A Blue Community Update

A message from Paul Baines, our Blue Community Coordinator

It has been two years since the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph became a Blue Community and we are playing an important role in protecting water as a human right, shared commons, and sacred gift.

In 2019 the project:

  • presented in schools, parishes, and key events to widen the circle of water protectors
  • increased our community's understanding of why this Blue Community initiative is important 
  • designed and distributed thousands of coasters, postcards, buttons, and stickers to share Blue Community messages
  • connected with other organizations, faith groups, and Indigenous communities to build water solidarity
  • joined and invited advocacy to Federal and Provincial governments about the lack of clean water on First Nations reserves and the deniel of new bottled water permits

To Learn more about our work as a Blue Community member please visit: https://www.bluecommunitycsj.org/

IN THE NEWS:

ONTARIO
‘We’re in a David-and-Goliath situation.’ Small Ontario town taking on Nestle to save its water
Front page of Toronto Star. Please share widely.
https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news-story/9778589--we-re-in-a-david-and-goliath-situation-small-ontario-town-taking-on-nestle-to-save-its-water/

Consider sending a letter to the editor of Toronto Star to express your support for denying Nestle permit to take water in Centre Wellington, and to phase out their existing permits to take water in Aberfoyle and Hillsburgh. Send your contribution to Letters to the Editor via email to lettertoed@thestar.ca; via fax to 416-869-4322; or by mail to One Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1E6. Letters must include full name, address and all phone numbers of sender (daytime, evening and cellphone). Street names and phone numbers will not be published. Star reserves the right to edit letters, which typically run 50-150 words.

CANADA
The secrets of Canada's tap water, explained
Would it surprise you to know drinking water in some Canadian cities contains unsafe levels of lead? A year-long investigation by more than 120 journalists from nine universities and 10 media organizations found some disturbing answers. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians could be consuming tap water laced with high levels of lead leaching from aging infrastructure and plumbing, a large collection of newly-released data and documents reveals.
See the 7 minute video here: https://youtu.be/l0h55NoUBmg

THUNDER BAY
Over 200 classes worldwide participate in Junior Water Walkers initiative inspired by Late Josephine Mandamin
“I was actually working on a virtual Google Earth story that took kids on a virtual field trip around the five Great Lakes,” Cameron says. “So it was incredible that I could have Josephine come to speak to my students — my kids took Josephine on a virtual field trip and Josephine then told my students about her walk to bring awareness on the need to protect water. My students told Josephine they would do their part to carry on her legacy and her walk and become Junior Water Walkers.”

Project lead: Peter Cameron, a Lakehead University alumnus and Grade 5/6 teacher at St. Elizabeth’s School in Thunder Bay.
https://anishinabeknews.ca/2019/12/11/over-200-classes-worldwide-participate-in-junior-water-walkers-initiative-inspired-by-late-josephine-mandamin

TORONTO
Toronto launches $3B project to improve water quality in Lake Ontario and city's waterways
"Currently, when a major storm hits our city... and dumps huge quantities of rain water onto the city… the wastewater system goes into overdrive to prevent major flooding," Mayor John Tory said Saturday.As the water rushes in, Tory said, the system pushes wastewater overflows into the rivers and into Lake Ontario when it reaches a certain threshold.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-storm-water-wastewater-management-program-1.5396886

HAMILTON
Hamilton’s Chedoke Creek sewage spill
The City of Hamilton has been ordered to come up with another report on the spill of 24 billion litres of sewage that seeped into Chedoke Creek over four years.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6248469/second-report-hamilton-chedoke-creek-sewage-spill/

OTTAWA
Hopewell school in Ottawa on way to becoming first elementary school Blue Community

Hopewell Avenue Public School in Ottawa is working towards the distinction of being the first elementary school designated as a “Blue Community.” The school, which is home to more than 900 students in Kindergarten to Grade 8, welcomed Council of Canadians Honorary Chairperson Maude Barlow and Water Campaigner Vi Bui in their gymnasium today and listened to them speak about the importance of protecting water.
https://canadians.org/blog/hopewell-school-ottawa-way-becoming-first-elementary-school-blue-community

 

To Learn more about our work as a Blue Community member please visit: https://www.bluecommunitycsj.org/

Let Goodness Prevail

On the sixth day of creation, God, the Creator, ”looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!” Gen. 1:31 (from The Message)

Such a message of hope for us in these days of fake news, the violence of wars, natural disasters, racism, verbal abuse at so many levels and even genocide: goodness is inherent in all of creation. It is in our DNA, and it is now that we as a species are called to live that reality of being a force for goodness in this world.

In my personal experience of facilitating and co-ordinating Kairos Blanket Exercises, I, with the facilitators and participants have the privilege of seeing how truth, when revealed and received by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, is freeing. For the Indigenous peoples, their story is told: of the impact of residential schools, of being given Hudson Bay blankets as “gifts” that were full of the small pox virus, of the seizure of lands that were sources  of food, of the murdered and missing indigenous women and children…boys and girls, of the Indian Act that reduced whole nations to being put on small isolated reserves and forbidden to practice their spirituality or cultural practices, and who were “assimilated” into the white society to be made “civilized”, as the settlers defined the meaning of the term of being “civilized”.   The non-Indigenous participants hear this same story as told by an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous facilitator. If the participants come with an open mind, heart and will, they are INformed, TRANSformed, and empowered to work together to seek ways of “Returning to Harmony” (see Richard Wagamese’s article: https://teacherlauragroome.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/returning-to-harmony.pdf

For ALL participants, the telling and hearing of this story together is the beginning education of the truth of Canadian history: painful to tell and to hear but nonetheless a vehicle for further dialogue, leading to sowing initial seeds for reconciliation, or restoring a relation of collaboration that once existed. See Murray Sinclair speak about reconciliation in this 4-minute video https://www.csps-efpc.gc.ca/video/ssontr-eng.aspx

Senator Murray Sinclair, the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was issued in 2015, quotes:"It is education that got into this and it is education that will get us out of it.”

Being a retired teacher and educator, I am convinced that education is a beginning to living in right relationship, if we work together toward this. We are ALL inherently GOOD: we can choose to live out of that belief in all our interactions.

Submitted by Kathleen Lichti, CSJ

December 30, 2019: The 350th Anniversary of Father Médaille's Death[1]

The life and death of each of us has its influence on others;

if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord,

so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord (Romans 14:7-8).

This scripture verse came to mind as I sat down to write this reflection for the 350th anniversary of the death of Jean-Pierre Médaille. Possibly no other person has had the same grounding influence in our lives as Sisters of St. Joseph than this French Jesuit priest, Jean-Pierre Médaille. His life, his writings, his experiences and even his death have left a lasting legacy that many of us still find spiritually enriching.

Is that what it means to be a founder…. when years later… people still hold fast to the spiritual teachings one imparted in one’s lifetime? Truly the life of Jean-Pierre Médaille is the story of one man’s daily fidelity to the inspirations of grace and his deep personal commitment to model his entire life and death on that of the Incarnate Son of God. From his birth in Carcassonne on October 6, 1610 to his death in Billom on December 30, 1669 this humble man of God held fast the desire “to be and to become the person God wanted him to be, in nature, in grace, and in glory for time and for eternity” (M.P. 10:6).            

Father Médaille spent most of his adult life teaching, preaching Missions, and directing men and women in the parishes throughout the dioceses of south-western France. He strove to awaken the contemplative dimension that was dormant in many lives. He believed that God’s indwelling grace had the power to effect miracles in them and by the energy and force of that Divine Love whole environments and neighbourhoods could be transformed. The world of seventeenth century France was desperately in need of such a rebirth. The wisdom, zeal and insight Jean-Pierre Médaille brought to his world reality was truly remarkable.

His apostolic zeal for souls sprang from a great love in his heart - from the heart of God - with whom he shared an intimate communion. He was a mystically-active man, loving Love and letting Love love through him. With his “sublime knowledge of the interior life”, we are blessed to have in his writings of the Maxims of Perfection, Part 1 and Part 2 and The Eucharistic Letter, a spirituality that has proved timeless in guiding persons to self-emptying union with God. At the same time, he was equally capable of effective administration of the temporal affairs he was asked to manage. He was known for his skill in handling difficult situations when he served as the minister at their Jesuit Colleges. With skill and personality, he could restore order, reconcile differences and handle efficiently those practical, temporal affairs. Jean-Pierre showed aptitude for all the works of the Society of Jesus. He placed all his gifts of vision, discretion and compassion in the service of humanity. During a most dark and difficult period of history, Jean-Pierre lit up his world of seventeenth century France with a new hope and a new direction.

Médaille dreamed his dream, lived his dream, shared his dream, and wrote down his dream - for all time to be discovered. In the fall of 1669, his spiritual journey on earth was climaxing to its apex in his personal death. Three short months of enfeebling health at the Jesuit retirement home in Billom precedes his death on December 30, 1669. For the three months he was at this house of retreat he was assigned to be a confessor. This “traveler on the road of God’s glory” came home to rest after fifteen years of active missionary service to his own people in southwestern France. We have some insight into his expansive soul when he shares his Contemplation on the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus:

Above all, good Jesus, grant that throughout my life, and especially at the time of my death, I may fulfill in every instance the last will of your Father, and with such exactitude that with my last breath I may be able to say: “Consummatum est.” It is finished. I have fulfilled the designs of divine Providence concerning my life and my death. I have spent myself in the service of my Creator and in the gratitude I owe to the boundless love of my Saviour Jesus. This is the only desire of my soul. [2]

The final archival statement in his necrology reads:

Father Jean-Pierre Médaille of Carcassonne, professed of four vows, died at Billom, December 30, 1669, at the age of fifty-nine. He had been in the Society for forty-three years. The greater part of his life was spent in the missions of the Province (Toulouse) and with such zeal and so great a reputation for holiness that here and there he was called “the saint”, “the apostle”; nor were the fruits of his apostolic labors of every kind less than his reputation, so much so that he was highly esteemed by rich and poor alike, but especially by the bishops in whose dioceses he labored.[3]

The people called him “the saint” and “the apostle”. At age fifty-nine, this humble man of God disappears into silence leaving a legacy in word and example that still speaks to the heart. He gave us words for life.[4]  “After his death, his Jesuit brothers indirectly confirmed the reputation for sanctity that Father Médaille had been accorded by the simple people whom he evangelized. By having his Maxims of Perfection published in 1672, particularly the second part, Exercise for being stripped of self and putting on Jesus Christ, they demonstrated, that even if it is not exceptional as a literary work, the contents reveal an uncommon experience of spiritual realities. For his Jesuit brothers, too, Father Médaille was a man of God.[5] The Jesuit archives in Rome contain the yearly reports on Father Médaille written by his Provincials. In 1975 the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph Research Team with Marius Nepper S.J. shared in Origins: The Sisters of St. Joseph:             

In what we know of his acts and his writings, we can affirm that nothing would prevent his canonization and that there are many favourable and convincing indications if we could supplement them by two miracles. (Cf. R.F. Aubenas, 1958, “Towards the Beatification of Father Médaille?”) Different pictures, with officially approved prayers, have been published:  in Brazil (1953); in France, (1954 and 1962); and in the United States of America (1958), to obtain either the beatification of the Founder or some special grace through his intercession.[6]

It is our joy and mission to spread this expansive charism to the ends of the earth. Thanks to the generous response of multitudes of men and women, who for almost four centuries have followed his spirituality, we are striving to make our world a better place. All of us in the family of Joseph are now a worldwide community, sharing as one, all the gifts of creation, all the spiritual gifts, and all in the service of humanity, to the greater glory of God. I sense our beloved Father Médaille commending us for our faithfulness: “You will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life” (Phil 2:16).

In this graced moment as we come together to sit in the presence of our founder and spiritual father, Jean-Pierre Médaille, may we experience that we are truly in the presence of an authentic mystic and prophet. Let us be united in prayer and communion around the world in the fifty-three different countries where we, his spiritual daughters, live and minister today. Let us continue to Love Love and let Love love through us to the glory of God.

 - Rosemary O’Toole, CSJ

 

 [1]  Jean-Pierre Médaille, S.J. A detail from the larger painting found in the Archives of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Le Puy. France.

   [2] Jean-Pierre Médaille, S.J, Writings of Jean-Pierre Médaille, S.J. 1610-1669 (Toronto, ON: Sisters of St. Joseph, 1985) 124-125.   

   [3] Anne Hennessy, CSJ, In Search of A Founder: The Life and Setting of Jean-Pierre Médaille, S.J., Founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph, PhD Thesis (Berkeley Graduate Theological Union, 1988) 197-198.

   [4] Rosemary O’Toole, CSJ, Words for Life (Ottawa, ON: Discern Products, 2019). Purchase four volumes on amazon.

   [5] Marguerite Vacher, CSJ, Nuns Without Cloister, Sisters of St. Joseph in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (trans. Patricia Byrne and the United States Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph; New York: University Press of America, 2019) 112.

   [6] Marius Nepper, Origins, The Sisters of St. Joseph (Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph Research Team with Marius Nepper S.J., USA; Erie: Villa Maria College, 1975) 108.

MARY AND JOSEPH - THE DISPLACED

Throughout this year’s Advent journey, a journey Pope Francis calls a ‘Journey of Hope’, lived in the joy of the Gospel message, I pondered what the journey to Bethlehem must have been like for Mary and Joseph. Perhaps, unintentionally, I have always held on to the naive image of the ‘tranquil’ scene of Jesus in the manger, where Mary and Joseph, some shepherds and a few animals, lovingly welcomed Him.  In light of Pope Francis’s invitation, followed up by the invitation to participate in this Advent blog series, I was struck by how noisy it must have been, and how so many people nowadays still are forced to flee, facing separation from family and friends.

In excerpts from Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato ‘Si [Praise be to You] these past weeks, we have seen that he challenges us, women and men of faith, to respond to his urgent plea to care for our world, our common home, to take swift and united action to eradicate the wrongs of the past. According to Pope Francis, the heart of the problem is that we humans no longer see God as the Creator, often seeing other living creatures as mere objects subjected to arbitrary human domination merely for our selfish purposes. Pope Francis encourages us to view humanity not as having ‘dominion’ over the earth, but to recognize that everything is interconnected and that all creation is a kind of universal family meant to live in harmony.

So, I turn to the image that struck me this Advent - Mary and Joseph walking into the unknown.  Joseph, eyes focused on the endless barren desert road, leading the donkey carrying the woman he loves.  Their plans were not changed by their desire, but by the demands of another, who wielded power over them. The journey they were on was not a quiet, solitary one. Undoubtedly, it was a noisy, confusing caravan of people forced to leave familiar places, occupations and customs, heading to an unknown destination. I may have been aware of this in the past, but admit that I have never before taken the time to reflect on this aspect of their journey.  

I am reminded of my experience as a seminarian at St. Joseph’s Chapel at the Canadian Forces Base in Borden in 1988, where we ‘welcomed’ 4000 refugees displaced from their homes in Kosovo. How well I remember all the preparation made by groups like the CWL and Knights of Columbus, to provide as much support as possible. Naturally, we had no idea who these people were, nor what they had been through until they shared their many stories of sadness, of loss and longing for some peace and quiet.  Amidst all of this unsettledness we also heard stories of faith in God, of hope, of joy, and of gratitude for being able to come here. In Canada, they found a haven where they could start a new life, akin to what my own parents had looked for when they came to Canada. These Kosovo refugees were the ones who, Pope Francis says, had become victims of poverty at the hands of rich nations relying on us to respond to their cries for help.  Their spiritual poverty, of course, was an even darker place, where we tried to bring light and hope by sharing our resources. To this day, as in the time of Jesus, the displacement of people is not because they want to leave their homeland. Like my parents, parents continue to search and take risks for better futures for their children and grandchildren. 

Mary and Joseph took refuge in a simple stable, the shelter for animals. In this makeshift home their ‘bedding’ was straw, the fruit of the earth. Amidst the noise and smell, in the uncertainty, there was love, there was faith. And this is where Jesus was born, frail and depending on his parents for everything.  May we remember that Jesus chose to be born in a humble manger.  In His unassuming way, we are saved from individual sin and those communal sins evident in our cities, our countries, our world. God never stops loving us, but is always there offering us the grace which will free us to respond to the cry of the poor, the lost, the homeless, the addict, the refugee, the stranger in our midst. 

Encouraged by Pope Francis’s desire and prayer for a change of heart in all peoples, let us respond as one to the needs of our suffering sisters and brothers. Let us pay attention to their cries and pleas echoing the cries of the entire earth, our common home. Dear sisters and brothers, while you celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace with your family and friends, listen with your heart to His invitation to see every woman, man and child as sister or brother, gifts from God with whom to share all the God-given gifts of our beautiful earth.

- Father Ian Riswick, Chaplain of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood in Toronto