Post for January 23, 2010
It is presently Saturday, a little before 2 pm. I’m now on my 5th day here. I made a decision before coming here to not start Spanish lessons before spending one week here, so as to be able to “refresh” what I already had. After all, why pay a school to teach me things I already know? This, it turns out, was a wise move, for two reasons.
First of all, my Spanish has really roared back. Not that it was all that great to begin with, but I honestly find I do speak with more confidence, almost without having to think about it first, than when I left. I went out for a movie last night with some friends from my former Mexican trip, and they remarked on it as well.
The second reason has to be with my personal state. Frankly, I was a lot more tired than I thought. I was originally planning to do a lot of self-study, purchasing books and audio resources to that end, but I’ve found myself sleeping a lot instead. A *lot*. I feel a bit awkward about that — those who know me know I like to “get stuff done” — but on the other hand I guess I needed it. And I’ve found that the little I’ve studied I’ve been able to put into practice right away, which is awesome.
I have been out checking on schools, and I found one (called IDEAL) that actually has had a long-running partnership with Quebec (and more specifically, the Prêtres des missions étrangères). I find I feel at home there, even if it does stretch my budget a bit more than I expected. And, of course, there are other ways in which I feel at home no matter what, such as during the Eucharist. Wherever Christ is, is home.
Yeah, there are annoyances, which I will describe in order of importance. The most serious is a lack of general security: more than one person has told me to “watch my back” because I am an obvious gringo that robbers will assume has money. I take this seriously, because the Cuernavaca of today is not the one I knew two years ago, with drug lords now taking over the local crime scene (I even saw masked military police with BIG guns providing security at one point). A second annoyance, less serious, is the general environment of noise and air pollution, which constantly invades the senses, although to be honest it is roughly comparable to my living environment in downtown Montreal (especially when the Canadians win a game at home). Finally, on a more personal note, I walked too much a couple of days in, making my sandals start to fall apart and giving me a blister that just won’t heal. Very annoying, especially that I’m largely on foot: new sandals I can buy, but the foot not so much. Like I said, an annoyance.
I will mention one final thing about this trip, one that overwhelms everything else: the tremendous generosity of Father Roberto Dirzo, my host. He first accepted to welcome me when I visited two years ago, on the simple recommendation of a friend, and hosted me for 4 weeks. This time, when he heard I was coming, he offered that I stay with him again. He has been unfailingly hospitable and charitable, giving of himself to put up with my broken Spanish and general discombobulation. This is even more remarkable given that he is the pastor of the poorest parish in the city, and a busy one at that. He has shared with me some of his dreams for this place, and if I can find a way to help him, even financially, when I am back home, I will.
God bless from Mexico!
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Post for January 17, 2010
Hello friends, I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but it has been part of a personal choice of mine for the past couple of months. Still, I wanted to let readers know that I’m still alive 
and will be away for three weeks starting tomorrow: I am returning to Cuernavaca to continue by study of Spanish. Talk to you when I get back on February 8th!
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Post for November 17, 2009
I got word Saturday evening that Fr. Don Lowe passed away earlier that day of a heart attack. His parishioners showed up for the Saturday evening mass and the doors were locked. When someone came with a key and they opened up the rectory, they found him dead. What an awful shock that must have been. I’ll post more details as I get them.
UPDATE: I just got word that Fr. Lowe’s funeral will be on Friday, November 20 @ 2:00 p.m., at Holy Family church in Deux-Montagnes. Visitation will be the previous evening (Thursday, November 19) from 7 to 9, and the next morning (the Friday) from 9 to noon (i.e. it finishes 2 hours before the funeral itself).
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Post for November 8, 2009
Hmmm… MoPress had issues, mainly due to it not working properly with my Bluetooth keyboard. But now I’m trying Wordmobi, which seems to work really well.
Posted by Wordmobi
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Post for November 8, 2009
One thing I’ve been trying to get my phone to do for some time is write decent blog posts, thereby freeing me from my slavery to my regular PC. Well, I managed to find a neat little tool called MoPress, a Java tool that I installed on my phone that acts as an XML-RPC client. It isn’t perfect but it seems to be doing the trick. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to blog more frequently!
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Post for October 18, 2009
I’ve been having some major computer problems the past couple of weeks.
It started with a virus that installed a tiny FTP program that tried to install a rootkit. Nasty stuff, if it had succeeded I would have had my PC completely taken over by hackers.
To get rid of it completely, I had to wipe my hard drive using a rather drastic tool called Boot and Nuke. Then, a complete Windows XP reinstall, which took some time. Now I’m installing tools.
Unfortunately, I misconfigured one tool I installed and now my entire Hotmail inbox is gone. POOF! Yes, I am very annoyed. I’ll have to work from a backup file on my hard drive. If you’ve been waiting for an email response from me for something, I regret to inform you it may take some time…
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Post for October 14, 2009
A journalism student wants to do a class project on religion and blogging, and I am being interviewed for that purpose. However, she would also like to interview a couple of my blog readers (I guess to get the end-user point of view).
I’m posting this to ask for volunteers. Send me your name + contact info, and I’ll send a collated set to the student. She can then get in touch with you directly.
Many thanks!
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Post for September 29, 2009
Given the very busy weekend I had I took it easy today (everybody needs a day off a some point). Still, there was one invitation I could not resist: this evening I spent some time with a group of Salesian Cooperators (sort of a third order for the Salesian family of religious organizations). We spent the evening discussing the latest Papal encyclical Caritatis in Veritate. I gave the main presentation, which in many ways didn’t involve the encyclical so much as giving a general background on Catholic social teaching so that people could read the encyclical on their own. I hope it was helpful to people.
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Post for September 24, 2009
…and it isn’t here yet. Why? Because video is HARD!!!
I had dinner over at the home of a former student this evening (September 24) — his wife cooked a delicious meal, and his daughter was just a delight. As a gift he gave me a DVD of a pontifical mass in the Syriac Catholic tradition, and I worked and worked trying to get it ready for YouTube to share with you, the readers of this blog.
What I didn’t realise was how long it would take to render the video. HOURS of processing time. And wow, the software is really complex too, especially when (like me) you don’t really know what you are doing. NTSC vs PAL with frame rates and LAME audio encoding at 44.1 vs. 48 and what the heck does this button do and oh no I think I screwed up a default setting and 24 hours later the image is all squished…
And to do it all over again might very well mean another 24 hours wait…trial and error at this pace is very frustrating…
So, no video just yet. It’ll get there, it’ll get there.
Many thanks again to Elias for the delicious meal and delightful company!
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Post for September 14, 2009
I got up early today to head to Trois-Rivières, for a meeting of a special commission of the Assembly of Quebec Bishops that was to discuss the question of the Catholic presence in the health care system. I was a bit bummed that I had to go on my day off, but I had promised a colleague I would go in her place as she would be on vacation. Besides, having been a hospital chaplain I really believe in the importance of this part of the Church’s mission, so I wanted to make sure someone would be there.
On my way I called in to our department secretary for something from my car, and when I mentioned where I was going she asked me if I was travelling with our departmental director. “Umm, no…” I answered, “is he going too?”
“Sure,” she replied, “he’s sharing a ride with the Vicar General.”
So let me get this straight, I thought to myself, both the vicar general and an auxiliary bishop are already headed there, and I’m going because…?
Now I’m quite sure no one will ever accuse me of having a poor sense of self-esteem (ahem), but I like to think I’m not so self-important that I think I needed to be there to back up the two most senior clerics of the Archdiocese (after the Cardinal himself, of course). So I turned the car around, and headed back to Montreal. And as the Lord often does, he turned lemons into lemonade: a classmate of mine from seminary had his parish nearby, so I dropped in to visit him at his rectory in L’Assomption. It was a very nice visit, and since he’s really out in the boonies of our diocese he doesn’t get too many, so we both enjoyed ourseslves.
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Post for August 21, 2009
Since I’ve posted my offer to celebrate mass for specific intentions, I’ve had 44 different intention requests. For (almost) each one of them I send a “mass card” in PDF format and an mp3 file (usually of the Eucharistic prayer where the name is mentioned). Thus far the reaction has been very positive, and I in turn am grateful for those making requests, as it helps me keep in touch with the core element of my priesthood.
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Post for June 20, 2009
Title says it all.
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Post for June 19, 2009
Today marks the start of the Year for Priests, and here in the diocese of Montreal we started with a bang: the ordination to the priesthood of our brother Michael Leclerc. Congrats, Father Michael!
Since I work in the Archdiocesan curia, I sometimes have access to special materials. Here is the text of the homily delivered by Cardinal Turcotte this evening:
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today is a very important day in our Church – and this, for three special reasons.
Throughout the world, we are celebrating the annual feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a day which is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.
Also throughout the world, we are beginning a special time that Pope Benedict has designated the “year of the priest”, in honour of the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint Jean Vianney, the curé d’Ars.
Finally, we are gathered in this basilica tonight for a very special event: the ordination of our brother Michael Leclerc to the priesthood.
It is clear to me that these reasons for today being special are all connected. We are not celebrating three realities, but one: the priesthood of Christ, which tonight will find itself renewed in the Church precisely through the ordination of our brother Michael.
Michael, I know you have been preparing for this day for many years now. You first began reflecting on your vocation as a man of faith in the world, working in business. By your ordination as a deacon, you became in reality what your family name already claimed for you: you became “the cleric”, “le clerc”, a man of faith not just IN the world, but FOR the world. And tonight, this grace of ordination in you will be deepened so that you may become a priest of the Church and of Christ.
It is true, the Church needs priests. But more than that, it needs good priests –this is the great grace we ask of the Lord for you, Michael. But how can a man not just be a priest, but a good priest? How can he live on the outside the reality he has already received on the inside?
In the reading we had from the book of Hosea, we see one important sign. God is frustrated with his people as they turn away from him, and he acknowledges that it would be easy to act with anger. But God then declares that He is the Holy One in our midst: he refrains from wrath, and instead shows instead patience and compassion. If we are to be holy ourselves, as God is holy, we too must regularly work to become warm and tender for our people.
Michael, I have heard that you are a man of compassion, and I am glad to know this. Let me then offer you some fatherly advice: if one morning you get out of bed feeling mean, knowing you might be nasty with the people of God, then I give you permission to go back to bed! I say this jokingly, but also seriously. God explained to the prophet how he had led the people with “cords of human kindness, with bands of love”. We must do no less for our people.
A priest is a man of compassion, but also be a man of courage and hope. It is not always easy to be a Christian in our world; it is not always easy to be a priest. But Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, reminds us that our work is done in the context of a greater plan for the whole world. Difficulties and challenges will always be with us, but even they can be sources of glory. For this to happen, though, we must be people of prayer.
Michael, you must be a man of prayer. Saint Paul says how he regularly “falls to his knees before the Father”, and that through this he receives the inner strength of the Spirit. Without prayer, without that living contact with God, anxiety and despair are not far behind. Michael, be faithful to your prayer life, so as to help us be true to our own lives of faith.
At the heart of this life of prayer will be the sacraments, which you, Michael, will celebrate for the people of God in a special way. In the Gospel passage we have the image of water and blood pouring out from the body of Christ. Our Catholic tradition sees in this image the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, pouring out of the body of Christ that is the Church.
As a deacon you have already celebrated baptisms, but as a priest you will be able to help people renew their baptism through the sacrament of Reconciliation. You will also become a living agent of communion in the Church of Jesus, by presiding the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is given to priests as a sacred trust for the sake of the people of God. As I have said at other gatherings, if there is no Eucharist there is no Church, and if there are no priests there is no Eucharist. Fidelity to this sacramental mission by priests is therefore essential for Christ’s plan of love to become real in our world. It is at the heart of being a good priest.
In describing your calling in this way, Michael, we can see that this vocation is beyond our simple human capacities. But I have learned over the years that we are never alone. I have learned, for example, that the people of God really WANT to love their priests, and that they find joy in praying for us and encouraging us.
My brothers and sisters, if you are here tonight, it is because on some level you believe in the potential of the priesthood and you want to be part of that love and support. For this, I thank you, and I ask you in a special way to carry Michael’s vocation in your heart, and along with it the vocations of all the priests of the Church.
Michael, you are entering into a vocation with many challenges, but by the providence of God you are doing so at the start of a year universally dedicated to the success of your ministry. What a special gift this is from the Lord for you! Indeed, what a special gift this is for all of us as Christian men and women!
This special Year for Priests, which starts today, is not meant to be an occasion to put our priests in a pedestal – and to be honest, we don’t need that. Rather, it is meant to encourage priests to strive for spiritual perfection. Priests remain human beings, with strengths and weaknesses. But like any other person, we priests can always grow more fully in the grace we have received. You, the People of God, are the reason God has called us to be priests; you are the reason we answered that call. May this Year for Priests be an occasion for all the Church of God, priests or not, to celebrate the fidelity of Christ and the mutual love of his disciples.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
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Post for June 14, 2009
This afternoon I took part in an ecumenical pilgrimage to Saint James Anglican church in Stanbridge East, organized by the Order of Saint Lazarus. As you can see from the photo, it is really a lovely little church (seats about 40, maybe). The Knights and Dames of the Order were in full regalia for the Anglican liturgy, while I was merely in choir dress. Still, I don’t dress up in cassock and surplice too often, so I’m sure it was quite a sight!
After the liturgy we were invited to the rector’s home for tea, sandwiches, and pleasant conversation. Many thanks to the Reverend Canon William Blizzard for his warm hospitality, and especially for the way he presides liturgy — as I told him after the service, he just lit up in his role as presider.
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Post for April 12, 2009
Hello my blog-reading friends, now that Holy Week is over and we are into Easter week I felt it appropriate to get back to the blog and wish all of you the best of this season. I personally love the Easter Octave (i.e. the week after Easter Sunday) and like to treat it like a week-long festival of grace. So treat yourselves! This is the week of our greatest joy!
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
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Post for April 1, 2009
This week my students and I examined the question of how God acts outside himself. The audio is now posted:
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Post for March 20, 2009
Some time ago Eric, a faithful reader, posted this comment:
I used your beatitude homily in class (with proper citation, hopefully traffic picks up! But I have to say…all my greek students said ‘makarios’ translates as ‘death’ or something close to it. They asked all their relatives from the ‘old country’ as well…unanimous on the ‘death’ translation.
Funny thing: one of my parishioners, a young woman, told me that her religion teacher (named Eric) handed out info on the Beatitudes, and to her surprise my name was on it…she was very proud. Way to go!
Now regarding the question of makarios = death, I looked it up in both my dictionary of koine Greek and my dictionary of modern Greek. Both agree that “makarios” = “blessed”. (Try it for yourself on this on-line dictionary.) I did notice in my dictionary that there is a similar word that means “deadly”, but it is not the *same* word.
Eric, if your students can enlighten us on this, I’d be much obliged.
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Post for February 27, 2009
Yesterday was gorgeous. We started early, with mass at the church of the Holy Sepulchre at 5:30 am, and then after returning for breakfeast we set out for the summit of the Mount of Olives, to visit the shrine of the Ascension. From there we descended to get a beautiful view of the old city of Jerusalem — the classic view, with the Dome of the Rock gleaming in the light. We descended further through a Jewish cemetary to the church that commemorates Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse as he lamented over Jerusalem. Then, we crossed the Kedron valley, passing Absalom’s tomb, and climbed up into Jerusalem proper.
It must have been a special day for field trips, because the streets were loaded with kids. Security was tight, especially to where we were going: the Temple Mount, home of the Al-aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Once up there, though, I must confess I was very moved. It was wonderfully peaceful and tranquil. Mothers walked with their children, elderly men sat on prayer mats and studied the Quran, and I even wound up helping an arab family fix their digital camera (the menus were all in English, which they couldn’t read). I’m hoping my pictures will turn out.
Today, however, was another story. It rained. It POURED. So we all got soaked, in part because we had to walk and walk and walk. Israeli security, it turns out, closed off most access points into the old city, to prevent large crowed from getting to (you guessed it) the Temple Mount. Friday, of course, is the Muslim prayer day, and the soldiers (again with very big guns) were worried about possible riots. What might spark such a riot, you might ask? Well, as it turns out, tomorrow 80 Palestinian homes are slated for demolition to make way for a park, just outside the wall of the old city. So things were a little tense.
But nothing can stop the power of tourism! We had mass in the grotto of the Mount of Olives right next to the Garden of Gethsemene, where Jesus would have spent the night while visiting Jerusalem. Then, after some rain-soaked hiking, we saw the Cenacle (the so-called Upper Room) where Jesus held the last supper and where the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples. Of course, the original building has since been long demolished, but tradition holds that this was the place (and there are no competing locations!) Finally, we went to visit a church dedicated to the Dormition of Mary, as well as the church built over the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest when Jesus was arrested and crucified. Was this really his house? Actually, it made sense, thanks to excavations which were recently done which made discoveries corresponding to ancient traditions about the house (e.g. the house being built over grottos, with multiple mikveh purification baths outside, and remnants of an ancient road that led directly to the Temple Mount of the old city).
Tomorrow: the Via Dolorosa.
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Post for February 26, 2009
Hello friends, I’m afraid the hotel where we are staying is having connectivity problems. The internet connection keeps cutting out, so I’ll have to try and post again later (I’m writing this from a cell phone, believe it or not).
In brief, here are today’s highlights: early mass at the Holy Sepulchre; walking on the Mount of Olives; seeing the Dome of the Rock up close on the Temple Mount. A full day!
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Post for February 25, 2009
We visited Bethlehem today. It wasn’t easy: the city is located in Palestinian territory, so we needed to bring our passports and we were even refused entry at the first checkpoint. It was just harassment, pure and simple, as we just proceeded to another entrance where there wasn’t even any security.
While the holy sites were impressive, what was even more impressive was the Wall. Israel erected a wall that cuts through the occupied territories, cutting the people of Bethlehem off from much of their lands. You really get the impression you are in a bad Kurt Russel film (where is Snake Plissken when you need him?)
Vespers is about to start so I have to go. More on this later.
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Post for February 25, 2009
I’ve deactivated an anti-spam plug-in, because it was preventing me from logging in to write posts. This means there might be some spam comments popping up over the next few days. Hopefully none will be too salacious. Sorry in advance.
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Post for February 25, 2009
I’m checking the blog from a PC in the hotel, and it looks terrible: the yellow column starts only after all the white blocks on the right hand side. Thing is, this wasn’t how it looked on my PC at home, so I was wondering: is this what the rest of you are seeing?
Do the yellow text blocks start at the right spot, i.e. right under the boat graphic?
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Post for February 16, 2009
One thing I haven’t mentioned yet on the blog: I leave for Israel on Wednesday for 12 days. Any prayer requests while I am gone?
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Post for February 11, 2009
Having a blog is like having a garden: leave it untended long enough, and it needs weeding. I spent part of yesterday cleaning up things like my blogroll (half the blogs listed were out of commission). Also, I learned how to add a second widget bar, so now the “search box” is found at the top.
But I’m realising that it is about more than just having a tidy blog. I find that I actually *like* the appearance of this blog now, and it makes me want to come back to it. Coming back to it makes me want to write on it. And writing on it makes it come alive again. Kinda like that garden: once cleaned up, you want to start planting.
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Post for February 9, 2009
I was chatting with a former seminary professor of mine today, and we got on to the topic of pastoral practices in Quebec related to sin and the forgiveness of sins. He was of the opinion that one of the major reasons that many brother priests don’t hear confessions anymore is because they don’t want to have to pronounce themselves on moral issues. For myself, I think a major reason is a faulty soteriology (theology of salvation).
Simply put, Christian universalism is on the rise, especially in Quebec, in which people basically believe that everyone is saved no matter what (i.e. Hell is a merely theoretical reality). In this view, what we do here on Earth matters, but only to those here on Earth; individual sin is only problematic in terms of the negative social structures it produces; and confession is essentially a form of therapy.
Now it may be that the faulty soteriology is in place because people don’t want to hear confessions, and not the other way around. After all, self-justification through fancy theories does occur from time to time. But since the theology of salvation is THE theology that drives all others, at least in terms of developing a pastoral approach, we do need to get a grip on it.
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Post for February 8, 2009
May, 2005. The sun rising over the Philippine Sea. As for the boat, we went whale watching in it. Didn’t see any whales, but the sunrise alone was worth it.
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Post for February 6, 2009
I’ve changed the harsh green background for a softer background graphic, as well as centred the blocks of text. Personally, I think it looks much better. Next step: getting a banner picture.
UPDATE: Well, a banner picture is in, but I think I’ll replace it once I find a picture that is currently stashed in my archives. The graphics for the categories are also coming along, although I find I am spending a lot of time cleaning up the posts in said categories.
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Post for February 2, 2009
…but at least comments are working now. Don’t let the small size of the article boxes worry you – that is my test for visualisation on a QVGA screen (like what you get on a Blackberry). I’ll have it back to a normal size soon.
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Post for January 29, 2009
…but I’m working on it. I’m sick of the old visual theme I was running – it didn’t feel like *me*. I’m trying to design a new one that will work with any screen resolution, including handheld devices. Stay tuned.
P.S. Yes, I know comments aren’t working yet. aarrgghh!!!
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Post for October 14, 2008
Jimmy, I got the email you sent me through the web form. Unfortunately your email is not associated with it, so I can’t reply to you. Here’s hoping you see this and can try again.
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Post for September 30, 2008
I hesitate to write posts about supposedly political matters occurring in other countries. The current economic crisis facing the United States, however, is simply too important to let pass by. Unbelievably, the bailout package was rejected by the US House of Representatives yesterday. Reading the blogs, I get the impression it was rejected by lawmakers because of political fears regarding re-election. Simply put, ordinary voters were widely opposed to the bailout.
So now the US economy, and by extension the economy of the world, teeters on the edge.
I am not kidding.
The problem, I think, is that it has not really been explained to people why this situation is so dangerous. And so, while this post probably can’t do much to help, I still think it is my duty to try and communicate the nature of the problem in the simplest possible terms, to do my bit to help a consensus emerge.
The origins of this economic problem come from institutions making bad loans. To be honest, this happens all the time – every loan is a bit of a crap shoot, after all – and the economy is normally able to absorb bad debt and deal with it as a matter of course. Imagine a scenario where you are seated in a chair and somebody is tossing small marbles one by one at your head. You feel them as they bounce off, but they don’t really hurt you. The person could toss a thousand marbles at you, and it wouldn’t make a huge difference.
But what if those marbles were instead tossed at your head all at the same time? Imagine being hit in the head by a bag of a thousand marbles. At the least, it will give you a concussion or knock you unconscious. It might even crush your skull.
My friends, to put this in the simplest possible terms, each of those bad loans was like a marble. The marbles were packaged together in instruments called “asset-backed commercial paper”. And now the great big bag is being tossed at the head of Uncle Sam. It hasn’t hit yet, but nothing can stop its flight – NOTHING. The bailout package that failed was the equivalent of the USA trying to put on a helmet in time, to mitigate the impact. Congress failed to approve it, or something like it, because people were shouting “it’s only marbles!” Yes, it was only some bad home mortgage loans. And they are now poised to crush the skull of the US economy.
Yes, the origin of this crisis comes from bad loans, but the reason for the severity of this crisis is that all these loans are coming apart at the same time. The sudden collapse of a huge mountain of debt is causing a shrinking of the money supply, otherwise known as a “liquidity crisis”. Let me explain this idea of a money supply a bit more.
We live in a money economy, not a barter economy. In other words, we don’t trade real goods for real goods. Instead, we use a virtual good, called money, as a medium of exchange. Money, in itself, has no intrinsic value. If you were on a deserted island and had a choice between a dollar and an apple, you’d pick the apple. Money has value only because we, as a society, say it does.
We use money as a medium of exchange because it simplifies transactions. This simplification provides value to the economy, and everyone benefits as a result. Money, however, is subject to a particular danger that real goods are not: the problem of counterfeiting. This is why, for most of human history, we’ve actually used metals like gold and silver as the basis of our monetary system. Metal coins are hard to counterfeit, especially when you know how much they are supposed to weigh.
The problem with using metal, however, is that the size of the money supply depends on how much metal has literally been dug out of the ground. Sudden discoveries of new deposits can boost the money supply, like what happened in the Gold Rush period, but all that new money injected into the economy is usually accompanied by a sudden rise in inflation. It is great to have all that new money, but the economy can’t swallow it all at once, so it starts to choke.
The switch to paper money was the next logical step. At first, paper bills were really just coupons which could be exchanged for metal coins. What happened, however, is that people started exchanging the paper bills with each other instead of the coins, knowing the coins were “backing” the paper in a vault somewhere. Eventually the government mandated that stores and other vendors HAD to accept the paper instead of the precious metals if it was offered – the paper became “legal tender”. Thanks to this, the use of precious metals as currency dropped dramatically and basically became limited to certain specialized transactions between the central banks that issued the paper currencies.
We learned a few hard lessons with paper currency, however. Just as too much gold at once can cause a gold rush with its accompanying inflation, too much paper at once can create inflationary scenarios that can ruin an economy. How many times have we heard of countries experiencing hyper-inflation, with people carrying around wheelbarrows full of paper money? Flooding the market with more money should, in theory, encourage people to produce more to earn that money, but if this increase in money supply is exaggerated people will just take the easy way out and raise the price of the goods and services they are already producing anyway. Money, after all, doesn’t have any intrinsic value of its own.
The reverse situation is also true: the money supply can shrink, bringing with it the opposite scenario known as deflation. Prices drop, which sounds good, but so do wages. Because of this, as bad as inflation can be for an economy, deflation is far, far worse. Remember these simple equations:
- A collapse in the money suppley = deflation.
- Deflation = unemployment.
Why does deflation lead to unemployment? Quite frankly, it is because of human psychology. The same $100 can be used to buy things from any store in the mall: it can be converted to groceries, clothes, video games, whatever. Money has value because it gives us the power to acquire, and so we naturally want more of it. What we forget, however, is that money only has relative value.
In an inflationary scenario, where prices rise (say) 5%, a company can raise wages for every employee by 5% to compensate. No one minds this. Imagine, however, a deflationary scenario, where prices drop 5%. The same company now needs to lower its cost of wages by 5%. It can do so by one of two ways: it could lower wages by 5% across the board, or it can lay off 5% of its workers. Which of the two will it do? Or, more to the point, which of these two scenarios will the workers themselves accept? In theory, the employees should not mind the 5% wage drop, because after all prices also dropped by 5%. In practice, however, companies hardly ever implement across-the-board wage cuts, in large part because employees themselves will not accept them. It is easier to lay people off. Deflation leads to unemployment. The bigger the collapse of the money supply, the worse it gets.
But even worse, deflation is also a phenomenon that feeds on itself. Consider a typical bank deposit: you deposit $100 now, and with a promise to receive (say) $105 a year from now: a 5% return. If inflation suddenly rises, rates of return on new loans have to rise to keep pace, or else people will stop investing: after all, who would invest for a 5% return if inflation is running at 15%? Interest rates therefore match inflation rates, plus a little bit. But now consider interest rates in a deflationary scenario: inflation is actually NEGATIVE, and if it is negative by enough the bank can’t offer a positive rate of return at all. If inflation is running at 15% (very high) you might still invest if the promised rate of return was 20%. But if inflation was running at -15% (i.e. deflation), would you still invest in a bank if the promised rate of return was -10%? Of course not. You’d take your money out of the bank and stuff it in your mattress, awaiting the day when interest rates became positive again. In doing so, however, you are taking your money (literally) out of the money supply, thus making the problem worse. That bank now has less money to lend, and with less money circulating in the system due to deflation, the virtuous cycle of borrowing and lending for investment in our future grinds to a halt. Bye bye economy.
What happens in the real world, therefore, is that central banks are constantly monitoring and managing the overall money supply to keep inflation from running away while at the same time avoiding deflation. This has been the money supply goal of the post-Depression, post-World War II bargain of the liberal democracies. Deflationary scenarios, as well as excessive inflationary scenarios, can only really be managed by authoritarian regimes, who avoid civil unrest simply by curtailing people’s rights by fiat. It should be no surprise then, too, that people living these scenarios are either ruled by dictators, or tend to turn to dictators for salvation.
My friends, the USA is facing a massive collapse of its money supply. The collapse of stocks on Wall Street is not really the problem, but is instead a symptom is a greater problem. You see, because stocks are traded very freely, their prices can inflate or deflate quickly and easily. But Wall Street acts like a thermometer for the temperature of the economy: a collapse in world stock prices must eventually be followed by a collapse in the prices of other real goods, and eventually a collapse in wages. It is like ripples in a pond. Who exactly will lose their job, and how long it will take to lose it, we cannot say. But we should not imagine it won’t happen, and the consequences will affect us all.
This is why the $700-billion bailout package was (and still is) necessary. The package will have the effect of injecting a huge amount of money into the money supply, thereby staving off the deflationary scenario. This extra money will act like “grease” in the “motor” of the economy, giving banks and other financial institutions time to reorganize their portfolios. Again, it is like the marbles. The banks will still get hit in the head by the marbles, but those marbles will at least be spread over time rather than coming in all at once. The financial system will be stung but at least will survive.
Let me add that this $700 billion package is only a temporary measure. Once things stabilize, the $700 billion will need to come back out of the economy, or else massive inflation can start. It will get paid back, and probably with a decent rate of return to boot. If I had $700 billion handy, I’d invest it in this way.
The bottom line, my American friends, is this: you cannot afford to be overly individualistic. I know you pride yourselves on the virtue of self-reliance, but when it comes to the monetary system this simply isn’t possible. You may have lots of dollars in your bank account or even in your mattress, but those dollars only have value because you are part of a greater society that says they do. Like it or not, this problem has been thrust upon you and you are part of it. It isn’t just about homeowners in Florida. It isn’t just about fat cats on Wall Street. It’s about the interest rate on your home mortgage starting to spike. It’s about your pension fund or your annuity drying up. It’s about your company having to lay people off. It’s about your life saving losing value.
Like it or not, its about you, the average individual American. Be angry if you want at the poor decisions others have made in the past. I understand how, in a culture that prides itself on self-reliance, the orientation is strong to not let others “off the hook”. I understand the importance of letting them suffer the consequences of those choices. Their suffering, however, will also become yours, because we are all connected by the financial and monetary system. It will become the suffering of every person who uses US dollars as a medium of exchange, which is just about everybody.
The bailout package is not designed the prevent the pain, just to keep it from spreading to the innocent.
It isn’t “them” that you are being asked to rescue. Ultimately, it is yourselves.
POSTSCRIPT:
As a Canadian, I know we will not be as badly affected up in the Great White North. We have our own currency, our national debt is shrinking (not growing), and our financial system is one of the best managed in the entire world. While we depend a lot of trade with the United States, the fact that we produce oil and other natural resources that places like China require means we will suffer somewhat less. But I believe the USA has been and can still be a force for good in this world, and I do not want to see the collapse of the only superpower that is not a dictatorship. At the close of World War II, the USA had a massive economy geared to military production, troops around the world, and the atomic bomb. It was the first nation in history that had the power to truly conquer the entire world, and it chose not to. Show me another historical empire that made the same choice. I bet you can’t, and it is a testimony to the kinds of values that are at the heart of the American experience.
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Post for September 25, 2008
I spoke with Sister Reine Driscoll of the parish of Saint Augustine yesterday, and confirmed that I’ll be going once again to her small community up north to celebrate Christmas mass. The parish is a small fishing village near Labrador, which can only be accessed by plane or boat. I’ll be leaving December 22 and coming back December 28 (the only flight times available).
The last time I went I found my stay to be a wonderful chance to reconnect with meat-and-potatoes ministry. The people had not had a priest for months, so it was back to basics: mass; confessions; visits to the sick; a trip across the river to the Indian reserve; and so on. So I am looking forward to it. Yes, I will miss Christmas with my family (or at least it will be delayed a bit), but I called my parents yesterday to speak with them about it and they encouraged me to go. As I told them, I have a hard time saying no for Christmas to a community that only gets the Eucharist every 6 months (or thereabouts).
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Post for September 25, 2008
Hello friends! It has been a while since I posted here. The blog was recently migrated to a new server, which brought with it some problems, so I had to fix those. After the migration things got super-busy at work (I even had a 16-hour work day last week), so all things Internet had to take a back seat. Things shall likely continue to be insane until Canadian Thanksgiving (October 10-11-12), but I’ll try and at least post the occasional snippet here and there, as I have actually gotten a couple of messages from readers wondering if I’m ok! That is so kind, thank you for thinking of me! Yes, things are well, it is simply that I have a number of projects that are coming to fruition at the same time.
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Post for August 15, 2008
A recent set of upgrades to the Adventus blog, as well as this one, went a little haywire recently. It took some time to get things back on track. But as of this morning, everything seems a go! I’ve obviously got some catching up to do, but I hope to get a lot of that done over the weekend.
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Post for July 26, 2008
Sorry for not posting for the past few weeks, I’ve had a LOT on my plate. I’ve got a wedding to do today, but I’ll try and catch up otherwise over the course of the weekend.
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Post for April 28, 2008
My hosting service has been having some problems (many thanks to TO for letting me know something was up). Things are back to order now (thanks God for backups) but the service will soon be transferred to a new server — hopefully without any other disruptions).
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Post for March 25, 2008
I’m off on retreat today for a week. I’ll be back on April 1. Happy Easter and God bless!
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Post for February 19, 2008
The Montreal Clergy Community Fund is a charity specially founded to help look after our diocesan priests here in Montreal, and yes, I am on the Board of Directors. One of the things I have been pushing for is a greater flexibility in how people can contribute. I am pleased to report that we are now fully registered with CanadaHelps.org, so that people can contribute to the support of priests through that website. Next steps: a logo, more descriptive text, and our own web page within those of the Archdiocese of Montreal!
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Post for February 2, 2008
Whaddya think?
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Post for December 31, 2007
And I’m spending it doing back posts…
30 minutes to 2008!
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Post for December 28, 2007
I drove into Montreal today to spend some time with friends at a special dinner a couple of them organize every year. A good time was had by all!
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Post for December 23, 2007
Yes, I have been extremely busy in the near-Christmas rush! So I’m doing back posts going back to December 14.
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Post for January 10, 2007
Wondering where I’ve been since I got back from up north? Working hard, I can tell you that. I’m very pleased and excited to announce to all my blog readers that the great adventure I’ve been living with Waiting in Joyful Hope is now going to the next level. It is called < ADVENTUS.ORG >.
What is this new site? What will it be?
- It is a new bilingual Internet presence for the Catholic faith
- It is a collective effort by 5 bloggers from Montreal (4 of whom are priests)
- It is a means for people to share their talents for the promotion of the Gospel
- It is on the cutting edge of technology
- It is backed by a non-profit organizational structure
The site is currently in BETA version, which means it is now time to open it up to people to come and see and poke around. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks transferring over articles from this site to Adventus.org, to give the new spot some content from what I believe has been my “best of the blog”. My 4 fellow bloggers have started doing the same, creating what I believe will be a most interesting mix. And new stuff will constantly appear, of course! So please come on over and take a look, register to join in the discussion, and let us know if you find any bugs! Welcome to ADVENTUS.ORG!
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Post for December 27, 2006
No, the correct response is not “gesundheit”! This is the name of the young Innu girl I met on the way back to Montreal. And quite the trip it was.
I left the parish around 8 am, and hopped on the back of a 4-wheel ATV to get to the helipad. I got to sit in the front of the helicopter, right next to the pilot, so I got a great view of the landscape. We touched down on the other side of the river, where the next step was to wait for the plane.
As we were waiting, a group of Innu arrive, and in the group I recognized the woman who did the translation for me when I presided Mass there. We chatted a bit, and I discovered that her sister is the head of the band council, who was leaving to go to Ottawa. Her 9-year-old daughter was going with her.
When we got to Sept-Iles, there was a bit of down-time waiting for the next plane. So I got to chatting with this woman, and I also spent some time playfully teasing the little girl. She loved it, and had the prettiest smile (complete with dimples!) At one point I asked her her name, and she told me “Uapukun”. She even spelled it for me, and then added “it means flower”. How sweet! A little Innu flower!
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. A cab ride home, unpacking and freshening up, opening mail, and so on. It is good to be home, but what a contrast to where I just arrived from (particularly the busyness and the noise).
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Post for December 25, 2006
Just wanted to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas, and here’s hoping 2007 will be a blessed you for all of you!
We had our last Christmas mass this morning at 11 am, with a boys choir singing. Their music was…well, let’s just say it brought a tear to my eye. Ah well, they tried hard. Afterwards was Christmas lunch for myself and Sr. Reine. Now I’ve eaten a lot of different foods in my lifetime, but this one was new: wild meat. Caribou, to be exact.
Yep, you read that correctly. Along with the potatoes and vegetables and plum pudding for dessert, the main course was caribou. This really is turning out to be a Christmas to remember?
And what does caribou taste like, you ask? Quite good, actually. It is a very dark meat, and is a bit tough such that it would probably work best as a roast (or with a rich red wine marinade – oh that would be good). But the meat is very lean, and I am told it is rich in vitamins and minerals.
I spoke to my folks by phone earlier today, and everyone is doing well. I’ll see them in a couple of days, as I fly out on the 27th. Apparently I might need to take a helicopter to cross the river, though, as a rising tide is putting a lot of water on the ice. Just another part of my continuing adventure on the lower north shore.
Again, a merry Christmas to all!
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Post for December 24, 2006
I went on a Montreal webcam this morning, and the streets looked absolutely bare of snow. I then looked out the window here in St. Augustine, and it was falling from the sky. I think we got up around 3-4 inches overnight, which is a good thing: not only is it pretty, but it will help the snowmobiles get some traction. Funny, in Montreal, snow causes traffic to slow down, but here it helps it speed up!
And speaking of snowmobiles, a gentleman named Lionel came over at 9 a.m. to pick me up for mass over at the Innu Indian reserve. I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about life on the reserves, but my initial impression wasn’t at all negative — just a bunch of fairly ordinary houses, as well as a few modern buildings (band council, school, depanneur, etc.). We got to the church and set up for mass, and then waited until 10. Well, we actually waited until 10:15, as the Innu have a somewhat different sense of time than your average North American. To be honest, it felt like I was back in the Philippines again, only this time with snow: the physical resemblance is striking, the sense of time and just general way people carry themselves is similar, I found myself hearing another language, etc.
I presided the mass in French, as that is generally the second language at this reserve, but the readings were all in Innu. I began the homily in French, but then a woman put up her hand and asked if she could translate for the elders in the room who only spoke Innu. So it was bilingual, with an assist. I guess the message was getting across well, because I saw people nodding their heads in agreement. And I know she was doing a good job of translating, because later I had her translate a set of instructions that the people followed perfectly. You see, I had also brought over my holy oil for the Anointing of the Sick, and offered it to them. After she translated my explanation the elders and some others came forward and sat in the front to receive the sacrament. I found this to be a very touching moment.
After mass was done I packed up my stuff, took a picture of their crèche (with baby Jesus in a wigwam instead of a stable), and headed back over the river by ski-doo. We then started to get ready for the evening mass, which just recently finished. Things began with a Christmas pageant, with kids dressed up as angels, shepherds, etc., and a live baby Jesus! It went really well, you could tell the kids had been rehearsing their lines. The mass itself was well attended (church was full), with the youth of the parish providing the music. I felt very “connected” throughout the service, more than I have in a while, but that probably has something to do with the little nap I had this afternoon! *YAWN*
We are now waiting for the midnight mass crowd, and yes our midnight mass will actually be at midnight. I just wanted to take this chance to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! God bless!
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Post for December 23, 2006
Today we visited more homes, as planned, including a senior’s residence. Sister estimates that about 40 people have received the anointing in the last couple of days. Not bad, if you ask me! And I’ve done so much chatting I’m actually starting to pick up the local accent!
After doing our morning rounds, I decided to walk back on the river. Not along the river — on it. The ice is quite thick in most spots, enough that I see trucks driving across an ice bridge. The thick areas are marked with trees — they cut them down from the woods and then “transplant” them into the ice on the river, so that the string of trees identifies the route to take. Kinda funny seeing trees “growing” out of the ice in the middle of a very wide river, but there you go.
I must say, I found it quite beautiful to be out there on the ice. Nothing blocks your view in any direction, and everything seems to far away — it makes you feel very small. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky, sparking off the snow and ice, as though the river was made of diamonds. Really quite lovely.
This afternoon I’ll be blessing a “memorial tree” (whatever that is, I’ll find out I guess), and then this evening is confessions and mass. Tomorrow morning I head out to the Indian reserve.
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Post for December 22, 2006
This evening I had a chance to preside what is called a “ritual mass” where some other sacrament (or significant sacramental) is included. Examples of this include a mass with a wedding, a mass with baptism, confirmation, orders, etc., or in this case, a mass with the anointing of the sick. While I have presided this sacrament many times, this was the first time that I did so with this specific intention, and it worked out very well.
How does such a mass proceed? A few of the prayers are changed to more specifically relate to the purpose of the mass, such as the opening prayer, the prayer over the gifts, and the prayer after communion. But the real action begins after the homily: we have a litany where we ask for God’s mercy, and then people process forward for an individual laying on of hands. Once re-seated closer to the front, a prayer of thanksgiving is said over the holy oil, and then people come forward a second time to be anointed on their forehead + hands. We then have a small concluding prayer, and the mass continues as usual (with the chance to use a beautiful preface for the Eucharistic prayer). All in all it is quite simple, but very moving.
I invited the people there this evening to pass the word around town that this sacrament is still available as long as I am here, and that I’d be happy to pray with people at home or in church if they so desire. I also let them know that their Anglican neighbours could also receive it, assuming the usual conditions are met (i.e. they have to believe in the sacrament, they have ask of it of their own free will, it has to be for a serious reason, and they have to not be able to access it from their own minister, which is definitely the case here because they don’t even have a local pastor).
Tomorrow, there will be more home visits, and then a reconciliation service in the evening. Please pray that the sacrament of Reconciliation may also receive a renewal here even as it renews the hearts of those who come for it.
P.S. One thing about being in St. Augustine — it seems to be good for blogging!
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Post for December 22, 2006
I headed out the door yesterday morning at 5 am and hopped into a cab to get to Dorval airport. From there it was Air Labrador all the way, first to Sept-Iles via Quebec on a 40-seater twin turboprop, and then onto a smaller plane that hops along the coast visiting various villages. Flying was beautiful, with only a bit of turbulence between Sept-Iles and Natashquan.
Once I got to St. Augustine I was picked up at the airport by Paul Maurice, who took me across the river by ski-doo. It was a bit disconcerting to see a truck that had tried to start across the river but wound up having its front left tire punch through the ice, but the ski-doo has a much better weight distribution so we were ok. I got settled into my room, Sr. Reine made us a fine meal, and then I grabbed a shower before mass (which was at 7 pm). I hit the hay pretty early, after finishing up some corrections (gotta love the Internet, it lets me submit grades even from out here).
The weather here is actually quite mild, although there is quite a bit of snow on the ground — finally, it feels like winter, something that makes sense given that it is the first official day of it! I visited a couple of people in their homes today, bringing communion and giving them the anointing. Tonight will be a special mass with the anointing of the sick as well, and tomorrow morning will be some more home visits. For now, though, it is time to put the grocery shopping in the cupboard, as the boat came in today with the fresh produce.
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Post for October 28, 2006
I got an email recently from an interesting source….the outgoing Taoiseach of the O’Dubhda clan! This is the clan to which all the “Dowd”s of the world belong, including yours truly.
The O’Dubhda clan is interesting in that there is a fair amount of historical documentation on our origins and (very interestingly) ancient clan traditions. The old Brehon laws, for example, have been applied within the clan for the selection of the Taoiseach. But that doesn’t mean we’re just clinging to the past. For example, the clan now has a website to help interested clan members stay in touch. Thank you, Richard Dowd, for the new connection to my world-wide family!
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