The blog is back in business!

Posted on 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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Been gone awhile

Posted on 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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Goodbye to Father Guzman

Posted on July 25, 2008

I had lunch with Father Marco Guzman today. He was the priest that got me set up for my month in Mexico, and now he is returning home. Many thanks for all your help, Father, it was great getting to know you.

As a special treat, Father Guzman gave me a gift: a Spanish-language sacramentary! This is a major addition to my liturgical books collection, and I look forward to practising the mass in Spanish. Thank you Father!

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Wedding rehearsal

Posted on July 24, 2008

I had a wedding rehearsal today for Deanna and Nick, who are getting married this Saturday. I really like this couple, and I look forward to the day.

The wedding will be taking place at our local Slovak church (although you won’t hear any Slovak from me), so I also had a chance to spend some time with the pastor Father Francis. He’s a young priest (younger than me in both age and years of ordination) who come to Canada shortly after ordination to take charge of this parish. After the rehearsal we drove to the post-practise party, and had a really nice chance to chat with people and with each other. I’m hoping I’ll be able to help him find some additional ministry within the city, as the Slovak Catholic population is rather small (and getting older).

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Apologia for commentator moments

Posted on July 23, 2008

I drove up to Camp Kinkora today, to offer mass at the Diocesan Liturgy Camp. There were over 60 campers there this year, from small kids to big teenagers (and the staff as well). I was recruited to go by a former parishioner of mine (shout-out to Fiona!) who welcome me warmly when I got there. We set things up, and after people had assembled I took the time to explain each element of the mass as it was being celebrated. The people seemed to appreciate it, and the kids were certainly paying attention, so I see this as a success.

Now I know there will be some who object to this practise of an “explained mass”, because on one level it does depart from the established rubrics. That being said, one of the explicit goals of the liturgical reform was the help people come to a more intelligent participation in the liturgy, and this necessarily involves some explanation. The role of “commentator” was established at one point: this was a person who explained the rites as they occurred, given that they often were actually happening in Latin, or in a soft voice (or both). Once the liturgy was translated and made more interactive, however, the commentator role tended to fade out (even if it is still implied in certain Vatican documents). Typically, a priest now acts as his own commentator, when this role is still considered useful.

Such as, at a diocesan liturgy camp.

“Commentator moments” are not mentioned in the rubrics, it is true, but that is because the Roman Missal is not fundamentally a book of catechesis. That being said, commentator moments are not forbidden either, and used appropriately can enrich the liturgical experience, both in the celebration itself and in the long-term for those attending.

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Visit to the bank

Posted on July 22, 2008

I began my day today with a new function: after a (surprisingly long) visit to the bank I am new a signing officer of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism. My signature is needed for any cheque over $500 (except for common recurring expenses). Why me? Because I am the Treasurer of the Centre, so in reality this change should have happened a long time ago. I am hoping to get a new financial system in place soon (development is progressing) and this is part of the renewal of our fiscal control mechanisms.

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Javascript coding

Posted on July 21, 2008

More programming for the tool I am working on for Adventus. I’ve bumped up against a coding roadblock that will require a redesign of some earlier material I thought was done. *sigh* At least there is progress.

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Journey to the Father

Posted on July 20, 2008

This weekend I was at the Journey to the Father conference in Cornwall. I had never been to one of these conferences before, but I was asked to go as a guest speaker this time. So Friday I packed up the car with luggage, laptop, projector, and so on, and headed out to “Saint Raffles” parish.

The first person I met when I got there was Father James Mallon, a priest of the Archdiocese of Halifax and founder of the John Paul II media institute. We chatted a bit about his media work (you can imagine I am quite interested in that sort of thing), and then I headed to the rectory to put my things.

It turns out Father James was the main speaker at the conference this year, so he led the opening ceremonies Friday night. And then the rain came. And the thunder. And the lightning. And the funnel cloud warning. So we headed for shelter, splitting up the boys and girls into two locations. I was supposed to lead a rosary reflection for the whole group, so I started with the boys, telling them the story of how I came to love Marian devotion — but the rain was so bad there was no way I was going to get to the girls’ location. They had a backup plan, though, so it worked out, especially for me: as I was with “the boys”, the place was full of priests, so I got a chance to go to confession. Nothing like the sacrament of Reconciliation to get back on spiritual track.

Saturday morning I took it easy, taking in a presentation by Angèle Ragnier, the co-founder of Catholic Christian Outreach. Her talk was to the girls on how to be a “woman of God”. Of course, I was not particularly interested in this for myself (duh!) but it was interesting nonetheless.

My own talk was Saturday afternoon, on the topic “If God is good, why is there evil?” Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I would have liked. I used Powerpoint heavily in my presentation, but unfortunately it was so bright outdoors where we were that (even under the tent) it was hard to see the screens. They also weren’t very well positioned, so the overall effect was a bit of a downer. My second session was a general Catholic Q&A, which went well (albeit with a smaller group).

There was a special dinner that evening in a nearby school for all the invited guests and speakers (such as myself), so I got a chance to kid around with people at my table while enjoying a delicious meal. I discovered that they organizers had also set up an adoration chapel and the volunteers were coming around the clock to ensure an all-day-all-night presence before the Blessed Sacrament, interceding for those taking part in the conference. No wonder I was feeling the effects of grace so powerfully!

This adoration chapel also drew a most interesting person with whom I had a most delightful discussion: a local Anglican gentleman, who (while not being Catholic) supported the conference 100%. We had an excellent chat about the recent state of affairs in the Anglican Communion (which is really in dire straits), and I came to realize that the debate among the Anglicans is really a microcosm of the debate within the pluralistic religious universe in which we now live: IT’S ALL ABOUT SALVATION. What is salvation? How do we attain to this salvation? What is the place of Jesus/the Bible/the sacraments in this story of salvation? Anyway, our discussion was wide-ranging, and I think I’ll be putting up a few posts on the Adventus site eventually to deal with some these questions.

Saturday evening concluded with a beautiful time of public adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, again led by Father James Mallon, and then sitting in a field hearing LOTS of confessions. I got to bed around midnight.

Sunday the mass was presided by Archbishop Marcel Gervais, with the preacher being Bishop Paul-André Durocher. As it turns out, his homily also dealt with the problem of evil, so at least the kids got a good double-dose of the topic. I know both bishops quite well, and we had a nice chat before I packed up and headed to Ottawa to visit the folks.

It was a good weekend for me. I was feeling a little discouraged (it had been a tough week at work), so this conference brought me back to what it’s all about.

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Settling Catan

Posted on July 17, 2008

I got together with some of the guys I did my pilgrimmage to Germany with back in 2005 (our World Youth Day gang) and we played Settlers of Catan. While I had never played this game before I had heard of it, and I know it is one of the most popular games out there. The game itself was lots of fun, but so was the time spend with this rather competitive group of guys!

Next time, Supremacy!

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Homegrown comedy

Posted on July 16, 2008

I did something tonight I’ve never done before: I took in a show to the Just for Laughs Comedy festival. Now it’s not that I don’t like to laugh — I love to laugh! — but I find a lot of comedy these days involves just either insulting people or using shockingly coarse language. The real comic geniuses, those capable of identifying the absurd and pointing it out in a way that shows us how absurd it is, are few and far between.

So why go? Because Carrie Gaetz, a friend of mine, was performing for the very first time at the festival, in the Homegrown Comics competition, and I wanted to support her. Turns out my sister-in-law came too, and well as a mutual friend named John.

Carrie was interviewed before the competition, and as it turns out I got an anonymous mention in the resulting article. I remember sitting with Carrie once when she was wondering if she should continue to pursue comedy as a calling, and I encouraged her to do so, but not to fall into the trap of cheap laughs. I personally believe that real comedians share a bit in the gift of prophecy — not the ability to see into the future, but the ability to see the world around them clearly, in a way others might not, and to bring others into that vision. I do it with homilies, and Carrie does it with humour. My prayer is that she can help laugh us all into virtue.

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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

Baby Colin just after birth 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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