September 2005

(part of what is turning out to be an ongoing series)

Another thing that helps me “deal with” seeing so many people suffering is realising that they, in fact, are offering a great service to our society, and in particular to me. They may not realise they are doing so, of course, and they certainly didn’t elect to be offering this service, but they are.

I got together with my Jesu Caritas group today and after our meeting we went to see a movie together: La Neuvaine, by Bernard Émond, which won a number of prizes at the Locarno film festival (including the Ecumenical Prize, given for excellence in film with religious themes).

My car was in the shop today, as for some time there was an odd popping sound coming from the front. For reasons too complex to explain here I had to bring it in today, but I also had to be downtown by 10 am for a meeting. Which meant that I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I took the bus.

Actually, it was the bus and subway (Montrealers call the latter the “metro”), and it took about 2 hours each way. A friend offered to lend me his truck, but given it had been a while since I used public transport, I thought I’d give it a go.

I have spend pretty much the whole day with a family whose son was in the intensive care unit suffering from heart failure. He died this evening, aged 21.

In a previous post I started to tackle the question of how I “handle” being a hospital chaplain. In this post I’d like to mention another thing that really helps: the miracles!

Last Saturday I was called in to anoint an elderly woman who was dying. I prayed with the family, and I explained to them that the anointing fundamentally meant for healing. It is Christ himself who is anointing, and he desires to share his healing grace. So I encouraged them to look for the healing, in whatever form it might come.

I was recently in conversation with a reader of my blog who asked me how he might go about explaining the Trinity to someone with little background in the subject. I thought I might share some of my own catechetical approach.

I am a real chicken in the movie theatre — not a screamer, more of a jumper, but no matter what I don’t like scary films. Never have. So I really had to get myself in the right frame of mind to go see The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but given the subject matter (Catholic priest performing an exorcism) I felt I should see it — especially it proposed to offer a “serious” look at the topic.

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about a wonderful surprise I lived at the parish Christmas concert: a local Christian singing group, Aeternal, performed a song which I learned was inspired by a homily series I once gave.

Today I had a chance to have lunch over at the West Island Palliative Care residence. My appointment from the bishop includes the responsibility of Catholic chaplaincy at the palliative care residence, so I hope to be able to visit often. I had already gone over the week before, and I was told that the lunches were famous (and that I was always welcome), so I thought I’d check it out.

I had a 24-hour window in my agenda, which allowed me to head up to Cap-de-la-Madeleine and spend time with the English-speaking diocesan priests of Montreal where were there on retreat. It was good to have some fellowship with them — every other year I spent the whole week, but with the hospital schedule I could only muster a day this time.

When people discover that I’m in hospital ministry, I sometimes get the question, “How do you handle it?” Such persons often share that they would find themselves getting very emotionally involved in the pain of others, so they see this ministry as extraordinarily difficult. “How do you manage to stay detached?” they ask.

This evening was another one of the special services organized by the healing ministry team of which I am a part. It was quite a success. We began the evening with a rosary and time of praise, during which I heard confessions. The mass began at 7:30 pm, with the readings, mass prayers and homily oriented towards the question of sickness and healing. Afterwards, we had people come forward (if they wished) to be prayed over, while the sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick were offered by Fr. Mike McKenna and myself.

You may not know it, but today is the feast of the Nativity of Mary. Yep, it’s her birthday! Happy birthday to our Mother in Heaven. Assuming Christ was born in 4 BC, and Mary was 14 years old at the time, that makes her…..2023 years old. That’s a lot of candles on the cake!

One type of question I’ve already been required to address has been the difficult issue of pain management at the end of life, when the administration of pain medication will result in the side-effect of shortening a person’s life. To help a particular family deal with the question, I wrote the following letter, both for them and to share with any medical staff they might encounter. I thought it might be worth sharing here, as it might provoke some worthwhile discussion.

Today was my first real day at the Lakeshore General Hospital. I’m still trying to get a grip on what this ministry involves, and I’ve learned that the first thing I need to figure out is some of the bureaucracy. I spent quite a bit of time today just filling out forms, trying to get a parking pass and a badge to open the doors, and taking care of other Human Resources issues. But it is slowly coming together.

Well, today was my first Sunday at the new parish. I concelebrated the early mass (English), and then presided the midmorning (French) and middday (English) masses. It was a bit overwhelming, seeing all the new faces and learning all the new (and always slightly different) ways of doing things. But I am always happy to be able to refocus on the Eucharist — I always feel at home there. It’s a good way to start off a new ministry. Special thanks to Fr.