Palm Sunday at Saint-Luke's

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. As I have not been working on Sunday's this year, it was nice to see and welcome everyone - As the church filled up and the blessed palms were distributed, the children were gathered around the altar. With the help of the altar servers and the children's liturgy animators - the "parade" marched down the aisles waiving their palms and signing HOSANNA. It's a great way for the children to grasp the reality of HOLY WEEK. Something different was in the air. There's lots more to come until all together we can shout again "ALLELUIA He is Risen - Indeed He is risen"

I hope that we all have a very meaningful Holy Week - filled with the graces that come from seeking the One who gave his Life for US.

Visit to the Cathedral

WOW! WOW! and WOW!!! On a bright and sunny day, over 50 families from Saint-Luke's Confirmation group joined many other families from the Montreal area at the Cathedral today, Sunday March 25th - 2007. In fact, I estimate that we were over 800 people gathered today at the Cathedral. By the time I got there at 1:08 pm - I could see families waiting outside - looking forward to the visit. Each family received a tour package with instructions and a quizz (worksheet) to guide them along and help them discover the many riches at the Cathedral. It was wonderful to see the families working together and learning about our Cathedral. During the whole visit, Bishop Mancini met the parents and the many grandparents who also attended the event. Around 2:45pm the Bishop had a chat with the group - he spoke about his call to be a bishop - he put on his own style of "fashion sow" in order to demonstrate the different vestment that the Bishop wears and then he answered several questions from the youth.

Mrs. Aitken took many pictures that we will be part of the retreat presentation and I might be able to post a few to this site. Comments from the families will be sollicitated and I will post them as well.

For me it was just so great to see the church full of life - full of the young people who just by being there make a difference in our church but who one day will take on leadership roles in our faith communities. God is Good! God has planted in our hearts the seed of faith - sometimes we just have to tend our gardens daily to see the garden grow.

LA Religious Education Congress

Spring Break in LA.

What's in LA - well, in fact it's Anaheim, California. Every year the Diocese of Los Angeles hosts the largest Catechetical Conference in the US and most probably the world. You can see photos of this year's conference at www.recongress.org.

Attending events such as this, allows catechists to gather not only for formation but also for a sense of Church that is alive and well! Imagine 10,000 adults in an arena celebrating mass - signing in 3 languages (english,spanish & vietnamese) - WOW! Who could of imagined!!! it's my third visit to this event and I don't tire of it. In 3 days, one can choose 8 workshops from a total of 166 - other events such as keynote speakers , evening concerts , lunch time entertainment, and eucharistic celebrations that touch the soul....

I come back refreshed and ready to face the next part of our programs - Now if Spring would only show up - I would be ever grateful.

Video | MediaWise.org

In one of my recent newsletter, I referred parents to a web site that deals with media and families. If you click on the link you can listen to interviews that were done with Dr. Walsh in the media talking about the difficulties in raising our children in today's culture. Take the time to have a look - it's worth it.

Video MediaWise.org

Taking Time out for God!

This morning the parents of the children preparing for First Communion in the French community at St-Luke's gathered for a mini-retreat. In fact, we celebrated the Eucharist together. But not just a plain mass, we are blessed that Father Roger is able to take the time to explain things as he celebrate.... from the Why of the books to the colours of his vestments, add a little history of the church and there is so much to learn. We have a faith that is rich in rituals, people and history. Not all history comes up smelling like roses but all in all - we have to remember that we are people of the world and sometimes we make the same mistakes of the world. God guides us but does not make us do stuff! It's up to us, the people of the church, to stand up and be counted when injustices occur.

This morning readings were about the Beattidues... you know Blessed are those who.... are poor for the Kingdome of God is there.... our culture seems to be more full of attitudes then BEATTITUDES.

I thnk God that as a community of faith, I have the opportunity to come together with adults, parents who love their children and only want their best and are able to take SOME TIME for themselves because by doing so they are also PRAISING GOD since we are in fact made in his image.

Raising Catholic Kids - part I

"The Slopy depth of Love -
Last evening, Tuesday, February 6th, Deacon Gerry Turpin welcomed about 35 parents and shared with them insights about raising children in today's world all the while keeping a catholic perspective. What struck me - was the relationship between the word disciple and discipline. Parents are the most important teachers to their child - are children are "young disciples" following a role model. Parents who see their children as disciples are thus called to be Christlike to them.

Studies state that by the 3rd year of High School, only about 5% of students have a healthy self-esteem. Children need good role models to guide them. But what about discipline???? How can a parent discipline? A new definition of discipline was offered "discipline is not punishment but it is a teaching process". This teaching process is not based on cohersion or control. Deacon Gerry stated that discipline is 90% prevention & 10% correction. Children misbehave because they have a perception that they are not Loved. Key word is "perception" - but we do know that they learn early on that good behaviour does not warrant adult attention however certain behaviours do get adults attention quite promtly. Prevention is recognizing the behaviour that you want your child to exhibit and using praise to support it. "The more you recognize the good behaviour the need for bad behaviour decreases" says Deacon Gerry. In other word, "Catch them being good".

During the evening many more areas were mentionned, such as

• Children have been taught the power of "NO" - our job is to teach ourselves (the parents) alternatives to "NO" such as "Yes but later" or "Give me a minute"
• Children will respond to good preventative discipline
• Children also need corrective discipline i.e., consequences for inappropriate behaviour - accountability rather than punishment
• Children need to be allowed choices within limits - in biblical sense he refered to the story of the Rich Young Man - Jesus proposes but the young man has to choose - make a decision.

All these ideas and much more.... When do I let go? What about anger? How do I break the cycle?

If you want to hear more, Gerry will be back next Tuesday February 13th. Please feel free to invite a friend.

Thank you Gerry for sharing your experience.

Finding God in all Things - Part II .

For those of you who attended the workshop and would like to pursue the reflection a little bit further - I've discovered a site that offers 3 minute meditations (Actually 3 minutes can be long) but it's worth the effort - it can be done at work.... during lunch.... and I found it to be quite peaceful and life giving...http://www.findinggod.org - Then just go to 3 minute retreat -

Finding God in All things!

Finding God in All Things was the theme for our CAFE (Catholic Adult Faith Enrichment) evening held last nite. After reflecting on "Where is AWE" in todays society... does it still exists... do we stop and appreciate or are we always in a rush.... for some of us the sense of AWE is still very present.... our guest speaker explained that very young she became aware of God's presence in her life.... although she has crisis, like we all do, by maintaining a dialogue with God, she will often find that she had overlooked God's presence. She proposed that we take daily time to recognize God in our life.... maybe before going to bed at night... to take a few minutes and reflect on the good of our day... the difficulties that we experienced.... the help that we would need and maybe even the ask forgiveness for the hurts we might of inflicted. This type of daily reflection will help us keep up our awareness.... thus remaining close to God and keeping the AWE in the AWESOME LOVE God has for us.

Confirmation gathering for Parent & child

Last Thursday an evening for the Confirmation youth was planned for the young people. The confirmands attended the evening with one of their parents. Together we reflected on a symbol used at their baptism - the Candle - We used the symbole of Light in order to reinforce the idea of "Jesus Light of the World" as well as we are called to be "Light" to the world. As confirmands they are expected to be sent into the world and to Let their Light Shine. The families gathered in the church - in the dark - only the votives created by the young people themselves were lit on the altar rail. Following prayer we lit the Paschal candle - and invited the Holy Spirit to bring light to our life. Father Roger shared with us how we can by looking a little bit more deeply recognize the Holy Spirit in our lives in today's world. He reminded us that Jesus promised to send us an Advocate - one who would always be by our side. Following Father Roger's sharing - the parents lit a white candle representing their baptismal call from the Paschal Candle and passed on their light to their child who has holding to a red candle - representing their Confirmation journey. The lighting ritual was quite moving.... Once all had shared the light - we renewed once again the baptismal promise. The community was then invited to blow out their candle just like one would do on their birthday but rather than making a wish - they were suggested that a silent prayer of request be individually made - so one by one the candles were blown out and an atmosphere of silent prayer was created.

I always hope that these evenings built around ritual and prayer are meaningful for all those who attend.

How do we measure sucess?

A mini-retreat on the "Sacraments of Healing" http://www.diocesemontreal.org/accueil/langues/sacraments/reconciliation.htm was sponsored by the Parish Education Office of which I am the director. Following each event, especially events for adults, I always wonder about it's sucess?

How do I determine sucess? Is it determined by the number of attendees? Is it determined by the quality of the content? Is it determined by the feed-back?

The Lord himself tells the story where the Father invites and nobody shows up so he sends his servants out to invite....

In our society the more people attend an event or the more items that are sold seem to be the only measure of sucess. When a new movie is released it is the number of people who attend the movie within a few days of it's release that's what determine sucess.
But, in my world - the world of pastoral ministry - I cannot measure sucess in this manner. In fact I probably can't even determine sucess since I don't know what God has planted in the heart of people and when and how it might bloom.... I have to keep in mind that as a person I am not in charge of results - Nope, God's in charge and all that I am is an instrument - a worker in his wineyard.... May all workers in God's vineyard be filled with the passion of sharing God's Love to all who come knocking!