June 24th, 2010
People like us…
I was listening to a interview on Canadian public radio the other day. It was about child prostitutes and the johns who prey on them.
The woman being interviewed ran a support group for these vulnerable children. Many had fled their homes because of abuse but they also ended up fleeing the child services and foster care that had been set up to help them. Tragically, too many of them encountered abuse there also. Abandoned, fearful and outcast, they ended up on the streets, where they fell prey to pimps, johns and dealers.
One teenager had reported, “There were other agencies to help us but by the time we knew about them, we wouldn’t go because we know what people like that think about people like us.”
There’s the indictment: ‘. . . what people like that think about people like us.” ‘People like that’ are the clean, the pure and the respectable; ‘people like us’ are the outcasts, the outsiders, the ‘sinners’, and they know their place. Tragically, it’s far away from the clean and the pure and the Church, powerful and prestigious, is often seen as aligned with this group. Sinners keep their distance.
It is then that I recall with fondness some of the Oblates I know. Father W. works in an inner city parish. He volunteers with a Christian charity that reaches out to women on the streets. The volunteers go out at night, in pairs, offering candy, sandwiches and care packages to the women. Father W. joins the volunteers when he can, walking alongside them, offering presence and prayers to all whom he encounters.
I think of another Oblate parish where the congregation hosts a supper kitchen and women’s group for inner city women. In yet another city, the Oblates founded and run a clinic for drug addicts.
Throughout the world, Oblates are known for not knowing their place, for going outside the boundaries of respectability and safety in order to draw close to people. The divisions of ‘people like that’ and ‘people like us’ are broken down as the Oblates show a different face of love.
Sandy Prather HOMI
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June 15th, 2010
In my ministry as vocation director I’m often given the opportunity to speak on the charism, ministry, and community life of the Oblates. Someone pointed out recently that I always use our and we when I describe our many ministries across Canada and around the world. I guess its true. Whether I’m talking about the Supper Table at St Joe’s Parish in Ottawa, or the mission in Kenya, or the Oblate ministries in the Philippines, I instinctively understand these as ours – something I am part of.
Upon reflection, this is one of the things that drew me to religious life; the idea that I was joining a group with a common identity and focus – something much bigger than myself. This means that I am linked to the hundreds of Oblate ministries and communities around the world, even though I will likely never visit them. And yet, if I were to visit almost any of these communities and ministries I would be welcomed as a brother, as a member of the family. And welcomed not just by the Oblates, but also by the people with whom we work and serve. This connection (reminiscent of the biblical images of The Body of Christ and the Vine and the Branches) means, that even though my present ministry means that I live in Ottawa and work in the area of vocations and formation, I am present at the UN through Fr Daniel LaBlanc, our representative there. It means I am present in Indonesia through the ministry of Oblates like Fr Charlie Burrows. It means I am involved in the retreat ministry in Belleville Illinois through Br Pat McGee.
For me this in an extension of the Oblate tradition of l’Oraison – the tradition of communal, silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament that Oblates are called to practice each day. Fr Kelly Nemeck gives us a description of St Eugene’s understanding of this practice; “Eugene de Mazenod deeply believed that the Eucharist was not only the Sacrament of the physical body and blood of the Lord, but also the Sacrament of the Mystical Body of Christ. His fellow Oblates were in Christ as he was. Thus, it was in Christ that they commune. Visiting with the Eucharistic presence was a spiritual, but symbolically tangible, way to encounter his brother Oblates anywhere in the world. He could visit with some by direct conversation. He could visit with others by correspondence. He could visit with everyone through the Eucharist.” - The Dictionary of Oblate Values
Finally it is good to remember that as a community, members of the Body of Christ, we are present and help to carry the joy and pain of each other, and of those we serve. No where is this more apparent than in Winnipeg this week, where the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is holding its first National Event. Former students, and staff of the Residential School System, will have the opportunity to tell their stories. Many Oblates will be present, including our national leadership team. Recognizing our complicity in what we now understand to have been an unjust and hurtful system, their presence in Winnipeg this week witnesses to the desire that has guided Oblates since the time of St Eugene himself; “to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free”. (Luke 4:18)
Fr Ken Thorson OMI
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June 10th, 2010
A couple days ago I went to visit a family in the neighbourhood that I’m in. They live across the street from Oppenheimer Park. This park has a bad reputation in Vancouver for being a haven for drug dealers and users. However, one of the goals of the families that live closest to the playgrounds is to create a safe environment for their children to play.
That evening myself and Lane, the father of the family I was visiting, decided to play on the basketball court with two of the younger boys of the community after supper. After about a half-hour of us just shooting baskets three guys in their twenties came over with a basketball. Lane suggested that we play basketball against them. To be honest I was a bit scared. These guys looked to be pretty tough customers in an area of town that is known for gangs and violent crimes, but I thought to myself maybe I need to let go of that fear and see who these guys really are. We played for about forty-five minutes, and in that time I realized that these guys were a lot of fun and really good natured.
But what struck me deepest was my initial apprehension. In discovering my vocation are there times when I don’t look beyond the outside appearance of a person or situation? Are there times when I could have born good fruit out of a situation but didn’t stick around long enough to see it develop?
I hope that as I continue to grow I will be able to be steadfast in situations instead of turning away when more can be learned.
-Br. David MacPhee OMI
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June 3rd, 2010
Next week I will go to home visit my family. Like always, my mom will have all the treats ready for her son whom she sees for just a few days every few years. Those mom’s breakfasts! I can’t wait to taste again that fresh crispy bread, right from the bakery first thing in the morning. The baker spends all night in his workshop to have them ready, right from the oven, still hot… and so delicious. What an amazing experience it must be to bake bread for others…
It’s 10 o’clock in the evening. I just came back from the church where a number of parishioners were cleaning the entrance windows, decorating the lobby for the Golden Anniversary celebrations, and setting up tastefully adorned tables and chairs in the De Mazenod Center for the social. The Basilica 50th Anniversary Choir, during the final practice before the big day, sang “Glory, glory, alleluia!” with such resonance that it gave me goose bumps. The hauntingly beautiful trumpet accompaniment echoed through this hallowed hall, no doubt raising the ghosts of former pastors and choir members who are now singing in the heavenly chorus.
Yesterday a number of ladies descended on the Church with buckets and cloths to freshen the pews and to clean everything that needed to be cleaned – even the Stations of the Cross got a good dusting, all done to the motivating rhythm of ABBA’s greatest hits playing on the sound system. Everybody was in such a good spirit, enjoying the moment spent in community, sharing the excitement of preparation for the upcoming special occasion… the same kind of spirit I imagine which exists in those late night hours in the bakery “baking bread”.
And then I thought, “Isn’t this what it’s all about?” Celebrating 50 years of the community of faith is like baking bread. Putting all the ingredients together – our personal gifts and talents – embracing our Baptismal commitment, mixing and nurturing, watching it grow… and all in order to share the bread at the Eucharistic table.
Fr. Jarek Pachocki, OMI
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May 27th, 2010
We have just finished an Oblate Assembly here in our district community as well as celebrated the Feast Day [May 21] of Eugene de Mazenod. After coming together as Oblates and Associates for four days, I feel a renewed sense of gratitude for the emphasis de Mazenod’s placed on the importance of community.
Following the model of Jesus gathering the twelve about him, Eugene called like-minded men and formed them into a community for the sake of service and sanctification. In his view, the confreres were responsible to and for one another.
Actions and decisions by individuals were always considered and seen in the context of the greater good of the mission and the community. Oblate community life continues to hold this vision.
It is a vision offers a powerful antidote to one of today’s pervasive problems. Writer Monica Furlong notes that in the 21st century, we are in the process of charting a new sin: the inability to look at the implications of everything we do in a very much wider context than in the past. As individuals, companies and nations, we fail to acknowledge that what we do on a personal level impacts others at a societal and even global level. In an obsession with autonomy, we continue to make decisions without considering their effects.
The new virtue, Furlong asserts, will be grounded in the awareness that are indeed interdependent and therefore obliged to consider others as we make our decisions. It will involve the determination to connect by listening and growing in our sense of connectedness. It will be, in Oblate language, to live more deeply in community.
Sandy Prather
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May 25th, 2010
A couple of weeks back my cousin’s husband, Frank, was in Ottawa for a course connected to his work as a police officer. This was his first visit to the city and he was eager to get out and see something of the nation’s capital. As might be expected our first visit was to Parliament Hill on what was a warm sunny evening. We parked and made our way down Sparks Street, stopping briefly at the National War Memorial. At the Hill we stood for a moment in front of
the Centennial Flame, and then slowly walked around the Centre Block. As we walked and visited, I shared bits of historical trivia I’d picked up since my move to Ottawa two years earlier. Frank asked if I knew where the Canadian Peace Officer’s Memorial (somewhere on Parliament Hill) was located. I didn’t, but we found it easily enough at the back of the Centre Block. We spent some time reading the too-many names inscribed there and then continued walking.
After dropping Frank off later that evening, it occurred to me that my experience of showing him something of Ottawa was a metaphor of sorts for the gift that vocation ministry has been for me over these first two years. When a candidate comes to us what they are looking for is someone to show them around. This is part of discernment. They want to see something of where we live, and get a sense of what it might mean to live in this place. Like Frank on his first visit to Ottawa, curiosity and openness are prerequisites for authentic discernment. And as any traveller knows, a resident of the city makes the best guide… he knows the good and and bad of the place that make it special and give it color.
But as any real guide knows, each visitor gives the gift of fresh perspective. Two weeks ago I knew nothing of the Peace Officer’s Memorial at the back of Centre Block on Parliament Hill. Now I do, and I can share this special place with others. Similarly in vocation ministry, I’ve had the good fortune of seeing the Oblates through the eyes of people who are looking at us for the first time. Their view of things expands mine, and invites me to encounter the Oblate charism in fresh ways that reject the limitations familiarity can breed.
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May 14th, 2010
I’m currently writing this week’s blog from my ministry placement in Vancouver. I’ve been here for almost two weeks. I’ve had many different experiences since I have arrived. Two days ago I was in Sechelt in the Sunshine Coast. It was beautiful there. I was at a meeting for First Nations ministry in the diocese of Vancouver. There was a moment of recognition for a priest that has served the community in Sechelt for many years. But wrapped up in this moment of celebration was a feeling of anxiety, a foreboding of the possibility of loss. Why? Because of the people feared that with their priest turning 75 years of age that he would go into retirement and that no one would be able to replace him. In my Oblate family over the past three years I have witnessed many of our most prophetic voices pass away and there aren’t that many coming up behind to pick up the slack.
Where is God in this struggle? It seems that there are less and less deciding to think about the priesthood and religious life. There is a need and it isn’t being fulfilled. So what are we to do? I’m not sure if there is anything we can do. It may be time to rethink, re-imagine, and re-vision what vocations are about. People aren’t beating down the doors to become Oblates, but I believe they should. If they come to know how important this mission to the poor is, and that the work that seems to be endless is only done by a few.
I don’t see there ever being a time when, hunger, brokenness, desolation, violence and pain ever go away completely. So when do people start standing up and take notice at what is happening in the world? When we are confronted with apathy at every corner are there just a few that can say, “I will dedicate my life to the most abandoned.”
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May 6th, 2010
One day I was sitting in our church and I looked at the beautiful statue of Mary on the left side of the sanctuary. This brief moment of prayer evoked many memories related to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I was fascinated to see and realize how she has walked with me through all my life.
She was there when my childhood experience of faith was developing. In my home parish in Torun, Poland there is an icon of Our Lady and a novena is celebrated every Wednesday. As a young altar server, I remember those long hours (well at least it seemed like “hours”) kneeling in front of the icon during the reading of the intercessions. As I walked to my high school everyday, I made an effort to drop in to the church located just next to my school to say a short prayer; I’m not sure if that was out of devotion or rather as a security blanket for the classes ahead. Since it was a Redemptorist church the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was in the centre.
Devotion to Mary plays a significant role in the life of most Polish people, and I recall that I celebrated my first Mass on June 27th, the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I never thought at that moment that one day I would be asked to be rector of a Basilica whose patron would be none other then Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Coincidence…. I don’t think so! There is no doubt that Mary has been present in my life from the beginning.
The image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has a very unique expression. Mary’s gaze is fixed on us, but her arms hold Jesus. Mary never intended to be at the center of our faith; she always leads us to Jesus. Jesus isn’t looking at us, or at Mary, or at the angels. Though he clings to his mother, he is looking away, at something we can’t see – something that made him run so fast to his mother that one of his sandals has almost fallen off, something that makes him cling to her for protection and love.
So here then is the question: Why is Mary looking so intently at us instead of at her child in need? Her gaze brings us into the story, makes us part of the scene. Her gaze tells us that just as Jesus ran to his mother and found refuge, so we too may run to Mary. Her hand does not clasp the hands of her frightened son in a protective grip, but remains open, inviting us to put our hands in hers and join with Jesus.
During my moment of prayer, I went close to the statue and put my hand into Mary’s open hand. It is such a comforting feeling when you know that Mother is taking care of you. She is here for us, she is here with us, and she is always ready to comfort us in her caring arms. Put your hand in Mary’s hand!
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April 29th, 2010
“Zeal for the Church consumed him.”
“The Church, that glorious inheritance purchased by Christ the Saviour at the cost of his own blood, has in our days been cruelly ravaged.” Eugene de Mazenod wrote those words almost 200 years ago, yet they are dismayingly apt today. In Eugene’s time, it was the French Revolution and its aftermath that decimated the Church. At various points, the Catholic faith itself was banned, churches were burned and clergy and bishops defected en masse. Internal theological controversies and external political intrigues tore apart the fabric of faith. Indeed, from Eugene’s point of view, the Church was under attack from within through the actions of some of its members and from without by members of a newly liberated society.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. Today, again, from both within and without, the Church is being ravaged. From the inside, there are the horrific sins of the abuses and scandals, compounded by decades of some woefully inadequate and mistaken responses by those in authority. From the outside, a global media frenzy often exaggerates or even distorts what is happening, painting all the faithful with the same evil brush. Yet, even while recognizing the distortions, many Catholics, shocked and shamed by the recent reports, question how to remain faithful.
I think Eugene’s response might be helpful here. In looking at the sad state of affairs in his time, his response was not to leave the Church but rather to be consumed with zeal for it. In his eyes, to love Christ was to love the church and to love the Church was to love Christ. It was as if he saw, in the sin and the suffering of the Church from both within and without, the Body of Christ being crucified once again.
A passion for reform overtook him and he single-handedly wanted to rebuild the Church in France. His creative response was the establishment of the parish missions with a committed band of right-minded priests who would witness to the true Good News with their preaching and with the quality of their lives. Thus was born the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
It is a challenge we can take up. As Richard Rohr has said, “The best solution for the bad is the practice of the better.” It would be a powerful witness to the world if Christian Catholics truly witnessed to the gospel message. As we humbly went about our lives, practicing compassion, love, service and a love of justice, a re-newed face of the Church would be seen and perhaps the Good News would be good once more.
Sandy Prather HOMI
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April 22nd, 2010
One of my favorite images from scripture is that of the Vine and the Branches. It’s an image that helps me understand three things: that Jesus is the source of life, that we are all connected to each other through Him, and that we all participate in the very life of God.
Coming from the world of business and management, Margaret Wheatley touches into this image when she writes about leadership: Many writers have offered new images of effective leaders… gardeners, midwives, stewards, servants, missionaries, facilitators, conveners. Although each takes a slightly different approach, they all name a new posture for leaders, a new stance that relies on relationships with their networks of employees, stakeholders and communities. No one can hope to lead any organization by standing outside or ignoring the web of relationships through which all work is accomplished…
P 165, Leadership and the New Science
Ever so slowly I’m coming to understand the deeper meaning of this scriptural image and of Wheatley’s words. Nothing I or anyone does is done in isolation. Even if I am not aware of it, the most innocuous of my words and actions affect the lives of others; especially those to whom I am most closely connected on the web or the vine. I am coming to see that my suffering is not my own suffering, and my joys are not mine alone. My life affects and belongs to others, and theirs to me. Both images; the web and the vine, are invitations to remember this, to actively share my life with others, and to allow others to share their lives with me.
If you were to ask the four men with whom I share Oblate community how I actually live what I’ve written above, I hope they would choose charity over the naked truth. Like most, my lived reality all to often falls short of the ideal. But in the end life is not so much about getting it perfect… it’s about staying in the relationships we’ve been given by God, messy and broken as they can be, because this is the real place of participation in the life of God.
Fr Ken
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