Saint of the Day - Martha
Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. He came to their home simply as a welcomed guest... (Luke 10:38-42)
The sisters feel free to call on Jesus at their brother’s death...(John 11)
Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death...‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’” >>more
Saint du jour - Marthe
...Jésus avait pour eux trois (Marthe, Marie, Lazare) la plus grande affection et elle était bien réciproque. Dans le récit fameux du repas (Lc 10, 38-42) pris chez eux et durant lequel Marthe se fâche contre sa sœur qui ne fait rien...
L’évangéliste se sert de cette scène familiale...pour véhiculer un message à son lecteur. Il existe plusieurs moyens de rencontrer le Seigneur
L’évangéliste se sert de cette scène familiale...pour véhiculer un message à son lecteur. Il existe plusieurs moyens de rencontrer le Seigneur
...il ressuscite son ami (Jn 11). Ce signe accompli annonce une réalité bien plus grande qui concernera toute la famille humaine...Jésus est ami des hommes et la résurrection est promise à tous.
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Ce nouveau prêtrel célèbre la messe pour sa grand-mère de 98 ans
Tout juste ordonné prêtre pour le diocèse de Richmond (États-Unis), le père Anthony Ferguson a ému des milliers d’internautes en publiant sur Twitter une photo de la messe qu’il a célébré pour sa grand-mère… derrière une vitre. >>Lire la suite
Tout juste ordonné prêtre, il célèbre la messe pour sa grand-mère de 98 ans
Tout juste ordonné prêtre pour le diocèse de Richmond (États-Unis), le père Anthony Ferguson a ému des milliers d’internautes en publiant sur Twitter une photo de la messe qu’il a célébré pour sa grand-mère… derrière une vitre.
“Joy is a net of love by which we catch souls.”
Interpellation du cardinal Lacroix
aux autorités publiques du Québec
Dimanche dernier, le cardinal Lacroix a prononcé un discours inspirant à la suite de la messe à Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré. Voici quelques extraits. Veuillez cliquer ici pour lire le texte au complet.Cela vaut vraiment la peine. Il dit ce que beaucoup d’entre nous ont sans doute ressenti au cours de ces quatre derniers mois.
You can find the full English text as translated at the bottom of this Flocknote.
...Nous avons été de bons joueurs, souhaitant faire notre part pour le bien de la société et collaborer à l’effort collectif en temps de crise...Malheureusement, nous devons constater qu’il y a eu peu ou pas de reconnaissance de tous ces efforts. Les communautés de foi, quelles qu’elles soient, ne semblent pas retenir l’attention de nos élus ni des autorités de la Santé publique
...après les phases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 et 6, apparaissent dans l’item Phases ultérieures « les lieux de culte » au même titre que les bars et les croisières. À mon humble avis, cela est nettement décevant...Alors que la vente d’alcool et de cannabis a été jugée un service essentiel tout au long de la pandémie, les communautés de foi, que nous pouvons certainement considérer un service essentiel à la communauté, ont été pratiquement ignorées. Même les casinos ont obtenu avant nous le droit d’accueillir 250 personnes, dans des lieux pourtant bien plus petits que nos églises. Rien à comprendre !
Nous avons le droit d’être considérés avec respect et non ignorés ou relégués à l’item VARIA...N’abusez pas de notre patience et cessez d’ignorer notre existence et notre sens des responsabilités.
Notre participation à bâtir le Québec n’est pas négligeable. Nous sommes fiers de notre contribution et nous n’avons aucunement l’intention de nous retrancher dans nos sacristies...
Gérald C. Cardinal Lacroix
Archevêque de Québec
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, le 26 juillet 2020
Declaration by Cardinal Lacroix
Archbishop of Quebec
The situation we have been experiencing since March has not been easy, for you and for us. No one foresaw such a pandemic and no one had a plan in hand to respond. We developed one as the circumstances arose. We have all done our best to protect the health of the faithful, of clergy, and of collaborators in the various sectors of the life of our Church.
This forced us to make difficult and demanding decisions. I am aware that the closure of our places of worship and the cancellation of group pastoral activities has upset many people. Being deprived of the Eucharistic celebration, of communion and of the other sacraments for almost four months was very painful, as much for the faithful as for the pastors and the pastoral teams.
Many of you questioned the commitment of the bishops of Quebec throughout this pandemic: "What are our bishops doing? Are they in dialogue with the public health authorities and the Government of Quebec in order to assert our needs and ensure that believers are taken into account?"
I can assure you that, from the first hours of this pandemic, the Catholic bishops of Quebec made great efforts to enter into dialogue with the authorities of Quebec. It was very difficult to make ourselves heard.
We took the initiative to bring together leaders of other faith communities: Catholics, Anglicans, Evangelical Christians, Jews and Muslims, to reflect together and to let the public health authorities and the Government of Quebec know that we wanted to collaborate by transmitting to our faithful the instructions so that this would virus spread as little as possible. From the start - and throughout the past few months - we have been cooperative players, willing to do our part for the good of society and collaborate in the collective effort in this time of crisis. We needed to be united and we have been.
Sadly, we have to see that there has been little or no recognition for all of these efforts. Faith communities, whoever they are, do not seem to have the attention of our elected officials or public health authorities. It leaves me with the impression that the government authorities do not take us seriously and want to ignore our existence.
At no time have we succeeded in establishing a frank and direct dialogue with government and public health officials. Our contact has been continuously limited to third parties. We have worked and submitted protocols for the eventual lifting of the lock down. We learned from third parties that these protocols were well prepared and detailed, but never an official statement announcing that they had been accepted.
On two occasions, during press conferences with the Premier and the director of public health, it took questions from journalists to find out what was happening with respect of places of worship. It was only in this way that we were able to get, in a trickle fashion, some partial information about us. In the protocols published on May 25th by the Quebec Government, we learned that after the preliminary phase, after phases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, "places of worship" finally appear in the item "Subsequent Phases". We have been lumped in with bars and cruises. In my humble opinion, this is grossly disappointing.
That we are prevented from celebrating Christian funerals in our large churches, while funeral homes were able to quickly offer funeral rites in their small buildings, is incomprehensible. It’s like there are two standards. Despite our protests, the authorities have always ignored to this reality.
While the sale of alcohol and cannabis has been deemed an essential service throughout the pandemic, communities of faith, which we certainly consider an essential service to the community, have been largely ignored. Even the casinos won the right to accommodate 250 people before us, and in places much smaller than our churches. Unbelievable!
Spiritual needs are an integral part of human life for those who are inclined - and there are still many in Quebec; all of these people deserve to be treated with respect, to be considered by their government. Our communities of faith are not just places to pray. They are also places of support and mutual aid at the social, family and human level.
The timidity with which our government avoids any open and calm dialogue with those responsible for faith communities does not bode well for the good of Quebec society. Understand that we are not claiming any special status from the government. Believers are full citizens, women and men involved in all sectors of human life in this Quebec that we all love. We have the right to be treated with respect and not ignored or relegated to VARIA.
To this day, we still have to negotiate week to week with the authorities as they try to impose restrictions on us that are unreasonable.
Here, as in all our places of worship, teams have worked very hard to put in place the necessary measures to respect as much as possible the washing of hands, the wearing of a mask, the two metres distance, the continual cleaning between the celebrations. I am very proud of the serious work that our teams have done.
But, please, allow us to breathe! We have proven ourselves. For the past four months, we have been very good collaborators. Do not abuse our patience and stop ignoring our existence and our sense of responsibility.
Excuse these rather long words on the feast of Saint Anne. But I wanted you to know that the bishops were and are very active and committed, on your behalf, on behalf of all faith communities in Quebec. This is our responsibility as pastors and we want to fulfill it. Just because we haven't yet made our voices satisfactorily heard doesn't mean we're going to give up. It is not only for the good of our Catholic community, but also of all faith communities and the living together as one Quebec people.
After 400 years of commitment and collaboration to build this country, it is not fair that faith communities are treated like this. Our participation in building Quebec is not negligible. We are proud of our contribution and we have no intention of retreating into our sacristies. The mission of the Church is at the heart of society; it is there that the disciples of Jesus must bear witness to the faith which animates them and allows them to live, to be alongside their brothers and sisters, believers and non-believers, collaborators, collaborators for the future of our country.
The state is secular, but society is not! In our dear Quebec, believers and non-believers live together. Everyone must be respected because everyone has the right to their place. Brothers and sisters, count on us to continue to seek ways of dialogue. It is the most promising way to continue the journey together, in harmony, respect and peace.
This forced us to make difficult and demanding decisions. I am aware that the closure of our places of worship and the cancellation of group pastoral activities has upset many people. Being deprived of the Eucharistic celebration, of communion and of the other sacraments for almost four months was very painful, as much for the faithful as for the pastors and the pastoral teams.
Many of you questioned the commitment of the bishops of Quebec throughout this pandemic: "What are our bishops doing? Are they in dialogue with the public health authorities and the Government of Quebec in order to assert our needs and ensure that believers are taken into account?"
I can assure you that, from the first hours of this pandemic, the Catholic bishops of Quebec made great efforts to enter into dialogue with the authorities of Quebec. It was very difficult to make ourselves heard.
We took the initiative to bring together leaders of other faith communities: Catholics, Anglicans, Evangelical Christians, Jews and Muslims, to reflect together and to let the public health authorities and the Government of Quebec know that we wanted to collaborate by transmitting to our faithful the instructions so that this would virus spread as little as possible. From the start - and throughout the past few months - we have been cooperative players, willing to do our part for the good of society and collaborate in the collective effort in this time of crisis. We needed to be united and we have been.
Sadly, we have to see that there has been little or no recognition for all of these efforts. Faith communities, whoever they are, do not seem to have the attention of our elected officials or public health authorities. It leaves me with the impression that the government authorities do not take us seriously and want to ignore our existence.
At no time have we succeeded in establishing a frank and direct dialogue with government and public health officials. Our contact has been continuously limited to third parties. We have worked and submitted protocols for the eventual lifting of the lock down. We learned from third parties that these protocols were well prepared and detailed, but never an official statement announcing that they had been accepted.
On two occasions, during press conferences with the Premier and the director of public health, it took questions from journalists to find out what was happening with respect of places of worship. It was only in this way that we were able to get, in a trickle fashion, some partial information about us. In the protocols published on May 25th by the Quebec Government, we learned that after the preliminary phase, after phases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, "places of worship" finally appear in the item "Subsequent Phases". We have been lumped in with bars and cruises. In my humble opinion, this is grossly disappointing.
That we are prevented from celebrating Christian funerals in our large churches, while funeral homes were able to quickly offer funeral rites in their small buildings, is incomprehensible. It’s like there are two standards. Despite our protests, the authorities have always ignored to this reality.
While the sale of alcohol and cannabis has been deemed an essential service throughout the pandemic, communities of faith, which we certainly consider an essential service to the community, have been largely ignored. Even the casinos won the right to accommodate 250 people before us, and in places much smaller than our churches. Unbelievable!
Spiritual needs are an integral part of human life for those who are inclined - and there are still many in Quebec; all of these people deserve to be treated with respect, to be considered by their government. Our communities of faith are not just places to pray. They are also places of support and mutual aid at the social, family and human level.
The timidity with which our government avoids any open and calm dialogue with those responsible for faith communities does not bode well for the good of Quebec society. Understand that we are not claiming any special status from the government. Believers are full citizens, women and men involved in all sectors of human life in this Quebec that we all love. We have the right to be treated with respect and not ignored or relegated to VARIA.
To this day, we still have to negotiate week to week with the authorities as they try to impose restrictions on us that are unreasonable.
Here, as in all our places of worship, teams have worked very hard to put in place the necessary measures to respect as much as possible the washing of hands, the wearing of a mask, the two metres distance, the continual cleaning between the celebrations. I am very proud of the serious work that our teams have done.
But, please, allow us to breathe! We have proven ourselves. For the past four months, we have been very good collaborators. Do not abuse our patience and stop ignoring our existence and our sense of responsibility.
Excuse these rather long words on the feast of Saint Anne. But I wanted you to know that the bishops were and are very active and committed, on your behalf, on behalf of all faith communities in Quebec. This is our responsibility as pastors and we want to fulfill it. Just because we haven't yet made our voices satisfactorily heard doesn't mean we're going to give up. It is not only for the good of our Catholic community, but also of all faith communities and the living together as one Quebec people.
After 400 years of commitment and collaboration to build this country, it is not fair that faith communities are treated like this. Our participation in building Quebec is not negligible. We are proud of our contribution and we have no intention of retreating into our sacristies. The mission of the Church is at the heart of society; it is there that the disciples of Jesus must bear witness to the faith which animates them and allows them to live, to be alongside their brothers and sisters, believers and non-believers, collaborators, collaborators for the future of our country.
The state is secular, but society is not! In our dear Quebec, believers and non-believers live together. Everyone must be respected because everyone has the right to their place. Brothers and sisters, count on us to continue to seek ways of dialogue. It is the most promising way to continue the journey together, in harmony, respect and peace.
Gérald C. Cardinal Lacroix
Archbishop of Quebec