When the Humboldt Ministerial Association first took on the planning of the Humboldt Broncos vigil on April 8, they had not expected it to become as big as it had.
The community vigil for the Humboldt Broncos, family, and friends, was broadcast live and included guests from across the hockey world, including Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, and Hayley Wickenheiser, as well as members of Saskatchewan and Canadian governments, including Premier Scott Moe and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
That is not how it started out, says Rev. Matteo Carboni with St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and vice-chair of the Humboldt Ministerial Association and it was not until 5 p.m. on April 8 that Carboni realized how big it had become, even though people from around the world had their eyes on Humboldt. Even a month later, Carboni is still trying to comprehend what all took place.
Many members of the association were already together making last minute organization decisions for the Watoto Children’s Choir performance when word started coming in that there had been an accident involving the Humboldt Broncos bus, on April 6.
While there was a prayer space set up within the crisis centre at the Humboldt Uniplex that night, the ministerial also started to look at the coming days and what needed to be done.
Fr. Joseph Salihu of St. Augustine Church was the one who suggested a vigil in a week when things calmed down, says Carboni. As vice-chair of the association, it was his job to make sure everyone was on the same page, he says, since chair of the association, Cody Redekop, was out of town on vacation with his family.
When Mayor Rob Muench suggested a vigil on the Sunday after the crash, Carboni and the rest of the ministerial was called to action on how to make that happen, from deciding on a venue to deciding a speakers list.
Everyone had a job, says Carboni, with pieces of the puzzle coming together of their own accord.
Even from Florida, Redekop saw the association uniting under a common cause with no division between the faith groups and no one claiming territory. While this is a common occurrence within their group, this was the first time it was done on such a large scale.
“It was very clear that this was something that affected the whole community of Humboldt and these were the clergy of Humboldt and the distinctions between that wasn’t addressed. There was a host of sheppards and a big community and that’s just what it was,” says Redekop
After collaborating within the association, it then took collaboration between the City of Humboldt staff and the Humboldt Broncos to finalize the vigil that thousands got to see.
For Caboni and Redekop, it was just another day working together between the ministries.
“It felt like a very natural thing of ‘okay, we’re going to do this together.’ We’ve done lots of other things together. The intensity was different but the relationships were all just the same,” noted Redekop.
