Salt + Light Blog

Do you really believe in conversion? You wonder this as you repeat those same sins in confession. You also struggle to believe that a dysfunctional family relationship could be transformed by God; it’s been a certain way for so long, you can hardly fathom what it would even look like. On a societal scale, when considering problems in your community, your efforts at prayer wither under discouragement. We all fight the disquieting capacity to resign to the way that things are.

For one Toronto-area neighbourhood, though, the status quo became intolerable. The compromised safety of their children jolted residents into action.

Bordered by two highways and Toronto’s major airport, Malton feels distinct from the neighbouring cities of Mississauga and Brampton. Though its problems may have been exaggerated in the media, the community of 40,000 developed an unenviable reputation for gang violence. Malton endured four homicides in 2009, slightly down six the year before.

So far this year, there has been one. And according to residents interviewed by the Toronto Star, Malton feels safer, too.

How did Malton do it? A city councillor credits municipal investment, such as new pools in the community centre and refurbished parks and fire stations. But some of the facilities she cites, like the new youth drop-in centre, have yet to open.

There is another more significant factor that Salt + Light documented in Changing Course, airing tonight at 8pm ET (repeating Thursday at 11:30am ET). To address gang and bullying problems in Malton, the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board enacted an innovative strategy to support at-risk youth. The schools’ visionary principals developed programs encompassing academics, sports, the arts, faith and even nutrition. Community partners like the Knights of Columbus and the police eagerly signed on to help. Changing Course follows students of these schools for one school year, revealing their challenges, victories, and the limitless potential of Catholic education.

Tonight’s presentation coincides with a special screening in Minsk, Belarus. Changing Course is an official entry in the Magnificat International Catholic Festival of Christian Documentary and TV Programs. Earlier this year, the film also participated in the Niepokalanow Festival in Poland.

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Kris Dmytrenko

Few Canadian Catholics are as beloved as Fr. Bob Bedard. Initially, I had mixed feelings about the founder of the Companions of the Cross. But he won me over, too.

Seven years ago I worked in campus ministry in Ottawa, and so sometimes I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Bob preach. I recall fuming at one politically-tinged homily, the conclusions of which I didn’t share. Back then, I wasn’t very comfortable with the charismatic spirituality of the Companions, either. (Passion and conviction can intimidate those of us who are lacking.)

But one could not help but be taken in by his priestly heart. Though Fr. Bob was the founder of a growing community of forty priests serving in five cities, he enthusiastically agreed to help with our small events at Carleton University. I distinctly remember one reconciliation service where Fr. Bob spent hours listening to students pour out their souls in confession.

Heaven knows how many confessions he’s heard in his half-century as a priest. Yet to each student, he listened with rapt attention. His counsel was reflective and personal, God’s absolution assuredly pronounced, as if each sacrament was the most important he would ever administer. Because each one was.

Years later I spotted Fr. Bob at a conference in Toronto. I was about to reintroduce myself, since it had been so long. Instead, he called me by name and pulled me in for his trademark hug. (Someone once told me that a Fr. Bob hug would result in a priestly vocation, though this hasn’t yet taken effect on me.)

One month later, I learned that he was hospitalized in grave condition. A combination of cognitive, respiratory and heart problems left him unconscious. Fr. Scott McCaig, the moderator and superior general of the Companions, warned that death could be imminent. He later regained consciousness, but was diagnosed with dementia and, cruelly, was further struck by pneumonia and a stroke.

According to the most recent update on the Companions website, Fr. Bob “has defied the odds again and rallied amazingly”. He is presently at a long-term care facility. “It seems the Lord has more for Fr. Bob to do yet,” wrote Fr. McCaig.

His ministry never really stopped. Talks by Fr. Bob, filmed before his health crisis, can still be seen on Food for Life, which S+L airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 8 am.

Now there’s new material from Fr. Bob that reveals insights into his remarkable life. The Companions of the Cross have published Give God Permission: The Memoirs of Fr. Bob Bedard. Written over the course of several years, the book will be released tonight at the community’s 25^th anniversary dinner. The event also commemorates the ordination anniversaries of 13 priests, including Fr. Scott McCaig’s 15^th and Fr. Bob’s 55^th.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa endorses the memoir as “a testament to his profound openness to the Holy Spirit”. Those who miss Fr. Bob’s presence—his countless friends, former students and parishioners do so achingly, myself included—will find solace in ‘hearing’ his voice again through his writing.

UPDATE: Give God Permission: The Memoirs of Fr. Bob Bedard can be now ordered by calling the Companions of the Cross at 1-866-885-8824. The book can also be purchased from their online store.

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Kris Dmytrenko

Canada is saying goodbye to its Primate. Fittingly, Cardinal Marc Ouellet does so across the country with an interview on the CBC’s The National. (Note: the interview was recorded Thursday and was advertised to air tonight, but it has been rescheduled for Sunday.) He departs for the Vatican on Tuesday to take up his new position as the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

The Archbishop of Québec gave a more intimate farewell on Sunday at the shrine of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré. There he reflected on his experience at the helm of Canada’s first diocese. He summarized his nearly eight-year episcopal ministry in Quebec City as “a call reprised one thousand-times on the same theme: the Resurrection of Christ and the faith of the Church lived perfectly by Mary, the Servant of the Lord.”

The Cardinal reaffirmed that the cultural identity of Quebec has been formed by the mysteries of faith. Known for his candour in confronting his province’s challenges, he also asked for forgiveness for any hurt his words or decisions may have caused.

If you missed S+L’s rebroadcast of the celebration this past Tuesday, you can watch it at ECDQ.tv, the media portal of the Archdiocese of Québec. Published below is Salt + Light’s unofficial translation of Cardinal Ouellet’s farewell homily.

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

On November 15, 2002, I welcomed, in the Spirit of the Lord, the mission of pastoral service in the Archdiocese of Québec.

On this day, August 15th, 2010, I leave our country to respond to the call of the Holy Father, our Pope Benedict XVI, who appointed me to direct the Congregation for Bishops and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. It is again in this same Spirit of the Lord that I would like to share my thanksgiving to God and my gratitude towards you for these blessed years that He has given us to live together.

During these eight years, bonds have been formed between us: I have experienced profound joys, numerous consolations even amidst challenges, and also moments that have marked my ministry as Archbishop of Québec and Primate of Canada. I am convinced that these bonds formed by the Lord will survive and I pray to God to render fruitful the sacrifice of this departure by accepting, both you and me, His will for our lives. His will is nothing but Love, I experienced it at the heart of this large diocesan family, which I have loved and will miss.

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Kris Dmytrenko

As I shared in my previous post, I spent my vacation in Algonquin Provincial Park and at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario. In between those adventures, I took a road trip to Newfoundland with my best friend.

For one week, we marveled at the Maritime culture, wildlife and dramatic landscape of Gros Morne National Park. As we prepared to head home, I came across a familiar sight from my work in Toronto.

It was our final day in Newfoundland. My friend Lee, a campus lay missionary, suggested we go to evening mass before we boarded the ferry. An internet search found no daily masses in the area apart from the little town of Lourdes.

Lourdes is located on the triangular Port au Port Peninsula, which reaches into the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the south-west corner of Newfoundland. Our guidebook described the peninsula’s main road as the French Ancestor’s Route, owing to the area’s early settlers.

Despite the lovely name, it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t a regular tourist destination. A pair of bored-looking teens manned a quiet information centre. They listed off the peninsula’s three restaurants, none of which offered a seafood meal, much less French cuisine. Whereas the towns along Newfoundland’s north-western arm were saturated with bed & breakfasts, here, it seemed, the locals could keep the rugged shoreline to themselves.

Sizing up the village, I was skeptical about our chances of finding a Mass. Was the website information up-to-date? If there was a priest to be found at the church, would we find other worshipers?

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Kris Dmytrenko

The disheveled man lurched along the trail, as if stumbling off the set of a George Romero movie. He wore just one hiking boot; the other ankle was swollen and purple. Half-naked—the wrong half—his bare legs were covered in deep cuts and two crimson, football-sized lesions. His wide eyes did not avert their gaze as he staggered toward me, his pale face expressionless. Alone in the forest with nowhere to turn, I had seconds to consider how I would greet this terrifying man.

Thankfully, I had received a few lessons in hospitality just a few weeks prior. For my summer vacation, I had signed up to live at Madonna House, a Catholic farm community in the rural village of Combermere, Ontario. Here, dozens of lay women and men have committed their lives to prayer and service to one another.

The foundress of Madonna House, Catherine Doherty, described it as “a house of hospitality.”

“It is a place where people are received, not on their education, not on how wonderful they are as painters, or whatever they have to do,” she said. “They are received simply as people. They are loved.”

Their legendary hospitality draws guests from around the world, each invited to participate in the life of the community, without cost, for as long as they please.

“When I encounter a stranger,” said one long-time Madonna House member, “I wish to greet them with the same joy that I would for an old friend at the airport.”

This enthusiastic receptivity is even sculpted in the image of their patron. Our Lady of Combermere runs “in haste” (Luke 1:39) to reunite with her cousin Elizabeth. She bounds with arms wide open, Madonna House teaches, with the same intense desire to embrace each of us, her “wounded children”.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux exhibited this same welcoming spirit in her response to interruption. In Interior Freedom, Fr. Jacques Philippe writes that some of the “Little Flower’s” responsibilities in the convent required great concentration, but she would often be pulled away to assist with other tasks. She learned to graciously receive her fellow sisters — almost as if she was choosing to be disrupted — as a means of embracing God’s will.

This brings me back to the forest.

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Kris Dmytrenko

Even before the G8 and G20 Summits began, the world’s religious leaders were under no illusions that they could greatly influence the politicians. Still, eighty faith leaders were gathered in Winnipeg for their own assembly. While they were confident they had something important to say, many had been through this before, and they kept their expectations modest.

“I have my doubts,” admitted Rev. Suzanne Membe Matale, regarding the faith leaders’ ability to influence the summits. The Zambian pastor knows how it works. Agendas for the G8 and G20 had long since been set and their declarations pre-drafted. While the hype had been escalating for several months, both summits lasted just three days combined—hardly enough time to address more than a few issues.

As expected, the G8 summit in Huntsville was highlighted by its maternal health agreement, while Toronto’s G20 focused on economic recovery. The faith leaders’ recommendations, expressed in “A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action”, were not rewarded with many firm commitments in either summit declaration. (The lengthy G8 and G20 Summit declarations can be read here and here, respectively.)

“If you are genuinely worried about the threat of climate change,” wrote John Ibbitson for the Globe and Mail, “this is a grim G8/G20 summit.”

“More aid for Africa was referred to,” commented Jeffrey Simpson for the same newspaper, “but since aid-givers have largely fallen short of previous commitments, not much was specific on that score either.”

Media analysis of the maternal health initiative was more positive.

“The total contribution – $7.3-billion over five years – is big enough to save many lives,” judged the Globe and Mail’s editorial. But Canada’s generous contribution to that fund will likely pull resources from other international aid commitments, since there is no corresponding increase to the overall foreign aid budget.

“Maternal health runs the risk of being the latest flavour-of-the-month of international summitry,” the Globe concluded.

If the faith leaders had no dramatic impact on the results of the G8/G20, they cannot be faulted for their effort, given that their’s was the most substantial lobbying effort directed at the summits. Together, the delegates represented millions of believers from their diverse religions. It could be there, in the leaders’ own churches, temples, mosques and synagogues, that the World Religions Summit finds its legacy.

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Kris Dmytrenko

A few weeks ago, my mixed feelings about multi-faith advocacy were brought to the surface.

Before I confess my misgivings, I must tell you that I’m especially indebted to people of other religions and denominations. When I was an agnostic high school student, a Bahá’í friend stoked my interest in God by inviting me to his religion’s “Fireside” gatherings. I was confirmed as a Catholic at 19, but then struggled to live out my faith in university. It was then that I stumbled upon a Pentecostal student convention, which introduced me to rich fellowship with evangelicals. They taught me passion and commitment.

Yet despite those positive experiences, and many more during my time in the Holy Land, I remained privately skeptical about the efficacy of interreligious coalitions.

On June 21st I arrived at the University of Winnipeg to cover the World Religions Summit. The event’s goal was to influence the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings. (Michèle Nuzzo-Naglieri detailed the aims of the summit on Headline Bistro.) I wondered, though, whether a multi-faith assembly could garner much more influence or publicity than, say, the pronouncement of a singular Catholic Archbishop, who already represents a sizable constituency. Moreover, how much common ground could possibly be shared by this collection of miters, turbans and vibrant robes, representing a broad spectrum of traditional to reformed ideologies? Could eighty leaders representing nine world religions manage to draft a strong statement?

If there was tension among the delegates, this was kept well hidden. Their spirit of fraternity would have provided an edifying witness for combative clerics elsewhere, or for atheists who maintain that religion only breeds conflict.

The closing debate on the final statement centered on minor points of expression, rather than content. As it was put to a vote, the moderator, Rev. Dr. James Christie from the Canadian Council of Churches, convinced delegates to accept a declaration that he described as good, if imperfect.

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Kris Dmytrenko

One could hardly have predicted that the replacement of the long-form census with a voluntary survey would have erupted into an ongoing debate. Most Canadians, I imagine, find census methodology a little pedantic, or welcome having one less piece of paperwork that they must fill out.

The controversy has drawn attention to the function of the census, which — let’s admit it — we probably don’t think about after we drop it in the mailbox.

So it might surprise you to learn that one of the beneficiaries of the survey is the Catholic Church. Yesterday, the Canadian Bishops asked the Canadian government to reconsider their decision and keep the long-form census. The Church, wrote Bishop Pierre Morissette, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, uses the data to help meet pastoral and charitable needs across the country.

The full text of Bishop Morrissette’s letter, dated July 28th, reads below:

The Honourable Tony Clement, M.P, P.C.
Minister of Industry
Department of Industry
C.D. Howe Building
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5

Dear Minister,

On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Canada, I ask that you reconsider your position on the census and continue to require the completion by some citizens of the “long form”. A great deal of this information, based on data gathered by Statistics Canada, is most helpful to all faith groups.

One of the reasons frequently cited for the elimination of this practice is that the questions are intrusive. However, it is important to remember that the form is anonymous. Furthermore, in order to build a more harmonious society, it is in our government’s best interest to inquire into these areas. It seems reasonable to ask these questions so as to better meet the needs of Canadians. No aspect of Canadians’ lifestyles should be neglected in the effort to strengthen our nation’s identity. This is a holistically healthy practice. It allows that services provided are much more effective when the target is known.

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Kris Dmytrenko

It takes a powerful force to interrupt the flow of a city like Toronto. If streets are closed for a parade, drivers find other routes and life continues as usual. Even a convergence of thousands will escape the notice of most citizens. Only two events, in my experience, have actually managed to overwhelm the routines of the city.

One was just a month ago. I was walking to St. Michael’s Cathedral for Saturday evening Mass when I noticed that the front gates were closed. Because of the G20 Summit, I was told, the liturgy was canceled. Annoyed, but already out of the house, I decided to walk around to witness the protests first hand.

A significant portion of crowds consisted of curious bystanders like me. Together, we shook our heads disdainfully as armed riot police marched by in formation, resembling post-apocalyptic foot soldiers, entirely alien to a city like ours.

But the honest among us would admit to feeling a little thrilled by the excitement. Like tourists in our own city, we snapped pictures of each damaged storefront. (Considering the hordes of amateur reporters armed with cell phone cameras, this must have been the most documented event in the city’s history.) Others pocketed small broken glass souvenirs. These touristy reactions were sadly appropriate: as John Bentley Mays lamented in the Catholic Register, the streets were no longer our own.

That was a rude awakening for some of us. A peaceful, devout friend of mine (who, incidentally, was a past guest on Perspectives: Weekly Edition) was also taking in the protests. We had been texting our impressions to each other until he was arrested by the police. The only stated reason, he says, was that he was wearing a bandanna around his neck. With no one aware of his whereabouts, and prevented from using a phone until the next day, he languished in the city’s makeshift jail for 28 hours.

Torontonians mourned their disfigured city. I remembered a better time.

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Kris Dmytrenko

Earlier this week on the blog, Fr. Thomas Rosica shared his homily for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. That message was preached in Rome at the Generalate of the Christian Brothers de la Salle, a religious order renowned for operating schools around the world. Notable among them is Bethlehem University.

S+L spent one month filming at this remarkable university, whose existence has been shaped at every turn by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As history has taught its students and educators, it’s an environment where anything can happen.

Beacon of Hope, the 14-minute video featured below, was first presented in Rome on Thursday evening to an audience that included Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation of Eastern Churches; Cardinal John Foley, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem; Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Palestine; members of the General Curia of the Christian Brothers de la Salle; the Administration, Boards of Governors and Regents of Bethlehem University; and many distinguished guests and supporters of the sole Catholic University in Israel and Palestine. The video previews a future, full-length S+L documentary about Bethlehem University.

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Kris Dmytrenko