Visiting Saint Peter’s
Posted on July 4, 2008
No, it’s not the basilica in Rome, it’s a friendly nickname for Peter’s Cape Cod in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. I headed over there today for lunch with a priest friend of mine, to share fellowship and to talk about some new responsibilities being added to the scope of his priestly ministry — and to see how I’ll be able to help him out, something I am looking forward to. The restaurant was his idea, but since it’s Friday I appreciate having a fish menu.
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Off to Brazil
Posted on July 3, 2008
Well, not quite. This afternoon I actually headed over to Anjou, a sub-section of Montreal, to meet with a brother priest who is himself from Brazil. Although we had seen one another from large diocesan gatherings, we had never actually met or chatted, so this was our chance to get to know one another. We headed out to his favourite coffee shop (where “it takes like coffee from home”, as he put it), and had a good couple of hours just sharing priestly brotherhood.
I love days like this.
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Anybody got a retreat centre handy?
Posted on July 2, 2008
I was chatting with Terrel Joseph today. He’s the webmaster of the Montreal Challenge Movement, and we were discussing some of the issues and opportunities the movement is facing.
One thing Terrel mentioned is that it is getting harder and harder to find a place to hold a retreat weekend. Now to be honest, this is a problem I’ve seen coming for a LONG time, particularly when the diocese decided to abandon financing the Youth Impact Centre a few years ago. Because the schools are now non-denominational, the movement usually only has access to private Catholic schools — and they are now getting tougher on their requirements for overnight events (i.e. by default they don’t allow them anymore).
We need to think outside the box, so I mentioned to Terrel an idea I had years ago to basically be able to build a portable retreat centre within a parish basement. Basically it is a fancy set of cubicle dividers that hook together like LEGO blocks, except the walls are more than chest-height, and it is possible to add doors and even a ceiling. I think I still even have the diagrams somewhere.
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It’s still coming
Posted on July 1, 2008
More programming today. I love solving these sorts of puzzles. And I’m happy to report that the first major functional element is now in place and working well. I’m able to copy articles from publicly available news feeds and store the information in a database, while custom altering it to preserve original authorship and copyright information.
Now that I have some articles to work with — real articles from the field, not just fakes I dummied up for testing purposes — I’ll get to work on on the container documents for those articles.
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It’s coming
Posted on June 30, 2008
Day off today. I spent it programming the project I once mentioned previously. Lots of work, and actually lots of progress.
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Mass at the Chinese mission
Posted on June 29, 2008
I didn’t have any particular ministry assignment this weekend, so I decided to head over to Chinatown nearby and visit with Fr. John, the young pastor of the Chinese Catholic mission. He and I have become good friends, and we go for coffee often enough. This Sunday was a special commissioning service for the youth of his parish who were headed off to Sydney for the World Youth Day, and I was glad to be there.
Fr. John did pull a bit of a fast one on me, though: 5 minutes before the mass, he asked me to offer a few words at the homily! He smiled and explained that he always offers a few words in English at this mass in particular — why not have it be from someone new? (Naturally I agreed: I can’t resist a chance to open my mouth, after all.)
As an added bonus, Fr. John has offered to help with the Adventus site — by translating some of the articles into Chinese! He believes that new Chinese immigrants might benefit from our approach to presenting the faith. It is a very exciting prospect.
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Happy 25th anniversary to Father Robert Gendreau
Posted on June 28, 2008
Tonight was a special celebration at Consolata parish for its pastor, Father Robert Gendreau. It began with a mass, followed by a sumptuous dinner in the parish basement. Unfortunately I got there late, as Father Ben and I were going by metro and it wound up being stopped for 20 minutes without power. Still, knowing Italian banquets as I do, I knew this would not be a problem — the main course could take 2 hours to get to the table after the dinner itself started!
Father Gendreau is quite a guy — a very faithful priest with a ton of energy. I was exhausted just watching him work the room! May the Lord grant him many more years.
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Congrats to Fathers Stéphane and Francesco
Posted on June 27, 2008
We had a double ordination tonight.
The Cathedral was packed.
150 priests showed up. Five additional bishops were seated alongside the Cardinal.
I was one of the two masters of ceremonies.
It was one of the most beautiful ordinations I have ever been privileged to be a part of.
Congratulations, gentlemen!
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End of year team meeting
Posted on June 26, 2008
Normally I dress in my best clerics when I go to work, but today I wore jeans, a t-shirt and sandals: it was our end of year team meeting at the Val-Marie diocesan centre north of Montreal. While I am not a fan of meetings, and certainly not all-day meetings, this one at least gave us a chance to evaluate what we accomplished during the year and where we now stand.
It has been a rock-and-roll year…again. With the departure of Bishop Tony Mancini to become Archbishop of Halifax, my own boss became the vicar general of the diocese, taking over that function around the end of November (Bishop Lionel Gendron became my new boss in January). My teaching schedule was particularly hectic, with two whole courses to develop (and which, happily, are now available on the web!) My work with foreign priests suffered somewhat, but the new inculturation program I’m getting in place is coming along super well. I’ve also been able to collaborate with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on a document on stewardship, and my work with the Canadian Center for Ecumenism has also taken off. Again, it has not been a perfect year, but I’ve actually started feeling like I know what I am doing (which is probably a dangerous feeling 
).
I mentioned back in April how my retreat this year was a real spiritual butt-kicking from the Lord. Without getting into the details, let’s just say that it truly was transformative. The hard part has been learning to be both a disciple and a leader at the same time. I’m far from getting that one right.
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Welcoming foreign priests (update)
Posted on June 25, 2008
As regular readers of this blog might know, I set up a committee some time ago to develop a program to welcome foreign priests in this diocese, as well as help them to understand our local culture and way of doing things. We had our third meeting this morning, and I am really pleased. We get more things done in this committee in an hour than other committees accomplish in a month. My hat’s off to my members.
Word is getting around the province that this is getting organized. I’m told there are some bishops who would be interested in sending some of their priests on this session. My archbishop wants this to remain a Montreal project, but he’s open to this other possibility, as long as the budget is shared. Seems fair to me, so it looks like things are full speed ahead!
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Upcoming event: Alpha Canada bilingual conference
Posted on June 24, 2008
Click here for the Adventus article with more info.
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Drugs are bad
Posted on June 24, 2008
I am often asked by young people if taking drugs (usually a reference to smoking marijuana) is a sin. Because it is “natural”, they say, why not use it? After all, didn’t God put it there?
I am reminded of an old saying: there is no such thing as a poison, only a poisonous dose. Anything can be good, if used for its proper end and in moderation. An example of a good use for a a drug would be the use of cocaine in microsurgery: doctors will often swab a cocaine solution on the area to prevent bleeding, as one of the effects of cocaine is the constriction of blood vessels. That good use, however, does not mean that it is ok to shove it up your nose, or (worse) to smoke it in even more concentrated forms.
Maybe if Adam and Eve had not sinned, some sort of recreational drug use might have been ok, a bit like the way we use caffeine in the form of tea or coffee. After all, in a non-fallen world, there would have been no danger of misuse. On the other hand, maybe there would *not* have recreational drug use — because after all, for some drugs the recreational use may always be a misuse. Cocaine, for example, does exist in nature, but in a very diluted form in coca leaves. The powdered form, on the other hand, is an artificial concentrate of the natural active ingredient — and since it is the dose that makes the poison, this kind of drug is probably always poison.
With regards to marijuana, this “artificial” versus “natural” distinction also holds, even if the drug comes straight from a plant. This is because non-wild marijuana plants — the kind grown for drug use — are actually the result of artificial breeding efforts to try and produce more and more potent concentrations of the drug within the plant itself. Yeah, it grows in the dirt, but that doesn’t mean it is natural. We made it, and we made it to be something that nature never intended.
Perhaps there are medical uses for marijuana — it does seem to be an appetite stimulant (the famous “munchies”), and so some recommend it for patients who have otherwise lost the hunger reflex due to their illness. But it also carries its risks, risks that increase with its toxicity. What concerns me most is how the use of marijuana can be related to mental illness. Not everyone who smokes pot has a psychotic break, but a lot of people who suffer from psychotic episodes had them triggered by marijuana.
This is a serious problem. Imagine, for example, if coffee could be consumed normally by 99% of the population, but for 1% of the population it would cause the onset of serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, paranoia or depression. Would it really be responsible to promote the consumption of coffee as though nothing was there, when in fact we knew that an important minority would fall seriously (and possibly irreversibly) ill because of it? At least we should be frank about the risks, and not be surprised if social controls were put in place around it.
Well, pot is like that. Apart from the fact that it is criminal to possess marijuana (and therefore should not be done, out of respect for the law), pot simply should not be smoked. It is not natural, and in its toxicity it can exacerbate (or even provoke) other conditions that have serious long-term consequences — for the user, and for those around him.
I will never support the legalization of marijuana. I have nothing against God for having thought up this particular plant, as I am sure it has its place in his original beautiful plan of creation. But the legalization of marijuana is basically the 99% saying they want their “freedom” to such an extent that they don’t give a damn about the 1% who will suffer. I expect better from people, and from the society in which I live.
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Agboton, Ehouzou, and Tumi
Posted on June 23, 2008
Today I had the pleasure of meeting 3 different diocesan bishops:
- Bishop Ehouzou of the diocese of Porto-Novo, Benin
- Archbishop Agboton of the diocese of Cotonou, Benin
- Cardinal Tumi of Douala in Cameroon
All were in town for the Eucharistic Congress that took place last week in Quebec City, and they stopped by in Montreal to speak with me about the possibility of our diocese receiving addition priests from them for further university studies. It was a wide-ranging and frank discussion in each case, particularly with regards to the challenges we face here, and I was greatly encouraged by the realism of these men.
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The prison of secrets
Posted on June 22, 2008
No, it isn’t the name of an 8th Harry Potter book: my latest homily, from the 12 Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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Working on Adventus stuff
Posted on June 21, 2008
Today was spent working on a (not-so) small programming project: a multilingual content-management system based on the Atom specification. This was supposed to be one of the first steps in the triumphant arrival of Adventus to the wonderful world of Internet evangelization, but unfortunately it turned out to be more complicated to organize than expected.
*sigh* Welcome to the wonderful world of programming.
It’ll come, folks. It’ll come.
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The question of human origins
Posted on June 20, 2008
I had a discussion today with a brother priest regarding the origins of humanity. A lot of Catholic theology depends on our theological anthropology, i.e. what we have to say about what it means to be human. My brother priest, in a gentle and respectful way, took issue with some of my own stated views on the subject, particularly those that I have articulated in my Four Basic Questions parish mission. I certainly do not mind having my own ideas tested, so I really enjoyed our discussion. And, as is often the case, this discussion has sparked additional reflection on my part. Tune in to Adventus.org to see an article series I will soon begin on the question of human origins, starting with the notion of evolution.
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Attention married couples!
Posted on June 19, 2008
Some friends of mine, parishioners at my former parish of St. Thomas à Becket, will be hosting The Marriage Course in their home in the West Island (click on the link for more information). Every married couple I know of that has taken this course has found it very enriching. John and Natalie can only host 3 or 4 couples, so if anyone out there is interested I recommend they contact them as soon as possible. As for me, I intend to promote this course among those couples that I have married — anything I can do to promote their happiness I will do!
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Living conditions of priests
Posted on June 18, 2008
I visited a parish today, one that I hadn’t seen for almost a year. When I first saw it, I knew I could never live there, as there was absolutely no separation between the living quarters of the rectory and the office portion — people were wandering in and out and all about at all hours, literally. And this type of situation is of great concern for me, actually, because I really feel that our priests deserve decent living conditions (and you should see some of the hellish rectory situations some have been in).
I am very happy to report, though, that this parish has really turned things around. I am sure the changes have ruffled some feathers, but now the second floor has been isolated from the rest of the house, giving the priests a private sleeping and living quarters. The kitchen is still Grand Central Station, mind you, but at least they’ve been able to take the padlocks off the refrigerator (no, I am not kidding on that one). One thing at a time, I guess.
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Incardination dossiers
Posted on June 17, 2008
One of my responsibilities is to prepare dossiers regarding the incardination of priests. “Incardination” refers to the fact that there are no “freelance” priests in the Catholic Church — every priest (and deacon) is “incardinated” in a diocese or other religious structure of some kind, thereby making them accountable to some sort of superior. Priests who do not respect their incardination are known as “vagus” priests, a term that within ecclesiastical circles is a real slap in the face.
It is possible, however, to change your incardination, if the new diocese or religious order accepts you, and the old one accepts to let you go (something called “excardination”). While the transfer of priests does not happen every day, it does happen, and my job is to process the requests and, in particular, undertake some sort of evaluation process.
While an incardination can happen immediately, very often the receiving bishop accepts a candidate ad experimentum, i.e. for a trial period, to see how things work out. This trial period then serves as the basis for the evaluation. For example, today I spent a greater part of my day visiting parishes where a particular priest has served, as part of his incardination dossier. It would not be fair to him, nor to the Church, for us to accept him (or not) simply on the basis of hearsay. I believe firmly that justice requires an objective look — and not just justice, but the opportunity for self-growth.
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Fly in the ointment
Posted on June 16, 2008
The title, by the way, refers to myself in this particular case.
Today was my day off, but the Vicar General asked me to come in for a group meeting with a lawyer to discuss the legal implications of some of our diocesan structures.
As it turns out, we have a certain amount of unnecessary legal exposure in our manner of hiring lay pastoral staff, and of giving them work assignments. The lawyer did not think so at first, but when I pushed him on it (giving additional details in the process) he actually changed his tune. (I hate to say this, but I have been underwhelmed by the competence of some of the lawyers I have met in my day, so I refuse to back down when I think a point has not been properly addressed.)
Our exposure comes from the fact that the diocese does not simply certify lay pastoral workers, but directly assigns them to parishes. This makes the diocese the legal employer, and not simply the parish. And to be honest, in some ways this is impossible to avoid, as lay pastoral workers now serve in multiple church capacities (e.g. multiple parishes, sharing the expense). Somebody needs to be the boss in such a case, so it tends to get kicked upstairs.
The proposed legal solution to this was the merger of these parishes into a single legal structure (basically one parish on paper but with more than one church). Again, however, I felt it important to be a fly in the ointment: if we start dissolving legal parishes to create “super-parishes”, we simply transfer the legal risk from the diocese to the “super-parish” — it does not get rid of it. The multiple parish structure has actually helped protect our local communities from predatory lawsuits. If we concentrate assets in larger corporations, the predators start to salivate.
It seems the only real solution is to actually do what a proper theology of the laity demands. The laity have their share in the mission of Christ thanks to their baptism and confirmation. The hierarchical church (i.e. bishops and priests) should respect that. The hierarchy does have the right and responsibility to make sure those who are working in the name of the Kingdom of God are doing so in a manner consistent with the Gospel — I certainly have no problem with that. But we can do this through a general certification process, without the bishop needing to directly assign this or that specific person to this or that specific parish.
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The analogy of the cheque
Posted on June 15, 2008
My homily for today, on the occasion of Laura’s First Communion. Sorry for the occasional poor production quality.
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Annual jubilarian BBQ
Posted on June 13, 2008
We had a special BBQ today especially for the English priests of the diocese, in order to honour those brother celebrating special jubilee anniversaries. Congrats to Fr. Jim MacDonald (50 years), Fr. Joe Sullivan (known as “junior”, 25 years) and Fr. Gilles Surprenant (my previous pastor, 25 years).
I was particularly delighted that our Vicar General, Msgr. Jean Fortier, was able to be present, along with his assistant, Fr. Alain Faubert. I live and work with both men, and I can confidently say they are fine chaps.
The weather was beautiful and the BBQ’d steak delicious. The best part, though, was seeing all these brothers. Hopefully I can get together with some of them (as we have said we would) for a beer or whatnot over the summer.
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Visiting Vietnam
Posted on June 12, 2008
Well, ok, it wasn’t Vietnam. It was the Vietnamese mission here in Montreal. I was there this morning to meet a foreign priest who has just recently arrived for language lessons (he is here to learn French, in preparation for future graduate studies in French, and my job is to welcome him into the diocese). I was very warmly welcomed at the parish by the pastor, and given my first taste of Vietnamese-style coffee. WHOA, was it strong! But very tasty, I must admit.
There are a few communities in the city that celebrate mass in Vietnamese, but the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam mission is the only one with a full pastoral approach geared to that language and culture. This priest will be here to acquire greater learning and then return to teach others back in his home country. May his trip be a success!
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Coffee talk
Posted on June 11, 2008
As many of the readers of this blog know, I was once a chaplain at the Lakeshore General Hospital. While I was there I got to know an Orthodox Jew named Sam, and his lovely wife Milly. Yes, I am a Catholic priest, but I was chaplain not just for the Catholics but for anyone in the hospital, and I always had a great time visiting Sam. He eventually did pass away from his illness, and then I was transferred from the hospital, and I thought things would simply end there (as they usually did).
What a delight it was for me, then, to go for coffee today with Milly and her daughter (who is up visiting from Florida). It turns out that Milly’s hairdresser is a parishioner at a parish I visited recently, and through this good Samaritan a connection was made. I was so happy to hear from Milly, and certainly delighted to be able to walk over to the local Second Cup and share some stories.
This is one of the great things about being a priest: you never know what kind of interesting people you might meet, and where that friendship might take you.
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Listen for my credit when she wins an Oscar
Posted on June 10, 2008
I went for lunch today with an aspiring writer. She is doing a screenplay in which one of her major characters is a priest. As she explained to me, however, she does not actually know any priests, so she wanted to speak with one (i.e. me) to make sure her character “sounds right”.
Now I am not claiming that my personal experience as a priest is somehow normative, but at the same time the work I am doing now puts my in touch with LOTS of my brothers from all ages and backgrounds. I accepted because I felt I would be able to represent a broad spectrum of priestly life and experience.
Also, she was paying for the food.
Anyway, I hope the research will turn out to be worthwhile for her. She quoted me at one point to use as dialogue for her priest character. She said she’d give me credit in her acceptance speech the day she wins her Oscar. I’ll hold you to that!
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Colin is in da house!
Posted on June 9, 2008
The little cutie you see on the left is the first child born to my good buddy Gordon and his wife Doris. Colin was born on May 21 at 10:46 pm, and weighed 6 lbs. 2 ounces. His full name is “Colin Ga Wai Yee Sexton”, thus including both Gord’s European heritage and Doris’ Chinese heritage. No, I have no idea how to properly pronouce those middle names, but I am sure Colin will, as I believe is it the intention of the parents to make sure he can speak Mandarin.
I love babies, and it is my pleasure to share this bundle of joy with all of you.
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Any sin can be forgiven
Posted on June 8, 2008
My latest homily at Saint Brendan’s parish.
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Congrats to Claudia and James
Posted on June 7, 2008
It was almost three years ago, on September 25, 2005, that I had the pleasure of presiding the wedding ceremony of Claudia and James. Just this past year, however, they have become proud parents of a bouncing baby boy by the name of Adam, and tonight I had the opportunity to meet this recent addition to their family! Claudia and James invited me for a delicious dinner and very pleasant company which everyone thoroughly enjoyed — heck, even the cat, who got into the prosciutto when we weren’t looking. Seriously, many congrats again to these two, and I look forward to seeing the little one grow up.
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Back for a week now
Posted on June 6, 2008
Hola amigos!
I got back from Mexico late last Friday (May 31) and it has been fairly non-stop since then.
Saturday was the diocesan feast day, so I got to see a lot of people at once. Congrats to André Tiphane, BTW, for his appointment as episcopal vicar of the Eastern region of the diocese.
Sunday I visited my previous parish of Holy Name of Jesus to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ordination of a good friend of mine. In the evening, on the other hand, I went to the wake service of another friend — Father Thomas McEntee, who passed away of cancer.
Monday was the funeral, and my first day back at the office. I was there until 9pm catching up on phone calls and emails.
Tuesday: more of the same, with a twist: I had to use my Spanish in a work-related situation! It turns out a Latin American priest has come to Montreal who speaks only a bit of French and nothing else except Spanish. So I had to put it to use, over the phone and in person.
Wednesday: more of the same, at least in the morning. The evening was the “grand opening” of the new location of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism, at which I participated for most of the evening. We were outside a lot, though, and by the end my nose started to sniffle, so I decided to call it a night.
Thursday: a meeting all day on the South Shore. Sniffles have become a full-out cold now, but nothing too bad.
Friday: meeting all morning + another one in the afternoon. I was supposed to go to an ordination this evening (it is going on as I write this, in fact), but I am presently sick as a dog (fever, other disgusting symptoms I won’t mention).
Tomorrow: rest, and prepare my homily for the evening.
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Social classes in Mexico
Posted on May 29, 2008
This is my last week in Mexico, and as word now gets around that I’m leaving soon I’ve been receiving a LOT of invitations to lunch (which in Mexico is called comida, is at 3 pm, and is the main meal). So I’ve been a bit of a social butterfly lately, and it has been an interesting experiment in anthropological research.
My first invitation was to a family in Tabachines. Tabachines is the wealthy part of town: to get into the *neighbourhood* (never mind the house) you have to pass a guarded gate and have previously been on a list indicating that you should be allowed in. The home itself was majestic, with a huge backyard and swimming pool. The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well. Yes, there were servants too.
My second invitation was to a more modest, middle-class home. It was a smaller bungalow, with a pool about the size of a snooker table (and about as deep, from the top of the table to the floor — in other words, more for lounging than for swimming). The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well. No, there were no servants — homemade food cooked by the lady of the house.
My most recent invitation was today. Padre Roberto and I parked our car in what was clearly a poorer neighbourhood and walked up an alleyway to a working-class home. It was made of red brick and cinder block (visible both on the outside and on the inside). The floor itself was made of cement, and there was no door to the house itself, just a curtain. Once again we had a very warm welcome. REFRAIN: The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well.
Obviously, there were major differences in the way of life of each family, but I did notice some similarities:
- Everybody talked about God. It might have been because priests were visiting, but I don’t think that was the only reason. I think God really is on people’s minds here, in a very natural way, regardless of social class. For example, the woman of the house in the first family has written books meant to help people pray, and has worked a lot with the elderly, while the woman of the house in the last family is a parish catechist with 25+ years experience. I don’t know that these ladies know each other, but it is faith that allowed us to connect even though I was a stranger.
- The importance of family. Each family that I visited seemed to live genuine warmth and mutual love. For example, the first family had three generations present at the table — the matron of the house, her daughter (visiting from Europe), and her first child (the only grandchild in the family). All were very happy to be together. The last family also had three generations present, and again there was a lot of mutual love in the room.
- Money can’t buy you happiness. There is no question that those on the poorer end of the social scale have concerns regarding money, but to be honest I sensed that these weren’t really concerns about money but about the things that money can buy when you really need them (like medical care, or schoolbooks). As for money itself, though, they didn’t seem terribly concerned by it. As for the wealthier families, obviously money is less of an immediate concern, but it can still be a cause of grief. For example, in the case of the Tabachines family, the husband was apparently kidnapped twice (not once, but twice), and twice they had to pay a huge ransom to get him back, such that their resources have actually now dried up and they have to sell their home. So it seems that not only can money not buy you happiness, it can also bring you grief.
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I’m very proud of myself
Posted on May 28, 2008
While my language school will likely give me a certificate saying that I’ve taken courses in Spanish, they can’t really certify that I can *speak* Spanish in any practical way — even giving me a Spanish exam would only prove that I can pass a Spanish exam, not that I really *know* the language. No, for this kind of certification some other form of test is required — a test I gave myself this morning.
I took a taxi.
By myself.
Now I understand that this may not seem all that impressive, but think about it. You have to hail a cab and explain where you want to go. Then (and this is even more critical) you have to negotiate a price. You see, the taxis are not metered here, and there are many stories of taxi drivers trying to rip off foreigners as soon as they hear the accent or notice hesitation or confusion. So from my point of view, this was a genuine test: being able to take a Mexican taxi, which implies a certain knowledge of the city, the culture, and the language all rolled into one.
No, I did not get a certificate or other diploma for accomplishing this particular feat. And I can’t say that I really speak Spanish with all that much ability (when I’m tired, for example, I miss a lot). But I will admit, I felt like a million bucks.
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It was once a massive city
Posted on May 25, 2008
Today I had the chance to visit an unforgettable location: the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan. It was a looooong day, with a 3 hour trip to the site (and an equally long trip home), along with several hours to walk around — but it was totally worth it.
When we think of “stone age” people, we usually think of “cavemen”. We don’t usually think of massive engineering and architectural projects. And yet, the residents of Teotihuacan built and maintained a massive city of up to 250,000 people without the benefit of any metal tools — in fact, without even the use of domesticated animals. We don’t even have evidence of a writing system for them, and yet they possessed a highly sophisticated society. Amazing.
While visiting the city I had a chance to visit the ancient temple of Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent”. The artistic decoration of this temple was truly astonishing in its quality and symbolism. I also had a chance to climb the two pyramids present: the Pyramid of the Moon (where you are only allowed to go halfway) and the Pyramid of the Sun (which is the 3rd largest in the world - it is just gigantic!) I tried to imagine the ancients visiting this city to conduct trade and commerce, or families with children playing their kids games in the streets. Real people, like you and me, once lived here. I look forward to chatting with them in Heaven to hear what life was like.
By the end I was just exhausted, I guess from a combination of not enough food, too much direct sun and lots of walking (and climbing!). I came away, though, with amazing memories, and I know I must come back to this place once again.
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Corpus Christi procession
Posted on May 23, 2008
One of my former teachers at the language school was going to be giving a lecture last night, and so she invited me to attend. But I already had plans: for yesterday was the feast of Corpus Christi!
The celebration began with a mass in the local Chapel of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. At the conclusion of mass the participants, along with us priests, formed a procession through the streets with the Eucharist. There was a stational altar along the way where we paused for prayer, and then we continued to the main parish church of San Miguel. It was a beautiful event, with people singing hymns and little girls tossing flowers before the feet of the priests carrying the Eucharist. (Not to honour the priests, of course, but to honour the Eucharist.)
As it turns out, I got to be a very active part of things. As I mentioned in my previous post, the pastor fell quite ill recently so I filled in as the assistant priest for the mass and procession. Some young people in the parish took pictures of me carrying the monstrance under a canopy carried by some of the men of the parish, and I hope to be able to post these sometime soon. Whether I have digital photos or not, though, the memory will stay with me for a lifetime.
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Narnia in Spanish
Posted on May 22, 2008
I went to the movies last night with Padre Roberto and a couple of his friends. We went to see the new Narnia film, Prince Caspian. The theatre did have a showing in English, but the next time was quite late, so we decided to see an earlier Spanish version. The others were a bit worried for me — Padre, vas a entender la pellicula? was their question — but after all this was Narnia, not some ultra-complex political thriller.
I really enjoyed the film — more than the first film, to be honest. There was much more action, heroism, and maturity in this film. I cannot really judge the quality of the dialogue (or its delivery), but I did enjoy myself. It was worth the money.
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About that illness I wrote about…
Posted on May 22, 2008
It seems I managed to avoid the worst of it.
I was a bit tired for a day.
Padre Roberto was bedridden the next day, for a day.
And the pastor, Padre Luis, just got a visit from the doctor prescribing him antibiotics and ordering him off his feet for 4 or 5 more days.
The doctor’s diagnosis is about the same as my original guess: bad food (probably chicken) which, in the case of the poor pastor, has led to full-on food poisoning.
Just to emphasize, though: I’m doing great! No problems at all since that one icky-ish day.
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Just who is the teacher here?
Posted on May 20, 2008
As I think I have mentioned before, every Monday we switch teachers at the language school where I am studying. This time my teacher, while Mexican, is actually a baptist. Which can mean only one thing: more conversations about religion!
Yesterday, our topics were the “imperfect” verb tense, the existence of God and the problem of evil (i.e. if God is good, why is there evil in the world), and spiritual warfare and exorcism. Oh, and I think there was some other bit of Spanish grammar in there…
This morning, we began with the passive voice for verb conjugation, a bit of vocabulary, why priests can’t get married, and the seal of the sacrament of reconciliation.
Have I mentioned that I’ve only been speaking Spanish for two weeks now? This is nuts!
And to be honest, it is getting a bit annoying. I mean, I don’t mind evangelizing and all (in fact, I love it), but if I’m paying $175 per week to learn Spanish I’d like to be taught some more Spanish. It seems I’m actually slowing down, not speeding up, as I “progress” in my studies. Something odd there.
And it seems even the teachers are aware of it. I arrived at the break area during our first pause and one of the teachers there said to the other teachers present, “Ah, *our* teacher!” Yes, I guess I am, for some things, and I don’t mind living an “exchange of gifts”. But I want to learn, too!
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The magical town of Taxco
Posted on May 18, 2008
Well, the Internet is 0 for 2 today, as I cannot find a picture of Santa Prisca in Wikipedia. But I am getting ahead of myself.
After the Grutas I had a chance to visit the town of Taxco, which really is magical. You approach the town by a road that stretches along a mountainside. As you get close, you see a town where all the buildings are set into the hillside, gleaming white and overlooking the valley. As you wander around, you discover that it would be impossible to actually make a readable map of the place, as the streets wind everywhere. Shop after shop sells genuine artisanal silver goods, so that each shop window seems to gleam — and then you discover the piece de resistance: Santa Prisca, the church located in the very centre of town.
Words just cannot do this church justice. I have seem some brilliant examples of interior decoration for churches (I think of our own Notre-Dame basilica in Montreal, for example), but this particular temple was just jaw-dropping in terms of its sacred beauty. I almost cried, it was so incredible. The baroque style is very “busy”, but you get the impression you’ve walked into a little bit of heaven (which, in fact, I had, as the mass had just started).
OK, blog readers, I am giving you a task: find me pictures of these places, please! Post the links in the comments boxes, to share with others. I could write a thousand words, but even one picture would be worth more than tens of thousands. Go for it!
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I can truly say I have explored the Underdark
Posted on May 18, 2008
Today I visited what must be one of the most amazing natural locations in the entire world: the Grutas of Cacahuamilpa. I am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that there is no Wikipedia page regarding this site — is it truly incredible.
The Grutas are a cave complex in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The part open to the public is already 2 km long, but what is truly amazing is the height and breadth of the caves: they stretch at least 500 feet across in places (with a similar height) and therefore are simply MASSIVE. You just cannot believe how huge they are until you see them. And the natural “interior decoration” is similarly amazing, with stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, crystal formations, and so on, and of various colours. Wow.
The tour guide was quite a funny character — or at least he seemed to be, based on the laughter of the large tour group I was with. I could not understand most of what he was saying, but to be honest I was not bored — my gaming imagination easily took over, and I could imagine the place as a setting for Tolkein’s Mines of Moria, for example. Honestly, you could easily have fit a small town in some of those caves (to put this in perspective, one of them was converted into a *concert hall*). Truly awesome.
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Chickens and eggs
Posted on May 17, 2008
I am tired because I am fighting off an infection?
Or am I fighting off an infection because I’m tired?
Don’t worry folks, nothing serious, no fever or other major symptoms. I think the chicken I ate in a local restaurant yesterday afternoon is having some fun with me. So I am off to bed early tonight, as I have a big day tomorrow.
And on the study front, it was actually quite a good day! I managed to develop special study lists of key adverbs, prepositions, impersonal pronouns and subordinating conjunctions. These are the “spicy” words that make for real conversation — know these, and genuine communication becomes possible.
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Murder in the rectory
Posted on May 17, 2008
There was a death in the rectory of the parish last night.
The murder was premeditated.
The victim had six legs, long antennae, and answered to the name “cucaracha”.
It was death by shoe, after a brief pursuit.
The perpetrator was able to sleep at night thereafter.
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Karaoke in Mexico
Posted on May 17, 2008
Last night I headed out to a local restaurant with Padre Roberto and his youth group, to say goodbye to one of the young members who is off to Sweden for an engineering stage. First came drinks, then came snacks, and then the dreaded karaoke machine!
Ever since my trip to the Philippines in 2005 I have done my best to avoid karaoke, as I overdosed on it somewhat while there. But there was no getting out of it now. And as you can imagine, the young people just HAD to get their priests on stage.
The end result: Father Roberto and I doing a duet of New York, New York a la Frank Sinatra. Just picture it.
Or better yet, don’t!
And yes, there was an encore: they got me up again for a solo of Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings.
Ah, youth.
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Abortion, contraception, condoms, and in vitro fertilization
Posted on May 15, 2008
My classes run each day from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, and then from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm.
The first part is heavily focused on grammar and vocabulary. Basically, it is your traditional notion of class. The second half, however, is more conversation practice. The teacher and the students talk about one or more subjects of particular interest or concern. So what did we talk about today? Just take a look at the title of this blog article. And yes, all in Spanish.
I think the Holy Spirit is having some fun with me. Most of the time the students (literally) talk about the weather with their teachers, or discuss geographic or historical features of interest from their place of origin. But I am the only student in my class, and I suspect my teacher simply has questions like everybody else out there, and this is her chance to ask a priest.
But man! It is hard enough finding the right words in English to talk about these things! I was mentally exhausted by the end of the class. I am still pooped now. Time for bed, I think.
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Finished book one (UPDATED)
Posted on May 14, 2008
It’s been a few days since I last posted, due mainly to a set of evening thunderstorms leading to a lack of reliable Internet. So I will compress the last 3 days into one post.
Monday I began with a new teacher, Ana-Maria. The school, I have learned, requires students to change teachers every week, so as to expose them to different teaching styles, different ways of speaking, etc. It sounds wise enough, and actually helped me see where I was weak and where I was strong from my first week of lessons. I still have a lot of work to do.
A new student joined our school, from Quebec of all places! We’ve been having fun chatting in French together.
Monday night was supposed to be a lecture on the history of Mexico, but I got invited instead to go see Iron Man. I saw it the night before leaving for Mexico, but that was in English — I thought it might be fun to see it in Spanish. Except it was in English again! So I was a entertained but a bit disappointed at the same time.
Tuesday was a rough day. It started well, with more classes and a chance to chat with a woman from Arkansas who wants to know more about the Catholic faith. I ask my blog readers to pray for her. But it was so hot the night before that I don’t think I got more than a few hours of sleep. Apparently Mexico is in some sort of heat wave (in Guerrero the temperature hit 45 degrees in some places - 113 for my American friends). Here it was only about 36C (or 96F), but it didn’t seem to drop much in the night.
And it wasn’t only the environment that got heated. In the evening I went to another “intercambio” to have a chance to practise chatting with some Mexicans again. I was in a different group this time, and introduced myself with the same typical questions (what is your name, where are you from, what is the climate like there, what do you do, etc.). I am always up front about being a priest, and it always gets a reaction, only this time it was somewhat less friendly. Two or three members of our group were somewhat either anti-clerical or outright anti-Catholic, and whammo! I spent an hour defending the Catholic faith in general and my vocation in particular…in Spanish! Owww, my brain hurt after that! It got heated enough at one point that the Mexicans were arguing with each other, at what was supposed to be a language exchange. No, no insults were hurled, but it is hard to bring nuance to situations when you only have 2 weeks of speaking the language. Yeesh.
As for today, after class I was invited to visit with a family I met last Sunday. They came to pick us up (Father Roberto and I, that is), and we headed to their (very beautiful) home in a neighbourhood a bit further out of town. As it turns out, they have a son who is a student in Canada, at Concordia, and they hope to visit Montreal in the summer. So it looks like I’ll be playing the role of host sometime in the next few weeks.
Finally, in terms of my linguistic progress, my teacher assures me that all is well. We completed the grammar and exercises of book 1 today, and will then be launching into book 2. Again, my strength is grammar, and my achilles heel is vocabulary. I find the school environment a bit artificial, mind you — when I am conversing with actual people I find things are a lot smoother than under the contrived conditions and conversations of an educational textbook.
UPDATE: I wrote the above stuff prior to going out for dinner in the evening. Father Roberto and I were supposed to visit a family, and I was waiting for him when one of the youth of the parish showed up and said he would be taking me. When we got to the family there was no Father Roberto — but there WAS a house full of strangers (at least to me) who spoke only Spanish! Talk about sink or swim! And yet we got along great (including linguistically), kidded around and had a few laughs. Then, the fireworks and marching band music started up…
We headed outside, and a religious process was winding ita way through the streets, including (you guessed it) Father Roberto! The procession was over and hour behind schedule, so after we waved hello we headed back inside for more conversation (as well as some food). Father Roberto joined us a bit later, and we stayed up to 11:30 pm just chatting about everything and nothing.
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Estudiar, estudiar, estudiar…
Posted on May 11, 2008
Apart from watching the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica last night, I’ve been spending most of my free time studying. Vocabulary, conjugations, miscellaneous grammar…whew, it’s a lot! Still, the various resemblances to other languages makes it no too bad - it really is more a question of memorization than anything else, and that should come with practice.
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Happy mother’s day - twice!
Posted on May 11, 2008
Today is Mother’s Day in Canada (the second Sunday of May).
However, in Mexico it was yesterday (it is a fixed date, i.e. May 10).
Hence my dilemma: do I call mom on Saturday? or Sunday?
I decided that when in Mexico, do as the Mexicans do. Among other things, it avoids getting funny looks from people when they ask me if I called my mother and I would have to reply “no”.
As a side note, the pastoral staff here at the parish in Cuernavaca took some time for a lovely midday meal. Among other things, they served…beer! I proudly hoisted my glass and declared “Esta es mi primera cerveza en Mexico!” We had a toast and a good laugh.
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there!
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Weather report
Posted on May 11, 2008
In a word: hot. Really, really hot. Hot like you can’t sleep at night hot.
Check it out: CNN weather report for Cuernavaca (in Celsius).
For my American friends: the same weather report in Fahrenheit.
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Hable con ella
Posted on May 8, 2008
I was back in class today. Walking back home, I realised I am starting to think in Spanish.
The school had organized a conference this evening, on the geography of Mexico, but I was a bit tired so I skipped it. Still, I was not lazy! I watched a Spanish-language film called Hable con ella (in English: Talk to Her).
Conclusion about the film: At times sweet, at times sad, at times just plain weird. Like the bit about the bullfighter woman. You have to see it to understand it.
Conclusion about my Spanish: People speak too fast in film for me to understand much, and given the weird stuff it was even harder.
Oh, I’m getting called to supper! Hasta luego!
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Contemplating the Tilma
Posted on May 7, 2008
I took a break from school today to make a special trip. The diocese of Cuernavaca was doing a special pilgrimmage to the famous shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and I was invited to go along. It promised to be a chance to meet the entire clergy of the diocese, including the bishop, and to join with them in prayer and devotion. I just couldn’t miss it.
But first, I had to get up in the morning…
I travelled with Padre Roberto, as well as Arturo, one of the parish youth. We left at 6:30 am to try and avoid the worst of the Mexico City traffic. The highway was great, very smooth sailing, but Mexico City itself gradually became more and more packed with cars. We got to the Basilica early, though, so it gave us a chance to eat some breakfast. I’m trying my best to really immerse myself in the Mexican way of doing things, but I have to admit those Froot Loops looked tempting… Still, I stuck with the chilaquiles.
Mass started a little after 10:00 am, and went to well past 12:00 noon. I had a spot at the very back of the sanctuary, but there were so many people I wound up sitting on the floor with some brother priests, deacons, and seminarians. Unfortunately the acoustics weren’t the greatest there, so I could not hear the bishop’s homily very clearly, meaning that I actually caught very little of it. Still, there was one major redeeming feature to my location: I was very close to the tilma. So, as my mind sometimes wandered, my eyes kept being drawn back to look at this amazing image.
We took a bit of time for shopping afterwards, and I used the occasion to buy a whole bunch of (what else?) religious books, more specifically Spanish-language liturgy books, so that when I get home I can baptise, do weddings and funerals and baptisms, and anoint people, all in Spanish. Having the books is one thing, though — having the language is quite another, so I was looking forward to getting home to attend my second intercambio.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. Padre Roberto says that maybe it was the altitude of Mexico City, or maybe the constant start-stop traffic, but I wound up with a terribly fatiguing headache by mid-afternoon. We stopped for the mid-meal and I just couldn’t look at food. Personally, I think it was the pollution: Mexico City is very pretty to look at, with many amazing monuments, but the air is just GROSS. I swear you can taste it. As soon as we got a bit higher, above the pollution line, I leaned back and promptly fell asleep in the car. I only woke up when we got back home.
“Home.” Yes, it is starting to feel like that here. It is amazing how quickly we develop routines and comfort zones, and this parish is one for me now, along with the school. And so far, there has been one other place that also felt like home: standing in front of the tilma, just after receiving communion, in the basilica of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. It’s a simple truth: wherever our Mother is, is home.
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Evening intercambio
Posted on May 6, 2008
This evening I headed back to the language school to participate in an “intercambio”. This is where local Mexicans who are interested in improving their English get paired up with students from the school who then have a chance to practice Spanish. Except it didn’t quite work out that way…
First of all, there are a LOT more Mexicans who want to practice English than there are students in the school (at least at present). So I wound up at a table with Marielle, Mario, Marianna, and Anna (I am not making that up). After about 45 minutes, another 4 people joined our table — all Mexicans — so I was a bit, shall we say, outnumbered? So we made up our own rules for the intercambio.
Officially, the time together is divided into a Spanish-only first hour, and an English-only second hour. We decided to do it a bit differently: if they asked me a question they had to do it in English and I would answer only in Spanish, and if I asked a question I would do it in either English or Spanish (depending on my comfort level) and they would answer only in English. Yes, this means more English was spoken than Spanish, but given that I have less than a week’s worth of that lovely language it seemed more workable.
And it was more than workable: it was fun! And the system we developed was also well adapted to another reality, namely that I was going to leave early. It gets dark a bit earlier here than back in Montreal, and I have a 35-40 minute walk to get home. I love Cuernavaca, but even the local residents said it was a good idea to get back before the sun fully set, and I see no reason to force my guardian angel to work overtime. Once my Spanish is a bit better I’ll start to take taxis home, but until then I’ll settle for 1.5 hours instead of 2 for my “language exchange”.
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First day of school, and I am pooped
Posted on May 5, 2008
I had my first day of class today. First, the good news: I am breezing through the grammar, again thanks to my previous experience of Romance languages. The director of the school asked me how much Spanish I had done before and I said “None.” Then, after a brief test (the result of which is that they put me at a more advanced initial level) he asked me again, and I replied “Well, I have been here since Friday.” He stopped asking after that.
One of the effects of being at this more advanced initial level, mind you, is that my brain is working overtime. Like I said, the grammar is easy, but my vocabulary just sucks. I have lots to work on.
Still, the mental fatigue is somewhat compensated by the physical fatigue. I discovered today that the school is a 35 minute walk from where I am staying. That is not so bad, and in fact it kind of helps, because a bit of exercise is good to burn off mental tension. I have to make the trip twice per day (classes are from 9 am to 2 pm, and then from 6 pm to 8 pm), so with this total of over 2 hours walking per day I am also hoping to burn off some of my (ahem) spare tire as well. Although I found this to be a strange schedule at first, now that I have lived it I have discovered the immense wisdom of “la siesta”.
Hasta mañana!
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