published by the diaconate, archdiocese of toronto contact

CONTACT— A Publication of the Diaconate, Archdiocese of Toronto

‘to ser ve, not to be ser ved’

CONTACT

Published by the Diaconate, Archdiocese of Toronto

March, 2004

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Page 3 A Letter from Cardinal Ambrozic Page 4 Listening Ministry James Lee (‘94) Page 5 My Ministry Mrs. Theresa Lee (‘94) Page 6 Interview Fr. Tom Rosica “The Passion of the Christ” Page 8 One Good Thing Bill Whelton (‘90) 1 Bulletin Page 12 Prayers

Lent 2004 Photo Courtesy of CNS)

CONTACT— A Publication of the Diaconate, Archdiocese of Toronto 2

Editorial Note... Editors

Gordon Tustin-Stephen Palmer Co-Publishers

Gordon: 905-881-3350 Stephen: 905-989-1244

Bill Daly Contributing Editor

Phone: 416 444 1627

Bill Whelton Contributing Editor

Phone: 416 251 7568

Barbara McFarland Contributing Editor

Phone: 705 526 0820

Submit articles, letters, and inserts preferably by email or fax as follows (with pictures if possible):

Email: [email protected]

We reserve the right to edit for length and ’good flow’ although we promise to present your thoughts and intent as completely as possible. And, remember, the deadline is the 15th of the month for requested articles for the following month’s issue. But we will do our best to accept other mate-rial up to the last minute!

March, 2004

From the Director Bert Cambre

Tel: 416-934-0606 ext 304 Email: [email protected]

Last month, I received a letter from the Cardinal regarding the diaconate in the Archdiocese of Toronto, which is reproduced on the next page. I am very pleased to receive it and have the opportunity to share with all mem-bers of our community.

Our Archbishop gives us in a few paragraphs a crisp explanation of our focus and role as ordained deacons in this Archdiocese. We thank God for Cardinal Ambrozic’s direction and guidance. Draft Funeral Procedure

I have included a copy with this Newsletter. Please review it and con-tact me with any comments.

To the Diaconate Community, Bishop Boissonneau and I have re-flected on the Director of Deacons' job for many months. The complexity of the job requires more time. The Cardinal has agreed that the position be changed to "full-time" on March 1st, 2004. Bert

The recent days of sun and warmth has given us another reason to hope spring is ap-proaching. This Lenten season is the period when each of us has the opportunity to reach out a bit more both personally and ministerially to those we en-counter. For it is in our example that others are affirmed and strengthened. We are blessed by the generos-ity of our community as shown in the numerous articles in this issue. Our Director and his committee have been busy developing the Funeral Procedures Policy that is included as a enclosure with this Newsletter. Please take some time to review it and sub-mit your responses to Bert or any of the committee named on Page 10. May this Lenten and Easter pe-riod be one of joy, renewal and hope to you and all your fami-lies. “On the third day He will rise in fulfillment of the scriptures.”


March, 2003


March, 2004

Listening Ministry James Lee (‘94)

————————————— During our diaconate formation years, very often we were told about the importance of listen-ing� particularly in counseling ministry and patient visitation. It was so important that they used to say that there are 3 things you needed to remem-ber: Listen, l isten and listen. I thought to myself if l istening was all you needed to do this ministry, then how difficult could it be? After being ordained as a dea-con I started to visit patients in a long-term care hospital. Most of patients were suffering from chronic il lnesses; they were elderly and very lonely. They would tell the very same story over and over again. As time went on, I realized how difficult it really was to be a listener. Listening meant not merely hearing but attentive hearing with empathy. Sometimes while visiting pa-tients, I would just sit and listen and yet still find they would thank Jesus tearfully. This might be evidence that Jesus is truly present with the sick. When I am at their bedside listening to them in silence they realize Jesus' presence com-forts them and restores their inner peace. This is the joy we experience as a chaplain while visiting patients. It is like a re-ward to me after being a lis-tener for sometime now.

However we are often impa-tient while l istening. After a short while we feel that we have to do something to solve their suffering. We start to giv-ing advice saying like "No, that is not right..." or "you shouldn’t feel..." It is easy to forget the reason why we are listening. In Luke's Gospel(10:38-42), we hear a well known story about Martha and Mary welcoming Jesus into their home. The story tells us about two impor-tant elements: doing and listen-ing. Martha is like many of us caught up in activity while Mary gives her undivided attention to Jesus. As Je sus emphasizes the importance of listening to God's word, we are warned of our self-centered good deeds. Jesus invites us to make a greater effort to l isten. We should not jump to conclusions impatiently but rather with an attitude of quiet waiting and working hard to understand the meaning of what God wants us through the word. Although God tells us his word in differ-ent ways so to hear it, we don't recognize his voice. Because we don't have an effort to listen to his voice. Our faith life de-pends on our constant effort to hear God's voice as well as our neighbor's suffering moan. I recently read a book about silence. The author pointed out that the word 'SILENT' and 'LISTEN' use the exact same letters, just rearranged. He went on to say that listening even when no words are being spoken gives respect to a per-son's thoughts. We cannot hear the word of God in a noisy

atmosphere. In order to wel-come Jesus, we have to accept his invitation to come away from our busy lives and just rest awhile and listen to him in silence. The following poem is by an unknown author and expl ains it very well.

<Listening>

When I ask you to listen to me And you start giving me advice, You have not done what I asked. When I ask you to listen to me, And you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way You are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen to me, And you feel you have to do some-thing to solve my problems, You have failed me, strange as that may seem. Listen! All I asked was that you listen Not to talk or do just hear me. Perhaps that’s why prayer works, because God is mute, and he does not give advice and try to fix things. He just listens and lets you work it out, for yourself. So, please listen and just hear me and if you want to talk wait a minute for your turn and I'll listen to you.


March, 2004

My Ministry 25 years in Sunday School

By Theresa Lee (wife of James Hyun Lee '94)

——————————————- The reason I started to volunteer at Sunday school was more than likely a direct result of my parents. All my siblings and I grew up seeing and learning from our parents what is to be Christian. First we had to give offerings to the church according to the church's teaching and the second we had to physically serve the church. My parents not only talked the talk, but they walked the walk. They practiced what they preached. When my only son started elementary school I found myself with some free time; and I began to think about how I could best serve the church. I found many ministries appealing but I finally decided upon Sunday school. I chose it because I loved children and teaching. I also knew that if I wanted to learn how to teach children properly I should start at the very bottom. So I decided to become an assistant to the teacher and learn by watching. I went on to attend dioce-san seminars and gather materials for Sunday school lessons. After 2 years I felt confident that I could set out on my own. In 1979, there was no Sunday school in the only Korean Catholic Church in Vancouver. Most Korean families sent their children to public school because the Catholic schools in Vancouver were all parochial schools. We desperately needed children's' pro-gram because a large number of Grade 7s and 8s hadn't even had their first communion. I thought I could start a new Sunday school program here, but it was not that easy. The first obstacle I met was with finding teachers. Many adults had in depth knowledge of catechism but told me that they did not have a suitable grasp of the terminology in

English and couldn't teach in English. Some university students had excel-lent English but had very little knowl-edge of catechism and they were not interested. "Dear Lord, what should I do? Please open the way for me." I prayed and prayed. At that moment I got an Idea. Why not ask the diocesan office of religious education for help? Sure enough there were 2 volunteers who looked almost like they had been wait-ing for our call. With the 2 volunteers and myself, we started 3 classe s. There were quite an age difference but we didn't have any choice. At the same time I gathered the university students who attended church regularly, were responsible, and interested in serving the church. I made a small booklet containing concise and important points about Catholicism and asked them to learn it. Of course I asked them to attend the classe s run by 3 of us. In addition, I also sent them to seminars and workshops run by Dio-cese. After 2 years I had enough new homegrown teachers to run our Sun-day school without outside help. It has been 25 years since I got in-volved in Sunday school. God's grace was definitely upon me because in all these years I never missed even one day of class. It is hard to describe that feeling of satisfaction, the children I taught their first communion to, come back and want to be Sunday school teachers. When I first started I promised myself I would be involved in Sunday school only until my son graduated from high school. Of course part of the 'deal' I made with God, was that if I helped out with Sunday school, God would have to look out for my only son. That being said, my son graduated from university some 10 years ago and I am still involved in Sunday school. If anyone can relate with me on the joy that Sunday school teach-ers experience, how could I say 'no'.

As long as God grants me the health and strength I will continue to serve... at Sunday school.

James & Theresa Lee (94) —————————————————

Book Recommendation By Wanda DaSilva (Terry-’02)

"The Purpose Driven Life"

by Rick Warren

It is absolutely fabulous, written simply, in 40 chapters. Each chapter is for 1 day's reading in Lent, and only 2-3 pages per chapter. I bought it this morning from Chapters, and read to catch up with past 5 days of Lent, and absolutely loved it!!!! For me, it affirms my faith and commitment to God!!! Happy reading Wanda


March, 2004

Fr. Thomas Rosica on "The Passion of the Christ" by Catholic Online TORONTO, FEB. 8, 2004 (Zenit) - A priest who oversaw World Youth Day 2002 says he was overwhelmed by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Basilian Father Rosica is a trained Scripture scholar and represented the Canadian bishops' conference for nearly 10 years on the National Christian-Jewish Consultation. He shared his views about "The Passion" here. Q: You have lived, studied and taught in the Holy Land at the École Biblique and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. You headed up World Youth Day 2002 in Canada, which had as its centerpiece the historic Way of the Cross through the center of a modern city. You certainly did not watch Gib-son's mov ie as an outsider. What do you think of it? Father Rosica: My first reac-tion was overwhelming. Hav-ing followed the extensive de-bate about the movie for the past year, I was interested in seeing it. One of my colleagues at Salt & Light and I were invited by the sound production com-pany of the film to a private showing. I was very surprised to learn that the soundtrack is being produced for the movie by a sound company located blocks from our Salt & Light headquarters in downtown Toronto.

I rarely leave a theater or a film screening with a strong desire to pray and be silent. That is what I felt this morning as I returned to our offices. "The Passion" is a deeply moving presentation of the final hours of Jesus' life on earth. It is by no means a film for children. I recommend that all those in pastoral ministry, teachers and students of Scripture, and adult Christians view this film at some point. If Gibson's de-sire was to allow people to draw closer to Christ through this fi lm, he has accomplished his goal. If Gibson wished people to experience a conversion of heart to the nonviolent mes-sage of the cross, he has ac-complished that as well. Q: What stood out for you in the mov ie? Father Rosica: The film has been produced with stunning cinematography, excellent acting, fidelity to the Scrip-tures, attentiveness to the theological meaning of the passion and death of Christ, and extraordinary artistic and religious sensitivity. The powerful play of light and darkness across Pilate's tor-tured face is far more reveal-ing than any of the words ut-tered. Every single scene is richly created in order to invite the viewer deeper into the mys-tery. I really feel that this movie is a masterpiece of reli-gious art of the most powerful genre. As the movie pro-gresse s, those who were sim-ply bystanders are drawn into

the heart of the story. Among many extraordinary details, I found Gibson's use of flashback masterful. As a teacher of the Passion narra-tives, I am always struck by the poignant scenes of the trial, and Peter's role in these Gospel accounts. In this movie, the haunting flashback to Christ and Peter produces a special effect. The camera captures the face of Christ in profile, while Peter gazes upon us. Christ's excru-ciating suffering is punctuated by flashbacks to his washing the feet of his apostles in lov-ing service. The late Fr Raymond Brown, S.S., who taught me the "Death of the Messiah" at the Biblicum in Rome. He demon-strated that, while there are some differences among the Passion accounts, they are in substantial agreement overall. It is important to remember that Mel Gibson's film is not a documentary but a work of creative imagination. He incor-porates elements from the four Passion narratives of Mat-thew, Mark, Luke and John, but remains faithful to the fun-damental structure common to all four Gospel accounts. Gibson has done nothing to remove the brutality from the Passion story. In fact he has no intention to sugarcoat the Passion story with pietism or a false spirituality. The viewer is forced to look at the raw facts and events, and witness the suffering of a just man. The more brutal the scenes become, the more powerful are the flashback moments of Jesus teaching on the Mount of the Beatitudes, Jesus iden-


March, 2004 tifying himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus offering his life in the bread and wine of the last supper. One scene, in particular, was very moving. As Jesus falls on the Way of the Cross, there is a flashback to his falling on a Jerusalem street as a child, and his mother running out of the house to pick him up. The inter-play of Mary and Jesus in this film is moving, and reaches its apex in the scene of the Pietà. The Mother of the Lord is inviting each of us to share her grief and behold her Son. It is what we tried to do on the Way of the Cross in the heart of the city during World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. This scene was an incredibly powerful moment for us as well. In fact, those who discouraged us from such a public presentation of the Sta-tions of Cross during World Youth Day 2002 were not from outside the Church! After that magnificent presentation on Toronto's University Avenue in July, 2002, among the thousands of letters and messages we received were those from people of other faiths who simply said: "If only we could do something like this for our own young people and teach them about the core of our faith."

Q: To what do you attribute all the opposition to Gibson's film?

Father Rosica: Ignorance, an obses-sion with being politically correct, a poor understanding of true interfaith relations, and an unwillingness to come to grips with the cold facts and ambiguous nature of Jesus' trial and execution. I must admit that Christians and Jews who fail to deal with the Scriptures in a mature way, and simply promote a false irenicism and ignorance of his-tory, do not help to build and repair the real damage of anti-Semitism which is alive once again in the world. The old adage that "those who don't know speak, and those who know don't speak" can certainly be applied to all the ink spilled over this film. I have heard heated debates among people who have no idea what the film is about.

Q: As one who has been deeply inv olved in Jewish-Christian dia-logue for many years, do you think that the film is anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish? Father Rosica: No, it is not at all anti-Semitic nor anti-Jewish. The fi lm nei-ther exaggerates nor downplays the role of Jewish authorities and legal proceedings in the condemnation of Jesus. Without a doubt the figure of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest is a vil lain. But it is very important to real-ize that Caiaphas in the Scriptures represented the regime of the time and not the Jewish people. The film should serve as a spring-board into deepening our knowledge of the Scriptures, our love of Jesus Christ, our understanding of the his-toric reconciliation of Christians and Jews, especially since Vatican II and under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, and an analysis of the true causes of anti-Semitism, and its reap-pearance in the world today. It think it is very unfortunate that many voices within the Church, not to speak of those from outside the Church, have already condemned the film be-fore even seeing it on the grounds that it is anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. If the movie does anything, it compels even the most distant and dispassionate viewer to deepen his or her under-standing of the story of the Jesus' pas-sion and death. Jews and Romans of that time were involved in the condemnation, trial and execution of Jesus. That is a fact of history. Anyone who tries to rewrite history or rewrite the Gospel stories of Jesus' suffering and death is unfaithful to history and very dishonest in apply-ing lessons of the past to contempo-rary situations. Isn't the real issue arising from this film that many political and even reli-gious authorities throughout history have persecuted individuals with revo-lutionary ideas? The Gospel passion narratives re-count how the sins of all these people at the time of Jesus conspired to bring about the passion and death of Christ, and thereby suggest the fundamental

truth that we are all to blame. Their sins and our sins bring Christ to the cross, and he bears them willingly. And we must learn from what hap-pened to Jesus and ask ourselves not only about the identity of those who tried, condemned and killed him long ago, but also what kil led Jesus -- and what vicious circles of violence, brutal-ity and hatred continue to crucify him today in his brothers and sisters of the human family. I read somewhere that Maia Morgen-stern, the Jewish actress who master-fully plays the part of Mary, said that "The Passion" opposes oppression and violence. "It is about letting people speak openly about what they think and believe. It denounces the mad-ness of violence and cruelty, which if unchecked can spread like a disease." Q: What were your sentiments as you left the screening room of "The Passion"? You saw it on the eve of Christmas ... Father Rosica: At the end of such a provocative movie, and on the eve of the birth of the Prince of Peace, I am left with some questions. In Gibson's "Passion," the "great high priest" is Jesus, the Child of Bethle-hem who becomes the "Ecce Homo" of Jerusalem, not at all one distant from us and our condition, but one who sympathizes with us and suffers with us, for he has experienced our weakness and pain, even our tempta-tions. I must ask myself if am I a priestly per-son like he was? Do I live for others and spend my life for others? Is the world any less violent, hostile and bru-tal, and any more patient, kind and just, because of me? Do I stand on the side of truth? Or am I afraid to reveal my faith in Jesus and my fidelity to the Gospel? "The Passion" compels me to reflect on the cost of discipleship. (This was reprinted from a daily release from Zenit.org)


March, 2004

Just One Good Thing Bill Whelton (‘90)

——————————————-

When people in the Parish, or else-where, tell me that they would like to do something for our Church, or some other worthwhile cause, but lack the time, I am always sympathetic. Peo-ple are working hard these days, however, no matter how busy they may seem to be, I usually ask: "Could you just do one good thing to help us out?" Invariably those fine people do help us. I am always grateful for help be-cause every little bit of assis-tance assists us in our service work and it also builds community. Further-more, I find that there are often resul-tant coincidences of special blessings when they are least expected. For instance I had a special blessed experience due to a friend's generos-ity this past Advent of 2003. Apart from my regular hospital service work, I was helping out with a local Out of the Cold Program; our Etobicoke Serra Club wanted to take up a col-lection to help me with the homeless but instead I appealed for gifts of socks, toques, mitts and toiletries from the members: just one good thing from each of them would mean a lot to our poor people. Then, our Parish Saint Vincent de Paul Society asked if I would speak on their behalf to a club to raise much needed funds; it had been a tough year for them, they had helped over 200 families and the cup-board was bare. I went to work and included an appeal to our parishion-ers, both they and our local Rotary Club responded generously which made me happy. I then made a bar-gain with our Parish Saint Vincent de Paul, since they were giving out food vouchers rather than hampers, could they give toys to the needy children provided gifts became available?

The answer was positive and one family did a successful toy drive for me; the response was good. I remem-ber calling one Mother to tell her the good news and she broke down in tears, she had been sitting at the kitchen table wondering how she could manage, I felt blessed to be able to deliver both the food voucher and the gifts to her because she had a large needy family. It was a busy Advent for me, also a worrying one since my dear wife Claire was hospitalized. I had heard nothing from our Serra Club but, al-though I felt a little down, I decided to attend their Annual Pre Christmas celebration, help with the Mass and then simply relax with friends. Just before the service started, a member gave me four tubes of toothpaste, this gift was followed by an avalanche of small but necessary items for our lo-cal homeless folks. I staggered out with two large bags of gifts feeling very much like an elderly elf. Some members of our Adult Con-firmation Class volunteered to wrap the gifts for me which was kind since I am a terrible gift wrapper. Naturally the presents were well received. Next, Claire was released from hospi-tal and I thought Hallelujah! I was probably the least deserving deacon in Toronto yet everything I wished, and prayed for, had come to pass because so many people had helped me. Our Good Lord never allows me to start feeling smug. Two days before Christmas, I met the Mother of the large family I mentioned earlier. As we chatted she thanked me for our help and then I discovered that she had insufficient money to buy a tur-key. I could rationalize the situation, the family had food and please God next year would be better, yet I felt downcast. It was time to share with Claire and then pray for the family that they might be helped through their difficult time.

Then the telephone rang, one of my friends from Serra was distributing turkeys to key clients and found that he had three birds left over, "Could the Out of the Cold Program use them?" It was a Godsend, but I had to tell my friend that there were already enough turkeys for the Christmas din-ner, however, the surplus birds could be kept in the freezer for another week when they would be really wel-come. "But please," I asked him: "Could you let me give one of the tur-keys to a truly deserving family?" I did not get an answer until my friend ar-rived and of course it was:"Yes!" I felt as if I had won the lottery only better. I do not know who felt happier, the Mother in need or myself, when I handed the bird over, it was a bless-ing on top of a blessing! I received a number of fine gifts for Christmas 2003 but none was more precious than that of feeling graced by the generosity of so many people doing "just one good thing" to bring happiness to others. ———————————————

CCCB & “The Passion” The Canadian bishops' conference has published on Internet a series of articles, commentaries and analyses on "The Passion of the Christ." The texts are posted at www.cccb.ca/Files/Passion_Home.html. In a statement, the Communications Service of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said: "The CCCB does not have an official position regarding 'The Passion of the Christ.' This film is the work of an artist, and it reflects his vision and beliefs about the Passion of Christ."


March, 2004

Catholic Bible Study and the Diaconate by Peter Lovrick Sr. Jocelyn Monette, a Sister of Sion, wants the diaconate community to know about what she calls "the best kept secret of the archdiocese" and she wants our help. Sister is the Executive Director of the Catholic Bible Association of Can-ada (CBAC). That organization was born thirty years ago to take up an apostolate which came from the Bishops of Ontario. That mission was to help Catholics redis-cover Scripture and to go beyond a superfi-cial acquaintance with it. As sister puts it, "Many of our Catholic people are so hungry for Scripture that they end up going to Bible Study groups in other denominations be-cause they can't find them in their own Church." Scripture, along with Tradition, is our heritage and CBAC is right there to help put people in touch with it. From the beginning, CBAC's mandate was to find varied and en-gaging ways to bring Scripture to a wide variety of people of different ages and walks of life. It offers several Bible Study programs like Seren-dipity, Journey, and Little Rock designed to be conducted in the parish by either clergy or

laity. CBAC will even show a new Bible Study group how it can run itself. Chil-dren's programs are another part of this mission. CBAC offers all the materials that anyone would need to run a Summer Scrip-ture Camp for chil-dren at the parish But CBAC's activities extend far beyond offering Bible study. It also offers Biblical Spirituality programs, series of lectures by renowned scripture scholars. These pro-grams have included talks by Fr. Raymond Brown, Fr. Scott Lewis and most re-cently by Rabbi Mi-chael N. Dolgin. All of these talks have been recorded in either audio or video format and are available. They are a wonderful resource for clergy who want to deepen their understanding of Scripture in prepara-tion for a homily, and for laity who want to get at the ever-richer levels in the Word. CBAC also sends it own staff to parish groups for one or even seven-day re-treats that focus on Scripture, the context of Scripture and how it all plays out in the practical applications of daily life. CBAC, and Sister Jocelyn in particular, is so passionate about deepening people's connections with Scripture, that it

runs many pilgrim-ages to the Holy Land, in the footsteps of St. Paul, and other places prominent in our faith. These pil-grimages use special study materials along the way to help the pilgrims gain insights into the geography, archaeology and theological connec-tions with these sites. Vivian Bosch, Presi-dent of the Catholic Women's League from 2000 - 2002 has recently joined CBAC as its program coordi-nator and is making it her mission to make the CBAC more prominent throughout Canada. Bishop Sherlock, a strong supporter of CBAC, sent out a letter about the organization to the various archdio-ceses throughout Canada and many of them are now setting up a liaison person to help local parishes take advantage of what CBAC has to offer. And that's where we come in. Sister would like to establish a strong relationship with our community. The first thing she asks of us is for everyone to take a look at the CBAC website and become familiar with what the organization can do for us and our par-ishes. That web site address is http://www.cbac.org

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March, 2004

Please visit it soon. Second, she would like as many of us as possible to become members. The work, as you can imagine, is expensive. A dona-tion of $30 gets you a membership, the CBAC Journal edited by Fr. Scott Lewis, notification of lectures and events, discounts on CBAC resources, and, of course, a tax receipt. Deacon Bert Cambre, in support of CBAC, will be passing on information about it in upcoming issues of Contact. We can also look forward to a CBAC continuing education event sometime in the fu-ture. The deacons support group in which I participate has decided to go through one of the CBAC Bible study programs together so that we can under-stand first hand what CBAC offers. I will keep you posted as to how it all turns out. In the meantime, please keep the work of the CBAC, its members, and parti-cular its powerhouse, Sr. Jocelyn, in your prayers. Consider, too, you might want to be the contact point to bring Catholic Scriptures into your parish. Sr. Jocelyn would be more than happy to come to your parish or dea-cons support group to get the ball rolling.

Liturgy Alive! Lent Media Retreat

In the film, Chocolat, the people of a small French village are shaken by the arrival of a mysterious new resident and the chocolate shop she opens. Their relationships are transformed in the wake of the for-giveness and understanding she brings to the town. Lent is a time when we pray for transformation. The characters in Chocolat can aid us in seeing what transformation looks like in Christian lives. Liturgy Alive is a series of media retreats on the liturgical seasons of the Church’s year. The third in the series, for the Season of Lent, will take place at Pauline Books & Me-dia (Dufferin & Lawrence) on Saturday, March 13th from 9:30 am to 4:45 pm. The retreat in-cludes a reflection on the liturgical season, a prayer service, and film viewing and dialogue. The retreat will be facilitated by Hosea Rupprecht, fsp. Please call for more information or RSVP at (416) 781-9131. ——————————————-

Liturgy Alive! Easter Media Retreat In the wake of the tragic events of Holy Week, the Easter l iturgical celebration is a time of great joy. In the midst of great suffering, love and joy sustain Guido and his fam-ily in Life is Beautiful. This film can encourage us to keep our joy alive during the 50 Days of Easter. Liturgy Alive is a series of media retreats on the liturgical seasons of the Church’s year. The fourth in the series, for the Easter Season, will take place at Pauline Books & Media (Dufferin & Lawrence) on

Saturday, April 24th from 9:30 am to 4:45 pm. The retreat in-cludes a reflection on the liturgical season, a prayer service, and film viewing and dialogue.

The retreat will be facilitated by Hosea Rupprecht, fsp. Please call for more information or RSVP at (416) 781-9131. ——————————————

2004 Ordination Just a short note to remind all the members of the community of the upcoming 4th year ordination on Saturday June 19th at St Michael’s Cathedral. Most Reverend John Boissonneau, Vicar of Deacons will be the presider. We are welcoming 24 men to the community. This will be the largest ordination in 30 years and so space will be at a premium. —————————————

Draft Funeral Policy The document and form included are modifications proposed to the funeral policy now in effect, which appeared on the October 2002 poli-cies and procedures (by mistake, the form never appeared). Please, take a few minutes to read it and make your comments known to the Spiritual Subcommittee members of the Coordinating Board (Deacon Joe and Pauline Murphy or Deacon Kaz and Angela Ambrosaitis) or to me. You can also discuss it with or make com-ments to Deacon Tab Charbon-neau, who was very helpful in mak-ing these amendments possible.


March, 2004

Women’s Retreat 2004 Further to the notice we pub-lished in the last bulletin, the women's retreat for May 21-23 at Queen of Apostles has been cancelled since there were only three notes of inter-est and we anticipated a very low turnout. Any deacon's wife who is in-terested in a women's retreat at Manresa, Marylake or Queen of Apostles please contact me at the office and we will make some special arrangement. ———————————- Remembering the Deacon’s Mutual Fund in Your Will

Francis of Assisi, Saint, Dea-con and Founder of the Fran-ciscans once said: “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have re-ceived—only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage” The Deacon’s Mutual Fund was set up several years ago to assist Deacons and their families primarily in times of financial hardship. You can make a donation by cash,

company shares, etc. to this Fund at any time. Income tax receipts will be issued accord-ingly. You may also include the Fund in your Will by specifying that a certain amount; share or percentage of your assets is to go to this Fund. If you need information on Wills, Estate Planning, etc. or want a copy of the List of Catholic Lawyers please call Deacon Peter D Doyle at 416 934 3400 ext.561

——————————- S HA R EL I F E

The Archdiocesan campaign for ShareLife Appeal tradition-ally begins at the beginning of Lent. This year’s theme is “ Today’s Disciples…Ready to Share”. Today ShareLife supports thirty-four diverse agencies such as Covenant House, Sancta Maria House Matt Tal-bot House, etc and also sup-ports two international Catholic agencies along with St. Augustine's’ Seminary. Deacons are encouraged to support the charities of the Archdiocese and in particular

the Seminary, which has a special place in our hearts for the formation years, we spent there. Please be generous to ShareLife.

——————————— For the Diaconate Community, We wanted to write a special note to the Diaconate to Thank You all for your tremendous support through the passing of our mother, Joyce. What a special celebration of her l ife - with all her favorite music! It gave us great com-fort to see all of you together at the funeral. It was such a beautiful tribute to her and heartfelt show of support for the family. Your generous donation in our mother's mem-ory reminds us she is truly blessed in the Lord. The Chase Family, Deirdre, Robert, Timothy, Mary and Patrick ————————— The fruit of Silence is Prayer. The fruit of Prayer is Faith. The fruit of Faith is Love. The fruit of Love is Service

From Mother Teresa

BULLETIN


REQUESTS FOR PRAYER MARCH, 2004

Pray for the Community every Third Thursday of the Month at Noon Or join them for Mass in St. Michael’s Cathedral and at St. Mary’s

Parish in Barrie.

PRAY FOR PERIOD CIRCUMSTANCES REQUESTED BY

Gary & Cindy Nov. 1 - Apr.. 1 Recovering from Ron & Barbara McFarland ‘75 Thibodeau ’02 car accident Dustin Thibodeau Nov. 1 - Apr. 1 Recovering from Terry & Wanda Da Silva ‘’02 (Gary & Cindy’s son) injuries Paul Thibodeau Dec. 1—Apt. 1 Hit by car Gerry & Joan Godsoe ‘80 (Gary & Cindy’s son) (head & back injuries) Frank McTeague ‘85 Mar. 1—Apr. 1 Surgery & medical treatment John & Carmel Grieve ‘85

LONG TERM PRAYER REQUESTS:

Shannon Higgins Health problems Milt and Anna Hall ’75 (Deterioration of brain cells) (Grandparents) Rita Crump Health problems John Crump ‘81 Paul Gabourie Ongoing Cancer Walter Gabourie ‘74 Judy McPhee Chronic health problems Don McPhee ‘76 Elizabeth Pillisch On going health problems Olga MacLellan ‘74 Doris Chomko Ongoing Cancer Kaz Chomko ‘76 Michel Savard Bone Cancer Huguette Savard ‘94 R.I.P.***ANNIV ERSARIES***R.I.P.

2-’96 Nicholas Scandiff io ‘74 2-’87 Doreen Volk ‘85 8-’85 Virginia Hill ‘80 11-’02 Bill Quansah ‘96 10-’88 Jed Cote ‘74 15-’90 Nina Andrews ‘76 18-’03 Nazario Pereira ’84 May your prayers bring light to any darkness you know …..

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