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Tomorrow I will fly to Montréal, Canada for two meetings. The first, and the primary purpose of this trip, is the annual meeting of the religious conferences of the Americas. Each year one of the conferences acts as host, and this year’s honors fall to the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC). In addition to CMSM (Conference of Major Superiors of Men) and LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) we will be joined by CLAR (Conference of Latin American Religious).  Both Canada and Latin America have one conference each that represents both men and women religious; though it would be more proper to say CLAR actually represents the individual religious conferences of the countries that make up Latin America.

As I understand it the US model of separate conferences for men and women religious is not followed in much of the rest of the world. Actually, for historical reasons, there are now two conferences representing women religious in addition to LCWR, there is also the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR). However, this group will not be participating in our gathering next week.

Besides the usual reports of what is going on in each of the respective conferences, and religious life in general, I suspect much of our time will deal with the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, and the response of religious to that tragic event and what needs to be done as we move forward. To a lesser degree the same questions may be raised about Chile, though the earthquake that struck there did not have the same impact given the poverty of Haiti.

Following this gathering I will also attend most of the Canadian Religious Assembly that will run from May 27 – 31. Their theme this year is Seize for God the energies of love; choose to live the vowed life. The keynote speakers will be Fr. Sidbe Sempore, OP, and Sister Elaine M. Prevallet, SL.

I am actually going to Canada a few days early to give me an opportunity to spend time with our SCJ brothers in Montréal. We have a community house on Boul. Gouin est that I know very well. During my 12 years on the general council I would make annual visits to the community. For most of that time it was the French Canadian Province, but in June of 2002 they merged with the English Canadian Province to form the SCJ Region of Canada.

Boul. Gouin runs along one of the rivers that make Montréal an island city. At present the Montréal SCJ community has seven members. Several of them are retired including Fr. Reinier van Leeuwen, SCJ, who served for many years in Indonesia. Originally from Holland, he found Canada to his liking when it came time to retire given its large number of Dutch SCJs who first came to Canada after World War II to assist the Dutch immigrants moving to Canada.

While Dutch SCJs are responsible for our current presence in Canada, and the Germans for the United States, this June the Canadian SCJs will host the 100th anniversary celebration of the arrival of SCJs to North America. Fr. Dehon, our founder, sent several French-speaking SCJs to the great plains of Alberta to minister to French Speaking Canadians who had migrated west from Quebec.

During his studies in Rome, Fr. Dehon met a number of North American seminarians, including Louis Nazaire Bégin, who later became archbishop of Quebec City, and Emile Legal, who in 1902, was named bishop of St. Albert in Alberta.

Fr. Dehon was looking for new apostolates and through his on-going correspondence with these friends in Canada, he began to explore the possibility of a presence there.

In 1910  Fr. Dehon sent four SCJs to Alberta and was given pastoral charge of Wainwright, a village on the edge of the Diocese of St. Albert near the Saskatchewan border.  Shortly after their arrival, the founder visited Canada on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress of Montreal.

Gradually, SCJs took up ministries on various points along the railroad, from Edmunton to the Saskatchewan border.

These first SCJs in North America ministered primarily to French-speaking Catholics.  As the face of western Canada changed, ministry to the French-speaking diminished.  In 1940, the SCJ presence in western Canada ended and the congregation’s focus moved to Ontario and Quebec.

The celebration date is set for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 11th, in Ottawa. Why Ottawa? It is the current headquarters for Canadian SCJs with Fr. William Marrevee, SCJ, the current regional superior. I will return to Canada to participate in the celebration. That visit will be short as the US SCJs will be getting ready to hold their election assembly starting on Monday, June 14th.

Originally from the U.S. Province, Fr. Tom Fix, SCJ, has been a missionary in Asia for most of his priesthood.  Now a member of the Indonesian Province, he often works for extended periods of time with the formation program in India.  He wrote the following from Jakarta:

Fr. Tom Fix, SCJ

I have been back in Indonesia now for three weeks, during which time I took six days to visit Palembang.  They still have a room with my shingle on it at St. Paul’s Minor Seminary — with air conditioning — so that’s where I stayed, starting May 2.

The day after I got to St. Paul’s there was a Mass for all the teachers and other employees serving in our numerous Catholic schools in Palembang. Some 800 people were in attendance.  This was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me since I had held various positions as a teacher, a moderator, even as rector, within the archdiocese.  Besides Archbishop Sudarso’s fine homily, there were other speeches given after the Mass, one of which, given by Fr. Frido, SCJ, head of Catholic schools, reminded the teachers to maintain our Catholic identity by opening and closing classes with prayer, which applies in all levels from kindergarten up through high school.  And college!  We have a budding school of higher education called MUSI that recently got the government go-ahead to be listed as a university. Fr. John Samiran, SCJ, is the new rector.  Affiliated with MUSI is a nursing school run by the Franciscan Sisters of Charity, who also run two hospitals in Palembang.

So right away I got to touch base with old friends and co-workers.  In the evening there was the monthly recollection for all the clergy in town.  This continued into the next morning at a local retreat house. Fr. Agus Setyoaji, SCJ, gave the conference, titled “The Priest and the Eucharistic Liturgy.”  Fr. Agus has a master’s degree in liturgy, which he got in Manila a few years ago.

On another afternoon I decided to get some exercise and so walked to several shops in the heart of the shopping area, where I hoped to pick up a few birthday cards.  It took me three stops to find a place, which just goes to show that people tend to create their own cards on the computer these days, or just send a greeting by e-mail. What we old timers grew used to isn’t so available anymore.

The one-hour flight back to Jakarta was without a hitch until I began waiting for the carousel to deliver my checked baggage.  This was around noon on Friday.  We waited an hour!  It was prayer time in all the mosques and apparently the devout personnel who hoist baggage felt their priority was to do devotions!  But my bag arrived safely anyway, which is the main thing.

The good people who came to meet me had me out to lunch before delivering me to a kind of temporary assignment — helping out in one of our three SCJ parishes — the one called “Apostle Barnabas,” located in the county of Pamulang and the township of “Pondok Cabe” which, translated, means “chili pepper cottages.”  The church complex is located only a hundred yards from a busy intersection called “Simpang Gaplek,” which translated means “dried tapioca root junction.” Fr. Puryanto, SCJ, is pastor here, with Fr. Jozef Kurkowski, SCJ, as his only assistant since Fr. Suryadi, SCJ, the other assistant,  recently left for year-long studies in Rome.  They have a beautiful setup here.  There is a new church that was dedicated only last November, with a capacity of 1,500 people.  The parish membership goes to more than 2,000 families.  All the motorbikes are parked in the basement, while cars can park in a lot that must be half the size of a football field.

My schedule is open until mid-June, when I intend to apply for my next visa to India..  Before then I hope to visit our novitiate in Gisting and our scholasticate in Yogya.

Fr. Tom Fix, SCJ

I begin this some where south of Iceland with just under five hours left in my flight from Rome. It came as a surprise to find a fair number of empty seats on this flight. I am blest with two seats next to the window on our 767. Today’s flying time from Rome to Newark will take just over nine hours. That is more or less normal for this flight as we tend to fly against the wind when headed west. I also notice our flight path is back to normal now that the volcano, about 600 miles north of us, is belching less ash and not disrupting flights to, from and around Europe.

Our Vatican visits ended yesterday with one to the Congregation for the Clergy at 09:00 and a joint meeting with LCWR at 11:00 to Oriental Churches. Both meetings were very interesting and gave us much food for thought.

The Congregation for the Clergy has greater dealings with diocesan clergy, but since so many men religious are also ordained, there is much overlapping interest. Thanks to our dialogue and the perceptive questions of His Eminence Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, OFM, we will have some areas to look at when we begin the next revision of our Instruments of Hope and Healing.

The same can be said about our visit with the new secretary at Oriental Churches. It was interesting to hear about religious life coming out of the Oriental traditions. Since many of the Eastern Churches were under Communist rule, religious life suffered greatly, and is still recovering from this difficult period. This is an area the monastic communities of CMSM may better understand as religious life in the East certainly comes out of the monastic tradition.

Since we had the afternoon free I took the opportunity to visit our generalate one more time. I arrived just in time for pranzo (the main meal of the day). I was joined by Fr. David Szatkowski, scj, who is finishing up his doctoral program in Canon Law at The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. David will return to the States in June and begin teaching at Sacred Heart School of Theology this fall.  David will also become our official province canonical expert. Actually, he has proven helpful numerous times since first earning his license (STL) around the time I became provincial.

Fr. Francis Vu Tran, scj, missed pranzo due to his language school lessons, but joined us shortly after we had finished eating. Francis will begin studying Biblical Theology this fall at The Pontifical Gregorian University. He arrived in Rome about a week ago and will use this time to continue his Italian lessons that he began last summer at Perugia to be ready for the fall semester.

There are a number of SCJs in house getting ready for the formation program the congregation will run during the 2010-2011 academic year. Since the course will be taught in Italian it is necessary for some to come now to pick up the language. I met about four or five SCJs from Asia who left this week for Perugia where many (including myself) first begin their language studies. To this day I have fond memories of my time in this ancient city in the heart of Umbria — still my favorite part of Italy.

After taking advantage of the house washing machines to wash a week’s worth of dirty laundry I headed back to Domus Carmelitana. Our last evening in Rome was in search for that elusive best pizza al forgo (pizza made in a wood burning oven). Although the service left something to be desired the consensus was pretty good pizza, and so the search will  go on the next visit to la Bella Citta.

Now that would be a great way to end this blog, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention Monday evening’s reception sponsored by CMSM and LCWR. Thanks to the Conventual Franciscans of Rome we were inside Vatican City at the College of Confessors at St. Peter’s Basilica where Friars who serve as confessors at St. Peter’s live. This photo of their community house does little justice to the beauty of the roof top and it’s view of St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as the Vatican gardens, that helped form the back drop on a warm pleasant late April Roman evening.

So now I fly back just in time to preside tomorrow at Sacred Heart School of Theology graduation ceremony. It is always a bittersweet moment. On the one hand you are proud and pleased to watch men receive their degrees while at the same time you say good-bye to men you’ve come to know so well. I know some came four years ago filled with doubt if they could really make the grade. And now we say good-bye as many prepare for their ordinations and the dream of serving as a minister of the Gospel. We wish them Godspeed and realize that in a few months the cycle will begin again!

Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, from 37,000 feet

Yesterday morning we had a late start to our meetings with the first one scheduled for 10:45 AM with the Congregation for Catholic Education. With all that time on my hands it was a perfect opportunity to do my walk after breakfast rather than in the afternoon as has been my normal routine here in Rome. During my 12 years living here I found many interesting walks covering different parts of the city. In spring one of the most beautiful spots to visit are the Spanish Steps. From our hotel on Via Alberico II (about a half a mile from St. Peter’s) to the Spanish Steps takes about 35 to 40 minutes, depending on both traffic and the number of tourists.

The Spanish Steps in Rome

I say tourists as they often come in groups, and groups tend to take up the entire sidewalk. I often looked for side streets not frequented by groups so I could keep up my pace. As you can see from this photo the Steps are all decked out with flowers. As I was here at about 8:15 AM it was still quiet but later in the day the place will be mobbed and lots of people will be sitting on the steps. It’s one of the places to see and be seen.

Our meeting at Catholic Education was actually pushed up by half an hour to accommodate the staff as they were going to attend a memorial Mass for Cardinal Grocholewski’s brother who died recently. We were not scheduled to meet with the cardinal but with Archbishop Brugués, secretary of the congregation. We had  an engaging conversation on various topics. It was good we had both Br. Frank Carr, FSC, and Tom Smolich, SJ, with us as much of the conversation centered on higher education and as the US Jesuits run 28 universities and the DeLassalle Brothers three we were well covered on this topic.

Later in the day we had two meetings going on at about the same time so we split our presence at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council on the Family. The later was the first time LCWR and CMSM met with this council. I attended the meeting at CDF along with Tom Smolich, SJ, and Paul Linninger, Conv. OFM.

Today is our last day in Rome, and we have two meetings scheduled this morning. First  with the Congregation for the Clergy and then we will end our visits at Oriental Churches. With the afternoon free I am going to go to our generalate for pranzo and a meeting with Fr. Ornelas, our superior general. It will also afford me the opportunity to do my laundry. I will return to Domus Carmelitana this evening for our final debriefing. In the morning we will begin the long journey home. I will try to write one final reflection on the flight home. I’ll certainly have enough time. I am scheduled to leave Rome’s Fumacino airport at 10:45 a.m., and after changing planes in Newark arrive in Chicago around 4:30 p/m/ local time. I’ll then try to catch the next bus to Milwaukee and hope to be home by 8:00 p.m. Add seven hours to the local time in Milwaukee and you’ll have an idea of the length of my day.

Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, provincial superior

A reminder, Fr. Tom Cassidy, provincial superior, is writing from Rome, where he is attending to meetings in his role as president of CMSM (Conference of Major Superiors of Men).

Dn. Pablo Minamres Barbero of the Spanish Province

It is now Sunday morning in Rome and I am preparing to take a bus later this morning to our generalate to attend the deacon ordination of Pablo Minambres Barbero, scj, from Spain. Deacon ordinations at our generalate are a bit rare as most of the students are priests working on advanced degrees. Pedro completed his theological studies in Spain and is working on a doctoral degree from the Gregorian University.

I am able to attend the ordination and celebration to follow since this is Sunday and all Vatican offices are closed. That is not the case on Saturday as weekends do not begin until 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoons. That gave us the opportunity to visit the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) at 9:00 AM and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum at 11:30 AM.

It would be safe to say CICLSAL is the most important discastre we visit as it is responsible for religious life in the Vatican scheme of governmental organization. It is currently headed by his Eminence Frank Cardinal Rodé. We were slotted for an hour and-a-half, and it would be safe to say the time flew as we had many topics to cover in reporting on the activities of CMSM and its members. Since, by its mandate, CMSM represents all pontifical male religious in the United States, that covers a wide spectrum from contemplative and monastic communities to communities of apostolic life.

Dn. Pablo's ordination at the SCJ Generalate, which Fr. Tom attended on April 25.

Hank Lemoncelli, OMI, chaired our meeting. Hank has been very helpful to CMSM as an American attaché to the Secretary. In addition to being helpful in preparing the agenda and seeing to it that we were able to stay on topic and cover all the material, as someone living in Rome he steered us to a great restaurant for pranzo (the noon meal) to mark the conclusion of our encounter and for all the start of il weekend for all.

Since LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) were following us at CICLSAL at 11:00 AM after our coffee break together, those of us from CMSM headed down the street to meet with his Eminence Joseph Paul Cardinal Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

Although we had met with Cor Unum last year this was my first opportunity to meet with Cardinal Cordes as he was out of Rome last year. He gave us an overview of the activities of Cor Unum. Though it does distribute small amounts of money to projects around the world the Cardinal clearly indicated the task of his council is to give a theological and philosophical foundation to the works of charity. He was also very complimentary to the works of religious communities around the world in aiding the poor.

One of the challenges for all is the fact that with less religious men and women involved in these activities, and the increase lay participation, how does one preserve the theological and philosophical underpinnings to the works of charity so that is not just a job?

Cardinal Cordes shared with us two books he has recently published on, on priests, in honor of the year of the priest, and another directly related to the activities of his pontifical council, Where Are The Helpers:

On December 25, 2005, Pope Benedict CVI published ‘Deus caritas set’ (“God is Love”), the first Encyclical of his papacy. In Part I, Benedict CVI analyzes human and divine love in terms of eros and agape; presenting love as a fundamental force, Benedict argues that in the Christian, biblical understanding, love is a single reality with many dimensions. He declares to the world that ‘the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others’ also carries cultural, political, and legal implications, arising from the fact that ‘love of God and love of neighbor’ are ‘inseparable’ and form a single commandment.

Caritas, the ‘practice’ of love of neighbor, is the teem of the second part of the Encyclical. As Cardinal Cordes explains, ‘the Encyclical represents the magna cart a of our work: to orient and to inspire the charitable work of the Catholic church.’ In this volume, Cardinal Cordes offes his own studies and the reelections that investigate the meaning of Christian help, comment on the theological, spiritual, and canonical guidelines of Deus caritas set, and illustrate concrete ways to help the needy and, in doing so, experience the goodness of God.

Notre Dame Press (http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01390).

Tomorrow we will once again be visiting various Vatican offices. In the morning we will first visit the Council on the Laity and then the Congregation for Bishops headed by his Eminence Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re. In the afternoon we will be meeting with USIG/USG (Union of Superior Generals). The day will end with a reception for Roman Cardinals and staffs at the Conventual Franciscans house inside the Vatican. Trusting it won’t rain, the reception will be on the roof and I’m told its quite a view. I have invited several people from our SCJ generalate to join us, and will meet them at St. Peter’s around 6:00 PM.

Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, provincial superior

Wednesday marked the official start of our visit to Vatican discasteries and councils. Our first order of business was to attend the weekly audience of Pope Benedict XVI. Each Wednesday when the pope is in town a general audience is held for anyone wishing to attend — just as long as they have a ticket (which are free upon request). We were fortunate to receive tickets that placed us on the raised platform and had the opportunity to meet the pope at the conclusion of the hour-and-a half audience.

Fr. Cassidy was able to snap this photo of Pope Benedict XVI as he made his way to Wednesday's general audience.

At the end of the audience, two gentlemen from Singapore joined us and I learned that the man next to me was the ambassador to the Holy See from Singapore. He brought along a gift for Pope Benedict, a beautiful handmade tea pot. He was a very kind man and quite talkative. I told him Singapore is my favorite airport in all the world — and it is!

We had just enough time at the conclusion of the audience to walk down Via della Conciliazione for our 12:30 appointment at the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. This was a joint meeting of LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) and CMSM (Conference of Major Superiors of Men) with its president, His Eminence Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran, JCD. Cardinal Tauran shared with us the scope of the work of this council and its on-going effort to further the efforts of dialogue between religious traditions around the world. Obviously, at this juncture in time the dialogue between Christianity and Islam is very important.

Representatives from CMSM and LCWR shared with Cardinal Tauran some of the efforts various religious communities in the United States are making in promoting dialogue. The monastic communities of both men and women have long been involved in religious dialogue, especially with monastic traditions of other faiths, such as Buddhism.

We left two information packets with Cardinal Tauran. In one of these is included information on Dr. Richard Lux from Sacred Heart School of Theology and plans to honor him as he retires with the establishment of the Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies.

I close this on a sad note. Due to the time difference between here and Milwaukee (seven hours) and the busy day that limits how often I can check for e-mail, I just found out this morning of the death of Fr. Michael van der Peet, scj. It did not come as a surprise as I have been kept informed of his failing health due to multiple strokes. I regret that I will not return in time to be present at his funeral. He was a stalwart member of our province having come over from Holland in the 1950s. Many students from our minor seminary in  Donaldson, Ind., and our former college in Honesdale, Penn., recall his teaching of French and his love of music. I suppose if you asked him though, the ministry he found most satisfying was as a retreat master and spiritual director. A personal friend of Mother Teresa, Fr. Michael spoke often of her and her influence on his life. Though officially “retired,” he continued to serve the province and church as a spiritual director at Sacred Heart School of Theology; his presence there and in the province will be missed.

Fr. Thomas Cassidy, scj, provincial superior

Fr. Michael van der Peet at the beatification of Mother Teresa

Fr. Michael van der Peet, SCJ, died today, April 21.  Already our province website is filled with biographical information, stories about his friendship with Mother Teresa, links to news articles and even a video interview of him.

One of the most touching items was written by Fr. Michael himself, to be shared after his death.

“Very understandably I do not know who among my friends will ever read this reflection, but regardless, I have my own personal and unique thoughts and feelings for each one of them,” he wrote.  “Each relationship is so unique:  what I would say to one, I would not say to the other and vice versa, but to all I would say, ‘I have loved you very dearly and as the profound saying of Roy Kroft goes, “I thank you, my friend, not so much for what you are, but for what I was, when you were with me.”’

Fr. Michael  would probably be the first to say that no one person’s life is more important than another’s.  The work of a quiet parish priest, or a brother in a social service agency, is just as important as a person whose life and work often put him at the center of attention, both within his community and in public media.  However, Fr. Michael certainly made it easy to share the significance of his life with others.

I invite you to visit our website to read about Fr. Michael, as well as the full text of the reflection noted above.

Click HERE for our province website.  To go directly to the feature on Fr. Michael, please click HERE.

Mary Gorski, province communications director

Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, provincial superior, U.S. Province

Since we now have the ability to blog on our website I will try to keep you informed of my CMSM Vatican visits that begin tomorrow. I arrived in Rome last Saturday being one of the fortunate ones in being able to cross the Atlantic with much of European airspace closed to traffic. My Continental flight out of Newark was a non-stop to Rome, which made the trip possible. However the flight did take about an hour-and-a-half longer then normal since we flew a more southern route. Usually you enter European  airspace around Southern England and then cross France heading towards Rome. This trip we flew across Spain south of Madrid and then to Rome. In fact, I think this was the first time I can remember landing in Rome directly from the sea in an easterly direction rather then from the north.

Fr. David Szatkowski met me at the airport with Fr. Aquilino Mielgo as our driver. Fr. John van den Hengel had just returned to Rome the day before from the Missio Conference in Brazil.  One of his brothers and his wife are also at the house for a visit. Today the general council drove up to Vitorchiano (about an hour from here) to spend the next two days in talking about the six year plan, etc. John told me Ornelas likes to get away from Rome from time to time on these short “reflection” breaks. Vitorchiano is still, I think, the novitiate for the South Italian Province.

My “excitement” over the last two days is wondering if my companions at CMSM will make it over the big pond! As of yesterday there were only two of us here: myself and Br. Frank Carr, our treasurer and provincial of the Christian Brothers (Chicago). The other three were all in limbo regarding their flights. This morning I received an e-mail that Paul Lininger was able to take off and lands this morning. The other two are still a bit iffy. I have no idea about the women from LCWR.

Last evening the North Americans went to David’s favorite Restaurant,  Sor’Eva. For those who know Rome it’s just around the corner as you exit the tunnel and meet the Tiber (bus routes 881, 98, etc.). Having had our pasta fix at noon we all opted for pizza. I’m sure many of you heard it more than once from my lips that there is nothing like Roman pizza. Actually 12 years in Rome turned me into a ‘pasta snob’ as there is nothing like Italian pasta.

As I think I noted in my last letter to members of the U.S. Province, I did bring the iPad to use in place of a laptop. I did have connection troubles in the general house, but thanks to Villa Aurelia, our hotel next door,  I am able to get online. One of the first e-mails I read was about the deteriorating condition of Fr. Michael van der Peet. He is in my prayers as his time appears short. He contributed much to our province over the many years. As I sit here in Rome I am reminded of the time he spent here working on the beatification process for Mother Teresa, a women he knew well and admired greatly.

My plan tomorrow is to leave after pranzo (the noon meal) and take a taxi over to Domus Carmelitana S. Alberto where CMSM and LCWR will be staying. I’m sure we’ll have a planning session and then begin our work on Wednesday. I’ll try to report on our activities every couple of days.

Fr. Thomas Cassidy, SCJ

This is an informal blog hosted by the U.S. Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (SCJs).  On it will be periodic postings from members of the community, as well as co-workers and other collaborators in ministry.  Our first posts will be from Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, provincial superior. He will be writing during his visit to Rome as president of CMSM (Conference of Major Superiors of Men) starting the week of April 19.  Be sure to come back and take a look!

-Mary Gorski, province communications director (marygorski@sbcglobal.net)