About Us
St. Therese Institute offers a life-changing 9-month faith and formation program emphasis on community and personal growth.
Our Story
Our People
Our Vision
Therese of Lisieux
Early Days
The Holy Spirit has blessed and guided our institution from its beginning! In the early 2000’s, Don Courchene saw how impactful Bible schools in Alberta and Manitoba were on the lives of their students, and he felt a call to organize for a vibrant, Catholic Bible school in Saskatchewan, too. With the blessing of Bishop Albert LeGatt, our Board of Directors was formed in June 2004. With much prayer but very little initial funding, planning for our Institute began.
Finding our building, naming our institute
The board met on October 1, 2005, and the name of the institute was on the agenda. Recognizing that October 1 is the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the name St. Therese School of Faith and Mission was suggested. St. Thérèse seemed the perfect patroness for a school that wanted to do great things for God while remaining small and humble in rural Saskatchewan. In the summer of 2006, through a generous gift from the Pius Pfeifer family of Edmonton AB, our beautiful home was purchased – an Ursuline convent in Bruno, SK., on 65 acres of land.
The first program year
In September of 2007, our program ran its first year of formation, with sixteen students from all walks of life. That first year we had week-long intensives until Christmas, then had regular classes for the second semester, and the year concluded with the students performing a play, which was written by St. Therese, at the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City.
Growing by Grace
Since then, our program has undergone many changes and experienced wonderful growth. Annual enrollment now averages between 45 and 50 residents each September. The 2013-14 year was our first to offer formation program alumni the opportunity to return to the St. Therese community for a second year of advanced Catholic studies. In 2014-2015, we introduced Student Life Coordinators and Assistants, which has evolved into the Apostolic Internship program we developed in 2023-2024. St. Therese internships teach the professional skills and processes required to run lay Catholic apostolates sustainably. Lay Catholic apostolates will be central to the success of the New Evangelization.
Where are we now?
We believe most young Canadian Catholics today need something akin to the St. Therese Institute experience, to ensure that they find their true identity in Christ, and to provide a time and place where they can discover the unique mission planted in the call of their baptism. Finding these things early changes lives! We are grateful for the opportunity to support the journeys of growing numbers of young Catholics through St. Therese Institute programming, as new applications come in each year. This is our story and we hope that you will be a part of it! Join us for a Catholic Gap Year, come as a Spring Course participant, or support this Kingdom work as a donor and join your offerings to ours!
