Pictures from St. Louis

 Some Pictures from the NPM in St. Louis.

Kirkwood Presbyterian Church - with a Casavant (Quebec made) Pipe Organ (This was in the St. Louis Suburbs

Main Stage area during Taize Prayer service - Beautiful!

I Visited the Arch on my Birthday!

Just before the Eucharist Thursday Evening - what a beautiful way to cap my Birthday festivities!

Peace

National Association of Pastoral Musicians Convention 2014

"Meet me in St. Louis" is how the song goes (from the 1904 world's fair!) and so they did just that - some 2,500 Musicians, Priests, liturgists and those involved in supporting the singing and praying church gathered for the 37th Annual Convention of the National Pastoral Musicians Association in St. Louis this past week. There were a few of us from Ontario - Nicholas (10:00 organist) and I travelled with 2 musicians from St. Christopher's Parish in Mississauga. Down there we met Bill Target from the Archdiocese of Toronto, and David Jafalice from Newmarket, as we explored the theme - "Proclaim the Good News".

There were fantastic Speakers - including Jerry Galipeau - who gave our Parish Mission in Lent 2012.  He spoke on proclaiming good news when we are broken or alienated from institutional Church. Paul Westermeyer spoke on how Musicians claiming their art will allow them to proclaim good news.  Ann Garrido spoke powerfully on Conversion - and the practice of conversation as key in proclaiming good news. Sr. Honora Werner, OP, spoke wonderfully on the church - in Vatican II - as bearing good news.

I did not get to hear the concluding talk by Msgr. Ray East - Sent to proclaimn Good News (But I will watch it on www.praytellblog.com)  The entire week was a source of inspiration and refreashment for my soul! I am grateful I was able to be able to attend!
Peace

Victor D'Souza - R.I.P.

Victor D'Souza is the Father of our Seminarian Shawn D'Souza. Victor died on Thursday afternoon after a lengthy illness with Brain Cancer. Please keep Shawn, his Mother Veronica, and the family in your prayers. 

Here are the details for the funeral:

Visitation
Meadowvale Cemetery & Visitation Centre
7732 Mavis Road, Brampton, L6Y 5L5
Sunday,  July13, 2014 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Funeral Mass
St Francis Xavier Catholic Church
5650 Mavis Rd., Mississauga, L5V 2N6
Monday, July 14, 2014 10:00 AM

Burial
Assumption Catholic Cemetery
6933 Tomken Road, Mississauga, L5T 1N4
Following the Funeral

Reptile Day at Camp

If you are not a fan of some of the Items in Genesis 1:24 "... creepy things and all things that crawl on the earth -  then you would not have been a fan of Camp this afternoon!
Here are some pictures:

Red legged Tortoise from South America

Candycane the snake

"Marshmallow" is a Burmese Python - Albino - 16 feet long 

Creepy Crawly Things - Yeah!
Peace

Steubenville Highs and Lows

This past weekend we were 34 who went to Steubenville Toronto (#SteubieTO started tor trend on twitter!) There were some great moments - and I really appreciated the thoughtfulness of the organisers - because I think it was a grand success - when there were may pieces that could have caused chaos! Really things worked terrifically well. Thousands were fed 5 meals over 3 days! Thousands were housed at dozens of hotels without any hiccups that I heard of! and things flowed on time for the most part (Mass and Adoration seemed to take longer than expected!)

There was wonderful music - intriguing talks - good homilies and a powerful sense of the Holy Spirit - especially in the witness talks!
The theme of the weekend: GOD is.  This was quite an interesting choice.  It allowed you to put a punctuation mark and either proclaim God IS! or you could ask God is? It also allowed toy to put a blank - and talk about different ideas or attributes of God:

• God is Real
• God is Love
• God is Merciful
• God is Savour
• God is the same: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
• God is in suffering
• God is in the media
• God is in the day to day
• God is writing your story
• God is in service

I got to see Archbishop Prendergast (the Archbishop of Ottawa - who was a professor of mine in the Seminary)  and Fr. Rod, my Brother and Sister-in-law's former pastor, and Fr. Leo, my Dad's Pastor (both from the Archdiocese of Kingston.) All in all - it was a wonderful event that did have an impact on many young people in Southern Ontario. 

Peace

Steubenville Toronto

Years ago the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio began to host conferences and retreats, not only for university aged people, but also for Youth in High School, and Adults looking to go deeper in their faith.  We have had Adults go to Steubenville each year for the past 3 years from Holy Family Parish.
Over the years, there has been quite a growth in these conferences, and now the Franciscan University of Steubenville offers these conferences not only at their Ohio Campus site, but provides teams of leaders for 20 Conferences across North America!
This year, for the first time ever, the OCY (Office of Catholic Youth) will co-host such an event in Toronto! We will be 35 from Holy Family Parish attending this 3 day event: Friday afternoon - Sunday afternoon. It will be held in the old Maple Leaf Gardens, now named the Mattamy Centre, in the heart of the City.

Please keep our youth, and the leaders in your prayers these days.

St. Thomas

July 3 is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, sometimes called "Doubting Thomas."  He is also called "Didymus" which means "The Twin."
He was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and is best known from the account in the Gospel of Saint John, where he questioned Jesus' resurrection when first told of it (hence the "doubting" title).  Yet this doubt is followed by his confession of faith as both "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus' wounded & risen body. Maybe that is the way he should really be remembered! Proclaiming Thomas!

Traditionally, he is said to have traveled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, traveling as far as India. According to tradition, the Apostle reached Muziris, India in 52 AD and baptized several people who are today known as Saint Thomas Christians. After his death, the relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India, and the name Thomas remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
St. Thomas - Pray for us! Peace