Post for January 31, 2008
I had a chance today to visit with an elderly priest who has lived in an apartment since his retirement. He was offering his help at a local old age home, but his own health took a turn for the worse while on a recent trip. *He* now needs to move into a home, and I could tell the whole experience has left him somewhat rattled.
At any rate, he now has to try and pack up a 2-bedroom apartment and fit it all in a single room — an impossible task. It is forcing him to have to make some choices about what to keep and what to leave behind. I met with him just to make sure he was doing ok, and to let him know that the diocese was there for him if he required our help. He has lots of relatives in and around Montreal, so I don’t think we need to worry about being abandoned or anything like that, but he seemed glad of the visit. I’ll be keeping tabs on him to see how things evolve.
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Post for January 30, 2008
The fourth week of my new course was on the Fall and the nature of evil (but also, the dynamics of the history of salvation). Here are the audio files:
» Filed Under Concordia University | 2 Comments
Post for January 29, 2008
I was invited by the Pastoral Council of Saint Mary parish on the South Shore to be a resource person for their discussions regarding adult faith enrichment. This is the same parish where I preached a parish mission last fall, so of course I went to this meeting to see what kind of follow-up might be planned.
My suggestion was to keep in mind that there are three types of follow-up action involved:
- Keeping the echo of the going mission, so that people don’t forget
- Empowering them to share what they remember with others
- Giving them even more to share
Each kind of activity demands its own approach. There was general agreement about one thing, though: that having the parish mission available on the web site allowed for people to refesh their memories of the event, as well as share it with others (as all they need to do is share an email with someone!)
Still, it isn’t easy trying to convince people of the need to grow in their faith. The appetite for knowledge needs to be stimulated. Besides, there are different kinds of knowledge when it comes to faith issues. There is “head” knowledge, i.e. an understanding of the faith; there is “heart” knowledge, i.e. helping people grow spiritually; and there is “hands” knowledge, giving people tools to make a difference for others. My pedagogical suggestion to the parish was to use the sacraments as a catechetical focus, as all three kinds of knowledge are involved (and the sacraments really are at the heart of things).
How will such a project be led? What will be the game plan? My personal focus, at the moment, is my own teaching ministry, both in class and on-line. But I did propose to the parish that perhaps we could partner the two things: the parish could partner with Adventus, for example, to develop additional outreach materials that we could then put on-line. In that respect, I would not feel like I was being pulled in two directions, and whatever expertise I have to offer could be better targeted to parish needs. We’ll see where it goes.
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Post for January 28, 2008
Boy, was sleeping in on Sunday a big mistake…it kept me from getting to bed at a decent hour the next night. I hate it when I get in that sort of cycle.
And today, I had my next session of athletic therapy. So my other mistake was eating breakfast late. Wow, you really don’t want to do certain kinds of exercise on a stomach that is still digesting. I was working so hard I almost barfed (not that anybody reading this needed to know that).
So yeah, I am pooped.
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Post for January 26, 2008
Saturday was been a long, sad, and yet wonderful day. (Yes, this is a back post.)
I was up at 4:45 am to get ready for my flight to Toronto for the funeral. I got a great deal on the ticket, too…$60 to get there, and $80 to get back. Still, it meant taking the 6:30 am plane.
Once I got to Toronto I hopped a cab to St. Francis of Assisi parish where the funeral would take place, and chatted with Fr. Fred, the priest who was presiding. We examined the parts I would be doing in French (as part of Lou’s family is french-speaking), and then waited for the arrival of the body. The church was *packed* with people — at least 300 police officers (they came in buses, believe it or not), and some military as well. The coffin was led in by a piper and carried by an honour guard. It was my first glimpse of the family.
At the end of the ceremony I offered bilingual thanks to the people assembled, as well as offered an invitation to a reception in the parish basement. I then offered my own impromptu remarks — memories of Lou, and words (I hope) of encouragement to those assembled, especially the many men and women in uniform.
The casket was led out at the end past all those police officers, who had preceded the body and lined both sides of the street, ready to salute for a final farewell. The funeral procession headed out to the cemetary, and we were given a full police escort, including the blocking off of streets and entrances to the highway. What a strange feeling, having the 401 all to yourself, without another car before you. I can tell you, that doesn’t happen in Toronto all that often.
We said some final prayers at the crematorium, and I sang the Salve Regina as the end. We then headed back to the house where the family was staying, and promptly…
…broke out the booze!
Most people had wine, some had beer, and I blew the dust off a bottle of 30-year-old scotch. Now I don’t believe in using alcohol for medicinal purposes, but after the tensions of the day it felt good to unwind together, eat some munchies, and share stories. This went on for hours, particularly since other people would pop over and the process would being again…
The last group to arrive was some old friends from high school. I was really touched by the solidarity the guys demonstrated. Of course, when the boys get together pizza will be involved, as well as video games on something called a Wii. Talk about getting your mind off things.
I left around 9 pm to catch my flight home (yep, I came back the same day). Freezing rain had built up on the wings so we were delayed for de-icing, and that meant I got home really REALLY late. And I was still pretty wired, so I had trouble getting to sleep. I slept in until noon, believe it or not, and on a Sunday. It felt odd, given that I’m usually busy doing other things Sunday morning (wink), but I needed it.
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Post for January 24, 2008
No, the correct response is not “gesundheit”!
Today I visited the Institut de formation humaine intégrale de Montréal, otherwise known as the Jeanine-Guindon institute. Jeanine Guindon was a Quebec psychotherapist who developed a model/theory of human maturity, and proposed a particular psychoeducational path to follow in order to attain the fullness of maturity. In a nutshell, it involves becoming perfectly aware of one’s states of being, both physical and psychological.
I must admit that when I first heard this, I thought it was gobbledygook. At the same time, though, the great mystics of the Church have openly stated that the heights of sanctity cannot be attained without a humble awareness of self. “Know thyself” is an important element of a genuine spirituality. So perhaps there is something there.
At the same time, though, I think there is often a danger of replacing spirituality with psychology. We live in a very “therapeutic” society, much like what Philip Rieff described in Triumph of the Therapeutic, and in this context faith gets reduced to feelings. Still, with IFHIM, I know that a great many priests and religious have been involved with it, and it is broadly supported by religious communities who, I guess, see some benefit to it. If it is leading people to freedom and integrity, what can I say? Those are good things!
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Post for January 23, 2008
The third week of my new course was on “Creation”. Here are the audio files:
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Post for January 22, 2008
A friend of mine sent me an email this morning. His younger brother, whom I have known for over 25 years, killed himself early in the morning. The young man was a former Army man, who was deployed at various times to some really troubled places (Bosnia, for example), and who later became a police officer in Toronto. Please pray for the whole family, and especially for the repose of the soul of Lou.
Feel free to post prayers and/or words of encouragement in the comments, and I’ll pass them on to the family.
» Filed Under Personal tidbits | 2 Comments
Post for January 20, 2008
I visited with Fr. John Zhong-hui Zhang of the Chinese Catholic Mission today. The Mission is conveniently located 15 minutes walk from my house, so I just showed up for the 11 am mass to pay him a brotherly visit. He invited me over to the house for lunch afterwards, where I also got a chance to meet the choir and the youth group. (Apparently the housekeeper was very impressed when she saw me eating with chopsticks!)
The Chinese Mission is very impressive in the work that they do. They run a major community centre in Chinatown, which includes a private Chinese language school for kids. That, along with other works, constitutes a major outreach to the Chinese community. Everybody in Chinatown knows the mission and the good work it does.
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Post for January 19, 2008
I visited with a family this evening, and their 5 year-old daughter gave me a picture she drew for me. Click on the image to enlarge it.
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Post for January 18, 2008
Two new deacons were ordained this evening for the diocese of Montreal: Francesco Giordano and Stéphane Roy. God willing, they will be ordained as priests later this year (they are transitional deacons). The bilingual ceremony was held at the cathedral, where I live, and was particularly beautiful. Congratulations, guys!
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Post for January 17, 2008
One of our priests has recently been giving our department a hand by preparing a personnel database. It hasn’t really gone that far — just creating a basic structure, with names and dates of ordination and that sort of thing put in — but I am hoping it will become the basis of something much more extensive.
The only problem with this sort of tool, though, is you need to learn how to get useful information *from* the database. To that end, I started this morning doing some on-line training in the database tool (Access). The training isn’t much, just a few computer-based training sessions found on the Microsoft website, but I must say the training is very well done and I’m already able to pull some useful info from the database.
Eventually I’d like for us to include information on continuing education for priests, so we can better apply the many skills our priests already possess and plan for their renewal (the skills, that is, as well as the priests).
» Filed Under Archdiocese of Montreal | 4 Comments
Post for January 16, 2008
The second week of my new course was on “God”. Of course, it is *all* about God, but this was specifically on the issue of his being and essence. Here are the audio files:
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Post for January 15, 2008
Or should I spell that “Board”? 
Yes, I am on *another* charitable Board of Directors, this time for a family foundation. The family decided to wind this one up, and has turned over operating control (and the money) to the Archdiocese for the sake of the education of future priests. It’s not a big foundation, but you know how it is — a hundred thousand here, a hundred thousand there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money…… 
(bonus points to those who get the reference in that last remark)
At any rate, we had a special board meeting of this new foundation to wrap a few thing up, and I noticed that the transfer of control was not done 100% in conformity with the Quebec Civil Code (or, indeed, with the by-laws of the foundation). So we spent a good chunk of time just getting things in legal order. This is not exactly pastoral work, but you know, if we don’t do these things properly we wind up wasting even *more* time later, time that *could* be used for pastoral care.
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Post for January 14, 2008
I was in Ottawa today, visiting my family, and I popped over to Salem Storehouse to check out any new Christian music. They recently redid their music section, however, and I was a bit disappointed — less contemporary stuff, lots of kiddie stuff. There is only so much VeggieTales I can take. But I did pick up a copy of X2007, a compilation album of contemporary Christian rock bands. I like getting these compilations because they introduce me to a bunch of groups, or keep me updated on what they’ve been doing, so I find they are worth the money.
Sadly, I must admit that even many Christian bands suffer from “album cruft” — they put out an album with one or two good songs, and the rest is eminently forgettable. I got excited, for example, when I saw Remedyby the David Crowder Band, and I asked to give it a listen. I was really surprised by how uneven it was, and I only found one song, Can you Feel It, that really grabbed me. Great song, loved it, but that was it. No wonder that on-line music stores, with their pay-per-song pricing, are driving the standard album to the grave.
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Post for January 12, 2008
Since I’ve started working at the diocese some people seem to get the impression that I’ve stopped doing regular “priest stuff”. Of course, I don’t do a lot of *parish* stuff (although I try and do as much as I reasonably can!) but my focus first and foremost remains helping the people of God grow in holiness. For example, today I offered spiritual direction to a fine young man seeking to do exactly that.
There are different kinds of spiritual direction, corresponding to different moments in our life. Sometimes people come for spiritual direction because they are facing some sort of personal life crisis or choice. Others come for no particular reason apart from the desire to grow in God. For the latter, particularly, I once developed a method of spiritual direction I call the “Writing my personal scriptures” method, which allows the person to take things at their own pace and following their own initial spiritual interests. For those interested in taking a peek, here is a link to the PDF version of the file.
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Post for January 11, 2008
Some priest friends of mine and I have decided to start getting together on a bi-weekly basis to play a fantasy RPG. I’ll be the GM (gamesmaster), and I plan on drawing from different gaming sources (principally the System Reference Document produced by Wizards of the Coast, but other OGL sources as well) to create a unique storytelling environment. I’ve plotted out a major 7-part story arc (the epic saga), each of which contains its own minor 7 part story arc (the adventures, grouped into campaigns). I’m designing it to allow for maximum participation by the players in the storytelling as well — each design choice they make for a character will shape how the story unfolds. I’m looking forward to it!
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Post for January 10, 2008
I just love working with couples getting ready for marriage. I feel it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know people at an exciting time in their life, and I feel blessed to have a special part in that moment. Tonight I received Terri and Fred, who will be married this September. They have already picked their readings, and will shortly be registering for their marriage preparation weekend. Soon we’ll do the legal preparation together, as well as the final crafting of the ceremony (which will be in at least two languages, with some Eastern Catholic elements thrown in as well). For those interested in my vision of the marriage preparation process, check out my marriage preparation page.
» Filed Under Pastoral work | 2 Comments
Post for January 9, 2008
Tonight I taught my first lecture for THEO 211L, entitled “The Possibility of Knowing God”. Here are the audio recordings for the lecture:
Please feel free to pass the word on this one: I’m not recording these lectures for myself, after all! If they can help people come to know the Catholic faith better, that would be great.
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Post for January 8, 2008
I was out for lunch with a brother priest from Mexico, and we discussed some plans of mine to study Spanish. He suggested I go to Cuernavaca in Mexico, where he has many friends who would be happy to welcome me. If I can get the time off I’d like to travel in May, as I can do so on my Air Miles points (these become less useful in the high season, which starts June 1). I could spend a month in a Spanish language school, and I’m hoping that with my experience learning other languages like French and German and Italian, I could learn Spanish even more quickly. The bottom line is that Spanish is an increasingly important language for Montreal, and as someone who will be a priest here for 30+ years (God willing) it would be good to know it. Might as well get started now.
» Filed Under Personal tidbits | 2 Comments
Post for January 7, 2008
As I have mentioned previously, part of my responsibilities is to help look after some of our priests who have become weakened by sickness or old age. One of my “clients” has had his things in a storage depot, but I’ve been working at clearing it out, selling some things and giving away others (all with his permission, of course — after all, it is his stuff). Today I hauled the last items out and put them in my office downtown, for temporary storage until I find a permanent solution.
One neat thing: he has a huge chest filled with slides from all his trips to exotic locations like Japan and Greece and Egypt. I’d like to get them transferred to a digital medium: anybody know a good service in Montreal that can do this (and not too expensive)?
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Post for January 6, 2008
I spent most of my afternoon today designing my course outline for my THEO211L course that I am teaching this term. The topic is “Introduction to Roman Catholicism: The Creed”. I’ve also set up a course web page for my students, as well as anyone else interested in following along (as I will also be putting the audio files of each lecture on-line).
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Post for January 5, 2008
I’ve been working in partnership with Archbishop Terrence Prendergast (formerly of Halifax, now of Ottawa) and Msgr. Mario Paquette to get the US bishops document on stewardship translated into French. Today I met with Fr. Roger Martineau, recently retired as pastor of St. Luke’s parish (a bilingual parish where I was once assigned) to see if you could use his pastoral connections to form a translating team. He really took to the project, and I’m hoping he can find some parishioners excited by it. I’ll be visiting in a month to give a parish mission, and hopefully I can help boost those who are on board. Here’s to bringing the message of stewardship to all of Canada!
» Filed Under Stewardship | 1 Comment
Post for January 4, 2008
Some years ago the Montreal Challenge Movement was in need of a spiritual director for one of its retreat weekends. Fr. Tom McEntee, a well-known local priest, stepped up to the plate and just loved his experience. His stint as spiritual director, originally meant to be for a weekend, lasted several years. The experience and stability he brought helped the movement mature and grow.
Tonight I had the honour of presiding a special mass of thanksgiving for all that Fr. Tom has brought to Challenge. Speeches and gifts and cake followed afterwards in the church hall, and the place was full. All in all, just a wonderful way to say thank you and to pray together.
» Filed Under Pastoral work | 4 Comments
Post for January 3, 2008
Today was my first day back at the office after the Christmas break. It was relatively quiet, and gave me a chance to catch up on a few things. In fact, it was too quiet — turns out I *totally* forget an appointment I had made to meet someone on the South Shore, and I left her high and dry waiting for me. At least I was able to reach her after I realised my mistake and no real harm was done, but I have to admit, it really jarred me out of my holiday mode back into work mode!
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Post for January 2, 2008
I got some new toys in the mail today: a camera, and another camera.
The first is a Canon EOS 30D digital SLR camera. It came as part of a kit, with flash memory card, carrying case, two tripods, a telescopic lens, and so in. I’ve had the occasion to chat with lots of wedding photographers over the years (imagine that), and the consensus is that this is just a beautiful camera, no doubt about it. It does everything but walk the dog.
Why get such a fancy camera? Because I want to take pictures of churches in churches, and that isn’t easy. Indoor church photography is known for long distances and lousy lighting. A good camera is a must.
The other camera is a Panasonic 3CCD video camera. It is a “prosumer” model, just on the edge of being a professional camera. It also came with a kit, including wide-angle and telescopic lenses, hard carrying case, 6-hour battery (good for going on the road) plus a bunch of other bells and whistles. It does not do HD video (only standard definition), but it does do audio extremely well thanks to two direct mike inputs. I’m mainly interested in using it to make more YouTube catechesis videos, so sound is more important than HD in that case. I’m looking forward to getting to know this piece of equipment better.
I’m filing this under the Adventus category because, ultimately, these things are meant to help enhance the web-enabled part of my ministry. Stay tuned for the results – once I figure out what all the buttons are for!
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Post for January 1, 2008
This evening I decided to give myself a break and went out into the blowing snow to see the movie Juno, which has been creating quite a buzz as a “pro-life” film. It is the story of a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant and decides to carry the baby to term.
I found Juno very touching, sad at times and laugh-out-loud funny at other times, and generally very *human*. The script was very smartly written — almost too smart some times — and the film had good acting and good pacing.
In terms of the message, I think the movie hit some good notes. Juno’s choice to carry the baby to term, as well as her choice to give the baby up for adoption, were portrayed as no-nonsense courageous choices (which, in fact, I think they are!) The movie thus opens up the possibility of a more serious discussion of these issues within our society. On the other hand, the casual attitude about casual sex I found problematic, although I guess the very fact of the pregnancy itself showed that there is really nothing “casual” about casual sex.
Religion enters into the film only a little, through a couple of disconnected Jesus-references and the character of a Juno-classmate who is protesting outside an abortion clinic. I found that scene to be one of the most interesting, actually, because these two characters are not caricatures. First of all, they *know* each other from school — they start out chatting about other stuff first, even though they both know why Juno is walking towards the door of the clinic. And it is the humanity of their relationship that contrasts Juno’s experience in the clinic and its own lack of humanity. Yes, the other student is chanting slogans, but she is more than slogans — she cares. In the end, she saves not only the baby, but Juno herself.
This is not a film for children, so I wouldn’t take the whole family to see it. But it is a success, and I can see why people are giving it Oscar buzz.
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