Amazing Teens!

Thorndale’s Community Youth Clubhouse - organized by youth for youth

A warm late August evening marked the grand opening of Thorndale’s Community Youth Clubhouse.  This interesting event was the fulfillment of several years of planning by a group of youth and advisors of this small, thriving village. How proud the young people appeared as speaker after speaker acknowledged the honor that it was to feature local teenagers who had spent an enormous amount of time not only attending planning meetings but also designing space and programs in a main street former school that is the site of this new endeavor.

Grant writing is an onerous task which the youth successfully embraced. For their efforts at proposal writing, budget submission, etc., the youth group was awarded $15,000 from the Royal Bank’s future launch program and in partnership with London Community Foundation assisted in funding the clubhouse space. The London Boys and Girls Club will provide oversight of the facility.  In addition, Family Service Thames Valley has stepped forward to offer free mental health counselling. Representatives from these services offered glowing praise to the Thorndale youth who worked with great ardor to realize their dream of a youth centre. They encouraged the teens to continue developing skills and experiences that lead to success.

Along with the crowd of over 100 people, several booths were featured on the grounds announcing interesting club initiatives including the development of a community cookbook.  Three boys at another booth were fundraising by selling a selection of dog toys, treats, etc. This is to help fund the vision of a young lad leading his project to establish a dog park in town. 

Following the speeches and ribbon-cutting ceremony, music from an accomplished teenaged duo filled the air as the assembled crowd was welcomed to tour the clubhouse which features cozy rooms decked out with a donated pool table, hockey game, comfy couches, and quiet areas.  A monthly calendar of events includes special events, recreation opportunities, and school tutoring.

Personally, it was a highlight of summer 2021 to visit beautiful Thorndale and see creative, skilled young people gathered with families and friends to bring their dreams to reality.  Quiet pride shone on faces basking in the glow of what young people can achieve when encouraged by adults and supported by peers. Long live the little towns and villages that take pride in rural life and nurture families and children to become skilled leaders and solid citizens!

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj 

This is Us

“This is Us” is currently a popular TV series. It is also a popular LIFE series at our residence in London, Ontario, Canada where approximately 80 women - Sisters of St. Joseph, share life.

Recently, an invitation was given to anyone to be part of putting together a beautiful puzzle of a male and female cardinal.  There they were, all 500 pieces, with uniquely odd-shaped pieces waiting to be crafted into a beautiful picture as seen here.

Beside the pieces, was the following invitation:

“When a red cardinal appears, the spiritual meaning is that it is a symbol of hope in God, especially in times of stress and despair, to encourage hope and persistence.

This puzzle, in the process of completing it, is meant to be a reminder of the importance of us living together, helping each other to put together, the pieces of our lives, as we journey through this pandemic. Some pieces will fit, some will not, but will be used when others fit into the picture.

WELCOME TO BEING A CO-CREATOR OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT!! 😊”

After about three weeks, the beautiful symbol was realized and the co-creators were asked to describe their experience of being in this very simple process and how it was similar to living in community.

These were the various responses:

-we are all interested in the same thing

-you learn about the other persons who help to put it together

- it is a small welcome recess in the day

-we support each other in various ways, as we do in community

-in working together, we experience being with somebody

-I am happy to find pieces that fit

-it is heartening to see together, the end product coming to completion

-like the odd-shaped puzzle pieces, so are we, as the diverse pieces of our life come together

-various personalities come together and we appreciate the gift of accommodating at times and leading at other times.”

-we are creating something new and enjoying doing it

-we are making connections on many levels

-it captivates one’s ability to attentively see the unfolding of something beautiful

-look at a piece, then look at the WHOLE to see where it fits

Through the lens of “puzzle-making”, we can look at this world in the political upheaval in the U.S. especially and hope that better hearts will prevail to bring about a picture of harmony and collaboration.

Looking through this same lens, we can hope that in our lives together, we can create a microcosm of a loving and compassionate entity that will spill out into a world so desperately in need of compassionate love.

Amanda Gordon, the poet laureate of the U.S. presidential Inauguration reminds us:

“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

If we are brave enough to put the pieces of the puzzle together, we CAN collaboratively co-create a beautiful world.  WE CAN BE THE LIGHT.

-Sister Kathleen Lichti (and several other “puzzle solvers”)

Oh, Forget It

Leaving the grocery store carrying the few items I had purchased in my half-filled shopping bag, a young man approached me from a parking space between two cars in the parking lot. He wore a small toque, a light gray jacket, no gloves and said quietly, “Can you spare some change?” Whether it was my startled eyes dancing between my mask and my parka, or perhaps, wisps of grey hair poking out from under my hood, or maybe it was because I was starting to put down my groceries, but he quickly added with a smile, “O, forget it” and walked on.

Forget it indeed! How can I forget it? It has become a little bit like purgatory is going to be because I keep reflecting on the incident and remember that my first thought was, “Thank goodness I had decided not to bring my big purse but only a small change purse deep in my pocket.”

Only after that internal sigh of relief did I begin thinking about what I should have done or could have done for the young man. My relief then turned to feelings of guilt because he was probably in his late twenties and his beautiful smile revealed a missing front tooth; I could have offered him the bananas in my bag; I could have given him the Tim Horton’s gift card in my pocket that still had $6.00 on it.

I don’t really know why the young man wanted some “spare change”. He wore no mask and couldn’t have gone into any store around our area to make a purchase. Maybe he needed to buy a mask, not food? I’ll never know but I do know that I pray someone will give him whatever help he needs and when they do maybe I’ll be able to forget it and walk on.

-Sister Elaine Cole, csj

Neighbours on Downie Street

From my second-floor window – at 7:30 a.m. each day I watch a young mother, a teacher, wheel her 2-year-old twin daughters down the steps and get them settled in their van.  This daily routine also includes her interaction with a middle-aged man from our neighborhood.  His name is Kelly and he is a regular visitor sharing his news early in the morning in a rather loud tone – which could be about his dog or what his plans are for the day.  The mom, while getting her children settled takes time to listen to Kelly and offers encouraging words to him as he retells (a couple of times over) the story about his dog and what his plans are for the day. 

Kelly approaches the window of the van and offers a wave and blows kisses to the children and then crosses the street and returns to his own home, giving this mother some positive affirmations as she heads to her classroom for another day.

With this pandemic and my own inability to volunteer with the marginalized, I think I have received a gift that is happening right outside my window every morning.  I feel that I am participating in this exchange between these neighbors – as I witness the respect for one another, and kindness being given freely to Kelly – who represents many in our society today who are not treated with respect or dignity.

I am realizing that being present can happen in many different ways…

-Sister Ann MacDonald, csj

REMEMBER – CELEBRATE – BELIEVE

In a recent reading of Embers – One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese, I was struck by the following passage from his writings. 

“Missing someone is feeling a piece of your heart gone astray… there’s a gap in the everyday things around you…You seem to move a little less gracefully… and you now move out of gratitude for the gift of their presence in your life…”   

In the courtyard at Boyle Street Community Services located in the inner City in Edmonton, folks gathered to remember and recall the life of Vegas – a community member who died. In the centre of the circle was a bowl of sage burning which would be used by the Elder to smudge each of us who gathered as well as the offering of food which was to be left for the spirits following our time together.  The gathering was about the Boyle Street Community sitting in silence to ‘fill the gap’ they were feeling from this death of a friend. Not a lot of words were used but the sense of accompaniment was evident as I too was invited into the Circle.  Stories were told of Vegas  -  a friend, a card player, a man of few words and a man who had overcome his alcohol addiction after many years – and his time with the Boyle Street Community was the ‘gift of presence'.

The following evening Sister Kitty and I attended the Annual Memorial sponsored by CEASE (Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation).  This was the 30^th year that CEASE has organized this Memorial Service to gather and remember those who have lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, a partner, a relative or a friend from sexual exploitation and/or an abusive relationship.  A litany of over 150 names is read and silence is evident as people tear up remembering special relationships as the name of their loved one is spoken aloud.  The simplicity of this gathering is highlighted when balloons are sent skyward wishing peace and freedom to those who have died… and the line from Embers comes alive – “now you move out of gratitude for the gift of their presence in your life…”

On Sunday, Kitty and I gathered with some members of the Scarboro Community of Boyle-McAuley who knew and loved Father Rene Fumoleau, to recall and remember times they shared with Rene on his visits to Edmonton. Again, the theme of ‘being a gift of presence’ came through as stories were shared, some of his poetry was read and words that he spoke while in their presence came alive in recalling his passion for the people of Northern Canada for so many years and his commitment to social justice for many years.

These three events struck me as a connection with the circle of life and a deeper realization that I, we, are part of the sacred energy - moving, growing and  bringing everything into harmony. 

Contributed by Sister Ann MacDonald, csj