Life at the Seminary

There’s some people out there that say “I don’t like goodbyes”… they’re right of course, goodbyes suck. (well, I’ve never met anyone that told me “I totally love goodbyes, man!” anyway) And today is my goodbye. Goodbye to Winnipeg, goodbye to Canada, goodbye to the Oblates, goodbye to my friends, goodbye to the stuff that makes this place worth it for me, you know?

Whichever way you turn it, however, goodbye is still a terrible word. There’s a better word for it in some languages. In Spanish people say adios, in Italian addio and in French adieu! It literally means “till God”. It kinda says “I don’t know when I will see you again, but we will see each other once more in God”. And this meeting in God is at the end of time, but also here and now, whenever we are in thought and prayer with our friends.

I remember landing here two months ago. My heart was pounding. There was the Winnipeg I loved so much . This time, not covered in snow (thank God for the change of seasons ). To drive again through the streets on the way out to Camperville that day, was like seeing old friends again. And oh hey, there’s Polo Park shopping centre! And there’s Moxie’s, where we used to go for dinner. And there’s a “snow route” sign, which I found out about the hard way when my car was towed while parking there one day. Heh.

Last night was my “last supper” here with the Oblates. I said my goodbyes to the staunch guys from the Gertrude house, each and everyone characterful and wonderful priests and brothers in the true sense of the word. And this morning after Mass, the superior here, Fr François, led the other Oblates in a special blessing for me and the year ahead of me. It was, of course, a very moving moment. These people here have taught me so much about what it means to be a priest, something no one in Holland had yet been able to show me.

And now I got my things together. My bags are just like, one pound overweight each And being able to take 50 pounds in each bag, you can imagine how much junk I am going to carry back home. Clothes, DVDs, books, presents. Crap, way too much stuff. I should have left some room for some Canadian whiskey! Oh well…

Back home this website will undergo a few changes the coming month. I will try to definitely separate the Life at the Seminary part of the website from the personal blog, and I will also start with my course on the Chronicles of Narnia, for whoever wants to sign up. So, don’t forget to come back often and leave me some comments or e-mails Adieu! Addio! Adios!

Sunday is always a special day when you’re in religious life. Being a non-Christian for most of my life, I’ve always looked on it as a day where Christians stalled public life (very few things are open on a Sunday) and where they had to go to Church. Had to go. Maybe there are even quite a few Christians who feel the same way. But when you truly realize the mystery of the resurrection took place that day, the re-creation, you can’t help but want to celebrate it.

And for us seminarians (priests, monks, nuns), we are prepared for it in a special way through our daily prayers. After praying the Friday night office (complines), you move your ribbon back a week to the complines before Sunday. After your Saturday morning prayer (laudes), you move your ribbon to the next Sunday’s page. And then when you pray the Saturday daytime prayer (sexts), you will move the ribbon back a week to Sunday once more. It helps me prepare spiritually and I know: the day is going to come!

Now, why this is an extraordinary Sunday, is because of the people I met today! Archbishop Weisgerber asked me to come over for Mass at his house this morning. The chapel was small, as every house chapel is, but very warm (lots of darker woods) and we had a very “intimate” Holy Mass. I was praising myself lucky when the Archbishop was sitting next to me and talking about today’s Gospel for at least ten minutes. It was because of one of his homilies (sermons) six years ago that I was given the desire to work for the Church, and now here I was, sitting next to him and listening to him preach about our calling.

After Mass, His Excellency revealed to me that he had made reservations at a nice restaurant not too far from his house for brunch. It was the most delicious brunch I think I’ve ever had. We didn’t talk much about the Church at all, but mostly about our families. I find it so remarkable to speak with bishops, because they do not become one for just looking cute. There’s something in their lives that is inspiring to every priest, seminarian or, indeed, every Christian.

After this wonderful morning, I had the opportunity to visit a harpist here in Winnipeg. I got in touch with him, Richard, through the Internet, and Fr. Albert and I had gone to see him play two weeks ago. With only three days left to me before heading back to Europe, I simply had to go and see him. I think I made a great friend. He’s such a remarkable person and he has a great passion for harps. He has some beautiful harps himself, yet the best thing about the visit was, that he played a few things for me. To hear him play and listen about his passion for music was envigorating.

He played some parts of Handel’s Harp Concert in B flat. Maybe you know it from an Organ Concert, but I assure you that it is originally a Harp Concert. This particular concert is the reason I fell in love with the harp. And he played several parts of the concert for me.

Now, a lot of professional harpists do not particularly like this concert, because they have played it so often. Now they’re like “Yeah, that harp concert… yeah, I know it.” or whatever! But unlike a lot of other stuff out there, I still think it is fabulous and it is music that can really touch the soul. If you don’t know it, try and find it and listen… there are way prettier parts than the one I just put online!

So, Sunday’s almost over. In a way I am looking forward to going back home. Seeing my family again, the brothers at the seminary and just starting a new year and see where that takes me. There are so many challenges up ahead for me, in my own personal life, that I continue to rely on your intercession for me with God. God bless you all, dear friends!

These last days I have been feeling guilty. Why is that, I hear you ask eagerly! Well, I’ve been feeling guilty for not doing that much and just enjoying being on vacation. Isn’t it outrageous? For someone like me, it can be quite a challenge not to do anything while you could be doing so much. To do nothing while you see others around you doing their daily job. Now, in general this is a good thing, because I usually get things done and get a lot done. But it is very result-focused. I feel good when I can present a result, I guess, instead of just feeling good. And that’s something I should really learn.

Now, after this little psychological reflection, I can tell you all that I’ve been totally enjoying the last few days. Apart from reading, studying (yeah, I actually do a little of that, too!) and walking across town, I’ve had a wonderful lunch with Fr. Kevin. Tomorrow, I will be having breakfast with the archbisshop and later on that day I will meet my new harp-friend, Mr. Richard Turner, of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and we will “talk some harps”.

Other than that, there’s not that much more to confess. I got this great book with rarely used English words, which is really great fun to read. So don’t be looking askance when I use new words in my blog; gems such as: carbuncular, mollycoddle and flibbertigibbet. With a little moxie and a copy of my book, I’m going to turn into the new English vocab vigilante. So, if you ever find yourself hornswoggled at my merciless machinations, leaving you flummoxed, think of the dastardly fate that befell me when I bought this book. If you keep reading this blog, however, I’m quite sure you’ll soon feel a little less humbug, and a little more hootenanny.

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Lollygag: to dawdle, waste time, lag behind, and generally slow things down.

Every morning we celebrate the mysteries of the Holy Eucharist here at the Oblate residence at 08:00am. The chapel is small and very simple. The altar, vestments and paraments are all very simple. And there is a profound beauty to the community that is there, I find. The Oblate fathers, a woman connected with the Order and a lost seminarian from the Netherlands.

 It is not a very solemn Mass, but I find it prayerful nonetheless. Today, while speaking the consecration words, Fr. Susaj extended the chalice towards us and from the corner of my eye I saw this older woman bow slightly, and heard the priest next to me whispering some words after the consecration. And I thought of how awkward that bow looked, and whether it was necessary or not and about my posture and my words right after the consecration: “Lord, wash me in your Holy Blood” (see the book of the Apocalypse, where the 144,000 are washed white in the Blood of the Lamb) or: “My Lord and my God” (the apostle Thomas, when he recognized the Lord after his resurrection).

I suddenly noticed my hands were folded and that I, too, had my own silly ways and words at that very moment that I saw this older woman make a sort of awkward bow. And then it struck me, how we are just trying in our own ways to express what we feel at that moment. I have heard a lot of comments on the posture of people during Mass, even in our own seminary chapel. Sometimes people make fun of the posture when people seat themselves on the floor and bow over completely during adoration. Others are more expressive in their gestures, which provokes comments from another group of people.

But really, all gestures and words fall short… but as long as they come from your heart and are not inappropriate, they are all meant to express the smallness we feel in the face of this great miracle.

It’s Tuesday night. Another day gone and it’s a good thing I remembered to log onto the site and write a small update. It wouldn’t do to become a slacker the last week of my time here in The Peg, would it?

Now Sunday was an amazing day. I was invited by Fr. Sam from Holy Rosary parish to join into their annual parish festival. We celebrated the H. Mass of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary at 2:30 (in Italian – it gives such a totally different and wonderful atmosphere to the Mass!) and afterwards there was a procession. It was much different than the usual processions I’ve been to where there has been more of a prayerful atmosphere. These Italians, however, seemed to make it into some sort of festivity, with them cheering, talking, singing and throwing flowers in the general direction of the statues. Well over 30 degrees, it tends to get a bit hot in your cassock, so the secret is not to wear any long pants underneath

After an hour, we were back at the church. My friend Mark Filips came out to Winnipeg for the last time, and after the procession, we all had a drink at Fr. Sam’s house before going to the Italian centre in Winnipeg. Now, you won’t believe the show this parish managed to pull off. There was great Italian catering (you did have to pay for your own meal, but nothing too outrageous) and a show with song, dance and this great magician. I tell you, how they do it, I never know, but this time I was involved in one of the tricks. He had me pick a card from a kid’s imaginary deck of cards, then showed us a deck of cards with only one card face down and asked me which card I had picked from the kid’s imaginary deck. So I said, 7 of hearts. And whaddayaknow, the only card in his deck that was turned face down was… the 7 of hearts. Unbelievable! (I do, by th way, deny any rumors of being seen talking to him before the show in the hallway)

After dinner was over, Fr. Sam, Mark and his parents, and yours truly went back to Fr. Sam’s rectory where we shared one last drink. And then… time for goodbyes. It’s kinda weird – a prelude to more goodbyes that will follow a week from now.

The last two days were kind of dominated by two funerals I went to; one at Holy Rosary church and one at St. Joseph, where Fr. Kevin presided in German. I was touched by the husband of the deceased who I had only met a week ago. I told him I had come to give him my condolences and to pray for his wife, even though I was only a stranger. He hugged me and said “You’re not a stranger anymore”. At the end of the funeral Mass, the priest prays that all signs of affection we give, may be a sign of God’s love. I was reminded of that in this moment and am still left with a sense of humility and gratefulness for having been able to be there for this poor soul who lost his wife, that I could share in his sorrow. It’s moments like these that you really want to be a priest, because you feel you want to dedicate your life to being close to people like him. To God’s people.

Tonight I watched “Thérèse’, a movie about the life of Therese of Lisieux. I left a review at the Amazon website, which you can read if you are interested at all. (If you don’t see my review on the page, the Amazon people haven’t approved it yet… try again later). The movie really lifted up my heart to God and made me feel very connected with Therese. I love her so dearly, and although the movie wasn’t very good, it did manage to touch that place in my heart where I hold her close, where she leads me, guides me and surrounds me with her prayers. I first came to know St. Therese when working on the cover of Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe’s book “Strength in Weakness”. If you don’t know her yet, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Listen guys, it’s time for me to go to bed. In one week I will be packing my bags to head home on the 27th. When I am back in seminary, I will have several exciting things to work on. This site will return with posts less in diary style, but with more Life at the Seminary posts. I am also thinking about a course on the Chronicles of Narnia – what we as Christians can learn from these books. I am hoping to hear whether you might be interested or not!

I didn’t know too much about monks when I first came to Canada in 2002. Let alone oblates. I guess many of us, when we’re not very active in the Catholic faith, think of monks as solemn folk who can’t have fun, wearing habits and singing in choir. Where the nearest monastery would be, I couldn’t have said at the time.

Well, I hope you don’t have that imagine of monks anymore. In fact, yeah, their are some of the monks left that I just described and they live a very beautiful life in their own right. I couldn’t understand it at the time, but there is a profound beauty in giving yourself away in this manner – useless to the world. It offended me: “Why don’t these guys go and DO something at least. Help the poor, or something!”

I learnt to appreciate these monks and the way they lead their lives. But if you want to talk about monks being with the poor, you’re talking Oblates, man! They are sponsoring my weeks here in their house and I’ve gotten to know them quite well. There are three living in this house, and two blocks over, there are four more of them. Each one of them simply amazing.

One of the things I noticed here is that, whereas in Holland there is a huge tension between ‘left’ and ‘right’-wing in the Church, here in Canada it’s way less of an issue. When in Holland you see a priest without a collar, 10 out of 10 times it means he’s struggling with church leadership and he’s messing up the liturgy or allowing it. Here in Canada, these Oblates work with the poor, they don’t wear a collar and yet they’re quite loyal to the Church (although all topics are open for discussion here in the house) and celebrate the Holy Mass in an intense manner, observing the Roman Missal.

To sum up, it’s a wonderful environment for me to live in. This morning, Fr. Louis took me to the House of Peace where we celebrated the solemnity of Mary’s Assumption. What struck me this morning was the gospel reading. In the Bible it doesn’t say anything about the assumption of Mary, so we got the reading where Mary is visiting her cousin Elisabeth.

Even though it is not in the Bible, we believe that Mary was taken up into heaven body and soul. This is the main difference I see between the protestants and us Catholics. We believe in what Christians have handed down to us through the generations. Although the dogma of Mary’s Assumption was pronounced in the 1950s, we didn’t suddenly start believing it. No, we are believing what the first generations of Christians have always believed, but which never was included in the Bible. The Church could have included it in the Bible when she decided which books belonged to this Book of Books… and maybe then today the protestants would have believed it, too… 

In any case, Mary is a model for all of us. The fact that God has taken her up into heaven body and soul, only means that we are destined for the same thing on the Last Day. What a terrific joy this is, if you really believe and if your mind starts to understand the impact of this mystery on our life today and in eternity! That is why this feast of Mary Assumption is, indeed, a wonderful feast that we really celebrated in style today.

After meeting the volunteers and sisters of the House of Peace, basically a place for everyone that needs help in one way or another, I visited Fr. Sam at Holy Rosary. If there is a priest that you should definitely meet, it is this guy. He’s a terrific person, Italian to the core and you can’t help but love him, I think. This Sunday, he’s holding a procession and a dinner for the parish afterwards, and I’m invited! Mark and I can even serve at Mass. I am so looking forward to this big feast!!

Now, at noon, Fr. Bernie and Br. Adelard took me out to Cook’s Creek. Most of you will know my obsession of late with Fr. Philip Ruh, an Oblate who constructed many churches and cathedrals here in Canada with nothing but donations, hard work and volunteers. In Cook’s Creek, just 45 minutes from our house, he has built a magnificent cathedral that I could now behold with my own mortal eyes. There is a huge grotto beside it. And… coincidentally, the cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, the feast we celebrate today!

Needless to say, it was a beautiful experience to be out with these older but wonderful oblates. Fr. Bernie was there in 1963 when Fr. Ruh died and was buried in the graveyard next to the cathedral. We visited his grave and said a small prayer. I also uploaded some new pictures to my Photo Gallery, Winnipeg album.

This evening, Louis and I watched a terrible movie (Hitch, a romantic comedy — toe curling romance!) and Bernie came to put me out of my misery by coming over and taking me out for a walk. It is so great to receive these gestures of friendship by these wonderful people, to hear their lives’ stories, to hear why they made the decisions they made in their lives, to hear what ministry they have done and what God has called them to do. I hope you will forgive me for being in awe and grateful for the moments I can spend here. I ask you to pray for me here and for these Oblates that let me share in their life, if only for this month!

Jewel’s blog made mention of her latest song “I do” from the Perfectly Clear album. It’s a catchy song that actually doesn’t sound half as country as some former songs she made that weren’t marketed as country, and her vocal performance is as always amazing.

For those of you that don’t really follow Jewel’s blog, here’s another cute video she posted there recently to promote Kiss for Country:

Jewel has teamed up with Mary Kay as a spokesperson for their “A Kiss for Country” initiative to eliminate domestic violence, and has left lip prints and an autograph to be auctioned for the charity.  Jewel went to see the Morning Star Sanctuary domestic violence shelter in Nashville and explained ”It’s a topic that’s close to my heart. I was homeless for a year and saw first hand how sometimes the streets can be safer than what’s at home.” Well… let’s hope Jewel can kiss domestic violence away!

Oh yeah, and the other big news regarding “I do” is that Jewel now has said “I do” to rodeo champion Ty Murray. So there you go, guys. The only woman that could have had a chance to get me out of seminary has gone off with another man! :p

Alas, all good things (on earth) must come to an end! Tonight Fr. James took me to the last pavillion I am probably going to be seeing this year. We wanted to go to the Brazilian one, as it was supposed to be really good. Apparently, many other people had the same thought. The lineup was at least 10 times larger than the largest one I had experienced in the other pavilions I went to. So, our second choice was the nearby Carribean pavilion.

Fr. Louis, oblate and guest at Résidence de Mazenod (where I’m staying) joined us and we all had Roti or chicken wings, as well as some rum-punch. The show was nice, especially the steel drums (which don’t sound much like drums at all!) but it lacked a lot of character as well as the professionalism displayed at many of the other pavilions. Still, it was just wonderful to get out and experience a bit of a different culture! Check out what Steel Drums sound like:

Now, apart from tonight’s adventure at the Carribean pavillion, today wasn’t really all that exciting. Of course, prayer life continues even on holiday, so I was grateful that Fr. Louis took me to the chapel of the oblate sisters in Saint Boniface, the French part of town. We had Mass in French and some quiet time for reflection and adoration afterwards. The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon I spent doing some shopping and picking up a few things here and there and basically enjoyed the wonderful weather.

So, not much news to tell you… I’d love to hear what all of you have been up to this summer, so drop me a line

I know… I’ve been negligent in updating this site. In my defense, only because I’ve been enjoying myself here so much. I’ve been here for almost two weeks now. After two days of rain, finally the weather turned around to clear skies and bright sun, which is tempting me to sit outside and read a book. I just finished reading all the Chronicles of Narnia books, which are just simply amazing, and I’m getting all sorts of ideas to rework them in some sort of catechises course!

These last few days I’ve been meeting some people here in town. Two of them, Fr. James and Fr. Geoffrey, have been recently ordained. (You can check out pics of their ordination here). There is quite a nice group of young priests here in the city and in the diocese and it’s fun hanging out with them. I find it inspiring to see some young men who have made the same choice in life as I have, and to see them work in ministry.

So, apart from eating out every once in a while with these new and older friends, I’ve also spent a lot of time with Fr. Albert. He’s been so wonderful for me over all these years, and last Sunday he left for Montreal (on holidays), so I wanted to get as much time together with him as I could.

Later that day, Mark and I went to the Mass in German at Fr. Kevin’s parish, as well as a very crowded Filipino Mass (in English, thankfully) afterwards. After Mass, we took a long walk to the Forks – where the Assiniboine and the Red River meet – and had lunch at the pancake house (yum!).

The last few days I’ve also been exploring the city a bit. I’ve (of course) visited the Games Workshop store here and it made me wish I had taken some miniatures over to paint. On the other hand, now that I do not have some unpainted minis lying around, I have more time for more sensible stuff like… sitting outside and reading a book :> I hope you guys are all enjoying yourselves!

Well, if you guys are jealous, I understand! Today Mark called early to ask if he could come by and pick me up today. So I said sure!

We first drove down to the University of Manitoba. One of its colleges, St. Paul`s College, is special to both of us. Mark was a graduate of this college and we visited his shrine (i.e. his graduation picture on the wall and his locker) and my old office. Of course, some guy I don`t know is in it now… ah well, things change!

We went about campus for a while and saw the other colleges (with their respective chapels) and eventually settled for a great lunch at St. John`s college… yeah, the Anglicans have better cafeteria`s than the catholics there, I guess!

When that was all done, Mark took me for a surprise trip to Lower Fort Garry, just north of Winnipeg. This is the site where the Hudson`s Bay trading company set up their first settlement and they re-created it. It is fantastic. I`ve see some other attempts such as this in museums in Holland and Germany, but nothing comes as close to perfection as this place.

The town is nicely reconstructed – there are buildings outside the wall, such as a small Métis/Indian encampment, the blacksmith and a guest house. Then inside the town there are things like a general store, a house, a large house for a well-to-do family, a central kitchen, a warehouse, a baking house, and so on.

Most remarkable are the folks dressed up in 19th century clothing who stay surprisingly in character and have conversations amongst themselves in character as well. They know an incredible amount of information and are actually skilled in the crafts they exercise, be they made, lady-in-waiting, blacksmith, Métis beader, hunter, warehouse owner or anything else. Among other things, we learned how nails, beaver skin hats, bannock and bead work are made.

All in all, we had a great time! I added some pictures to the Winnipeg photo album, so enjoy them!