While waiting in the airport boarding lounge for my flight from Ottawa back to Vancouver on Wed. July 23 at the end of my pilgrimage, I began writing an entry about the new communities for the Precious Blood Parish bulletin on the borrowed lap top computer. However the computer battery died soon after I started. So I brought out my ball point pen from my attache case and started over, writing long hand on a pad of paper. I continued writing on the plane but then my pen went dry. So I borrowed a pen from the passenger in front of me. His pen was loaded with fluid ink, which soon leaked large droplets onto my paper. So after wiping my hands free of the fresh black ink I returned the pen and my friend then gave me a pencil. After writing a while I spilled a can of Sprite all over the pad of paper, and following that, the lead in the automatic pencil gave out.

The sequence of assaults on my attempt to write something about my pilgrimage to the new Communities continued after I arrived back at Precious Blood Parish. On Friday morning July 25, the day for printing the parish bulletin, I gave Brenda our parish secretary, my hand written article which carried blotches of dried black ink, curled paper from the Sprite attack, and weak traces of pen and pencil. Brenda typed out my bulletin article on her computer, then e-mailed it to me in my parish office for any corrections which I might want to make. I made some corrections, then promptly lost all corrections on my computer because of improperly saving the corrections. I then re-typed the corrections all over again.  Can you believe it?

	The residence is located in a very nice area of Richmond Hill. The house is rented, as was later explained to me by Mr. Marcos Faes, director of the Heralds in Canada and also of this particular house.     Because the members both live and work in one house they need a good number of rooms: bedrooms, dining room, a room for the chapel, computers, printing, correspondence, networking with other communities, practicing their music, office work, publishing, photography, answering prayer requests. After looking at 100 houses in the Toronto area, and after much prayer, it was decided that this house best suited their needs.

After the greetings from the welcoming party of Marcos Faes and several young Heralds, Ann and I were introduced to Mr. Terry Gunn, 16 Grantbrook St., Toronto, ON., M2R 2E7, e-mail: terrygunn@rogers.com, Canadian Co-Ordinator for the Focolare Movement. Focolare is a spiritual movement begun in Trent, Italy in 1942 for the purpose of promoting the spirituality of unity, the source of true peace. Terry was completing a visit with the Heralds. 

We were then shown the Adoration chapel so I made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.  Then the director and myself had a prolonged discussion about the Heralds: history, charism, and discipline of the Community.

The discipline under which young men live and are taught is akin to the discipline and expectations of a minor seminary. The Heralds are looking forward to having a monastery possibly in the Toronto area. A men’s building and a women’s building would serve as a main formation centre for men and women.

The young male novices wear a distinctive brown garb with a white and red cross on the front of their scapular that stretches from neck to below the knee. The white half of the cross is for chastity and the red half to symbolize the blood of Christ. The fully professed male members of the Heralds wear a darker brown scapular than that worn by the non professed. Mr. Marcos Faes explained the distinctive garb of the Heralds, with their high boots symbolizing that they are on a journey to heaven and sometimes the journeying can be very rough going. A chain around the waist symbolizes their strong link to Mary in the spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort, based on consecration to Jesus through Mary.

The Heralds is the first Association approved by the Holy See in the third millennium. It exists in 45 countries and is composed of celibate lay people, mostly youth, who are consecrated to Our Lady. They dedicate themselves entirely to this apostolate, living in separate community residences of men and women. Their life of recollection, study and prayer alternates with evangelization activities in dioceses and parishes where they give particular attention to the youth.

The Heralds lead church processions with their brass, percussion band and choir. The women Heralds form a superb choir and also play strings. The Heralds are at the service of parishes who engage them for various events that are made more beautiful by their singing, band, devotion and pageantry. They are asked to lead church processions for special parish Masses (Confirmations, weddings, anniversaries etc). much like the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus do for these occasions. Donations received from these kinds of services help finance the Heralds community.

Their apostolic work is vast. The Heralds visit families who have shown an open interest, often through having the Marian pilgrim statue in their home. Here they enhance these family members with church teaching. They also teach catechism to the young. In South America they visit the slums in their full garb and evangelize with their teaching, their music and their dramatized Gospel presentations. Most Herald members either play an instrument or sing.

Marcos mentioned that their main charism is to seek perfection based on the words of Jesus; " Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect......" He went on the say that one of their secondary charisms is beauty. Through promoting beauty in all that the Heralds do, the Heralds assist people to come to God, to holiness, to heaven. Their apostolate is to enhance what is already in place by making it more beautiful. One way they do this is through pageantry. Their dress is beautiful, so are their three personal private promises, which they are encouraged to make: poverty, chastity and obedience. These promises are made without any public declaration or ceremony. Equally beautiful is the orthodox Catholic doctrine that they teach.

The Heralds call men and women to holiness and sanctity. Discipline and virtue are essentials for their way of life, from their chastity to their music. They give God a beautiful and holy offering of themselves and all they do. Like all new communities the Heralds are Eucharistic, Marian and Papal. They promote devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as she appeared at Fatima.

Before lunch I celebrated Mass in the Heralds’ chapel.

Then we had a very ample and first class noon meal.   The young Heralds, aged 12 or 13, served the lunch.     Younger boys and girls may be enrolled in a Heralds school, be part of a Heralds youth group, or be seriously discerning a vocation as a Heralds aspirant. However they must be 18 years of age to make a serious commitment to be received into the Heralds community.

After lunch I asked if there would be a drum in the house? Sure enough a large marching drum was produced so I chanted a song for them, then played them a drum roll. As we were leaving the house, one of the associate members who had been following Ann and I around the house and was taking photos at various times, presented me with a disk of the photos he had taken.

Before leaving the house we were taken into the basement. The complete downstairs of the Herald’s house is dedicated to high tech communications and publishing of one type or another with computers in the six or seven work areas. There is a work area for receiving and acknowledging prayer requests. They also publish literature about the Heralds’ apostolic work through the basement offices, do their accounting and transfer photos from digital camera onto a disk for the computer. Their publications are beautiful and first class. The Heralds are able to publish such beautiful glossy colored magazines and publications through benefactors who help finance this work. These donors would supposedly also help pay the rent for their house.

Following the visit with the men's component of the Heralds, Ann and I drove over to the house of the women Heralds. When the door of the women’s residence was opened we both somewhat startled to see seven young women all dressed in long blue silk dresses. They looked like Cinderella and her sisters! What an astonishing sight!

While these women’s everyday home and street attire would be a white blouse and a long skirt there are occasions when they dress in their very colorful silk dresses. They wear different colored dresses for different occasions. Equally it is true for the men who wear normal street clothes when they go on errands, and work in and around the house, but dress up for events and for guests, like Ann and myself. In the Richmond Hill house of the women Heralds the youngest woman is 18 and oldest is 31. The men's component also had many young men in their 20's.

On those days when people would see these men and women in public, all dressed up in their beautiful and distinctive dress, they would understandably be surprised and might ask: "Who are you and what are you all about?" Their garb is very distinctive and catches the eye as much as any garb formerly worn by Religious Orders of priests and sisters. At the end of our visit the young women sang us an Ave Maria.

Amongst other similarities of the men Heralds and the women Heralds, are the three private promises they are both encouraged to make, bringing the Fatima Pilgrimage Statue into family homes and the homes of their benefactors and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Ann Wilson and I left the women Heralds and drove to visit The Institute of the Incarnate Word, a new community founded in Argentina on March 25,1984, by Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela. In 1995 The Holy See declared the Institute of the Incarnate Word to be a "Public Association of the Faithful," and in 1997 the Constitutions of the Institute were given Vatican approval.

The community has the desire to follow Christ through the profession of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They take the Blessed Virgin Mary for their protectoress and guide, consecrating themselves to Mary according to the mind of St. Louis de Montfort.

Their specific goal is the evangelization of culture and their pastoral work is principally evangelization in the form of preaching of missions and retreats according to the style of St. Alphonsus Liguori and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They seek to inculturate the Gospel in various places so that these cultures can be redeemed.

The Institute has seminaries in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Italy and U.S.A. Some members live a contemplative life in monasteries in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, the U.S. and Israel. The Institute assists local Bishops in staffing seminaries and undertaking of parishes and schools. Currently there are 230 priests, and 200 seminarians.

The priests in the district of North York, Toronto, operate St. Augustine’s Parish. They are engaged in a good number of annual youth retreats, and actively get their parishioners involved in door knocking and distributing literature about upcoming parish events. The pastor Fr. Daniel Mentsana and I talked about discernment because these priests lead Ignatian discernment retreats.

On March 19, 1988 Fr. Buela founded the "Institute of the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matara", a women’s branch of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. Like the Heralds of the Gospel, the men of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and the women of the Institute of the Servants of the Lord live in separate houses but work cooperatively.

Then I set off from the Basilian’s St. Michael’s College High School for Combermere Ont. via Peterborough. I stopped at Peterborough, Ont., Chancery with the hope of visiting with Bishop Nicola De Angelis, the recently appointed Bishop of Peterborough. He is a strong supporter of new lay movements and communities. However he was on the road visiting parishes, so I did not meet him.

Madonna House is technically not a new community for it was founded in 1947. However it can still be considered as a new community since it has a unique form and apostolate, and is one of the earliest of the new works of the Spirit. The primary vocation of Madonna House is to live what Catherine Doherty, the foundress of Madonna House, called " The Little Mandate ":

Arise--go! Sell all you possess...
give it directly, personally
to the poor. Take up My cross,
( their cross ) and follow me -
going to the poor-- being poor-- being
one with them – one with Me.
Little—be always little...
simple—poor—childlike.

Preach the Gospel WITH YOUR LIFE –
WITHOUT COMPROMISE –
listen to the Spirit-
He will lead you.
Do little things exceedingly well
for love of Me.
Love—love—love, never counting the cost.
Go into the market place
and stay with Me..pray...fast..
pray always...fast.

Be hidden---be a light to your
neighbor’s feet. Go without fears
into the depth of men’s hearts....
I shall be with you.

Pray always. I WILL BE YOUR REST."

To live the Gospel daily is a great challenge. One way in which Madonna House members are challenged to live the Gospel is living and loving one another in community. This is a place where young people discover if they have a vocation to prayerfully live in community, including dormitory living, as almost no one has their own private quarters.

Fr. Ron Cafeo who is recovering from chemotherapy for cancer booked me in to the St. John Vianney Guest House for Priests. This Guest House is about ten minutes from the Training Center, which is the central headquarters for Madonna House. Fr. Ron was my host for Friday and Saturday. He took me to all the Madonna House working areas where there are members living and working at various Madonna House tasks. Their work sites and buildings spread over 10 miles.

At Combermere there are actually 3 separate but interconnected communities: the Training Centre for the Lay Apostolate, St. Mary’s, and St. Benedict’s Farm. Each of these communities have their own living quarters and chapel for weekday liturgies.

A field house is a community of Madonna House members who are living somewhere else than at the Madonna House in Combermere. There are 21 field houses spanning the globe. The closest field house to Combermere is actually right in Comberemere. It is St. Joseph’s Centre, a field house serving the needs of the local Combermere rural area. Although St. Joseph’s Centre is only about five minutes from the heart of the Madonna House Community it is nonetheless completely independent in its work and prayer schedule, and the staff members attend the local parish, not the Madonna House chapels, for Mass.

		The Madonna House Community is diversified. Some members work on the farm, others in the gift shop, the bee hives, fish farm, the house for distributing food, clothes and household goods to the poor.   Others are occupied with printing, calligraphy, tool making, electrical, plumbing, crafting, library, cutting fire wood and a host of other tasks all of which make the community as self-sufficient as possible. Physical labor is an important component of Madonna House spirituality.

The community is composed of about 220 single men and women who live on site or in the field houses away from Combermere. The central community has approximately 100 members at the Training Centre with often dozens of guests.

The members take promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience and make their promises through a public ceremony. Some members have been at Combermere for 40 years. There are over 20 priests who are full time members of the community and while they provide spiritual direction and all the liturgies for the members they also share community tasks with everyone else. There are also over 120 associate priests who live the Madonna House spirituality in their respective parishes across Canada. There are three directors for the community: Fr. Robert Pelton, the priest director for the clergy, Jean Fox, a laywoman director for all the women; and Mark Schlingerman, a layman director for all the men.

While there are a few members in their 20`s and 30`s the majority of members are in their 40`s-60`s.

Bonnie McLaughlin (age 23) whom I knew when I was her pastor in Holy Trinity Parish, North Vancouver is a long term guest at Madonna House, and Scott Whittemore (age 44) is there for summer residency only. Scott is formerly from Bella Coola. I know Scott from my visits with Fr. Potanko in Bella Coola in the 1980’s. Scott is now studying to be a priest for the diocese of Nelson. In past years, Madonna House provided a pre-seminary year program of spiritual formation for prospective priests.

One of the policies at Madonna House is that community members do not ask a guest any personal questions, such as why the guest has come to Madonna House.   Nor do guests ask other guests.  Thus it allows guests the freedom to be there without being under the scrutinizing eye of others.

The public of the surrounding area knows about Madonna House. The neighbors as well as benefactors from all over Canada and the U.S. supply household articles and other necessities of life for the community. What the community does not use is sorted out and then sold at a nominal price to the poor of the area who regularly come to St. Joseph’s field house for food, clothing, and household goods. Madonna House has a wonderful gift shop and all sales from their gift shop go to the poor of the third world. A lady, Patricia Milan, who manufactures cut-out dolls of saintly Canadian men and women, came into the gift shop to browse, as I was doing the same.

Many of the residents from the district around Madonna House are Catholic and supporters of Madonna House in one way or another. However the neighbors are asked not to come to the liturgies and Masses at Madonna House but go rather to their own local parish church which is just down the road from the Madonna House Training Centre. On the hillside behind the parish church is a shrine to St. Jean Brebeuf who was supposed to have addressed native people from that hillside. I visited the shrine. It is in need of repair.

The spirituality of the Eastern Churches is incorporated into Madonna House spirituality. Their foundress Catherine Doherty introduced the Eastern Church flavor of icons and poustinias ( described below ) because she had grown up in Russia and under the influence of the Orthodox Church. Archbishop Joseph Raya, the first associate priest of Madonna House and retired Melkite bishop from Lebanon also brought the Eastern rite flavour to the spirituality of Madonna House.

Using icons as a regular and integral part of Madonna House spirituality is a loving gesture of friendship that helps promote unity between the Western and Eastern Church. Icons are written or painted images of Jesus and the Saints with a particular artistic style native to the Christian Churches of the Middle East, Russia, Greece, Ukraine and elsewhere. The use of icons create a deep sense of prayer and devotion and educate Westerners about Eastern spirituality. One Madonna House member is a full-time iconographer ( an artist who writes or paints icons ), writing/painting icons according to the prescribed rules of iconography. Three other members write/paint icons in their spare time.

Key to life at Madonna House is the poustinia (Russian word for desert) experience. It is an Eastern Church form of prayer in which one withdraws into a poustinia or cabin in order to come into a deeper unity with God over the course of 24 hours (or more) through the Scriptures, prayer and fasting on bread and water. Even though there are poustinias scattered over the 10 miles of the Madonna House property, there appears to be a shortage of poustinias up against the total number of Madonna House members who wish to frequent them.  For guests who come to Madonna House wanting to make a retreat, there is the Loretto Centre.

On the Madonna House property near the Training Centre there is an island, and on the island, a log chapel. It is designed with an onion dome and the features inside the chapel have a definite Eastern Church flavor, including an iconostasis (the Royal Door and wall separating the public from the Altar of Sacrifice that is used for the Eastern Liturgy). The iconostasis is behind the Latin Rite altar that is used for the Latin Rite Mass. During the Latin Rite Mass most of the members of Madonna House sit on the floor, others sit on benches.

The Blessed Sacrament is kept in this island chapel behind the iconostasis. After the Mass I observed a priest kissing the icons painted on the iconostasis. This is done routinely by many staff and guests. The Byzantine liturgy is regularly celebrated in the island chapel by Archbishop Raya, who has been attached to Madonna House for some 40 years, or Fr. Ron Cafeo who is bi-ritual, and so celebrates Mass in the Latin and Byzantine Rite. I discovered during my pilgrimage that this linkage with the Eastern Church is present within a number of new communities.

Every day there is Mass in the main chapel on the small island about a five minute walk from the Training Centre. I celebrated Mass with the community on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Mass is also celebrated in the other living and working sites scattered over the 10 mile area. Part of the Liturgy of the Hours is celebrated in common on a daily basis either in the island chapel or in the chapels attached to the working sites.

Madonna House members and their guests gather together from all their various working sites for Sunday morning Mass. One Sunday the Mass is celebrated at St. Mary’s Centre in English according to the Latin or Western Rite, and the next Sunday, Mass is celebrated at the Island Chapel in the Eastern or Byzantine Rite. Archbishop Raya, Fr. Cafeo, and another Madonna House priest are able to celebrate Mass in either the Latin or Byzantine Rite. The Sunday in which I was present at Madonna House was the Sunday for the Latin Rite Mass so I concelebrated the Latin Rite Mass at St. Mary’s chapel where the Training Centre and Farm community came together for Mass.

St. Mary`s was formerly a residential school for children of diplomats living in Ottawa, for children of the immediate area and for Inuit children from Northern Canada. With the falling off of Sisters able to teach and other reasons, the Sisters pulled out of the school and in time it was placed in the hands of Madonna House. It also serves as an extended care center for elderly members of the community, and also for printing, tool making, painting, calligraphy and art works as well as deepening formation in prayer.

On Saturday night there is an open forum for guests and Madonna House members held in the Training Centre. Questions are asked of the three directors: Fr. Pelton, the director for priests, Jean Fox, the director for women and Mark Schlingerman, the director for men. I attended the Saturday night session along with about 90 staff and guests.

The whole area around Madonna House is filling up with deeply devout, large Catholic families. A new college has also opened recently in the region, at nearby Barry’s Bay, offering courses toward first, second and third year liberal arts. It is called "Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Institute for Studies in the Liberal Arts." www.seatofwisdom.org Tel: 613-756-3082. Michael O’Brien is on the Board of Advisors, and he and his wife Sheila have been instrumental in its development.

20

Amongst the many good neighbors with which Madonna House has been blessed are Michael and Sheila O’Brien and Posie McPhee. Before leaving Combermere I visited the O`Brien’s who live about 10 minutes outside of Combermere. I know the O’Brien’s from my years as pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish, Mission, B.C., from 1976-88. The O’Brien’s had lived in Mission close to the Benedictine Westminster Abbey and had attended St. Joseph’s parish. Michael wrote/painted the icon of the Holy Family for the opening of the new St. Joseph’s Church in Mission in1986.

While Michael was in Mission he painted icons, now in recent years in addition to his continuance at painting he has become an accomplished author. The O’Brien’s have a son studying in Rome to be a priest with the new community of the Legionaries of Christ. Michael is presently finishing a fictional book on a native woman of Northern Ontario. The theme is poverty. His other recent fiction books have achieved international acclaim. He is also finishing a painting for a Catholic advocacy group.

I attempted to see Posie McPhee but ran out of time. She lives just outside of Combermere. I remember her and her husband Don from their days of operating the Nazareth Family Apostolate summer retreats at Combermere, the producing of video tapes on Natural Family Planning, and the magazine entitled "Nazareth" which they published. I admired both Don and Posie immensely for the great work they did in building up Catholic family life.

I have never met the McPhee’s but did talk once or twice on the phone with Don McPhee while their family was living in Eastern Canada and I was in Holy Trinity Parish, North Vancouver in the early 1990’s.

For those living in the Greater area of Vancouver, B.C. there is an opportunity of meeting with three members of Madonna House. There is a Madonna House field house located at: Rosemary Heights, 3692 – 152nd St., Surrey B.C., V3S 0L3, Tel: 604- 574- 4515. They would be happy to hear from you! For anyone interested in meeting with you.

I left Combermere after lunch and arrived in Aylmer, Quebec where I overnighted with my sister Sue and her husband Joe. For dinner that night Sue, Joe, and my nephew Paul and my niece Janine all drove off to the home of my other niece Danny and her husband Jean Marc in Russell, Ont. At the end of the evening when Sue and Joe and I arrived back at their house on North St., in Alymer, Joe kindly transferred the journal of my trip thus far from the lab top hard drive to a diskette, so I could use the diskette in computers at the communities where I would be visiting. I left Joe and Sue with the diskette of the photos that had been taken of the Heralds and myself in Toronto.

My stop over in Aylmer was short but afforded me a little time to chat with Sue and Joe, and my nephew Paul, and nieces Danny and Janine as the last time we had seen each other was in February of this year when we were all together in Vancouver with mom in her last days with us.

After celebrating Mass with Joe and Sue in their home on Monday morning, I drove off to Sherbrooke and booked in at the Salesian Provincial House with Fr. Luc Lantagen, S.D.B. I had met Fr. Luc in March of this year when he attended a Mass at Holy Cross High School, Surrey, B.C. At that time he was visiting his Salesian community at Our Lady of Good Counsel here in Surrey

Visiting with Fr. Luc at the same time as myself was the former Salesian Provincial, now working in a youth center in Montreal, and his priest friend whom he met while the two of them were taking a sabbatical in California a few years ago. Fr. Luc was a wonderful host, and the other two priests good company and full of good humor and camaraderie.

We had dinner together in the rectory and we discussed my visit to Quebec and the state of the church in Quebec. After dinner Fr. Luc took the three of us priests on a tour of the beautiful Quebec countryside.

Fr. Luc and the former Provincial explained to me that there is a strong emotional tie to church buildings by the older folk in Quebec. Their parents and grandparents had built the village churches, donated the tabernacle, stations of the cross, kneelers, stained glass windows, etc. For which reason the present middle age and senior generation wants the continued use of the these churches even though there are very few people coming to the church for Sunday Mass.

So rather than the townspeople driving from towns A and B to attend Mass in town C where there could be a reasonably full church drawing from Towns A, B and C, they want a priest to say Sunday Mass in all three towns: A, B and C, so that their old churches can continue to be used. Hence priests could get warn thin with driving from one town to the next for the Sunday schedule of Masses. The travelling parish priest is then presented with three rather than one parish administration.

There are about 90 young people age 18-30 who live in the four houses of this community, and 60 of these are in the Sherbrooke house. Included in this number at this Sherbrooke house are four priests who were ordained in the spring of 2003 from this community and for this community. There are 20 other men who are thinking of becoming priests, some already in studies and formation.

All community members take the three promises (engagement) of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Where, O where, in today’s world would one find 60 young adults living in community under these three promises! People who visit this young community ask questions: "what is their mission, how do they live their mission of evangelizing young people, how do they live their prayer life and community life?"

To see a company of young adults who are alive with the love of God and belief in their faith is an absolute delight! So much of how they live and what they do is summarized in their motto: "For the Beauty and the Joy of God, to live all the Gospel with Mary, by unity, fraternity, and joyful charity."

Like all new communities they are Eucharistic, Marian and Papal. It is not entirely off the mark to describe these young people as monks, either lay or clerical, living a common life under the promises.

The young men and women dress in light colored clothing to show the life and resurrection of Christ. In a world where we see so much darkness, what a joy that these young people radiate a little light for the world! The members who decide to start a life-time commitment in the community as consecrated men and woman make their first promises after two years of noviciate whereupon they receive the habit of the community. The final engagements are made after three years of temporary engagement. With their renewal of promises comes a change of the personal insignia that the members wear as a sign of what level they are at in the community. There are several different designs of crosses worn by the community members, thereby indicating their degree of formation and commitment within the community.

This community provides youth retreats and that is a source of income for them. They could renew a whole parish, through their witness, catechizing and evangelizing.

After lunch, and while everyone was still at table, a young women who was acting as my hostess and interpreter, asked three members to give an open and personal testimony in English for my sake. These three had never given their testimonies in English. One young woman said that she had lived a loose life before her conversion. A young man said he was drawn to the community through the community’s magazine. Another young member to speak was Fr. Dominic Le Rouzes one of the four newly ordained priests. Prior to ordination he had received a degree in sociology.

This community also has Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. They have a special love of Mary and so we went outside and prayed at a Marian Shrine after lunch. We prayed Hail Mary’s interspersed with spontaneous prayers.

This Sept. of 2003, 20 additional young people came to the Sherbooke house for a year of formation and discernment with the community. Fr. Dominic Le Rouzes had this to say about these 20 young people: " What joy it will be to share in the Lord’s harvest with all these great young people that desire so strongly to do His Will."

This community is designed for separated or divorced men and women some of whom live together in one of the Quebec communities: at Mirabel, the central house; Victoriaville (1986); Amos (1991); Sherbooke; Kapuskasing, Ont. (1992); or in Europe, South America or the Caribbean. Other members or associates live in their own homes and meet amongst themselves regularly for work and prayer. The men and women who live in the Solitude Myriam community take the promises of marital chastity, abandonment to God the Father through Mary, and fidelity to the Church with charity and joy.

Danielle Bourgeois founded the Solitude Community in 1981 in the Diocese of St. Jerome, Quebec. She was divorced for several years and far from God. God brought about a radical conversion in her life. She began to welcome all those who felt crushed by the solitude of a broken marriage and who sought to know the will of God in the midst of their trials. It was in Danielle’s home that Solitude Myriam was born, supported by Msgr. Charles Valois, bishop of St. Jerome.

With time several others joined Danielle. Bit by bit the work was coming together. Under the guidance of the Spirit, a larger and larger group felt the need to meet each week for prayer and the Mass. The strength that they received from these gatherings filled them with enthusiasm and brought them little by little to consecrate their lives to the Lord in a vow of fidelity to Christ and the Church.

Their spirituality revolves around acceptance, pardon, and reconciliation through the heart of God, and consecration of their lives to God and to their spouse from whom they are separated or divorced. These men and women know they are still married even though not living with their spouses. They conduct themselves accordingly. Therefore this is not a community for dating either those within the community or anyone outside the community.

As much as single parents in the secular realm might join a support group to help them cope with being a single parent, that is what this group is, but a lot more. For present in this community is a strong spiritual life of prayer and the Sacraments and a true upholding of the sacredness of marriage even though spouses are separated or divorced.

This Beatitude community was started in France in 1973 by two Protestant families from the Reformed Church of France. A few years later, the leaders became Catholic and the community was welcomed into the Catholic Church in 1978. In 1979 The Beatitudes was recognized as a "pious union " by the Archbishop of Albi, France. Today, they number about 1600 and are present on all five continents. Their house in Canada is at Ste-Anne de Beaupré in Québec. In the English-speaking world, they are present in Denver, and Colorado, U.S.A.; in Manila, Philippines; in Christchurch, New Zealand; and also in Hong-Kong. The Beatitudes are also in France and elsewhere in Europe, and in the Holy Land and Africa.

I was received with a nice welcome and given a guest room to stay in. I was given an excellent background of their history, all of which was sadly wiped-out from my computer, together with the first week of my pilgrimage. Efforts to restrieve were in vain.

Later in the day I prayed the rosary with the Beatitude Community, and attended the Liturgy of the Hours in which there was spontaneous prayer. The Beatitudes rely on the work of their hands and on Providence who operates through benefactors to keep them going financially. They operate a small gift shop selling religious articles such as: cassettes, icons, painted bookmarks of patron-saints etc…

This community at Ste. Anne de Beaupre is composed of single lay people, a grandmother, and two married couples with infant children. A consecrated sister planned to join them later in October 2003. This September 2003, two men joined them, one is 18 and the other older.

The married couples live in their own apartments in the monastery. Allowance is made for the married couples to live as family - to have family time together in addition to time with the community. Because the infants require extra time, the time for babysitting them is divided between mom and dad and other members of the community. Consequently both mom and dad are not always able to be in attendance at all the community’s functions as one of them might have to be with the infant children.

This community (along with Madonna House and others) have a special veneration for icons. The use of icons is seen as a way of bridging with the Eastern Christian Church. So, icons are present in their Chapel and elsewhere in the house. An extern associate lady comes into the Beatitude monastery regularly to give the formation on writing/ painting of icons.

I concelebrated Mass with the community on Friday July 18 at 11am. A short time after Mass I joined the community for the Liturgy of the Hours in their chapel and then for lunch.

On Fridays the community observes a fast for priests at lunch time so we had bread and a beverage. On Friday evenings the Beatitude Community celebrates the " THE FAMILY LITURGY OF THE ENTRY INTO SHABBAT " which is celebrated by Jews around the world at sundown on Fridays. While the Beatitude Community does not celebrate the whole Shabbat liturgical day as Jews do, nonetheless they beautifully honor the Jewish people through celebrating at least part of this weekly Jewish Shabbat celebration. In doing so they bridge with the Jews our great ancestors in the faith who observe the Shabbat or Sabbath (beginning on Friday evening and extending through Saturday) as their traditional holy day.

This FAMILY LITURGY is celebrated with a meal after which the community continues the Shabbat celebration with the chanting of Psalms in Hebrew, lighting the Shabbat candles and asking the traditional blessing. They end the evening celebration with "the little train" in which the members of the community, linked together hand in hand, joyfully celebrate a Jewish circle dance.

For Christians, the most important religious celebration is the Resurrection, which is commemorated every Sunday beginning with the Vespers of Resurrection on Saturday evening. Therefore on Saturday evenings the community celebrates the Dances of Israël following their Vespers of the Resurrection, in celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. In some Beatitude houses around the world the community also dances on Sunday around the dinner table at lunch time, but it is rather rare.

On this Friday night I felt how good it was to belong to a believing community, a people who love God, and their Jewish ancestors. Perhaps more than anything else they celebrate the fact that they are the people of God, the sons and daughters of God who loves them. He is their God and they are his people, so why not celebrate it in song and dance! That is how I felt that night. It does not take much to get me dancing so I danced with them around the dinner table and sang and chanted with the community as best I could.

As is true of most, if not all of these new communities, the celibate members make their engagement or three personal promises. There are usually several engagements made prior to final ones. Equally these communities wear a distinctive garb and symbol either simple or more complex like the Heralds.

To really discover the pace and flavor of these communities requires more than the day or so that I gave them.

I found the Beatitude Community very accepting and welcoming of me. I wish I could have stayed longer. After dinner I helped with the dishes.  I was referred to two other communities nearby: The Lambs of Jesus and The Little Brothers of the Cross.  Both of these I later visited.

Some members of the Beatitude Community could eventually come to Vancouver and give a parish mission. Their theme could be prayer. They would teach people how to pray. They would also do the Israeli dances and perhaps also lead a Shabbat service.  Having several Vancouver parishes sponsor a Beatitude Parish Mission on consecutive weeks would reduce the travel costs for each sponsoring parish.

Thursday July 17: DRIVE FROM STE.ANNE DE BEAUPRE, QUEBEC, TO LA MALBAIE, QUEBEC:

This afternoon Ginette who has been in the Beatitude Community a few years and was my guide around the community, suggested I visit the community of the Little Brothers of the Cross about forty minutes north-east from Ste. Anne de Beaupre. So I did.

These monks follow at least in part the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld. They live a semi-cloistered life. I say that because they do get out occasionally as a community. They have befriended the apostolate of The Lambs of Jesus and visit them sometimes on Isle d’Orleans, an Island in the St. Lawrence River and across from Ste. Anne de Beaupre. This community most recently visited the Lambs of Jesus on June 22, 2003.

Like other new communities they have a devotion to icons. There is an iconostasis in their church and the wall behind the iconostasis contains icons the full width of the wall. Their new monastery sits on top of a hill overlooking a very picturesque landscape much like the view I saw when I visited Archbishop Raya’s house at Madonna House - an unobstructed view of a valley. The monastery must have been built within the last ten years.

I ate dinner in silence with the monks. During dinner one of the monks read from a book and then we listened to a taped talk. There were other outsiders at dinner with me.

After dinner I found myself talking at some length in a parlor with Fr. John, as I had asked to speak with an English speaking monk. He is an astute man who in speaking of the monastic life referred to the monk’s mental health. He said that monks are particularly vulnerable to difficulties with their mental health because they give themselves so much to meditating and solitude, to putting themselves into a mental state for great lengths of time.

He said that in the past Catholics spiritualized their difficulties more than they should have. In fact sometimes there is need for outside help – counseling. He seems to have a good and balanced view of life. He made a very favorable impression on me and I would consider having him as a spiritual director or confessor if I lived in that area.

Friday July 18: DRIVE FROM STE. ANNE DE BEAUPRE, QUEBEC, TO L'ILE D’ORLEANS, QUEBEC:

FOYER de CHARITE
	253 Chemin du Bout de L’ile Ste. Petronille, Ile d’Orleans, Quebec, G0A 4C0 Tel: 418-828-2226

This afternoon took me to L'ile d’Orleans which is a long flat Island in the St. Lawrence River and which can be seen from Ste. Anne de Beaupre. The Island is beautiful with so many classic styled French provincial houses with second floor dormers and roofs that curve upwards just before the gutters. They are truly well styled homes and I took some photos of them. Driving through the Island is very slow because of the narrow and winding road. Many cyclists were on the road this afternoon.

I visited the Community of Foyer de Charite. While this community began in France in 1936 it was not until 1986 that Rome officially recognized them as an Association of the Faithful. They now have retreat houses all over the world, as giving retreats is their principal mission. The Foyer retreat house on the L'ile d’Orleans is on several acres of land overlooking the St. Lawrence River and offers retreats for laity and clergy, whereby they receive their income other than donations. The community is composed of celibate men and women and a priest who is father and director of the community. According to the wishes of the foundress, though committed to celibacy and obedience, as well as a simple lifestyle, Foyer members apart from the priest, remain in the lay state and do not make promises (engagement of poverty, chastity and obedience).

Friday July 18: ON L'ILE D’ORLEANS, QUEBEC:

THE LAMBS OF JESUS
	35 Chemin de l’Eglise Ste. Petronille, L'ile d’Orleans, Quebec, G0A 4C0 Tel: 418-828-9987 Fax: 418-828-1452 E-mail: maison.emmanuel@sympatico.ca Website: www.lesbrebisdejesus.com

When I arrived at the property of the Lambs of Jesus headquarters, I walked up the outside stairs of a very nice looking old house that had been renovated. I rang the bell. A young woman answered and I introduced myself. Soon I found myself surrounded by a group of a dozen young adults in the 20’s. We spent several hours together. I was so impressed with the faith of these young people, and their commitment to the Lambs of Jesus youth catechetical program. This Lambs of Jesus outreach program to youth functions in Quebec parishes throughout the year and is highlighted by a series of summer camps held here on this property. The Lambs of Jesus movement is now in 18 countries. It is important to note that the Lambs of Jesus is not yet a community, but they are a super-nova, a community in formation!

The children in this movement between 3 and 6 years old are called the Lambkins of Jesus. The 12-15 year olds are called Little Shepherd of Jesus and those aged 16 and above are called the Mary-Pastors Fraternity. Children in the Lambs of Jesus program meet for approximately one hour once every 2 weeks, and during the meeting they experience the Word of God through reading and reflecting on Scripture and doing activities that are adapted to their age. The format followed at their summer camp is considerably more extensive than that followed through the school year.

The program’s founder and ongoing mentor is Sister Jocelyn Huot s.f.a. I did not meet her as she was away at the time. The Franciscan Sisters of Assisi have passed into the hands of Sister Huot and her young adult staff one of their houses on the approx.10 areas of land that the Sisters own. There have been young adults working with Sister Huot for a few years and they themselves may have been Lambs at one time.

This last year 2002-2003, 5 young adults who work with the Lambs of Jesus lived together for the first time. They lived with 2 Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi in the Sister’s Convent house here at Ste. Petronille. During the last year the young people were studying at university but used the Sister’s house as a residence. Two of the young people were taking theology, another taking teaching and another psychology. A fifth person. Marilou, was studying nursing. With the Sisters they prayed, adored the Blessed Sacrament and lived a common Life. They want to work towards becoming a community. At the present they do not take the engagement or three promises.

This June 2003, the Little Brothers of the Cross from their Abbey in La Malbaie, Quebec, about an hour’s drive from the Lamb’s Central House at Ste. Petronille, visited the children’s summer camp and helped the young adults with the catechism classes and prayer ministry for the children.

During the summer, there are 7 camps with the Lambs of Jesus children between ages 6-12, and the 8th camp is for the Little Shepherd of Jesus children between ages 12-15. For each summer camp there are 36 children except for the last camp when there are 62 children.

Their summer camps are fun and games but there is also real substance as the children receive thorough teaching about their faith. The Lambs of Jesus pray and learn about their faith in all kinds of creative and innovative ways.

I was so impressed by the young people and the fine work they do. This staff of young adults are committed Catholic young people who take their faith seriously. They have an active prayer life and devotion to the Eucharist. I led them in a simple Benediction service in the upstairs chapel of the large house which they use as their headquarters for the summer camp. This is the house where 5 young adults lived in residence this last year with two Sisters.

The young adults took me to the outdoor chapel where Mass is celebrated. The cross behind the altar is designed with the red heart that characterizes the Little Brothers of the Cross who are such good friends and men of influence for these young people. Then we walked on the outdoor nature trail with scenes depicting the life of Jesus or the Stations of the Cross.

My Lambs of Jesus informer and guide for this day was Catherine Fleury-Amireault.

Saturday July 19 DRIVE FROM STE. ANNE DE BEAUPRE, QUEBEC, TO THREE RIVERS,QUEBEC:

COMMUNITY OF THE ALLIANCE
	7505 Boulevard Parent Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, G9A 5E1 Tel: 819-376-4607 Fax: 819-376-7155 E-mail: communautedealliance01@hotmail.com

This morning I concelebrated Mass in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Ste. Anne de Beaupre Shrine at 7 am. The main celebrant was a Bishop from the Diocese of St. Jean, Quebec, I think. The Mass was televised. After Mass and my prayers I returned to the Beatitudes, said my good byes to my friends of the last several days, and headed off for Three Rivers.

At Three Rivers I visited the community of the Alliance which is a Charismatic Retreat Center. They are well known and respected both in Quebec and abroad for their Christotherapy Healing retreats. L’Alliance owns several buildings. At least one of the buildings formerly was a school. A retreat for 40 people had just ended and the staff was cleaning the retreatants’ rooms. Having made inquiries about an English speaking member of the Community to speak with me I was referred to an elderly lady, and a middle-aged lady whom I believe was the director of the House. We were able to converse as the middle-aged lady could speak English. They both dealt with my questions and explained the purpose of l’Alliance to me.

Here at the Three Rivers l’Alliance retreat centre there is a community of 3 older married couples and 27 other members, both men and women. At Three Rivers 10 members are in the age range of 20-35 yrs, 10 in 40`s, and 10 in 50`s or older. In Sherbrooke there are 4 persons between age of 40-83, In Ile d`Orleans there are 3 members between 22-50. As in other communities there are external members associated with the internal community.

The Christotherapy retreats held at L’Alliance centres bring the retreatants’ wounded past to Christ and they experience a great deal of healing. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is central to this healing process. There is a l’Alliance prayer companion present and available for every two retreatants throughout the retreat.

The community prays the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church together and each member spends time in Adoration with the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

Consecrated women wear a navy tunic and white blouse. Married women who have made a commitment to l’Alliance wear a two-piece navy suit and white blouse.

Saturday July 19: DRIVE FROM THREE RIVERS, QUEBEC, TO CHERTSEY, QUEBEC :

MISSIONARY ORDER 0F THE APOSTLES
	1060 avenue du Lac Beaulne Chertsey, Quebec, J0K 3K0 Tel: 450-882-3065 Fax: 450-882-3759 Website: www.marie-reine-des-coeurs-chertsey.org

I drove this afternoon from Three Rivers to Chertsey in the Diocese Joliette, Quebec. I arrived at the house of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles and met Fr. Therrien. I explained my mission of visiting the new communities and we talked for a bit.

This community of three priests and one brother are in charge of a pilgrimage site: Mary Queen of Hearts. The site is made up of five hillside chapels which pilgrims visit. The distance between the first and last chapel is about two thirds of a mile. All the chapels are spaced along a steep uphill route. The community also operates a gift shop and a restaurant.

On that Saturday evening I concelebrated Mass with Fr. Therrien in one of the five hillside chapels, the chapel of Our Lady of the Presentation. The Liturgy of the Word is celebrated at one end of the chapel with the altar for the Eucharist at the other end, and the congregation faces each other from both sides of the church, like monks in choir. After the Liturgy of the Word the priest walks between the two sections of the congregation to the altar for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The lay people are well involved.

Following Mass that evening I met up with a group of about 20 young adults who had also been at the Mass. They belong to youth group based in Montreal. We walked a short distance down the road to a cabin where they were staying for a weekend retreat. We had dinner together. They are not a community but only a youth group called Faith and Mission for ages 18-30. They are fervent and orthodox in their faith. Up to 80 young people meet with a young priest in his Montreal parish for their regular gatherings. The priest founded the group. He had begun with just a few young adults, offering some evening sessions of solid Catholic doctrine.

I concelebrated Mass on Sunday morning at 10am again in the large chapel of Our Lady of the Presentation at Chertsey. About 80 people from the area attended. After Mass I walked up the hill and visited the various chapels.

Saturday July 19: IN CHERTSEY, QUEBEC:

MONIALES DE BETHLEHEM ET DE L’ASSUMPTION DE MARIE ET DE ST. BRUNO MONASTERE DE BETHELEM
	Ste. Marie Reine des Coeurs, 3095 chemin Marie-Reine Des Coeurs Chertsey, Quebec, J0K 3K0 Tel: 450- 882-3907 Fax: 450-882-9786

Fr. Therrien, a priest of the Missionary Order of the Apostles at Chertsey, and living up the road two minutes from Moniales de Bethlehem, took me to the Moniales, (equivalent to monk: moniale is French for a female monk, moine, is French for a male monk). The portress and abbess spoke with us. The mother abbess carried a cell phone with her, acting as an intercom with other Sisters on the property.

In November of 1950 a group of French pilgrims, accompanied by Pere Ceslas Minguet, O.P., were present in Rome when Pope Pius X11 promulgated the Dogma of the Assumption. Seven of the group of pilgrims hearing the Pope’s words about Mary’s Assumption were seized with the beauty of the Divine design. Twelve weeks later, in a village in the diocese of Sens, in France, the first Moniales community was established by these pilgrims.

This community is composed of cloistered priests, brothers and sisters. Men and women of the community live in separate monasteries. This Chertsey monastery is for women of the community.

I spoke with the Abbess in the parlor for about 45 minutes through Fr. Therrien my interpreter. The three of us talked about the contemplative life. I discovered that the Abbess had studied modern literature before she entered the monastery and that another Sister in the community had studied philosophy before entering.

Father Therrien said that cloistered people have to be extroverts more than introverts, socially minded about the community because they are living with other people in the community. It is not the place for introverted selfish people who have little regard for the welfare of the other members of the community. Even though they do little talking with each other in the course of the week, they must be ready to talk and share on Sundays. On Sundays the nuns come together for a common meal. After the meal they go for walks together for about 3 hours and talk amongst themselves often sharing about their own personal spiritual journey.

Novices must be under 35 years of age to enter the monastery. Those who are older are too set in their ways. Like men and women entering marriage when they are over 35, it is harder to adjust to a new way of life. There is a full 9 years of preparation before a man or woman would make final vows in this cloistered community. The 9 years is needed to really test the commitment to this way of life. It is not for the faint hearted.

The Sisters operate a gift store selling religious articles which they have hand crafted. Statues of crushed stone and resin, and medals, are their chief articles. The crafts are expensive but keep them going financially. Apparently the Pope has asked monasteries to work towards financial independence so they won’t have to rely on the public to support them.

The community has been in Chertsey since 1993. There are 7 nuns here. Each of the nuns lives in a personal hermitage where they do their private contemplation. Their main material for prayer and contemplation is the Gospels. In their hermitage they also have their meals. They go to the common kitchen to pick up their meal and then bring it back to their hermitage. They live a very contemplative life and don’t speak to each other unless absolutely necessary. They would communicate by notes before they would speak to each other. They come together in their common chapel for daily Mass and also for Matins, Lauds, and Vespers. The Office of Terce, Sext and None is prayed in their own hermitage.

I observed a common feature at Madonna House, at the Beatitudes, the Little Brothers of the Cross, and less so here in Chertsey with the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles. It is the use of icons. In this community of nuns there are also icons, a large one behind the main altar in their chapel. It is different in that there is no gold or bright colors, but rather a muted monochrome in reds, lending to an air of mystery.

The use of icons in Western or Latin Rite churches introduces an Eastern church culture to the West. Using Eastern icons in a Western Rite church is to aid and assist the process of restoring unity between East and West. At the very least it indicates the endorsement that Western communities give to use of icons. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Western Christians who write/paint icons and display them in their chapels, churches and interiors of buildings compliments Eastern Christians whose art is finding an appeal in the Western world. The monastic chapel here in Chertsey allows for the public to come in and attend Mass, on the other side of the altar from where the nuns would attend Mass. Therefore the public sees perhaps for the first time, an ancient form of Christian art.

As Ann Wilson, my mentor for new communites has written me: "the use of Eastern church iconography is widely popular everywhere today since is seems we are just discovering this rich spiritual treasure house. The symbolism and disciplined serene style of icons is intended to draw the viewer into the mystery of divine life. There is an ineffable presence that leads to prayer and encounter with God. The artists fast and pray when they paint, and follow some strict traditional guidelines for materials and design to avoid much personal interpretation. The reason for our attraction to icons is that Western religious art has changed through different eras to suit the tastes of a given culture. Today’s religious art in many cases is of inferior religious sensibility."

Sunday. July 20: DRIVE FROM CHERTSEY QUEBEC, TO ST. JEROME, QUEBEC:

COMMUNITY OF ST. JOHN