CIRCULAR TO PARISHIONERS WEEK 55 - JUNE 18, 2005
PREACHING AND TEACHING
Do those who PREACH, TEACH by example? Here is an excerpt of an address given by Auxiliary Bishop
John Boissonneau: (The full text – published in “Catholic Trends”, a catholic news service - can be found
online at this link: www.dnu.org/news/newspaper/sept02/trends.html)
Auxiliary Bishop John Boissonneau of Toronto, Ontario, said in an address on priests: “Effective priests
will place a premium on being authentic, on being honest, on not just going through the motions." He
added that they will "want to tell it straight to their people, to themselves and even to their superiors."
The bishop said: "For them, being authentic also demands from them accountability. This
accountability is a corollary of collaborative ministry. The successful priests of this new millennium will
need to engage laity in many aspects of their lives and of the life of the parishes”.
Effective priests "will draw life from the people that they serve, and that in turn will inspire them to serve
those people better," Boissonneau said. He called this "a synergistic relationship, with the priests drawing
inspiration from the example that lay people set in their own lives”, and he said that priests will be "awed
by their role in people’s lives at the key moments of birth, marriage, death, sickness and suffering..."
He concluded, "because they will draw life from the people and because they have learned to listen to
them, these priests are particularly sensitive to people’s needs. Priesthood and their personal talents are
not for them but for others."
Could this be the same Bishop John Boissonneau? Read again, his two letters to St. Martin’s parishioners,
dated 23 June 2004 and 19 Feb 2005. Click on “Bishop’s Letter” tab, in www.saveourparish.com website.
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GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!
The Parish Sacrificial Giving promotion has gone into “hard sell” mode. So, what is it costing us?
Calculate the cost of mailing to 3,000 families (or more), plus the fee to the professional fundraising
agency.
How many thousands of dollars are being spent on this?
The Parish bulletin, for June 12th, 2005, had five items on “giving”:
• Sacrificial Giving,
• “…for God loves a cheerful giver!”
• “A King invited all his subjects to bring a small flask of wine…”
• “No one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed…”
• And a quote from the day’s Gospel in which Jesus entrusts the apostles with his mission, “you
received without payment; give without payment” - which actually negates the previous four points.
Whereas the apostles were instructed to “give without payment”, it has now become “Gimme, gimme,
gimme!”
This last quote introduced “Reflection”, the weekly homiletic segment in the Parish bulletin:
…in today’s Scripture there is a clear motif highlighting the need for leaders who care for their people.
The Church needs true shepherds. In Jesus’ lifetime there were many Pharisees who interpreted
Scripture strictly. Jesus complains that their attitudes placed a terrible burden on ordinary people. They
needed shepherds to help heal their alienation and to harvest their lives once again and return to the
community.
(Reading) this passage in Matthew is a good time to be reminded of the way in which our baptism makes
us into apostles who are to announce the good news of Jesus and be healers. We don’t have to be learned
theologians.
There are people today, who are now the “lost sheep”. Kindness and understanding will be the balm that
might heal their hurt and pain. For those who may suffer the pain of feeling alienated, reciting the rules and
regulations will bring few back to the arms of the church.
Amen!
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THIS IS WHERE I BELONG!
(Unsolicited letter received by “Save Our Parish"): 12 June 2005
I am writing this letter to speak my mind as my family is totally disgusted by the letter the parish sent us this
week. It was about SACRIFICIAL GIVING, with a very detailed table of family incomes and corresponding
% of donations.
I refused to use my donation envelopes since June last year and I never took out donation envelopes for
2005. I did this out of my own volition after hearing a lot of other unfortunate incidents in the parish.
Now the pastor has the audacity and nerve to send us this demanding letter because the parish coffers are
dwindling, I believe. He uses the pulpit to preach about charity in terms of money. Likewise, he continually
preaches about being religious, again in conjunction with the monetary obligation to the church.
Through all these, he imposes his absolute authority over the parish, dictating his terms and conditions. My
very first encounter with this pastor was when we requested for a house blessing when we first moved to
the parish. As all the family members are working (my husband, my two adult sons and I), we requested for
a Saturday date. He flatly denied us the chance, giving excuses about his supposedly numerous
appointments. Being raised and educated as a true Catholic,
I did not pursue. We are not naïve. So we invited a priest to bless the house who accepted and came on a
Saturday.
This was all done in good faith as every Catholic should, which I also expect the pastor to be.
I still believe in the saying that “anyone who is in need will do anything he can to…” This is precisely what
the pastor has done for the past four weeks. IN DEFIANCE, I AM NOT LEAVING THE PARISH
BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE I RIGHTFULLY BELONG.
Signed (Name provided, but withheld from publication)
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For more information, contact: Aisling Egan 416 671-4710
Pat DeAngelis 416 809-1819 Duncan Walker 905 277-9825
Lucy Pires 905 273-6093 Dunstan Bazely 905 275-3946
Judy Byrnes 905 275-1536 Patricia Russell 905 279-9205
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Email: bishop.boissonneau@rogers.com Fax: 416 207-4984.
ambrozic@archtoronto.org Fax: 416 934-3452.
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CARING AND SHARING
We care about our Parish. We encourage parishioners to visit our church to spend time in private prayer, to
pray that God will return us to a loving and unified community.
Stay focused on God’s will and live the Gospel. We care about, and care for, those in need.
Here are some charitable organizations worthy of our consideration:
1. Catholic Missions in Canada, 201-1155 Yonge St., Toronto, Ont. M4T 1W2
2. St. Vincent de Paul Society, 240 Church St., Toronto, Ont. M5B 1Z2
3. Birthright Mississauga, 307-2600 Edenhurst, Mississauga, Ont. L5A 3Z8
4. Dr. Simone’s Canadian Food for Children, 40 King George Rd. Toronto, ON M8X 1L3
5. Ian Anderson House, 430 Winston Churchill Blvd. Oakville, Ont. L6J 7X2
6. Solidarite-Sud (Haiti), c/o Maison Alonzo Wright, 2425A St-Louis St., Gatineau QC J8V 1E7
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