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MH Vancouver
by Kay O’Shea
This past rainy winter when we had little sunshine, a new friend had the idea of having a poetry afternoon. We had it at our house on a Sunday, and ten people, including two children, attended.
There were poems in Spanish (which were then translated into English) and English by a variety of poets. We didn’t know that so many people like poetry; some of them had even written their own verses. That afternoon was such a big hit that we had another one a month later. This time, besides English, there were poems in Spanish, Korean, and Hindi.
Another lovely thing happened on our province-wide family day in February. One of the Knights of Columbus had the idea of putting on a meal for seniors in an East Vancouver neighborhood. He talked about it with Emmanuella Kim, the director of our house, and she suggested doing it for our parish. And so they did.
His wife was the cook, and the Knights helped out, as well as others who did the flower arrangements and made dessert. The homeschool children, with the help of their mothers, gladly served the seniors. They also provided the musical entertainment, which included piano oldies and a mother-daughter duet on the flute. It was truly a parish family day.
Through our morning of recollection, we have been meeting new friends. One couple, who are avid gardeners, came and showed us how to get the soil ready for planting and how to make garden boxes. They made a garden box for me, which they placed on a table so I wouldn’t have to bend down to garden.
Another new friend, who came to our morning of recollection through a mutual friend, has felt drawn to different things in the Catholic Church. She has visited us several times to ask us questions about Catholicism.
On one visit, she brought another friend who was also interested in learning about the Catholic faith. What a joy it has been to share our faith with these women and to learn about their faith-lives.
We meet people other ways as well. Emmanuella met a young woman named Kasey when she took a summer course at a local college. Over time we became friends with her and were pleased to celebrate with her, her entrance into the Catholic Church.
She did so at the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but this was not a deterrent. Kasey wanted to be part of the suffering Church. She knew she couldn’t enjoy the beauty of the Church without feeling its pain, suffering and humiliation.
Kasey told her conversion story in a talk at St. Mark’s College, which was later featured in BC Catholic, our diocesan newspaper.
Marian Centre Edmonton
by Miriam Stulbereg
Here at Marian Centre, life continues with our soup kitchen, clothing room, sandwiches at the back door, listening to friends, visiting them. Morning tea with spiritual reading and discussion with our volunteers continues to be a highlight of each day.
Our Friday night gatherings, in which we reflect on the Sunday Mass readings, have ended for the summer. Once again, our friends voiced their appreciation of this forum in which they can share and deepen their spiritual lives.
In May, shortly after their reception into the Church, RCIA groups (a program for prospective converts to the Catholic Church), both neophytes and sponsors, came to touch our community and service.
God takes care of us despite our mistakes. Our director Janet Bourdet and I drove to Grande Prairie, where I was to give a retreat on “The Joy of the Cross” at the Ukrainian Catholic parish of our associate Fr. Mark Sych.
Not only did blowing snow turn a normally five-hour trip into a nine-hour one, but we also discovered we had left at home all the materials painstakingly assembled for the retreat.
Fr. Tom Talentino, our former chaplain, always told us, “Look for the grace,” and the most obvious grace was that I had slipped into my pocket—for no good reason—the USB stick with my notes on it.
Patrick Stewart, a former director of this house, used to say the life at Marian Centre revolves around two meals: the one served in the dining room to those in need, and the one served around the altar in the chapel above.
Our appreciation of what it means to have the Eucharist celebrated in our home came to the fore when Fr. Paul Burchat, our MH priest, left to be with his father during the latter’s last hours.
He was away for two weeks and later told us and our friends how essential our prayers had been in getting him through this time. During Fr. Paul’s absence, we mainly attended Mass at the City Centre and other parishes.
Different as the ten of us are, with ages ranging from 35 to 89, different cultures, backgrounds and interests, it is the Eucharist which draws us together and fuels the strong family life that is such a deep part of Marian Centre.
For two years now, we have been gathering on Sunday evenings for a family night led by different staff. Activities have included games, puzzles, poetry and story reading.
Mark Schlingerman introduced us to a Métis poet, I shared my love of German lieder (a German art song), and Mark Olszewski found a program showing a panoramic view of the stars, with the possibility of zooming in on far off nebulae and galaxies. We were entranced by the beauty and wonder of it, and amazed at Mark’s ability to explain complicated things in simple terms.
MH Missouri
by Paul Mitchell
We were three here and now we are two. Raandi King was recently transferred to Combermere. Her leaving left many holes–her presence, her relationships with our friends, and in the practical daily living. God bless Raandi; she is missed.
I was asked if I would mind being alone when our director Patrick Stewart left to go to the directors’ meetings in Combermere. I said I was fine with it, and I was looking forward to it. But of course it didn’t happen.
The day after Patrick left, Ross and Mary Shingledecker, longtime friends of Madonna House from North Carolina, arrived for ten days. They came to finish the four bookcases, eight in reality, that Ross had started on his last visit. Mary did the cooking. They were great company.
More long-term, a priest and a working guest also came to stay with me. What a gift to have a priest among us!
After Mary left, I had to do the cooking. I have cooked in my life; I am a good cook. I have cooked in Combermere. But this was the first time I had to put out three meals a day for three people. What a learning curve!
Planning was a new thing for me in this area, and it is important. Timing is also very important. There were other domestic-type things that had to be done: laundry, sacristy, and sacristy laundry, which Raandi went over with me once before she left. Plus, we have a large yard that needs taking care of, plus a small mountain of firewood that needs chopping and moving.
I had a friend over for Sunday supper and I made chili. It was such a good visit. And our working guest and I went to help clean up our parish’s mission chapel in another town. It was only for the morning, and it was good to do things with the people of the parish.
Shortly after Patrick left, I experienced the highlight of the last month, the First Communion of a little girl named Alice, the grand-daughter of the owners of the gas station in town. After Mass, I joined family and friends for a party. I told Alice I would keep her in my prayers.
I said enough about cooking except that it has given me opportunities to call some of my sisters in Combermere to give me some pointers on cooking. I also called Anne McQuillan, the main St. Mary’s sacristan, to ask questions about sacristy laundry. It was good to get help from home!
I have always been grateful for having meals cooked for me, clothes washed, and someone taking care of all that needs to be done for the chapel. I now got a taste of doing it myself.
Today I did the chapel linen. When I did the plumbing and electrical work in Combermere, I was aware of what Catherine had taught us: that the things I was taking care of were holy like the vessels of the altar.
Today when I was washing and ironing the chapel linen, I suddenly realized that I had succeeded in seeing that way and reverencing the things I had been taking care of in plumbing and electrical work.
Now, it is very good to have Patrick back. We really do need each other for this room in our apostolate. I did good, I failed—pretty average. It is nice to have another staff in order to experience both of these things together.
