altar, one of the staff members started to do a headcount. According to AHS for weddings we are only allowed to have 20 people inside the church including the priest and video/photographer. However, it is OK to have 50 to 80 people inside the church during Sunday mass inside of the SAME building we are having our ceremony. We were a few people over the count of 20 and we ask them nicely if we could have some people come in momentarily and exit momentarily to allow other people to be part of our big day. One of the staff members showed us a paper saying “these are the rules and actually we lock the doors once your ceremony begins no one in and out!!” This was in front of my entire family and my wife’s entire family. I thought to myself wow you guys can have 80+ people in mass and I’m 100% sure you do not lock the doors during your ceremony. Do you prevent people from leaving and coming and going during mass? We had to make the tough decision and exclude one of my close family members from our ceremony just to satisfy the 20 count. At some point father Leo literally freaked out. Just as we were in our asking if we can have people go out and come in he yelled on the top of his lungs “THIS IS MY CHURCH AND THESE ARE THE RULES! ALL THE RULES WERE AVAILABLE TO YOU ONLINE BEFORE YOU BOOKED. IT IS ALREADY PAST YOUR SCHEDULED START TIME AND I HAVE A 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY BOOKED RIGHT AFTER YOU AND AS A MATTER OF FACT THEY BOOKED WELL IN ADVANCED COMPARED TO THE TWO OF YOU. WE CAN HAVE 20 PEOPLE NO MORE.” At this point I had to remove Father Leo from my sight and have a seat to prevent myself from saying anything I might regret, especially in the house of the Lord. After our ceremony, Father Leo disappeared and we couldn’t even shake his hand or thank him for accommodating our ceremony, even if it was such short notice. And if he had an issue with our short notice wedding he, never should have accepted the date we requested for if it was such a hassle and burden for him. Maybe if he was honest and told us that he had too many bookings for this day we would have appreciated his honesty and explore other options. For all you young couples out there meeting with father Leo, please make sure you book 3 to 4 weeks or maybe even 2 to 4 months ahead of time for his schedule. If you book last minute, he might flip out and yell at you in front of your entire family inside the house of the Lord. He will also proclaim that it is his house and remind you of the rules he is enforcing.

If you want solemnity when you go to catholic church this is the place.

My family have been going in this unique CHURCH for over 16 years. We have 1 mass on Saturday and 4 masses on Sunday which is very convenient to whichever mass we could go that fits our availability. It is peaceful and homey. We have two Awesome and Amazing Priests, Rev. Father Marc Cramer with his lively Homily and Rev. Father Carlos Nunez with his friendly ways. God Speed to both of you and thank you for coming in our parish. God Bless our Church and to all our devoted parishioners and visitors as well.

Father leo is very helpful to me and my finace lower price for our wedding father leo is one the best people i meet i am glad I am getting married there he is pretty funny guy we are looking forward our Big day God bless you all

Outstanding deliveries of mass by Seminary officianado in a beautiful neighborhood setting. Great care and attention to sterilization and recognition of the pandemic to the faithful.

Very nice location and everything with this Parish