It's no secret that church communities are looking "outside the box" for ways to accommodate the needs of its congregations. An interesting story the last few days has emerged out of the Diocese of Orange, California, with the diocese putting in a formal bid to purchase the Rev. Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral.
Whether you're a person of faith or not, you'd be hard pressed not to have seen some of the "Hour of Power" broadcasts that began in 1970. The "Crystal Cathedral", with its glass walls and ceiling was dedicated in September of 1980. About a year ago, word came down that the Crystal Cathedral was seeking bankruptcy protection after a contentious transition in leadership since Rev. Shuller retired a few years back.
Enter the Diocese of Orange and Bishop Tod Brown. In a recent statement on their website, the diocese explained its rationale in exploring the unique option, billed as a "lay inspired effort to seek a pragmatic alternative to construction of a new cathedral":
"With interest and concern, Bishop Brown has followed the news of the ongoing Crystal Cathedral Ministries (CCM) bankruptcy proceedings and is concerned for the future of the landmark church remaining a functional part of the liturgical landscape for the region. The Diocese of Orange does not currently have an adequate cathedral to meet the needs of its 1.2 million Catholics in Orange County, the 11th largest diocese in the nation. "While we continue to develop plans for a cathedral in Santa Ana, it is prudent to evaluate the opportunity to engage in the pending auction of this property and to mitigate the chance that it cease to function as a place of worship, if acquired by others," says Bishop Brown."
Since expressing initial interest, this past week the diocese stepped up to the plate, literally with an offer of $50 million. In addition to the church structure, the diocese is also exploring the possibility of shifting its diocesan operations to the campus. Additional offers have come so it will be interesting to see how neogtiations unfold.
The diocese estimates the cost of a new cathedral to be well over $100 million. Crystal Cathedral Ministries is still operating so that throws a whole other set of considerations (and emotions) into the mix.
We've heard of Catholic dioceses selling properties in the past - this is an interesting role reversal that will no doubt prompt plenty of attention across the continent in the days to come.
Sad news this week out of the Diocese of Timmins, Ontariowhere Bishop Paul Marchand passed away at the age of 74. On the cusp of retiring, a period of his life he often spoke of looking forward to with great joy, sadly the late bishop won't be able to enjoy that retirement with family and friends yet we take comfort in knowing he has moved on to his eternal reward.
The late bishop has connections to the Archdiocese of Toronto, his birthplace being Lafontaine, Ontario, a francophone community that is one of the northern most points of our Archdiocese, with some of the bishop's family still residing there.
Bishop Marchand was a priest of the Montfortain Fathers (S.M.M.), known for their work in preaching especially through parish retreats. It was a similar environment where Bishop Marchand spent his last hours.
Having celebrated mass at a Montfortain summer camp near Montreal, Sunday morning, organizers were concerned when the bishop didn't arrive for lunch. They checked on him in his room where he was peacefully laying on his bed, having been called home to God.
A bishop whose last formal act was celebrating the Eucharist - one might say that it was a most fitting bookend to a life of service and ministry.
Bishop Marchand was the former Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa, first named to the episcopate in 1993. After serving almost six years in Ottawa, he was named the 6th bishop of Timmins in 1999.
The late bishop faced some tough challenges in a diocese that saw many of its people moving out of the community, decreased attendance at parishes and a reduction in the number of vocations. In an interview shortly after his arrival in Timmins he spoke of the challenges facing the church and the need for the Catholic community to join together in their common mission: "We won't ever come back to that, two or three priests per parish," he said. "We don't want to abolish parishes but we will have to work differently with less priests ... I compare the church to a boat. The boat is floating in quite a storm, with things the way they are nowadays, and we must learn how to row the boat together — we must take into account the person in front of us and the person behind us. To do what we have to do, we must row together."
Despite his hope and prayer to not have to consolidate parishes, in 2003, after much anguish, Bishop Marchand made the difficult decision to close five churches. Yet he will be remembered for his peaceful nature and tremendous love of the church, having served one year shy of his golden anniversary (50 years) in the priesthood.
The bishop's funeral will take place noon Friday, July 29 at St. Anthony's Cathedral in Timmins. The wake takes place in the same location Thursday from 2-9 p.m. and Friday morning 10 a.m. to noon.
In his boat, guiding the way and encouraging all to pull together, we offer our prayers and thanks for this captain of the ship. May he be surrounded by calm waters for all of eternity.
The summer months bring with it the opportunity for many to get a little rest and relaxation, stepping away from work to enjoy some family time, a vacation away or even a "staycation".
If you're looking for an experience of service to add to your summer agenda, consider the annual Street Patrol. Since 1995, young people and the young at heart have been faithfully making the rounds in Toronto's downtown core, bringing food and fellowship to Toronto's homeless. The program is spear-headed by Lucio Abbruzzese, a young teacher who has dedicated literally thousands of hours to serving the marginalized.
Lucio gathers with groups at St. Patrick's Parish (Dundas & McCaul St.) each Wednesday in the summer months. The evenings start at home or a friend's house where you'll prepare sandwiches - peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese or other favourite delicacy, packing the prepared morsels along with box drinks, fruit and perhaps some cookies. Then small groups of volunteers make their way on predetermined routes to offer a kind word and the fruits of their labour to those who call the street home.
I happened to be on the first Street Patrol that Lucio went on back in 1995. I can still recall asking him afterwards, "How did it go?" as we were on separate routes that evening? A sombre Lucio seeemed disappointed and recounted how his sandwiches didn't excactly receive a rousing endorsement? Giving of his time and talent, Lucio offered one of his first sandwiches to a homeless man who took one bite and promptly spit the contents onto the road with a few **##@* directed in Lucio's direction.
The seminarian stepped in and promptly rebuked the homeless man saying, "Here's a young guy who's made sandwiches and offering them to you out of the goodness of his heart. That's no way to say thank you."
Walking away the seminarian and Lucio had a chance to converse.
Seminarian: "Sorry about that Lucio, don't think this is always the case. Most people are appreciative of what we do. By the way what kind of sandwiches did you make?"
Lucio: "Eggplant. And it was fresh from the garden."
Seminarian: "Next time you may want to go with ham and cheese."
And so began a journey that has continued for more than 25 years for Lucio and friends who have traversed the downtown core faithfully to serve the least of our brothers and sisters.
If you're interested in experiencing the Street Patrol, you can view all the information, frequently asked questions and other pertinent details online here. The ministry runs during the summer months every Wednesday evening and periodically at other times throughout the year.
Thanks to Lucio and all who continue to give of their time and talent, quietly and without fanfare to make a difference in our Archdiocese. May God bless them and their important work.
The hands and feet of Christ are taking to the streets of Toronto this summer. Will you join them?
For those who often suggest that the Vatican isn't using modern technology to communicate to the flock, consider this: over the past week, we've seen the Holy Father sending his first tweet (using an IPad no less), a news portal with all things Vatican has been launched and feedback continues to roll in from the Vatican's recent meeting with bloggers. Not too shabby.
If you'd like to get your daily Catholic fix direct from Rome, then be sure to bookmark news.va which brings together content from L'Osservatore Roman, Vatican Radio, Vatican Television, the Vatican Press Office and the missionary news agency Fides. It also links to social media tools like YouTube and Flickr - in other words, you'll want to bookmark this one. Since the launch, more than 70,000 folks on Twitter have signed on to "follow" the tweets from the news portal.
The Vatican continues to recognize the need to expand its reach into the world of new communication technologies, playing catch up but at the same time devoting extensive resources to bringing together the "voice" of the official church in one space. Of course people can still access the traditional Vatican website www.vatican.va which contains hundreds of thousands of pages of information in many different languages.
While Pope Benedict has made his way to Castel Gandolfo for his summer vacation, he'll need to rest up for what is gearing up to be a huge gathering in Spain for World Youth Day this August. For those not familiar with Vatican business, things essentially shut down in August in Rome. The heat forces folks to the ocean to cool off and you won't see a daily press office transmission unless there's breaking news or it's part of communication around World Youth Day.
Speaking of World Youth Day and social media, just a few days ago, the WYD office launched an ambitious initiative to get 1 million followers on social media engaged in WYD celebrations. At 317,000 there's an already impressive number of people tracking the latest with just about a month to go before things officially get underway.
This will most certainly be the most social media friendly WYD's of all time, allowing people to stop in virtually and experience events through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other relevant tools.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have a young person shadow the Pontiff throughout his travels, tweeting or filming small vignettes of some of those "unplugged" moments with the Holy Father? You just never know how things will unfold...
Meanwhile, courtesy of news.va if you want to see the Pope on his first day of vacation, click below. Rest up Holy Father, Spain is gearing up for a celebration like no other!!
For those who are interested in learning more about the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), the Archdiocese has just released details on the diocesan pilgrimage for those who want to make their way to the Emerald Isle in June of next year.
120 spaces have been reserved for our Archdiocese with two packages offered, one which is for the duration of the Congress and a second which includes an additional week to tour religious and historical sights.
You can access all the details on a newly created mini-website which can be found here.
Archbishop Collins will also be hosting pre and post IEC gatherings in Toronto for all local pilgrims attending the IEC.
Many will remember the historic days that took place in Quebec City just a few years ago, a week filled with lots of rain but baptismal in that many found a renewed appreciation and love of their faith.
For more info on the IEC events, background info and prayer resources leading up to the celebration, you can check it all out on the official 2012 IEC website here.
Deadline for the Archdiocesan pilgrimage (registration and first deposit) is November 1, 2011.
Fr. Pat O'Dea, pastor of St. Marguerite D'Youville Parish (Brampton) is heading up the team organizing the 2012 IECE events. Fr. Pat is a veteran of World Youth Days and the 2008 IEC among other experiences.
To all those who are involved in the preparation of the 2012 IEC, we offer our prayers and best wishes - planning such a massive undertaking is no easy feat. To the three patron saints of the IEC, St Columbanus, St. Mary MacKillop and Blessed Margaret Ball, help us along the way as another pilgrimage begins...
It's no secret that church communities are looking "outside the box" for ways to accommodate the needs of its congregations. An interesting story the last few days has emerged out of the Diocese of Orange, California, with the diocese putting in a formal bid to purchase the Rev. Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral.
