Post for November 10, 2009
Today I had a chance to visit the Melkite cathedral here in Montreal, in order to prepare an ecumenical pilgrimage that will take place in December. The Melkites are Catholics, generally from Lebanon, who follow the Byzantine liturgical tradition. Given the large Lebanese community in Montreal, the Holy See gave the Melkites their own diocese (called an eparchy) 25 years ago for all of Canada, with its home base in Montreal.
I was very warmly received by the curate of the cathedral, Father Jean Mansour, who was ordained in 2005 and has been in Canada for only a couple of years. We had a delicious lunch at a local Lebanese restaurant (well, more of a feast than a lunch, actually) completed with a couple of glasses of arak — I hope I got the spelling right. Arak is a liqueur that tastes like licorice — Fr. Mansour said that where he is from, the saying is that every day you should say at least one Our Father and drink one glass of arak. Let’s just say we were particularly pious today 
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Post for September 22, 2009
This evening I had a chance to attend an event organized by the Order of Saint Lazarus: a cocktail fundraiser with Marc Garneau, Canada’s first man in space, as the guest speaker. The event was held at the Mount Royal Club, which I had never visited before (and I must say, is quite a swanky joint). While Mr. Garneau is now a politician, he refrained from talking up his party — and given the election fever that was gripping Canada at this point, I must say I respect his self-discipline! I got the chance to ask the first question, so I asked his opinion on whether we should return to the Moon or simply start trying to head to Mars. He thinks Mars, and I have to agree with him. The tough part is escaping Earth’s gravity: once you’ve done that, going to Mars is not much harder than going to the Moon, just longer (see Mars Direct).
BTW, the cocktail was a fundraiser for palliative care, one of the key objectives of the Order of Saint Lazarus. Many thanks to Marc Garneau for helping the Order help others.
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Post for August 27, 2009
I had my first meeting of the Executive of the local branch of the Order of Saint Lazarus. The meeting was long but productive, with an interesting fundraiser event coming on the horizon. As for myself, I’m the secretary, so I took notes and recorded the meeting for the purpose of producing the minutes. It’s not a glamorous job, but I don’t mind it, as I believe in the importance of having a decent record of decisions. And I’m having fun meeting new people who are serious about doing good work in the areas of palliative care and ecumenism, as I definitely believe in both.
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Post for July 11, 2009
I had a chance to visit a historic home, the Manoir Christie on the Richelieu river (in Iberville, facing Saint-Jean). The current occupants were hosting a garden party, which acted also as a fundraiser for the local palliative care centre. While this fundraiser is an annual event, this was my first ever visit there, so I got the grand tour. Lots of the conversation was the usual polite chatter, but I did have a chance to chat with a couple of people about some deeply spiritual subjects, which was very gratifying.
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