Adventus.org in English Adventus.org en françaisPost 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 October 12, 2008
On Friday I had the privilege of presiding over a first for the province of Quebec: a gathering of our brother priests from other countries who are here for studies and/or ministry. The goal was to help them understand the Quebec context, but as well give them tools for dealing with their own experience of being here (e.g. how to handle culture shock).
First, the participants: we had brother priests from Guatemala, Poland, Haiti, Brazil, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Holland and the Democratic Republic of the Congo sharing fellowship for 2.5 days. Regarding activities, Father Benoit Lacroix, the famous Quebec sociologist, was present the Saturday morning to offer a conference on Quebec culture, Bishop François Lapierre celebrated mass for us the Saturday night, and Father Rick van Lier was with us all of Sunday for a look into the history of the church in Quebec. We also had some down time to view the classic Quebec film La Grande Séduction, which contained many references to things we had discussed, and finally Father Bertrand Montpetit came to share with us his own experience of culture shock when he was a missionary in Peru.
I really enjoyed the weekend, not just because I felt I was really doing my job, but because I was getting a taste of the universal Church. This will not be the last time we will do such a weekend, I am sure, and I suspect if the Holy Spirit has his way (as he always does) there will be even more demand for this kind of experience in the future. I know, I know: I’m crazy to be giving myself even more work. But when it goes so well and has so much meaning, it is hard to resist.
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