Hurricanes Outside and Inside!

While we have all heard of Hurricane Sandy - and dealt with winds on the outside - so to speak, there have been strong winds on the "inside" of my life these days too.  I think that this photo is an indicator of this... Here are 4 sets of Shoes that are hanging out in the sitting area of my room at the rectory.  From top to bottom:

• Brown pair - worn with brown pants earlier this weekend.  
• Black regular pair - worn at the Wedding Saturday
• Black "dress" pair - worn at the two funerals this week!
• Running shoes taken for the Lifeteen outing at the Circus School on Saturday night but never worn!

All of these not put away, for a couple of reasons: our housekeeper is sick right now, and I feel like I am just keeping up with things!  I know it takes just a few minutes - so these were put away right after I took the picture.  I felt this was just the right image to indicate the type of week its been!

I have 3 friends (from the Chicago 6) who have been Struggling with the "Outside Winds" of hurricane Sandy:

• Fr. Rick in Andover - just north of Boston - lost power in his Church rectory for 24 hours and lost a big pine tree behind the Rectory - next to the Church.
• Rita Ferrone - who lives in Mount Vernon - just north New York City - lost power Monday evening and it is still not on.  She is safe - in a 6th floor apartment, but has gone over to her Sister's place - also in the Suburbs of New York, where the power is on at the present time...
• Jim Sullivan - the widower of Margie who died in March - lives in Norfolk Virginia, where he sent this email message from:

... the wind and rain have abated a bit but the backside of a hurricane is always messy. It is always nice not to be at sea but on land during these events. I have paid my dues with typhoon, green water and rolling, pitching ships plus seasickness. I have not lost power. There is plenty of disruption, flooding, damage and schedule chaos but so far no deaths due to the storm. I didn't sleep past 4 AM last night due to anxieties about storm status and being alone in a creaking house so be prepared for the silence and new noises...

We lost 2 Garbage cans at the church and our "garbage shelter" was blown apart and was in pieces all over the property! We put it back together yesterday - but have not found the garbage cans that were inside them!
Inside wind - Outside winds - all moving things around!
Peace 

Busy - Kingdom Building Time!

Since I last blogged it has been a busy life! 
"Full measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap" to quote scripture: Luke 6:38  (Which continues: "For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.") 
On October 12th and 13th I participated in the Simcoe Liturgy Conference. This was the 10th time the conference had been held (every 18 months or so) and I presented this time with Margaret Bick.  I'll let you in on a secret - Margaret was the brains in this operation! We based our presentations on Dies Domini - the Day of the Lord, which was written by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Even though it is 14 year old - I have fallen more and more in love with this document!
I shared the different "Titles" or names that Pope John Paul II used to help describe Sunday as the Lord's Day.  Margaret spoke about the claim Christ made of Sunday - the whole day - and shared her own conversion around what she did on Sundays... It was a wonderful time - with over a 100 participants. 

Late in the evening on Thursday October 18th I flew to Chicago to be part of a 2 day Institute: "Evangelizing Parish: Vision, Passion and Practice" in the Diocese of Joliet.  This is one of many different types of conferences that the North American Forum on the Catechumenate holds across the continent at the request of local Dioceses. Forum is dedicated to the full implementation in all parishes of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.  The first period in the RCIA is called "Evangelization and Pre-Catechhumenate", so this is institute looks at how a parish is called to be an evangelizing parish - all the time.  Working all day Friday and Saturday - we take people from the Scriptures - to the Tradition of the Church. Starting in the Acts of the Apostles - we gain some insight into the passion of that early church community. Then from the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1-12) we learn the 7 Principles of Catholic Social Teaching - and realize that if we live these principles, if we live the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, then we will be witnesses in our culture.  

After flying back late Saturday night - landing just after midnight - we had a full day in the parish Sunday - Including a 25th Wedding Anniversary for 2 couples:
          Aldo and Fiorella Sunseri,    and 
          Silvia and Joseph Lume.
A wonderful celebration!

This past week I have been at the annual Priests' Seminar (at the Nottawasaga Inn) discussing the topic: Theology in the parish: Does it matter? There were good presentations on Theology, Liturgy, Scripture and Evangelization.

Peace.

Year of Faith

Today is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the second Vatican Council.  It also marks the beginning of the Year of Faith, which will conclude with the feast of Christ the King, November 24, 2013.
This morning in St. Peter's Square, there was a Mass celebrated to mark this anniversary.  There were 35 Bishops in attendance who also participated in the council, including Pope Benedict himself!
This week a Synod (a gathering of some of the Bishops of the world) began on "New Evangelization" which will last for 5 weeks. 
There will be all kinds of "Year of Faith" initiatives, with our parish as well as within our Archdiocese. All of these are designed to help us know our faith more fully, and be people who live our faith in the modern world.  
Here is some Video from earlier today:

Peace!

Harmony in Action

Wednesday and Thursday of last week I spent some time at a conference called "Harmony in Action" Compassion and Reconciliation conference.

I was a guest of the organizer - Hon. Paul Hellyer, a former MP for Trinity- Spadina and deputy PM.  There were some very good speakers, but I have to say that the Favourite part for me was meeting a faithful Jewish woman - Fredelle.  We were at the same table and so we had some great conversations among just a few of us - She spoke about how hard it was to be a person of faith in our world today.  I agreed with her - about how much our world wands to put people of faith on the margins, and any attempt engage the society by a person speaking from a faith perspective is ridiculed.

Earlier this week I learned that Michael Coren has written a new book - Heresy: 10 Lies they spread about Christianity, and I heard Michael interviewed on CBC on Thanksgiving Monday (as I was on my way to my Godson's Hockey game in Oshawa). In the interview Michael spoke about the marginalization of religious thought in our society today. Interesting convergence...
Peace

Happy Thanksgiving

There are many things that we can be thankful for.  I would say that the busy - ness of the past week is a mixed blessing!  There is a tiredness about being busy - but it is a "good" tiredness in my books.  I remember Fr. J Glenn Murray, a Jesuit priest and liturgist saying "I would rather wear out than rust out" - I agree!
Last week I hosted a meeting of the Chicago 6.  Perhaps not as famous as the group of 7 - yet a wonderful group, if only in our own minds!  We formed as a result of working together at a Beginnings and Beyond Institute run by the North American Forum on the Catechumenate in Chicago in 2002.  Forum is involved in assisting Parishes and Dioceses implement the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in the life of the church.
We really bonded as a team (I was the Intern) and so we gathered a year later at a Forum Convocation in Baltimore in 2003 (700 plus people) and have met each year since - moving around to each person's home town.  When I was still in Holy Martyrs of Japan parish in 2005 it was Toronto's first turn, and last week, while I am here in Bolton, was my second turn!  This past March one of our 6 died - I wrote about Margie Sullivan in this blog at that time.

This year 2 of our group arrived on the Sunday Night - and 2 arrived on Monday afternoon.  So I took Rita Burns-Senseman and Kevin Bourassa, the early birds to the McMichael Canadian Collection Monday morning.  They had both been unable to join the Chicago 6 the first time we were in Toronto, when I had taken that first group to the McMichael. So this was a real treat.  Then after some shopping - we went to the airport to collect Rita Ferrone and Rick Conway. (YES we have 2 Rita\s in our group! Who would have figured! We often refer to them by the initials of where they live: Rita NY = Rita Ferrone from New York, and Rita TH = Rita Burns-Senseman from Terre Haute Indiana!)

Monday night I treated them to a dinner that I prepared in the Rectory.  That is where this picture was taken.


Rick, Rita NY, Kevin, Rita TH, and Moi

 Tuesday morning - after a breakfast stop at the Iconic Canadian Coffee Shop - Tim Hortons - we went to the church of my Baptism: St. Leo's in Mimico (Etobicoke). Then we went to St. Paul's Basilica, and on to the Bay at Queen and Yonge.  After Lunch at their restaraunt "Bannock" we wandered through the Eaton's Centre, and after going by the Cathedral, came back to the Hotel that they were staying in (Holiday Inn Express) to freashen up, before going back into Toronto to the Royal York for Dinner. (I remember going to the Royal York Hotel as a child with my parents for Sunday Brunch!)
Wednesday they were on their way - and so I dropped them off at the Airport.

I would never have thought that on the eve of World Youth Day in Toronto that I would travel to Chicago (be left at the airport to find my own way in) and become such great friends with this group of people.  To be sure we all had a common passion for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, but there has been something more here.  These are people that I love, not simply like.  We can talk about our joys and sorrows, our hopes and disapointments, our fears and dreams - and we can be very real with each other.  This is a priveleged place for me to be.  This is what I give thanks for this Thanksgiving Day!
Peace.