Fr. Bob's Corner

Fr. Alex and some of his parishioners from Ichinomiya, Japan at Scarboro in 2006

Fr. Alexander Duncan McDonald SFM

– A native of Alexandria, Ontario in Glengarry County, passed away June 4, 2010 one day after his 83rd birthday. Fr. Alex was ordained at St. Finnan’s Cathedral  in Alexandria, Ont. on December 22, 1951 and gave 52 years of generous missionary service to the Church in Japan with over 40 years as pastor of Ichinomiya. Since his return to Canada he has been in an active retirement offering pastoral assistance in parishes in Scarborough, Lancaster and Williamstown (St. Mary’s Parish), and as chaplain to the Japanese Catholic community in Toronto.

30th Anniversary of Japanese Community

Toronto, Ontario

His priesthood and missionary commitment are greatly appreciated by his fellow missioners at Scarboro.

Fr. Alex is survived by his brother Wilfred McDonald (Donna) of Espanola, ON and his sister Mary Beth Thompson (Joseph) of Spokane, Washington and several nephews and nieces: Amy (Dan), Fraser (Jana), Michael (Kerrie), Anne, John (Anne), Paul (Amber), Jennifer(Vin). Visitation will be at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Rd., Scarborough (corner of Brimley and Kingston Rd.) on Monday, June 7th from 7-9 p.m. and June 8th from 9:15-10:15 a.m. followed by the Mass of the Resurrection at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in Our Lady of the Clergy Cemetery immediately after Mass. In lieu of flowers, a donation to the work of Scarboro Missions would be appreciated.

Today Williamstown is a quiet country village, but in days gone by, it was far much more. One of the local villagers, Monique Major, put together a  76 page pictorial essay for the 200th Anniversary of Williamstown. I scanned this wonderful document filled with pictures and various clippings etc., and posted it on the parish website: www.bvmparish.com.  It is posted as a slide show on Flickr. (The cheapest way I could make it available for viewing and reading.) Take a look, and have a little read by visiting my Flickr posting. (See if you can identify the buildings in this websites header.) Make sure to manually control the slide show, and have it fill your whole monitor. This way you will be able to proceed at your own speed, and fully read and digest the clippings. Enjoy, here is the Link: Beautiful Historic Williamstown by Monique Major

For as long as anyone can remember the Ladies’ Guild of St. Mary’s Parish have held a tea in November. At one time, before the parish had a suitable hall, the tea was held in private homes. In those days, women from the parish would volunteer to host this annual event, and the women of the parish would bring their fine china, silver teapots and cutlery to serve tea, home baked cakes, cookies, squares, and special party sandwiches. Today, many years later, the Ladies’ Guild still sponsors the event in our small parish hall, and numerous women still provide the baked goods and sandwiches. (Years ago the Guild acquired the fine dishes to serve the tea.)

The event now incorporates a baked goods and crafts sale, and the money raised is used to maintain the projects of the Guild. The most marvellous aspect of the tea, however, is the tea itself. Women from the local community and surrounding area gather to socialize and share their stories. In an era of fast food. and constant rush, it is wonderful to go back in time to an era when people gathered just to chat and to enjoy a quiet afternoon together, and of course,  in the regal splendour of fine china and silver. 

Lent Is Not Just About You and Me, or
The Here and the Now,
It Is About Our Eternal Destiny!

Lent is a time to take a serious look at one’s relationship with God. It is a time to train ourselves to more earnestly seek God through reflection, prayer, and sacrifice. Some miss the whole point of lent by turning it into a time of self-improvement or self-realization, missing the whole point of lent which is union with God. It is not just about now, but eternity. Example: We fast not to lose weight, but to become less attached to the things of this mortal world, and to more fully enter into the mystery of God’s love for us and God’s ways.
This year lent is early. It begins this Wednesday, February 6th, (Ash Wednesday), a day on which Catholics cut back on their food (fasting), and abstain from meat (abstinence). It is a day on which we anoint our selves with ashes, and remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Ash Wednesday is a day to really give thanks that dust is not the end.
As Christians, we know, in faith, that the dust of death is really a beginning. During lent we remember that we have been saved from death’s terrible fate by Jesus, the Son of God. Lent is a time to appreciate God’s love for us, and to deepen our union to the God who created us, became one of us, and died for us.
Let us pray for each other as we journey through lent together, and join our own sufferings to the Cross of Christ for the world’s salvation.

Ash Wednesday Mass will be at 7:00pm – St. Mary’s

“We had had so much fun together, did so many FIRSTS together? Not all parents are lucky enough to travel to an exotic location with their children and enjoy the experience with them? Not all parents get to share in their children’s honeymoon either. We felt very blessed.” Annie Richard wrote during her recent visit (with her husband Paul) to Thailand to visit their son Mark and and his wife Val. View pictures and the full account of their adventure on her post of March 25th, 2007 on Mark and Val’s Asian Stir Fry
Paul and Annie are parishioner’s of St. Mary’s Parish.

When you visit Deacon Kerry’s Corner you will find a little story about an eagle that thinks it is a chicken (Homily for Sixth Sundy of Ordinary Time). One day it sees an eagle soaring high in the heavens and is absolutely thrilled, and filled with awe and inspiration. It asks an older chicken what kind of bird it sees. This is the depressing reply:“That’s an eagle,” said the older chicken.
“But forget about it!
You could never soar like that
in a million years.”

I encourage all of you to read Deacon Kerry’s homily , as we begin lent, and the journey toward Easter. And, I think you will probably be like me and identify with the poor little eagle with shattered dreams. Dreams that need to be rejuvenated and believed in again.

Our world repeatedly tells us that we need to be realistic. Eternal life is just the wishful thinking of doomed mortal humans.

Our faith, however, reminds us that we are made in the ‘image and likeness of God’ and that “there are many rooms in our Father’s house,” and Jesus has one prepared for each of us. And, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us in his lenten message (2007) that God craves and yearns for our love because we were created by God (love) for God (love).

Lent is a time to meditate on Jesus crucified, and to ask the question: Why? The answer is quite simple: Love!!!

www.markandvalerie.blogspot.com.

Mark and his wife Val are on a one year Asian Tour. [Mark (just married) is the son of Paul & Annie R... of St. Mary's Parish]. Both Mark and Val have been studying International Relations, and this voyage is part of their career development. Some of you might like to follow their voyage, or look in now and then to see how they are doing.

God be with you, Mark and Val, and thank you for sharing your adventure. Fr. Bob

Sometime during the month of May in 1931, Fr. Alex MacDonald, the Pastor of St. Mary’s Parish (1929-1958) called together the Altar Society and the women of the Parish to enlist their help in the Parish. The meeting resulted in the formation of the Guild:

“In order to comply with this request a larger group of ladies would be organised with several convenors and committtees, working under a president and vice-president. A secretary would also be elected. Convenors for six committees would be chosen. These committees were: Linens, Vestments, Altar Care, Charity, and Catechism. From this group of six convenors, the executive was chosen.” (History of the Parish by Archibald MacDonell-1997)

In 1997 the Parish History book summarized their acivities to that date:
Through the years, the Ladies Guild has been dedicated to caring for the church and the needs of the parish. The sanctuary, the altar, linens, and flowers have been special areas of work to the members. Money has been donated to the missionaries and local charities. A needy child in Brazil has been supported for the last eight year. Church Suppers and euchres were popular means of making money.”

In 2006, the work of the Guild continues, this year the guild raised over $17,000 for an accessibility ramp for the church entrance. It also spear headed an effort to frame pictures of all the former Pastors of the Parish. These pictures will decorate a wall in our small Hall.

This year the Guild celebrates 75 years of Service. A Mass will be celebrated in thanksgiving for all past and present members of the Guild on Sunday May 28, 2006 at 10:30am.

Deo Gratias!See More Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/parishpictures/sets/

I have been a little under the weather in the last few weeks, and have not posted very much. This weekend we will be celebrating the First Sunday of Lent and the Second Sunday of Parish Alive. Our Ash Wenesday celebration was very well attended, and most of the Parishioners at both Parishes are participating in the Diocesan Parish Alive Project. Very gratifying and inspiring – I hope and pray for an abundant harvest – so many seeds being planted! We owe a word of thanks to our Bishop, the Pastors, the Diocesan team, and our PLT’s across the Diocese for all their hard work in initiating and organizing this project. And , a special word of thanks to all the parishioners of St. Mary’s and St. William’s who have committed themselves to this faith venture. May the Lord bless us now, and in the years to come, with a renewed, committed, and strengthened Faith.

Last Sunday, as we began Parish Alive, we were reminded that our faith is a ‘treasure of Love’. As I prepared to preach on this theme, I had visions of old Pope John Paul II. standing before millions of young people around the world procaliming and demonstrating this Love with his wonderful smile and the words: “The Pope Loves You — Christ Loves You!” And in response the young people would respond in a jubilant noisy joy, as they basked in the Good News of our Christian Gospel.

This Sunday our theme is ‘Accepting the Treasure’. When Pope John Paul’s succesor, Benedict 16th, issued his first encyclical so many were surpised by its title: God is Love. Following in the footsteps of his good friend and predecessor, John Paul II., Benedict defined in words the significance of John Paul’s visual embodiment of God’s Love. God does indeed love all of us, and God calls all of us into the service of love exemplified by Jesus’ life and death.

As Christian’s we are so very much like the pepulace we read about in the Bible. We are always looking for a temporal miracle worker, a messiah so to speak, to save us in the here and now. Jesus did save us, once and for all, but like Peter, we find ourselves soley rooted in the temporal and oblivious to the eternal – the divine. How often I have gasped at Jesus strong rebuke to poor Peter who did not want Jesus to die and told him so. Jesus’ response still echoes loud and clear: “Get behind me Satan.”
The Message of Love that Jesus imparted was a call to God, God’s ways, and to our brotherhood and sisterhood – a call to a service of love. Peter eventually accepted the message and fully knew in his heart Christ’s love, and died in service on a cross himself. Each one of us is invited to accept this call. Have we really accepted?

The great mystery of the Cross reflects the mystery of pain and suffering we all know full well in this temporal order. Yet, when we hear the call of the Good Shepherd in our hearts, we come to know the infinite warmth of God’s love, and in joy and humility we reach out in love and service. In embracing God’s love, we find hope in the midst of despair, faith in the midst of faithlessness, and we ever seek to sow God’s love in an angry and vengeful world. Each day we joyfully live in the knowledge of the eternal, fully aware that the ‘here and now’ is just one flicker in the light of eternity. Indeed, we become the body of Christ, the people of God, the Church.

Prayers and best wishes from Sr. Mary and Sr. Christine in the Philippines

May the Christ Childborn into a world of violence

continue to remind us

of God’s loving presence

in our broken world.

Dear Fr. Bob and friends at St. Mary’s Parish (Williamstown),

I would like to send Christmas greetings of Peace to you Fr. Bob and the Parishioners. It is good to celebrate Christmas in the Philippines this year. On Dec. 16th starts the Christmas novena of Masses at 4am. It is a Spanish customs that has continued in some parts of the Philippines. I think the 4am was the time the rooster crowed and awakened the people when it was still dark. I don’t think I will hear the call of the rooster this year, at least not every day. I will remember you all with much gratitude as we celebrate the gift of Emmanuel “God with us”.
Mary Gauthier OLM.

Dear Fr. Bob and Parishioners of St. Mary’s,

It is with much gratitude that I look back on 2005. My two months in Canada were a wonderful time of re-connecting with family and old friends as well as making new friends. I carried back many good memories of my time in Glengary, and the sisters in Toronto and the Philippines asked loads of questions and listened eagerly to my stories which in turn prompted them to remember and re-tell many of their own memories of our early days. I managed to get back into the swing-of-things very quickly here, and there’s always something interesting to do. Now that Christmas is upon us, people are making a great effort to celebrate despite the fact that times are the hardest I’ve ever seen. Yesterday (December 11) we held a party at our house for some friends and the OLM Associates (a group of lay people who wish to share some aspects of our life and charism without living in community or becoming a religious) – attached are some photos of the party. Prayers and good wishes for a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year! Peace,Christine Gebel OLM