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To say that late summer and early autumn has been a full, intense, and busy time is an understatement. But first here’s a short description of conditions during the beginning of this time.
By the end of the summer, we were in a drought. We hadn’t had a real rain since June.
But thanks be to God and irrigation, we did have a harvest, and that work plus food processing were in full swing. The shops continued to be busy, and the staff of both the shops and the handicraft center were getting ready for Heritage Fest.
The men were involved in a number of different projects, including the electrical work mentioned last month and other preliminary work on the upcoming renovation of the main house.
And events? Well, we for sure didn’t lack for them.
This month I am going to list them as they occurred.
Monday, August 26th, we had a work bee to sort clothing donations. The women of St. Joseph’s House lead this, but one of them, Irene DeRoche, wasn’t there. She was not feeling well. That night, at 12:30 a.m., she died of a heart attack.
To say the obvious, we were in shock and grief. And suddenly into funeral preparations, which involve a lot of work when you do much of it yourself, as we do.
Grave digging, notifying family and friends, flowers, food preparation (well, that and the flowers came later), practicing music, preparing homilies, putting up displays expressive of the person’s life, collecting photos, making a memorial card and book etc., etc., etc.
On Wednesday, the decision was made to postpone the funeral until Friday of the following week. Her family could not come before that.
Saturday, August 31st and Sunday September 1st, we had our annual Heritage Fest.
Heritage Fest, a sort of fair which we put on for the local people and vacationers, is a wonderful celebration of crafts and the ways of the past of this area.
And this year, there was a big sign announcing the 50th anniversary of our St. Raphael’s Handicraft Center.
There were demonstrations of butter-making and ice cream-making (you could participate by turning the handle for both) and carding and spinning wool and weaving.
You could try your hand at needle felting (girls made flowers and boys made snakes), paper quilling, ebru (a Turkish form of paper-marbling), copper chasing, and making alcohol ink cards.
You could watch a puppet show, get your face painted and your name written in calligraphy and be given a balloon animal. You could visit the pioneer museum and shop in our gift shop, small shop, and second-hand book shop. And more.
For us it was a great opportunity to meet new people and to visit with friends and neighbors.
The next day, Monday, September 2nd, it was all hands on deck for an evening green bean-picking bee. (That’s one of the crops that grew well this year.)
Friday, September 6 we had the reception of Irene’s body and her wake. In the afternoon, before and after the reception of the body, many of us got together to cut fruit and vegetables, roll slices of meat, and put desserts on large trays in preparation for the funeral reception.
Most of the time, it’s mostly us at the reception of the body, but this time the chapel was almost full and included eleven members of Irene’s family from Toronto and New York and one childhood friend. For the wake, the chapel was full.
As for the funeral Mass and burial, some of us think that, except for Catherine Doherty’s funeral, in terms of the number attending, it was our biggest yet.
Irene spent 36 years in MH Toronto, and over thirty people from there made the four-hour drive up. Plus, Irene had had two stints, adding up to a total of a few years, in St. Joseph’s House, which serves this local area, and many local people came.
Irene was obviously very much loved by many people. Barring the unforeseen, we will tell you about her and God’s work in her in our next issue.
Then the very next day, Sunday, September 8th, we had the reception of the new applicants, those entering into formation in preparation for joining our community. Oh so quickly, we had gone from death to new life.
Then two days later, on Tuesday, September 10th, it was back into the nitty-gritty of our Nazareth life. The new applicants and most of us took part in our annual chicken bee. There 228 chickens were killed, plucked, gutted, washed and frozen.
On Friday, September 13th, the new applicants had a day of recollection.
On September 14th, the 50th anniversary of the blessing of St. Raphael’s Handicraft Building, we had an evening celebration for just staff and applicants. All six women who have been department heads over the years were present.
This building was the fulfillment of one of Catherine Doherty’s “dreams dreamt in the Lord.” She saw crafts, beauty, creativity as essential to every person, and a place where these would be fostered was part of her vision of “restoring the world to Christ.”
Our celebration was simple, but lovely and joyful. Susanne Stubbs had put together a few slide shows on laptops, which gave a wonderful overview of the beauty that has been created in St. Raphael’s over the years, and of course, various kinds of handmade things were on display. This we all enjoyed looking at while visiting over wine and cheese.
On Sunday, the 15th, we had our traditional memory night for Irene, an evening when we share with one another and with our visitors, memories and stories of the person who had died.
On Monday and Tuesday, September 16th and 17th, we had a farm bee to harvest the potatoes, and discovered that this was one crop that the drought had affected adversely. The potatoes were small and sparse, and we only have a quarter of what we need for the year.
On Friday, September 20th, we had two mail-out bees: in the morning, to mail out the October issue of Restoration and in the evening, to mail out our annual begging letter.
This evening the annual meetings of our associate priests (and deacons, and deacon wives and bishops) will begin with Mass.
As you can see, we for sure don’t lead a boring life! May God bless each of you abundantly.
