Jesus walked among us for a few hours in Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte parmi nous - c'était comme Jésus marchant en Palestine parmi le peuple.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Pastor’s Reflection to St Luke Parish – Réflexion du Curé à la Paroisse St Luc

Après la Consécration de l’Autel et de l’Église, où allons-nous ? Now that our Altar and Church have been consecrated, where are we going?

La Consécration a été un moment marquant et déterminant pour moi, un moment décisif, et une grande et profonde grâce. At first, I was just overwhelmed by it all as the time of preparation gave way to the experience and the press of people, many of whom had the jitters and passed them on to me by asking me last minute questions. 

Si ce n’eut été du Cardinal, je n’aurais pas pensé à demander à Bishop Bob de faire sa part dans le texte et faire la bénédiction et l’envoi des enfants après le Notre Père. Was it not amazing how the faithful who attended the Consecration Liturgy soaked up the Archbishop’s presence like people in the desert when they come upon fresh water in an oasis? Naturally, as I explained to a number of parishioners – I will write a reflection on this for either the website or bulletin or both – Cardinal Turcotte is our Archbishop, our chief Pastor. He has what is called the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, ordained three times; deacon, priest, and bishop. In addition, he was personally chosen by Pope John Paul II to be our Archbishop and shepherd the Church of Montreal. 

When an Archbishop walks among the people – especially if he is a humble man of prayer and conscientious in manifesting pastoral charity to all whom he meets – it is much as when the Pope walks among the people. These men, personally chosen by Jesus through no merit of their own, are the poor instruments Jesus is pleased to use in order to continue his walk among us until the end of time. That is why people – even atheists – inexplicably melt into tears when the Pope passes by them, and they feel compelled to follow him: Jesus has touched them as Elijah touched Elisha, as Jesus himself touched throngs of individuals as He walked the roads of Palestine. 

This is what Holy Orders is, in three degrees. Il en va donc de même avec notre Archevêque, et bienheureux ceux et celles qui se sont déplacés pour le recevoir et participer à cette Liturgie Sacrée qu’il nous a fait la grâce de présider. Nous avons été touchés par Jésus Lui-même, qui en toute génération se donne du mal pour choisir de pauvres instruments humains pour en faire ses représentants, Lui l’Époux de son Épouse l’Église, que nous sommes tous ensemble. 

Naturellement, cela aide que Monsieur le Cardinal Jean-Claude fait des efforts pour correspondre à cet appel qu’il a reçu du Seigneur. Avant même de venir, il s’informe de nous, il relève tout ce qu’il a observé de nous au fil des ans, même à distance, et il a beaucoup prié pour nous. Donc, à son arrivé, il avait déjà été précédé par la grâce de la sollicitude du Seigneur pour nous. 

It was his smile, his demeanour, his warmth in word and gesture – like waving to the children in the choir in front of him – that demonstrated his joy at being among us like an unspoken or non-verbal “word” expressing the truth of who we are, all together, in God’s eyes, the redeemed and beautiful Bride of Christ Jesus, his Beloved Son. These are only some of the reasons why we responded so readily to the presence and service of our dear Archbishop during the few hours he spent with us. In him, Jesus walked among us in a personal way for a few hours, despite – no I dare say precisely because of – the Cardinal’s human frailty, unique character, approaching age and fragility, in short, all that makes him so human and sympathetic. 

En tant que communauté paroissiale de foi, nous avons été ravivés et rappelés à notre vocation de cellule de l’Église universelle, comme l’Église domestique qu’est toute famille, et renouvelés dans notre participation à la mission que Jésus avait été envoyé par le Père pour commencer et confier à des êtres pécheurs et fragiles, mais pardonnés, sauvés, relevés, transformés, et envoyés dans le monde. 

Relisez l’homélie de notre Archevêque sur mon site web ou celui de la Paroisse, et notez ses dernières paroles. So as a Parish we have been refreshed and recalled to our vocation as a cell of the universal Church, like every family which is a domestic Church, and we have been also renewed in our participation in the mission which the Father sent Jesus to begin and entrust to sinful and fragile human beings, whom He forgave, saved, lifted up, transformed, and sent out into the world. Reread the Cardinal’s homily on my website or that of the Parish and note in particular his last words.

Paroisse Saint-Luc Liturgie de Consecration Liturgy Saint Luke Parish 091017 

Homélie de Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte Homily 

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Fellow Canadians, it's time to stand up for local television

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Do you know our cable and satellite companies pay for the right to broadcast American local television signals but by law have free access to Canadian local television signals; so that CRTC regulations under the authority of the Canadian government are directly depriving our local Canadian television stations of any revenue from Canadian broadcasting cable and satellite companies? Part of the money we pay for our cable and satellite services are in turn paid out to US television companies but not to Canadian television companies. What's wrong with this picture? 

You too can get the basic text of this letter and make it your own. Click here. 

Secretary General Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications
Commission, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2 

Dear Secretary General: 

RE: Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-614 

Most of the factual information in my letter to you has been prepared by local television broadcasters, but I have informed myself and make my own the general direction of this information and lobbying campaign. In that light, please accept the following comments in response to the above-referenced Notice of Consultation. 

Local television is where people in communities across Canada come together to learn about events that touch our everyday lives. Without local television, we would lose part of our voice, and viewers would have fewer choices in quality programming that reflects our unique Canadian identity. 

It is not entirely clear to me how it came about in the beginning that laws and rules were put in place to give cable and satellite companies free access to local television broadcasters' signals for distribution through their wired and wireless broadcasting services. 

Perhaps it made sense to give what were then new broadcasting services an initial advantage to allow them to take off. If that is the case, then one would think it is time to revisit this legal protection. Cable and satellite companies are no longer fledglings, and their preferential treatment is now jeopardizing the local television companies that allowed them to begin operation to begin with. 

Local television can no longer share our communities' stories on advertising alone. To compete with the hundreds of channels currently on the dial, our system needs to evolve and allow local TV stations to negotiate with Canada's cable and satellite companies for a fair market price for their signals. 

As a Canadian citizen I find it an outrage that local TV is obliged to offer their signal free to cable and satellite companies, while these are willing to play the game differently across the border and pay US TV companies fair market value. What's wrong with this picture? 

Moreover, I am deeply concerned that my cable company is already charging me for local television service through my basic cable rate, and yet, is threatening to charge me more for local television. I believe it's time for the CRTC to protect consumers like me by regulating basic cable rates. 

This solution will provide more transparency and prevent cable and satellite companies from increasing my basic cable rate whenever they wish. I urge the CRTC to do what is right and fix our broken television model by providing local TV stations with the right to negotiate for their signals and to protect consumers with the regulation of basic cable rates. 

I authorize you to consider me personally represented by those Canadian citizens who are currently requesting the opportunity to appear before the Commission in person at the December hearings to further elaborate on these issues. 

Yours sincerely, 

Gilles A. Surprenant, Canadian, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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The Interrogation of Michael Crowe

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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I stumbled upon this 2002 made for TV movie about a true story that happened in the San Diego area of California in the years prior to the film. My revulsion and outrage surprised me, as I don't recall ever having such a strong reaction to the testimony about a true story, at least not with this intensity. I've heard and read many times before about stories of erroneous accusation and conviction, and my own faith is based on Jesus Christ, who was falsely accused, summarily sentenced and executed around 33 A.D. I need to write as I reflect and attempt to understand the nature of my outrage. 

How is it conceivable that policemen, detectives, representatives of the law would torment an innocent boy until they succeeded in breaking him and extracting from him a phony confession to suit their own hasty theory to explain the murder of his little sister? Mind you, long gone are my illusions that torture and the extraction of phony confessions only happened in the Middle Ages, or today only happen in "third world" countries, or totalitarian states. 

Could it be that in some ways America fits into one or both of these categories? Unthinkable, or is it? For more than two days the detectives mercilessly manipulated and tormented the boy, without his parents' knowledge, and demonstrated they had no interest in discovering the truth about his little sister's murder, because in their genius brains, they had already come to an absolutely certain explanation of what happened. No element of evidence or testimony that did not fit their theory mattered or merited their attention or investigation. 

What kind of person or character does such things? Most of the Americans I've ever met were wonderful people. What I don't understand is how their America has evolved to no longer represent them. Take for example their latest debate over health care. It seems evident to any outsider who knows of America and listens to the debate, as it is to many Americans, that some form of publicly funded health care system that would take the monopoly for health care out of the hands of insurance and health business interests would be better for the whole population, especially the 75 million plus citizens who can't afford insurance, let alone health care. 

Yet no one expects it to change, because America seems irrevocably committed to capitalism above human beings, profit over life, corporate health over human health. I've always heard the americanism that money talks, and I never believed it until now. Those who can afford lobbyists in government circles can wear down and tie up legislators and under the threat of paralysis influence legislative outcomes in their favor, and the ordinary citizen is powerless to do anything about it. 

American cities begin to look more like "third world" cities all the time, with the sharp contrast between desperately poor and desperately rich increasing. We read articles about the disappearance of the middle class in America. Perhaps part of what has come to be is simply the fruit of what was in the beginning, when, as in Canada, European settlers invaded the land inhabited by the first nations, spread contagion among the native population, and engaged in "ethnic cleansing" exercises whenever they could get away with it. 

Then again part of what we are derives from the arrogance with which we set ourselves apart from our European ancestors and as morally superior. Part of what outrages me about the tragedy visited upon the Crowe family by those police detectives who didn't do their job is the arrogance with which they decided what the truth was in advance of a thorough investigation. Why is that? 

Have they become so accustomed to dealing with real criminals that they can no longer recognize a normal person when they see one? What could possibly explain the way in which they mistook the boy's distraught state over the death of his sister as the guilt of a murderer? His behaviour didn't fit their image of a grieving brother. His mother noted that they didn't know him. Isn't that part of the reality of life, that we cannot possibly tell whether a person is telling the truth or not unless we know them well? 

Actions speak louder than words, and the parents knew the boy couldn't and wouldn't have done any harm to his sister, no matter what disagreements or rivalry there may have been. In the world of science, scientists are also investigators, and they are true scientists when they follow what is called the scientific method. Facts precede theories that are to be elaborated in order to explain the patterns detected in the facts. 

Any scientist who starts out with a theory before investigating is limiting, narrowing his field of investigation, consciously or subconsciously eliminating fields of data potentially hazardous to his precious theory. That is bad enough in science, but in law the results are extremely damaging to real people. It wasn't enough that the Crowe family experienced the devastation of the brutal murder of their little girl. The police department, who are supposed to be able to tell the difference between the victim and the criminal, trampled all over this family, doing them further harm. 

I understand that laws have been made brutal in order to deal harshly with hardened criminals, lest these do unending harm to society with impunity, but what happens when these brutal laws are applied to innocent citizens? What would happen to these macho detectives were they to be subjected to their own tactics, I wonder? Take away all their supports and rights, torment them for days on end, lie to them about what is happening and fabricate all kinds of evidence and testimony against them.... and do it in convincing and brutally intimidating ways.... I wonder whether their arrogance would take a hit, whether they might change. 

However, the 1969 movie starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis comes to mind.... "The Out of Towners". I had always remembered that the man in the story wisened up at the end and began listening to his wife and to others, but I watched it again recently, and he didn't really change. What is it about people that causes them to love the sound of their own voice, as they go on and on making judgements about everyone and everything as though they alone possessed all the truth and no one else knows anything. I found it hard to watch the movie this time and had to fast forward through most of it.... 

I just couldn't take the abuse with which he treats his wife, putting her down as though she were stupid and never listening to anything she says. At least a dozen times, if he had shut up and said, "OK dear, let's try your idea." their troubles would have come to an end and they would have gotten some rest and comfort, but no, he just wouldn't do it. 

Perhaps there are psychopaths who are that way because they suffered a major arrest in their psychological development in infancy or childhood, and perhaps there are psychpaths who are made that way by some of the institutions we have created in society that intimidate, threaten, and hinder people from behaving, feeling, thinking, and speaking like true human beings. I shudder to think that some of the people keeping the darkness at bay as members of our police forces are institutional psychopaths, people who no longer listen to what their ears hear, no longer see what their eyes look at, no longer feel what their heart observes. 

If such people take over, then no one is safe anymore, not even in their home or in their bed. We are not far from those places in the world when they come and take you away in the night, sometimes even with the pretention of doing it in the name of society, the government, or some political or religious ideal. The KKK may no longer be thriving, but some of its principles and strategies seem to have wormed their way into mainstream society, and into the forces of law and order. 

What was motivating the detectives who badgered, tormented, brainwashed, and extorted the young Michael Crowe? Did they need to fill their quota of convictions for the month? Did they have a personal issue with "Dungeons and Dragons" through some family connection or personal experience? Can they not tell the difference between a moody or shy teenager and a teenage criminal? How could they be so cocked, trigger happy, obsessed with their theory that they cut short and botched their investigation? How could they be so callous as to feel nothing themselves for the state of the victim's family and become impervious to what the members of that family were feeling? 

There's a black hole of unanswered questions here that beg to be answered. Despite the good nature and character of so many Americans, I am troubled by the America that has a love affair with its guns and weapons, that is "high" or "hooked" on authority, with wearing a badge, with being part of a uniformed service. They may have been through a gruelling and mind-numbing formation process, but they have no right to spend the rest of their careers passing the abuse and manipulation on to the very people they are called to protect. 

I've met a few American lawmen, police in Massachusetts when my car was stolen, and a state trooper who drove me home, and they were wonderful. I now wonder whether they would have been just as wonderful if I had resembled someone on a poster or a description of someone who had committed a crime they were investigating. America's love affair with power and might, with influence and right, seriously question me about ever wanting to set foot there again.... 

I have long have been troubled with France's love affair with the guillotine, and their legal system that convicts you as guilty simply upon accusation, granting you the right to prove your innocence, but if you can't, then, well, off with your head. From this side of the border, it doesn't look like American law is much better. If the police think you're guilty, then your chances have suddenly been shrunk to close to nothing. I'll close on this thought. 

At one time, during sleepless nights, I'd watch some of those American late night infomercials. One of the get rich quick schemes had to do with buying up property for back taxes and then making a killing on resale. I began to wonder, how can people get rich doing that unless there are a lot of properties in that situation. Most of these are homes. Why are so many Americans, living in the richest country in the world, losing their homes? 

Then while on sabbatical in Chicago in the Fall of 2004 I found out one of the reasons: no health care insurance. People get sick, are in an accident, or give birth, and suddenly they find themselves penniless and homeless. Why would anyone want to live in such a country where anyone can take away your livelihood, your very life, with full protection of the law and even the encouragement of the whole society? Well, simply put, because of America's love affair with being a "land of opportunity". 

Here as in the ocean, the sharks do best. Americans live in a society caught in a stranglehold at the hands of lawyers, health care and insurance industries, and every corporation that can afford lots of lawyers and lobbyists in the capital. Why must the Crowe family go on suffering? Why won't the police simply give them the closure and satisfaction they seek? Because everyone is scared to death of the lawyers.... life is worth nothing where money matters. 

To my mind, that is a novel definition of hell. Yes, indeed, there is such a place after all, and not just on Earth.... I admire this family for standing up for themselves, for their dead daughter, and for their son, who in addition to being tormented with grief for his sister was cruelly tortured under false pretenses and falsely accused by police who were hasty and sloppy, and psychopathic with their institutional blindness. Bravo to the producers, directors, and most of all, the actors who brought this human tragedy to the light of day which it deserves and long awaited. 

Perhaps someday, the good American people I have known will be represented and protected by officials worthy of the best among their citizenry. As I said above, I have no doubt there are marvelous people of great integrity in the courts, in police stations, in the military, and in government, and it's a shame that there aren't more of them, and that they have to suffer the indignity of such poor representation. As a Roman Catholic priest, I know what it feels like to be poorly represented by the weakest and most depraved among us. It is, sadly, part of our human condition, for which we have only one Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory now and forever.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Epilogue 02 - WYD 2008 Diaries

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Greetings to All, 

Since we who have been privileged to pilgrim to WYD 2008 in Sydney haven't been aware of the media coverage, I'm just now discovering it, beginning with Salt + Light TV. Check it out. They also have a Salt + Light Blog, on which among other things they give reference to Pope Benedict's reflection on his experience of WYD and his hopes for all of us pilgrims and for all the young Catholics and Christians of the world. You will also find on their blog the WYD08 Final Statistics. 

As I just begin really to reflect on how I myself experienced this WYD08 pilgrimage, browsing the Salt + Light website, listening to their Zoom reports, browsing their blog, I find myself being drawn to read and reflect on the texts of Pope Benedict's addresses to us, which were at times difficult to hear, let alone focus clearly on.... 

I am deeply impressed and touched to my soul's life experiences by his reflection shared with us at the Vigil on the Holy Spirit.... his final paragraphs on St. Augustine's struggle to understand the Holy Spirit in a practical way actually helps us picture the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives, relationships, and faith community, and then his encouragement to us is remarkable and precious! 

 I'm so glad to now be able to reread his Sunday homily, which I had a lot of trouble even hearing because of the strong echo at Randwick.... 

Pope Benedict is really a good spiritual father for us, giving very practical and simple counsel on how to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with his power and unfold in us his gifts. 

Our belonging to the family of the Church is the way in which God has been pouring into us the life of the Trinity, and it is Jesus who at every Holy Communion fills us anew with the Holy Spirit, who is Love in Person and the Giver of life. 

I hope we get a chance to discuss the words of Pope Benedict that are having the most impact on us.... 

In this ongoing Epilogue WYD Diaries, I hope to go back and fill in our Itinerary and my own experience of our journey, so that it may become clearer how the Holy Spirit has been leading us throughout our pilgrimage and onwards into our future..... 

Thanks to Fr. Raymond Lafontaine who sent us all of Pope Benedict's addresses in a single document! In Jesus, Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Epilogue 01 - WYD 2008 Diaries

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Hello to you, dear fellow pilgrims, families, friends, and parishioners.... 

I'm still not on the right clock, but I've had a good long chat with my sister Lyette who is preparing her own vacation and with Papa whom I'm looking forward to seeing on Saturday.... 

I've emptied my backpacks and have had a look at my blog and journal and see the gap in both. I didn't have time to keep up my own journal and intend to catch it up this week. 

The blog was comprehensive until Thursday afternoon July 10th and resumed Saturday afternoon the 12th, and then was sketchy and brief from the 13th to the 18th, with little after that except one incident on the 23rd and then resumed on the 28th for a day and a half. 

I hope to do a retrospective, a kind of epilogue over what I missed and also of my impressions overall in the days ahead.... This experience is too precious to allow it to fade. 

It is important to gather up the gifts the Lord gives us, to remember them and reflect on them and also to tell others about them, because it is only in the telling that we come to better understand and even to possess our own experiences.... otherwise they tend to fade into oblivion or at least aren't as available to us and may not have as lasting an effect on us as when we do reflect and give witness to what we have seen, heard, felt, thought, and experienced. 

It is for this that the Holy Spirit gives us power from above, to give witness to Jesus as the One we experience as truly our Lord, Teacher, Saviour, and the Beloved of our souls. In Jesus, Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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the latest

Hi. The latest is we've just been summoned to reboard the plane and we probably will make our flight to Vancouver out of Auckland. They've fixed the mechanical problem. Stay tuned. If there are further developments I'll try to blog again. God bless one and all. Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Days 19-26 - July 22 to 29 of our WYD 2008 Pilgrimage

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Greetings to all of our family members, friends, and parishioners..... 

I'm publishing this post as I begin it and continue to edit and repost, just to alert the casual browser that I'm currently online in Sydney at Global Gossip, which is incidentally the most reliable Internet place I've found to date. I am also concurrently uploading photos to Photobucket and will then post them to this blog. I notice that last time the post came in twice... I don't know how that happened, but I was making haste in my last few minutes of online time.... 

My earlier postings went into quite a bit of detail, that was while we were in New Zealand, a wonderful time for all of us, even though it was really cold from the evening to midmorning. Mind you, for most of our pilgrims, cold has never been much of an issue.... I think there are only a handful of us "frileux" types.... Once we came for the first time to Sydney for the week of WYD, our pilgrimage accelerated a great deal.... I managed to give you a bit of a glimpse of those days and all that activity, and you will hear a lot more from your pilgrim family member or friend. 

We celebrated the Holy Eucharist last night in the breakfast room (the only gathering place) of our hotel, which is not the one originally on our itinerary (there were cockroaches apparently there) and which at least is clean, though in an army barracks kind of way.... We have had a few such profoundly meaningful celebrations of the Lord's mysteries, in which we have left room for our pilgrims to voice a particular intention. 

On this occasion, it followed up on a very significant large group sharing time which we had yesterday morning, Monday here, after breakfast and before our four different activity groups headed out for their day's outing. Our first such very open large group sharing occurred as a Liturgy of the Word because I was unable to speak without coughing heavily, and that was while we were still in New Zealand at the Kiwi Paka Lodge on Monday or Tuesday the 7th or 8th of July. 

It was a very deep personal moment when all the pilgrims shared personal impressions, aspirations, concerns, spiritual desires, and prayer intentions. As I remember it, we had a number of significant celebrations of the Holy Eucharist while in New Zealand, in different places. During the WYD week, we celebrated as a group only once, and that was Saturday evening at the beginning of the Vigil, and a handful of our New Zealand guests and pilgrims themselves joined us. 

While we were in Cairns, we had no place or occasion to celebrate the Holy Mass, and only did so twice. On the Wednesday we went by minibuses to Cape Tribulation, a kind of resort area in the rainforest, and on Thursday morning, our group decided to join a French group from S. Jerome Diocese, with l'abbe Martin presiding. I would have liked to preside a Mass for our own group, but being still troubled by a cough when I attempt to speak I didn't mind joining the French Mass too. It was beautiful, and all were pleased, except perhaps a few whose French is not so strong. 

 Then we all trudged off to the nearby St Monica Cathedral of Cairns, a 7 minute walk of two blocks where we joined the 10 am regular Mass presided by Bishop Foley. I slipped into the sanctuary, having arrived just before Mass began - our group got a late start what with checking for presences and so on...

It was a lovely Mass.... The bishop was actually quite humorous, and I found out after Mass that he too has been suffering what what he called the flu, having spent a week in bed to no avail, which perhaps explains why he left out the creed and prayers of the faithful and went straight from the homily to the Offertory procession.... 

Still, we all felt revived by the Lord, the sheer beauty of the 24 stained glass windows telling the story of Creation, the faith of the congregation with whom we felt at home, and the beauty of the cantor's and choir's voices and music they had chosen, some of which was familiar..... 

Sunday morning we had checked out of our rooms and loaded our baggage into a locked room near the entrance to Koala Beach Resort, and gone to Mass. After Mass, there were refreshments served and we are not known for refusing such offers!!!!!!!!! 

Meanwhile, Laura Ieraci with help from Isabel Correa set up a little studio outside the cathedral in a lateral courtyard in the sunshine - it was a radiant morning around 23 degrees - and interviewed a select number of our pilgrims, who had been asked the night before. A few others contemplated the stained glass windows and listened to a remarkable audio narrative interpreting them. Others browsed the cathedral gift shop on the opposite side of the church off the other courtyard. 

Eventually, we found our way back to Koala and from there went off into separate groups for lunch, shopping, browsing, exploring, or to rest in the sun at the Lagoon, a fresh water pond/pool near the shore and harbour. We all met back at Koala for our bus to the Cairns airport to travel to Syndey, where we were welcomed once again by cold and rainy weather... oh joy!!! 

This brings me back to the sharing we had yesterday morning, the second such large group extended sharing of this pilgrimage, which is not a mean feat, considering the fact that most of our venues didn't allow for large group gatherings. We wanted our pilgrims to have the opportunity to share their impressions, hear those of others, and for us to reflect with them on the significance of some of our experiences and observations. 

Sometimes one has to go to the other side of the world to notice things that may also be evident back home but are no longer obvious or consciously noticed because they have become familiar or commonplace. While the Church in New Zealand and Australia and Catholics here seem more orderly, for lack of a better word, I mean that they tend to be more reverent in church, less likely to chat and carry on as we do - especially in front of the Blessed Sacrament - and both the believer and the 'model citizen' tend to behave in an orderly fashion and carefully, politely; the society in general is quite secularized and shall we say a little looser than we are accustomed to see. 

For example, it is illegal in Quebec and the rest of Canada to drink in public, I mean outside or openly in public places. Not so here. While we were in Cape Tribulation, our only night there, we had no scheduled activity except I believe a night walk on which a few went to observe the behaviour of the creatures of the night. Well not all the wild creatures were in the rainforest. 

We the adults carefully supervised our youth, around fifteen of whom were engaged in a social game in which the players act out specific roles assigned to them by the draw of a card. A few others sat and watched or played billiards nearby. A few I believe were resting in their cabins, and each cabin had at least one adult, and we did not allow any minors to be alone at any time, but always accompanied by an adult. Our care and supervision paid off in a noticeable way that night. 

A stranger, a man in his 30's took interest in the social game and pulled a chair nearby to observe it as he sipped his glass of wine. Occasionally he asked a question of the game master, one of our young underage girls. When he left to replenish his wine, I approached Julie and Anna who had been standing nearby and was told that our young game mistress felt 'freaked out' by the man, who after all was a stranger and an adult. His interest had seemed innocent enough and may very well have been only that. 

Still, once I heard that I went into alert. I placed myself near our game mistress, and when the man returned and made a move to put his hand on her shoulder to ask another question, I moved in on him and informed him that his invasion of her personal space was not only unwanted but inappropriate, he being an adult and she being a youth. He showed some apparently innocent embarrassment, not realizing this was the case, and disappeared. 

Needless to say, our young game mistress was relieved and grateful. Various of our pilgrims - youth together with adults - had other harmless encounters with young people or adults who were obviously inebriated, and our team took care to debrief with each of the groups their experiences. 

At the end of the evening, we met together and quickly came to a consensus that we needed to bring this up with the whole group at a general large group meeting in order to help them express their thoughts and feelings at their observations and draw some useful lessons from it all, in view of our experience of faith and of WYD. 

It was useful that we had resolved to do this, because our first night in Sydney, Sunday night, we arrived at our destination on William Street around 10:30 pm. We brought our bags in, received keys to our rooms - four per room with at least one adult per room - and met downstairs, those who wanted to go out to eat. We went up the street to McDonald's and quickly realized we were in the red light district - our hotel was just off the edge of it. We carefully shepherded our sheep and surrounded them. 

While ordering and eating our meals - not the cleanest McD we've ever seen either - a few young men and women in line were obviously inebriated and carrying one a box of wine, another an open beer bottle. This would not be happening in Montreal. Our presence reassured our youth, and the behaviour of our adults towards the troubled youth was a good example of Christian charity and respect for the dignity of others, no matter what. 

Obviously, we had all the more reason for our large group sharing yesterday morning. Well, it was wonderful to listen to our youth, how considerate and understanding they were for people who find themselves in various situations we would categorize as 'being lost'. Some also were glad for his opportunity to express their feelings: a bit spooked by it but reassured by the motherly / fatherly presence of our adult team leaders, angry at the conditions that cause youth to find themselves so lost, compassion at those who may not have had the experience of family and faith with which we have been so blessed, a mixture of compassion and need to be careful of oneself under such circumstances and glad to be with our group, and so on.... 

These are wonderful youth, our pilgrims, and it has been a joy and privilege for us to have accompanied them halfway around the world to these World Youth Days and to this great adventure, which many are already qualifying as life-changing, and an experience of a lifetime. We have cautioned our pilgrims to brace themselves for the return. 

Having had many personal experiences of being on retreat, we have all known how difficult it is to return to the regular rhythm and routine of life once we have been off the 'merrygoround' of life in today's world. You our family, friends, and parishioners will not have had the countless experiences we and they have had here these almost 28 days, although you will undoubtedly be able to relate from your own similar experiences of being on retreat or pilgrimage. 

For those of you who have never been either on retreat or on pilgrimage, then it may be more of a challenge for you to enter into the experiences of your pilgrims as they try to articulate and to relate to you their itinerary, the journey they have had from experience to experience, and from desire to faith encounter with the Lord, each in his or her own way. We pilgrims ourselves will need time to debrief with each other all that we have experienced. 

The lucky ones are those who diligently kept a daily journal, while others of us like me just didn't find much time for it. Many days it was all I could manage to keep up with the Liturgy of the Hours, keep up with the group, and prepare for the upcoming celebration of the Eucharist. Still, we hope to provide those who can come a few meetings in the coming weeks to help us all to debrief some of our experiences while on pilgrimage, and how the Lord is inviting us to integrate these graces into our daily lives; so that we may no longer be as we were, but rather as the Lord is now offering us to be and to continue becoming..... 

Peace be with you all, and please join us in prayer and reflection as we anticipate meeting at the airport and living through the days and weeks ahead that will, by our attentiveness and mutual caring, not let the treasures of this pilgrimage be lost, but will rather gather them up into hearts and minds and souls that are attentive, eager to receive from the Lord all the He desires to offer, and willing to take the time to contemplate the wonders He does in our lives and in the lives of those we love and of those we meet. 

We are all conscious that life has gone on for all of you too, and we will also need to catch up on how you are and what has happened to you over this time, and what it has been like for you to accompany us in a spiritual and prayerful way through your love and desires for the Lord's man gifts..... Peace be with you one and all, and God bless you. Thank you so much for your kind prayers and loving consideration..... Father Gilles, signing off for this WYD 2008 pilgrimage.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Days 12 to 19 of our WYD 2008 pilgrimage

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Good evening, day, to all.... 

Well, the WYD portion of this almost month long pilgrimage has come and gone.... It was a thrill and an honor for our youth and for all of us to animate the Catecheses in a sports arena in Sydney's Olympic Park, where we also slept, but that was in "The Dome", a large facility - whose purpose I never got the opportunity to discover - shaped like a velodrome without the track. 

We were set up all in a row, girls at the far end with leaders at the end and leaders separating them from the boys at the near end to the center, with more leaders at that end.... Once we got used to it, we were glad to get back to it each night to sleep. There was a lot of singing, a few skits, and lots of laughs and high spirits as we brought the other pilgrims, from 2000 to over 2500 to participate and sing. 

A lot of people were somewhat blitzed by the cold air, around 1 to 4 degrees at night and 10 to 14 during the day, so warming up with singing and movements was a welcome idea. We were glad to be there to welcome Pope Benedict on the Thursday and to participate in the grandiose way of the cross on Friday by sitting in a park which was one of the stations. 

Of course, the highlight was the overnight Vigil and the final Mass on Sunday. Through the week, more of us have developed cold symptoms, so we continue to stock up on vitamins, try to get more sleep, and do all we can to keep warm. Still, not much can dampen the high spirits of our youth as we continued to enter into the significant and fascinating events of WYD. 

A few of our pilgrims elected not to go to the Vigil and one of our leaders accompanied them to stay in a hotel suite for the night so they could get better rest and keep warm. Franca took good care of them like a good mother, and got those who were coughing to wear a hospital mask to keep the room sanitary. 

On our return, I went to visit our convalescents and brought them Holy Communion from the Pope's Mass, beginning by praying with them, having them take turns reading the Mass readings, and sharing our impressions of the Pope's message, which those who were awake saw on TV. After going back to the Dome for our last night, we packed up and left for good in the morning to fly out to Cairns, where we are now. It is much warmer here.... 

It was 25 when we arrived even though it was overcast and continues to be.... Today we went on a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, where most snorkelled and a few tried scuba diving. I tried it but didn't get very far, what with my persistent cough.... We all had a good time and most are going to bed early tonight on a voluntary basis, even though Michael has given us a 9:30 curfew. I'm trying to upload more photos... 

I've tried in two different places this past week, but the PC's were locked in some what that wouldn't allow me to download my photos from the camera and then onto a portable memory stick. I finally found a place that would allow that, and am now uploading the photos to Photobucket, but must then share them to the blog. I may not have the time to do it as the operator closes soon. God bless you all. Don't worry, we are either well or recuperating. Either way, we are taking good care of our pilgrims as though they were our very own. Peace and love.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Days 7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14 News of our WYD Pilgrims

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Hello everyone! No, we didn't fall off the end of the Earth.... Last Thursday July 10th, our day 7, I spent several hours in the afternoon becoming familiar with the St Patrick Parish PC and tried to load up photos to Photobucket and my blog, and also to send you news. Our hosts then offered us supper cocktails style, with volunteers passing among us with trays of various homemade or bought goodies, mostly hot, and a good time was had by all. 

For my part, I was not feeling so good, having started with a sore throat the day of our arrival and now having trouble speaking without coughing at the end of the day. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent Friday and Saturday morning recuperating at Dale and Dave Elliot. In the afternoon they drove me to the Cathedral where they joined us for a Mass I presided for our pilgrims. I then rejoined them for a visit to Kelly Taltons, an oceanarium with a history of Antarctic exploration. 

That night we all had dinner as usual with our host families except for the 8 of us at the Monastery. We were invited to go as two groups to two other families and then four of us and our family joined the other group and family to watch a rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the South Africa Springbocks - well was that ever exciting. The Kiwis really take their rugby seriously and it as almost as loud with the 35 people in that living room as in the Canadians' forum! 

Sunday we joined the Parish for their main 10 am Mass and our pilgrims sang a few songs with the local choir, who were very good! In the afternoon there was a pilgrim walk to Tyburn Monastery, where 8 of us were staying, and the Mothers received them with refreshments. Then we went to the chapel for a holy hour of prayer and adoration. It was meaningful and very touching. 

That night we all went out to Peter O'Connell's for a Farewell Bar-B-Q. When touching words were exchanged and also the next morning, heart swelled with emotion as both our youth and our hosts were reluctant to see these days come to an end, but of course they must and did. Since Monday we have had very full days. We were saying goodbye not only to our hosts but also to New Zealand as we prepared for our next flight from Auchland NZ to Syndey Australia, host of WYD 2008. 

We are staying at the Olympic Park in a Sydney sportplex called the Dome, sleeping on mats 18 inches apart on the sides and 6 feet apart at the head, with the feet on the aisles, with over 3000 other pilgrims!!!! We wouldn't have believed it when we arrives, but after full days of walking around from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm, we're glad to come back to our "Home Sweet Dome". 

Tuesday we had the opening Mass presided by Cardinal Pell. Yesterday and today and again tomorrow (Friday) morning we along with Transfiguration and Holy Name of Jesus are animating the morning catecheses given by a different bishop each day. Our youth are having a blast getting 2 to 3000 pilgrims singing in another sport arena... 

One of the most exciting, moving and draining experiences of these days is marching up boulevards closed to traffic immersed in a sea of tens of thousands of other pilgrims travelling in groups like schools of fish, carrying flags and chanting in their own languages.... I'm about to run out of dollar coins and time and I'll take it to the max.... 

Some of us have had scratchy throats and today we descended on a 'chemist' - what they call a pharmacy - and scooped up remedies and lozenges... Don't worry parents, we are taking good care of your youth. They aren't much different with us as they are with you.... We look forward to all having internet access and sending longer messages. God bless you and until next time... Today we got to see Benny!!!      Pax + Caritas          Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Days 6-7-8-9-10-11 Catching up on our travelogue

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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It's already 5 days ago that we made our way from the Waitomo grotto caves to St Patrick Parish here in Pukekohe, some 40 kilometers out of Auckland. Don't ask me what direction.... It's all so disorienting... We put on our bright red Habs shirts and grouped together outside the entrance of the Parish Hall (it's on the right, with the church in the middle and the rectory on the left) where a contingent of parishioners had gathered to welcome us, with folk of every generation from grandparents to toddlers.... 

We sang a song and an elder religious Sister Mary Martin sang a Maori welcome... There were some official words of welcome by Vicky, the Parish WYD Coordinator for these Days in the Diocese, and others. Then we all mingled and piled into the hall for "afternoon tea" .... it was all so civilized and proper, a good rest and food for body and soul after our long bus ride. 

There was much mingling and introductions and in time we were all introduced and assigned to our host families... 8 of us were to stay at Tyburn Monastery, where 5 Benedictine nuns carry on continuous adoration and maintain a house of prayer and retreat. We were delighted to arrive to a warm supper waiting at 6:30 and later settled into our rooms. We joined the sisters for Night Prayer (Compline) which was very touching. The sisters sang with such small, delicate voices, as though expressing to the Lord with great affection their poverty and fewness in numbers and yet great confidence in his love and faithful help.... 

We were blessed with individual rooms with electric space heaters... and enjoyed showers and good food. The sisters prepared lunches for us, whether midday meal was already planned or not and we all found enough appetite to eat them, if not for lunch then for a snack in mid-morning or afternoon. We didn't get to see the beauty of the site where we were living until the weekend because we arrived at night after dark hits at 5 pm and left before morning light after 8 am. 

Thursday - Day 7     We made our own breakfast from what the Sisters provided in the guest house: whole wheat bread, toasters, peanut butter and jams, fresh fruit, teas and coffee, milk, etc. Thursday, Friday and today Monday we made our way to the church for 8:45 to prepare for morning Mass at 9:00 with Frs. Peter Gray and Ikenasio Vilaliano (a Samoan), who have been simply wonderful. 

This first morning here we chatted and then were led on foot to a public park where we would perform a public service as part of our stay. Vicky said it was not far, just two blocks. She didn't say it would be two New Zealand blocks, which made it a 20 minute walk! The weather was lovely and mostly sunny, though, and we enjoyed the walk and chatting, and photo ops. We arrived at this lovely park complete with hillside, gully, spring, trees, grass, and had 300 "trees" to plant. 

They were grasses and tropical tree seedlings around 12 to 24 inches high with root balls. Digging holes in the ground varied from very dry and hard ground to soft and muddy near the stream. Yes, some of us managed to get properly muddy and one of the local boys (6 foot +) managed to trip on a tree root jumping over the stream and landed one foot squarely in the water.... lots of giggling all around, and he was a good sport... 

This was real labor, and many of our pilgrims looked like they had never handled a spade or shovel before, but quickly got the hang of it.... and all experienced deep satisfaction at making a difference and planting seedlings that would live on for many years and help the local Council reclaim unused land previously used as dumps.... 

The camaraderie and cooperation was a wonder to behold as pilgrims worked and helped each other and took time to have fun while still getting the job done. The organizers were thrilled at the group's progress and delighted that all 300 seedlings were planted. We leisurely made our way to the other side of the stream and park where a grill had been set up and as Sami put it "an infinite number of sausages" were waiting for us... 

They do it simply here, serving on a slice of bread you could grill yourself, with butter, and ketchup... there were fruit and cookies... and of course the guys and a few gals played Haki Sak.... 

 to be continued.....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Days 6-7-8-9-10-11 Our wonderful stay in Pukekohe, New Zealand

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Good Day! Please note I've edited the previous post titles a little to put order in the photos postings: 001 is the Sunday Mass sendoff of June 28-29, 002 is the first posting of photos from New Zealand, and 003 is the most recent posting of photos from here. Now we are Monday morning and preparing to leave at noon. We've had a wonderful stay here in the little town of Pukekohe, among the people of St. Patrick Parish. I'm going to check on what's happening and if there's time I will return to catch up on my travelogue. You see I've been out of commission for a bit. 

On our first day a week ago Friday it turned cold, rainy and windy and we walked, the leaders, back from a restaurant after Mass at St. Benedict in Auckland, and I caught a chill. Sore throat, dry cough when I tried to speak... So the leaders agreed I should go to see a doctor. Helene and Kim's hosts, Dale and Doug Elliot brought me to the clinic where she works as receptionist and a doctor put me on penicillin and other tablets, rest, Vitamin C, keeping warm, etc. 

I spent Friday and Saturday morning at Dale and Dave, and they drove me in to St Patrick Cathedral in Auckland where the pilgrims came after a climb up a volcano on the island in the harbour and we prepared and celebrated the Holy Eucharist. It was a marvelous Mass in a remarkable setting, a beautiful worship space recently renovated. The Lord inspires us at such moments with meaningful words, pregnant silences, moving singing and touching communion of spirits.... 

So I'm still recovering, and I managed yesterday to have the PC load photos to Photobucket during our 10 am Sunday Mass with the parishioners, and after Mass sent them to the blog. Now I'll go check on the rest of our group and may or may not come back to continue the travelogue where I left off last week.         God bless.         Pax + Caritas. 

We all love you our families, friends, parishioners very, very much, carry you and our intentions in our hearts and prayers and at Mass, and wish you were here with us, and look forward to see you again soon.... Hugs and kisses from everyone!!!!!!! 

ooooooo xxxxxx Fr. Gilles for all our Pilgrims

N.B.: March 23rd, 2021 - The PhotoBucket site changed and the photos and my account are gone. However the pilgrims all have their photo albums printed or on their PC, as do I. 

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Finally, you get to see some photos!

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Good Evening to All, I finally have managed to upload photos to Photobucket and send them to this blog. It took a couple of hours on an unfamiliar and slower PC, in the Parish Office in a country where there is no indoor heating; so it's like sitting outdoors around 8 degrees minus the wind.... Anyway, here they are, but I'm afraid they're not in much order. There are photos taken the day of our departure, during the flights, in between flights in airports, on arrval, and all along the way.... up until our white water rafting last Monday - it's now Thursday evening here. In future, I will try to keep photos in separate folders for each day so the PC doesn't scramble them. Why PC's do such things I'll never understand, but there you are. Enjoy!!!!              Fr. Gilles

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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