Fr. Alain Ambeault, CSV
As we seek deeper internationality with all parts of our global Viatorian Community, we are continuing our series of podcast episodes with Viatorians from other countries. In this episode, we check in with our neighbors to the north, learning about our community in Canada by speaking with Fr. Alain Ambeault, CSV.
“The Viatorians in Canada, like everywhere else, have always been involved in education, but at the same time, they always had an openness to something else,” Fr. Alain said. “They developed complimentary perspectives to education – about arts, cinema, liturgy, presence to young people, ministry to disadvantaged people.”
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Br. Carlos Flórez, CSV (left), served as a General Councilor to Fr. Alain, and Fr. Tom von Behren, CSV (second from left), was Provincial Superior during Fr. Alain’s term. Fr. Alain concelebrated Mass for the diaconate ordination of Br. John Alexander Avellaneda, CSV (second from right), at Maternity BVM in Bourbonnais in Summer 2025.
Fr. Alain professed first vows in 1980 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He served in various leadership roles for the Province of Canada, including Provincial Superior. He went on to serve as a General Councilor on the General Council for Fr. Mark Francis, CSV, when Fr. Mark was Superior General. Then, in 2012, Fr. Alain was elected to a six-year term as Superior General. For the last several years, he has served as Executive Director of the Canadian Religious Conference.
One of the great distinctions of the Province of Canada has been the mission outreach, which Fr. Alain breaks into three phases. “There are three movements. First, to the East, with China and Japan, it was ‘go and evangelize people,'” Fr. Alain said, noting that the Viatorians were expelled from China in wartime. “After that, Haiti and Peru – it’s clearly a response to calls from the pope and the Vatican. Then Burkina Faso was totally different – we knew [in modern times] we had to send the charism and offer the charism to different cultures.”
Fr. Alain discusses the grace of discerning the foundation in Burkina Faso and its first Viatorian ministers, the richness of international relationships, and the heart of our Viatorian Community as catechists and ministers of accompaniment. Hear all of Episode 103 on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.