No one? Didn’t think so. Alas, it is also the faith of the seminarians this year in Edmonton. As gorgeous and wonderful as our new seminary building is, it simply isn’t finished. The only odd thing about this is that we had already moved in! I had all my clothes neatly hanging in my closet, my books nicely organized by colour (no comments on that one, please!) and even all my painted Warhammer mini’s neatly arrayed in units. And then suddenly we hear there are still safety issues and we gotta move out.

We were all going to enjoy a retreat this next few days anyway so all things considered, this might be a blessing in disguise. Miraculously they booked us (40 people!) in a retreat house this very day, so in about 45 minutes all of us are leaving the site and heading over to Star of the North retreat centre in St. Albert, AB. It’s wonderful that despite all the issues our formation team really comes through for us, keeps their heads cool and just give us an example of patience, endurance and hope. Part of our formation in the seminary cannot be taught in classes, but only in setting a good example by the way you live. They do it.

At the start of every semester, we all take about 4-5 days off to pray, reflect and just be with God. For me it is a great time to reflect on my vocation. In my previous post I mentioned one of my buddies leaving the sem and it has definitly shook me up a bit. I’m going to take the time to pray and ask for a confirmation of my vocation. I hope you will join me!

When I get back, which is hopefully this coming Friday/Saturday (if they greenlight us), I am going to take some pictures of the new building and upload them for you guys over the long (Labour Day) weekend. In the meanwhile, enjoy this pic (below) that was recently taken by the Edmonton Journal.

A choice every day
I’m used to new people coming to the seminary and people leaving. We all come, placing our confidence in the Lord and we all struggle every day to say ‘yes, this is what I think God asks of me’. It’s not always easy and none of us makes a snap of the moment decision. It’s throughout the year that we hear that yes in our heart persevere or perhaps change into a ‘yes, Jesus, I’ll follow you elsewhere’.

Monastic life
A while ago I heard about a friend of mine who left the monastery. Everyone on the outside had seen him in monastic robes for years and everyone has been calling him brother for about the same amount of time. To some, this may seem odd. Wasn’t he a monk? Well, yes, of course he was. And at the same time, not all monks have made their perpetual vows. Some have only promised one, two or even three years to be obedient, chaste and poor. At some point in time, they cannot renew those temporary vows and are asked to make final (perpetual vows).

Seminary life
As seminarians, we haven’t made any temporary vows, but in a way, each of us has made the commitment for yet another year when we come back. We give it one full year in which we discern with our spiritual director and our formators whether this is God’s call for our lives. When we get ordained, we will make our own final vows.

A stronger yes
So, yeah, it’s normal when someone leaves. They discerned and said “not now”, and maybe they even have a very specific road in mind – the monastic life, the married life or another form of service to God and the community. It’s still tough on those who stay behind, because we’re losing a friend, a brother and someone we have shared a great deal with. At the same time it is good these things happen, because we are once again focusing on our own vocation and we’re asking ourselves, ‘should we go, too?’ And if we decide to stay, our choice is all the better and stronger for it!

When the new seminary year is on its way in September, I’ll start the work on the site and open with some pictures of the new building. So, thanks for your support and encouragement and more articles and posts will follow in September! God bless an keep me in your prayers!

 In other news, several midterms are coming up, the first coming Thursday. Midterms are good. They cut the amount you have to study for in half pretty much. It also means that we are mid – term. In less than two months, the semester will be done and over with. A weird idea if you ask me.

As I am writing, we are in the midst of a several day International Harp Contest taking place in Tel Aviv, Israel. This contest is one of the most prestigious in the world, if not the most prestigious. Contestants come from all over the world This year we have two Dutch entries (Remy van Kesteren and Marianne Smit) and one Canadian (Valérie Milot). My friend -and previous winner of the Tel Aviv contest- Gwyneth Wentink will also be playing as one of the gala guests. Enough exciting things to make me wish I could be in Israel right now!That said, I am eagerly looking for a harp for myself to play in Canada. It was a little too expensive to bring my own beautiful orchestra harp all the way from the Netherlands, so I am looking for a generous person here in Canada that would be able to lend me one for this year. I have tried all sorts of ways to find someone that might have a harp they are not using at the moment, but no luck so far. And if you don’t have one, please join me in praying to God to ask Him to provide for one!!

If you want to enjoy the harp and the atmosphere at the Tel Aviv contest for yourself, take a look at the beautiful clip. Gwyneth is also interviewed for a few seconds Enjoy!

Some of you might have followed the death and funeral of Mr. Ted Kennedy, a pro-abortion ‘catholic’ U.S. Senator. What does being a Catholic really mean anymore? Are we glad just to have a politician call himself that, or do we expect him to actually stand up for the tens of thousands of children that are being murdered each year? Can we be Catholic if all we do is work on social justice?

I heard of the death of Mr. Robert Schindler, Sr., last month, one of the leaders of the pro-life movement. He was buried in Philadelphia without the fanfare or accolades, without the cable news networks broadcast, no cardinals did attend it, and the President of the United States did not deliver the eulogy – thank God. Mr. Schindler, however, is promised a better send-off than that. God Himself will him speak to him words spoken to all the suffering righteous: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.”

Bob Schindler, unlike Mr. Kennedy, was not rich, did not enjoy the high social status and was ravaged by aggressive euthanasia activist lawyers who decided that his daughter was just not worthy of life because she was brain-damaged. He had to fight the son-in-law who, despite a father’s unconditional offer to care for his own daughter, rammed the euthanasia agenda home viciously, even triumphantly. I cannot begin to imagine the pain in his life.

In Canada, the battle against euthenasiais raging on as we speak. Parliament is about to vote on a law that might make the killing of the sick and elderly in our community a very real possiblity.  My bishop, His Grace, Mgr. James Weisgerber, has courageously sent out a message to all people of good will, in order to enlist your support (politically if you are in Canada, in prayer if you are anywhere else in the world) against this evil.

Why do people not have the right to end their own lives? In our society, we have lost the basic certainty in our hearts that every human being is 100% loved and wanted by God. Even if you don’t believe in God, many of you will agree that every human being is worthwhile. Jesus never asked whether someone was a sinner or a saint, wealthy or poor, healthy or ill, alive or dead. He came for everyone. We are all worth his life, EVERYTHING, in his eyes. For us, today, as disciples of Jesus (however weak and limited we may be), our duty is to be there for everyone. Many elderly or severely ill feel they are just a burden to their families and friends, reasoning: ‘why should they come out here for a pathetic excuse of a human being like myself? I cannot do anything here in this bed, and now I am just a burden to them as well.’ Their spiritual death is already a reality to themselves. So they reason: ‘why not actually die, instead of prolong the suffering for myself and especially others?’

If we could only reach out to all these souls, and let them experience how worthwhile they are, despite their condition, no one would have to think about euthanasia ever again. Maybe we can ask Bob Schindler, now in heaven with God, to intercede for us. I ask all of you to join me and countless Catholics across Canada to pray that the euthanasia bill does not pass!

I can’t help but say that I am getting more excited. For one, we had a lovely Gala Dinner, now over a week ago. With all respect for the Church in my native country (The Netherlands), I don’t think we would have been able to pull off what this diocese here pulled off pretty much on its own: a fundraiser for our new seminary. As seminarians, we were granted the opportunity to spend a wonderful evening with 900 supporters of the seminary, who raised over 7 million dollars in one evening for this new seminary. I would like to invite all of you to pray for this new project, as we will need over 8 million more dollars over the next five years.

The good news is, they are already building our new seminary. Yesterday, news reached us of how they are working on our new chapel already. This will be one of the greenest buildings in all of Edmonton, and with state of the art technology they have been continuously pouring the concrete walls of our new seminary. The amount of work, money and PRAYER that goes into this project is amazing. And as a seminarian (and future inhabitant of this new building) it is an exhilirating time!

For those that are interested in the end result, there is a picture on the St. Joseph Seminary page that changes into sketches of several parts of our new building. Check it out!

In seminary, there are four different kinds of formation. Spiritual, Human, Intellectual and Pastoral formation. This means that prayer, community life, study and pastoral work are part of our daily lives. While I’ve done some internships here and there, more or less on my own, it’s the first time – now that I have moved to my new seminary – that I received a pastoral placement in a seminary context. Praise the Lord

This year I will be working at *drum roll* St. James Catholic School. I went in last week with Sr. Anne Rajotte, of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She’s been working at the nearby parish for almost twenty years now, and for quite some time she has been visiting the school regularly to speak with the children about religion. We’re talking about an elementary school, so kids are anywhere between like 6 and 12 years old. It’s so awesome… I met with a few grades, and was introduced as a seminarian. We explained to them what it meant and they could ask me questions. It really does relativate stuff when the first question you are asked is “What is your favorite food?” 

Today I went in for the first time on my own. I will be helping out one afternoon a week in grade 5, and maybe I will continue to come in with the Sister or do some other work. I’m not going to get ahead of myself there. Today I helped a couple of kids with their math. A few kids just moved to Edmonton and this school, and they are really struggling with math. I just really want to help them get on the right track, as they deserve a good start in life, eh? What a sign of providence that I can use all the years I’ve taught math to high school students here…

At the same time I will be able to learn how to interact with children a lot younger than I am used to teach. The time in class was extremely cool, as all the kids seem to want to get to know you and share things with you. I could barey go back home in time for my next appointment they didn’t want me to leave. What a great gift! Hopefully in the future, I will be able to do some catechesis with them, but for now it is just my presence there that will be the first step in my apostolate. Please continue to pray for my work here, and especially for my time at St. James School!

“Great,” he said, “You have any skates with you?” So I was thinking… skates? Does he mean rollerblades? Like in street hockey? So I told him, “no, they were sort of too large to bring over.” And he was like, “Too bad, cause there’s an rink right next to our house.” Only then it dawned on me that he was talking about ICE hockey.

Now, Holland claims a certain fame in the FIELD hockey world and it’s actually played by a lot of people (at least, I know a few dozen…) but I don’t know of anyone playing ice hockey. So, lesson to all my fellow foreigners, when a Canadian is talking about hockey, he’s definitely talking about ICE hockey.

That said, today I had my first taste. Of floor hockey. Which is basically indoor hockey without skates. It gives me some idea of how to handle a stick and I had an incredible time just playing, even though I have to learn pretty much everything from the start. After two hours of playing, I realize I might need a slightly longer stick, as my back’s pretty sore :> Other than that, it’s been an amazing night.

Every Monday and Wednesday there’s sports night for us seminarians and quite a few turn out, so it’s very enjoyable. And I might lose some of those extra pounds in the process!

More news on my pastoral placement for the year to follow soon, so check back

Every day we show up at the chapel at 6:30 for morning prayer and H. Mass. We are 27 seminarians and have the pleasure to live with 5 priests on our formation team. Since our internship year comes after our second year of theology studies, it means that our diaconate year is spent back at the seminary. It’s a great joy to see your fellow deacon-seminarians here. They serve at the altar during Mass and at times preside over our morning prayer.

At 7:30 it’s time for breakfast. There are several excellent cooks working here who manage to sometimes even prepare something for breakfast, like a nice boiled egg or even pancakes.

Since the college we go to is a ways off, at 8:00 we drive down to the college to start classes at 8:30. Most guys are taking five three-hour classes (one every day) so we’re there until about 11:30 when we drive back home for lunch at 12:00.

Most of the afternoons and evenings are off, until 17:15 when we pray evening prayer together, after which supper follows. Then at 21:00 there is some time for adoration and night prayer.

Four times a semester there are human formation sessions on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon there is either a rector’s conference or music practice.

Thursday there is an hour of adoration (including evening prayer)

Friday there is a community meeting for practical things and a group meeting where we talk about a spiritual topic.

Monday and Wednesday there are optional sport nights. Yesterday about 12 guys came out to play Ultimate Frisbee. I’m already being inducted in the various sports here, by the way. Last week we went to an Eskimos game, and I have also decided to explore the joys of ice hockey while here and bought some equipment to that effect. God knows what is going to happen to me this year!!

In other good news: at the start of the year party, during the lottery, I won a $75 gift card for Joey Tomatoes. The first one from Holland to visit me is offered a free meal there

I also put some additional pictures online where you can see some of the neighborhood I live in. It’s really a nice place for walking, especially with the 25-or-so degree weather we’ve been having. Jealous yet? Good! Come to seminary!! :>