The Companions of the Cross, abbreviated C.C. is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Diocesan Right for men based in Ottawa, Ontario. It is a community of Roman Catholic priests that is Eucharistic, Charismatic, Marian and Magisterial. It was founded by Fr. Robert Bedard, C.C. in 1985 and was approved in 2003 by the Vatican as a Society of Apostolic Life. Fr. Roger Vandenakker, CC is currently serving as the community's General Superior. History Robert Bedard (1929–2011) was born July 17, 1929, in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1951, he entered St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto and was ordained a priest on June 6, 1955. As a curate at Assumption Parish in Eastview (now Vanier), he was involved in youth ministry and formed a small group of young men aged 12 to 16 to encourage vocations to the priesthood. While teaching at St. Pius X preparatory seminary, he attended Teachers College, Ontario College of Education in Toronto. In 1975, he was appointed official Ottawa Archdiocesan Liaison to the Charismatic Renewal, and from 1977 to 1981 he lived in a community household of men as chaplain of the New Jerusalem Community. He founded the Companions of the Cross in 1985, out of what had initially been a prayer and support group for seminarians and priests that began informally in 1984. According to Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, a Jesuit who invited the Companions to Halifax when he was archbishop there, Bedard's "...main thing was to support seminarians in their formation and support priests in their priesthood by community life." Bedard stressed a model of companionship that sees priests serving several parishes living in community in one place. From the beginning, the Companions have had an associate program for laity who "desires to embrace the spirituality and mission of the Companions of the Cross" through a formal commitment. In 2003, with the permission of the community's then-moderator, Roger Vandenakker, Anna Chan founded the Servants of the Cross, a community of religious women formed around Bedard's spiritual vision. Companions of the Cross The new community of seminarians and priests adopted the name Companions of the Cross, after Bedard used the phrase in a homily for the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. In February 1988 Archbishop Plourde granted the Companions of the Cross recognition as a Public Association of the Faithful. In 1999 the first Companions of the Cross ministries outside of the Archdiocese