New Needs, New Means: OMI Lacombe Canada Responds

Oblates and Associates are responding across the country, creating new means to meet new needs of the time.  Here are a few stories about what’s taking place across the Province.  Throughout these weeks, we hope our sharing helps us to maintain connection, bridge the distances, and inspire us.  We are in this together with the Spirit to guide the way.

This week we have stories from Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC Districts.

To submit your stories, please email Fr. Richard Beaudette at vicar1@omilacombe.ca

Ontario District – Fr. Bill Thompson, OMI

“I feel a bit like Sisyphus,” Father Bill laughs, “pushing that rock up the hill, everyday.” For the eighty-three-year-old high school teacher, it’s not the teaching that is difficult: he’s experienced at that! It’s the fact that almost overnight, everything changed, and he went on-line.

With only a day’s notice in March, new health protocols to combat Covid-19 in the London, ON school district where he works were enacted and all the schools closed. Immediately, all teaching switched to e-learning. With three separate classes to teach, Father Bill Thompson has found that’s a lot of computer work! Challenges have included a rather convoluted e-learning platform, no access to his classroom so that he lacks textbooks and materials, the time-consuming tasks of student follow-up and when needed, seeking parental and counsellor support for students. Many days, Father Bill reports, he’s at his desk til late in the afternoon, when he finally pauses for a late supper. “I haven’t worked this hard since post-graduate days,” he notes ruefully.

Fortunately, there are a few bright spots and graces. Although limited somewhat by foot issues, Fr. Bill is able to walk his neighborhood a bit where he encounters students and friends. Colleagues deliver groceries and keep in close phone contact with him. “It’s the human interactions that make it bearable,” he announces.

He also recognizes that these are ‘interesting’ albeit challenging times. As a history and political science teacher, he keeps a keen eye on the news and the way things are unfolding. Ontario, he notes, has struggled and he worries about the virus through the summer and even whether or not schools will be able to open in September. He also pays wary attention to our neighbors to the south, expressing his concern and solidarity for the people suffering there.

Saskatchewan District – Fr. Doug Jeffrey, OMI – serving Meadow Lake, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Green Lake, St. Jude R.C. Church and Waterhen Lake Church

In a recent email, Fr. Doug Jeffrey speaks to his time serving three parishes in the Prince Albert Diocese since COVID began:

“Since the early days of the virus we began to slowly set limits here at the three parishes in the Meadow Lake Cluster, which I am responsible for! These limits were called for by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and our local Bishop, Bishop Albert Thévenot, M. Afr. of Prince Albert. After mass was no longer possible, we continued to leave the Church open so that people could come and pray. As active cases began to pop up and fewer and fewer people came to the Church concern for our most vulnerable members prompted us to close the Church Buildings. When we were facing limits, I established a leadership group consisting of parish leaders from the Pastoral Council, the Finance Council, the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Women’s League and a few other people who were involved in the faith communities. To this group I turned for advice and ideas whenever we were faced with a new limitation or possibility.

In late March/early April we set up a Facebook page (Catholic Church Meadow Lake) and a parish website www.meadowlakecatholicchurch.com to serve the Cluster. We also set up a phoning tree for Meadow Lake to keep in touch with parishioners. Since our parish lists had not been updated in some time, we had some work to do with the phoning tree. We now have updated our lists and communicate on a regular basis with emails and surface mail and the social media sites. For the two smaller communities we keep in touch through the parish leaders and through phone calls that I make.

In mid-April (after Easter) we started to live-stream our masses using my iPhone. Mass is live streamed daily (Monday through Saturday) at 9:00 am and at 10:00 am on Sunday. On Sundays I have invited two people too assist with music and two people to assist with mass responses/readings/intercessions etc. We have also added recitation of the rosary, the praying of the Oblate Novena, Songs at Seven (a brief selection of 4-6 hymns) as well as some 30 minute faith formation sessions on various topics (Guided Meditation with the Sunday Gospel and a series on how Mary can help us to be better disciples) and we will also begin Adoration/Benediction on the first Friday.

I continue to visit the Hospital and The Lodge when someone is ‘actively dying’ otherwise I am not allowed into these facilities. I am required to answer a questionnaire, have my temperature taken and then mask up and glove up. I have continued to do funeral liturgies (Liturgy Outside of Mass) with the Saskatchewan Health Authority restrictions in place regarding numbers of people, masks, and social distances.

I find that I am busy trying to stay in touch with people via phone, preparing content and posting content for website and Facebook and communicating to folks via email and surface mail. Few people drop into the parish but there are still collections to process and all sorts of other requests that cross my desk. As well the buildings and properties need attention. Just before mass one day a leak was discovered in the bathroom. On another day just before mass the internet went silent. I have spent a fair amount of time discovering how to use technology – what is possible and what is not.

We have discovered that because of our presence on social media the number of people who take part in the parish liturgies and programs has increased and we are reaching people beyond our parish. This has been good news and has got us thinking about the future. We are looking to continue broadcasting our masses and programs after we can once again gather.

Right now, we are looking at opening our Church buildings for mass with 30 people present. The plan is being created for us to do that safely. We are also looking at completing our Catechesis in light of Confirmation and First Eucharist. We are looking forward to the celebration of those sacraments in the near future.

The presence of this virus has certainly called us to reflect on what we have taught our people re: the celebration of the sacraments and the extent of our worship. We are being challenged to develop our personal prayer and to celebrate our liturgical rites in ways we have never imagined. There are new implications for how we deliver programs and in a few short weeks I have become a ‘technological expert’ of sorts and as I explore the setting up of a Youtube Channel it looks like my skills will continue to develop.

While I look forward to gathering as communities of faith, I am also concerned that one of our gatherings will result in one of our parishioners getting the virus. This would be a real heartbreak for me, and it causes me no small amount of stress. While I appreciate the hunger of people for the physical Eucharist and the celebration of the sacraments I am also concerned about the safety and well being of the people for whom I am responsible. Reaching out to people in this time of pandemic is not easy.

Perhaps the most creative thing we have done was host a Virtual Pentecost Potluck Supper. It involved people colouring a symbol of Pentecost (Dove/flame) and posting it on their door/window. Preparing a special dish, snapping a picture and posting on our Facebook Page, then sending the picture and recipe as well as a story re: favourite pandemic pastime to the parish secretary…I monitored the Facebook page from 5-7:30 on Pentecost Sunday as people ate/shared pictures and comments. People suggest it was a fun thing even though it involved a smaller number of people and was an effort to build connections.  Building connections is key to celebrating and living our faith!”

BC District – Associates – David and Karen Sax

“There’s a time for everything.” For many, Covid-19 has meant an increase in both intensity and time spent working, but for others, it has meant a new freedom. A significant portion of the population has been required/requested to stay at home as much as possible, and jobs and even volunteer work have been curtailed. Travel, appointments, social engagements: all disappeared almost overnight. For Associates David and Karen Sax in Nanaimo B.C., the new lifestyle has brought unexpected benefits.

For David, it means spending quality time doing more of the things he loves. He’s tending a newly planted community garden and looking forward to the vegetables and flowers to come. He’s been able to take more walks and enjoy the beautiful British Columbia spring.

For Karen, it’s been having the time to take on a long-delayed project. When her part-time work at the parish ended, Karen suddenly found herself with free time on her hands. She turned to the box of letters that had travelled with her for years. “Time to take them up,” she thought, and she sat down at her computer. Six weeks later, the project is completed, and she is justifiably proud and waiting for the next step.

The letters are dear to her and David’s hearts. They represent a vital and heart-felt connection to a close friend, Brother Blaise MacQuarrie, OMI. The Saxes have been supporting Brother Blaise, an Oblate missionary in Peru since 1962, through MAMI, for years and they were fortunate enough to be able to visit him in Chincha Alta in 2012.

Their daughter Marika was working in Peru at the time and during their visit to her during Holy Week that year, she arranged a visit for them with Brother Blaise. David and Karen spent a day and a half with him and it was, David says, a ‘life-changing experience.’ Brother Blaise’s ministry is building houses for and among the homeless and he invited them to see with their own eyes the poverty there. “Let me show you the very poor,” he said to them, and took them to a shanty town. “And now let me show you the wretched poor,” he continued, and he took them to a village of shacks built of tarps and mats. David and Karen have been supporting him even more fervently ever since.

Hence, the box of letters. Twice a year, for years, Brother Blaise, who turned 85 this past February, has faithfully sent handwritten, personal missives to his supporters. Karen and David receive them, of course, but they received the entire collection of the ones written between 1986 and 2012 when Brother Blaise gave them to Marika to be delivered to her parents. Karen and David immediately recognized their importance. Often up to eight pages long, filled with stories and anecdotes of the mission and written with delightful colloquialisms, they knew their archival value. Karen vowed to type them up one day and with Covid-19, that day finally came.

After some intense weeks of work, the letters are all safely entered into the computer. Now, in conversation with Oblate archivists, Karen awaits the next step in transferring them to historical safe keeping. She also wonders when Brother’s next batch of letters, 2012 -2020 might arrive!

Amidst the gardening and the typing, another gift of the time they both mention is the on-going connection with the Oblate community. They’ve been able to have a porch visit with Mike and Jo Creedon, District Animators for B.C. who live in Nanaimo, and enjoyed several ZOOM calls with the Oblates and Associates, arranged by Linda Arnold, Vancouver Associate. They hope to cap that off with an ‘in-person’ Gathering of Oblates and Associates in late June in Vancouver.

We often have to find time, make time, take time. For David and Karen, Covid-19 has given them time to undertake important and meaningful activities. That can only be gift.

Adding my Voice: Advocacy for a Better World

Last September, the Centre Oblat organized a very successful symposium on the social, environmental and ethical considerations of operations of Canadian mining companies overseas.  Held at St. Paul University, Ottawa, the event featured Ms. Sheri Meyerhoffer’s first public speech in her role as Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). Responses were offered by a mining company executive, an academic and the advocacy officer at Development and Peace – Caritas Canada.

Many civil society organizations worked for over a decade towards encouraging the federal government to name an Ombudsperson in this role. But without a strong mandate that gives the agency independence of operations, including an ability to investigate complaints, demand documentation from companies and obtain remedies if wrongdoing is discovered, the CORE cannot fulfill expectations.

To encourage the federal government to keep its promise to establish a CORE with such necessary powers and mandate, a Parliamentary electronic petition is being circulated. (While one Member of Parliament’s name must be attached to such a petition as a matter of course, this initiative has multi-party endorsement – various MPs from the Green, NDP, Liberal and Bloc Quebecois parties have expressed their support.)

Please feel free to sign the petition today!

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2564.

You may care to note that signing a parliamentary e-petition is a two-step process. Once you sign, you will receive an email that you will need to click in order to confirm your signature. Signatures will be accepted until September 1, 2020, when the petition will be read into the Parliamentary record – so feel free to circulate this link appropriately until then!

Lifting Our Spirit

In these uncertain times, we need to care not only for our physical health, but for our emotional and spiritual health as well.  We all need something to lift our spirits!  Each week, we will be presenting you with something you might find inspirational, comforting, thoughtful or even, perhaps, amusing!

Come, Great Spirit!

WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, REACTIONS AND STORIES!

Fr. Richard Beaudette – vicar1@omilacombe.ca
Isabelle Gigault – igigault@omilacombe.ca
Lucie Leduc – director@starofthenorth.ca
Joe Gunn – jgunn@omilacombe.ca
Sandra Prather – sandramprather@gmail.com