Lawrence Sabatini

At the request of the Archbishop of Chicago, he served as pastor of a previously Italian parish that had become overwhelmingly Hispanic due to a demographic shift.

[7] Sabatini felt a calling to the priesthood in grade four, when he was an altar server at his parish school, which was overseen by the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (the Scalabrinians).

[3][12] James Carney, the Archbishop of Vancouver, served as the principal consecrator,[2] with Cardinal George Flahiff of Winnipeg being one of several bishops in attendance.

[13] As a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,[14] Sabatini was part of the Episcopal Commissions for Canon Law and for Migration and Tourism.

[1] In the early 1980s, it was Sabatini who proposed that the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence start Vanspec, a catechetics program in the Archdiocese tailored for children with special needs.

[8] During his tenure as ordinary of that diocese, Sabatini was noted for being a vehement proponent of the treaty negotiation process with First Nations that was being undertaken by the government of British Columbia.

[18] He also attended the 44th International Eucharistic Congress held in Seoul, South Korea in October 1989,[18][19] and led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

In the homily he delivered, Sabatini read from letters Carney wrote during the last days of his life addressed to the faithful in the Archdiocese.

Before assuming the role on June 1, 2000, Sabatini visited Mexico, in order to gain a better understanding of the language and culture of the church's now predominantly Hispanic parishioners.