A number of weeks ago my friend Gene emailed me and offered me the honour of celebrating the baptism of his young son. As they live in Ottawa we decided to do it while I was in town visiting family.

Welcome to the Christian family, Marc-Alex!

To all my blog readers: a very merry and blessed Christmas 2011. I pray that it be filled with blessings for you, and for those for whom Christmas contains some bitterness, may you know the full consolation of God’s love. May the peace of the Lord be with us all!

This Christmas Eve I wound up visiting a parish that I had never seen before: Saint Théophile, in western Laval. This is a French parish, but one which since its founding has offered English services. Unfortunately they were short of a priest for Christmas mass, so I was happy to pitch in. But while I had never been there before, I was greeted by a happy surprise. You see, my very first assignment as a newly ordained priest was to a parish in Laval, Holy Name of Jesus, which at the time also served two mass centres. These since closed, but some of the people who attended the westernmost mass centre (called Our Lady of Peace) chose to begin worshipping at Saint Théophile — such that, to my delight, this mass turned out to be a kind of homecoming!

The previous incarnation of my blog offered readers the opportunity to request mass intentions. This service is now back up (see the link also in “Pages” on the sidebar). Let’s hope it doesn’t drown in spam like the last time!

Today I had the pleasure of hosting a meeting of priests to follow-up on the Presbyteral Day that was held on December 1. We discussed how we could build greater solidarity between us as priests. This, however, led into a more general discussion of what priestly solidarity itself means. You see, from a Catholic point of view, priests and bishops are united by a special spiritual bond that goes beyond the simple fact that they were ordained to the same ministry. Bishops are united with each other all across the universal Church in a body called the College of Bishops, making us co-responsible for the pastoral leadership of the entire Church (with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, as the head of this body). Priests of a particular diocese are also united with their diocesan bishop and with each other for the pastoral leadership of their diocese. This latter reality is called the “presbyterium”, and it represents a profound spiritual and theological reality. No priest can be a wandering lone ranger: all are members of some local church or religious order, and a priest who refuses to acknowledge that kind of association is missing out on part of his priesthood.

It is easy to understand, therefore, why these priests here in Montreal expressed a desire to live an even greater solidarity among themselves — it is part of the very nature of their priestly life and ministry! I see this as a good and holy desire. Of course, the trick is to figure out *how* it might be lived in a practical way. After all, the presbyterium is not just a professional association or some kind of trade union.

From my point of view, the presbyerium can be seen as a kind of body, similar to the way that the Church itself can be described as the Body of Christ. A human body is made up of many cells, with new ones replacing older ones over time, but with the integrity of the body being nonetheless retained. The same process exists in a particular presbyterium: new priests join by either being ordained or by coming from a different diocese or religious order elsewhere, and priests leave that presbyterium to join another one elsewhere, or may pass away, or may be laicized. Within the body of the presbyterium itself, one must also recognize that different priests have different talents which they contribute to the life of the body, and their particular weaknesses (because let’s face it, nobody’s perfect in everything) are hopefully compensated for by others’ strengths.

Taking this view, the signs of a healthy presbyterium would include things like:

• Vocations, i.e. men preparing for ordination to the priesthood, and their inclusion in activities of the presbyterium even prior to ordination.
• The welcoming of new priests coming from outside the diocese, and their integration into the existing body.
• Mentorship of newly-ordained priests, to help them discover their ministry gifts and their place in the presbyterium.
• Continuing education and formation of priests, in terms of their knowledge and skills, but also their personal and spiritual growth.
• Evaluation of pastoral assignments, to help make sure people’s gifts are being put to good use.
• Support to priests who are sick or are otherwise living special difficulties.
• Support to priests who are getting on in age, that their retirement or semi-retirement years might be a time of blessing for themselves and for the community.
• If (sadly) necessary, challenging a priest exhibiting behaviours which are at odds with healthy Christian life and priestly ministry.
• Honouring those priests who have died, remembering them in our prayers.

Within all of this activity, there is also the critical role the bishop must play. What I have described above is work, most definitely, but it isn’t just toil. Properly lived, leadership in these areas is meant to also be an expression of love, the fraternal love that priests have for each other and that a bishop has for his priests. It is possible to delegate many of these tasks *as tasks*, it is true, but one must be cautious that it doesn’t go too far. Simply put, a bishop cannot delegate the task of loving his priests to someone else. No one can, because love necessarily involves a sharing of oneself. That’s part of why love can be so costly sometimes, but what also makes it so beautifully human (and even divine!).

I’m hoping that this process of consultation will result in our body of priests giving itself instruments to help favour priestly solidarity, but I’m also hoping that this won’t become a mere technical exercise. Ideally, we should be empowering our ability to love one another as brothers in this beautiful ministry, so that the world will truly be able to say, “See how they love one another! They must be disciples of Jesus.”

Tomorrow is the Father Paul Pomkoski’s 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, and this evening a small group of close friends gathered around him at Le Muscadin restaurant in order to celebrate (one of the owner-partners, along with his wife, being among those close friends). The food was fantastic, as was the company, and given that I have known Father Paul for many years, going back to before I was a seminarian, I was honoured to be among those in that intimate circle. Ad multos annos, Father Paul!

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Saint Boniface parish, the community for German-speaking Catholics here in Montreal. The current pastor is Father Gerry Westphal, who is not from Germany himself but does (like me) have German ancestry. He invited me to come over sometime, and as I had a Sunday morning free I jumped at the chance.

Through my family I’ve long had a special relationship with the German community, so it was really special for me to be there. The welcome from the people was very warm, as was the time of fellowship afterwards in the parish hall — over coffee and cake, of course! Froh Weihnachten to all the people of Sankt Bonifatius!

I’ve added a small technical update to the blog: a plugin that lets readers forward a post they like by email to someone else. Just click the “Email This Post” link that now appears on each post to be taken to a page that let you do just that.

In case anyone might ever wonder what kind of things being a bishop might involve, take a look at this photo:

That’s me at the Our Lady of Deliverance Tamil Catholic Mission, where I had the pleasure of attending a special cultural evening in preparation for Christmas. It included skits and dance numbers, as well as the classic Christmas pageant with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the angels and shepherds, etc. (all following a delicious meal in the rectory, of course). The flower garland you see me wearing is the sign of an honoured guest, something I was not expecting but made me feel very welcome. I stayed for a couple of hours, taking in the show, and it was a real delight. Many thanks to my brother and sister Catholics of Tamil origin for their faith and friendship.

Tonight was an annual event that I always look forward to: the Cardinal’s Christmas Wishes party with the English-speaking sector. This gathering is part of a series that the Archbishop does every December, visiting the different regions of the diocese, as well as with the religious orders and the English-speaking sector. As auxiliary bishop, I will be going with the Cardinal to every event this year, but for this particular evening I am also the host. There is usually a very good crowd in attendance at the Christmas wishes, representing not only the parishes but also the many lay movements and associations. It really is a nice time for everyone to connect.

All this being said, I do have a confession to make: I am lousy at organizing parties. Thank goodness, therefore, that there is an excellent staff at the Office for English Pastoral Services (OEPS) that is able to handle such things. I want to give a big public thank you to all my staff for their contribution to making this event a success.

Given the rising tide of Catholic discussion around the theme of the “New Evangelization”, the theme of our evening was (more specifically) “joyful evangelization”, i.e. the need for our evangelization to be driven and energized by joy. Joy is a fruit of the spirit that needs no justification: when it is present, it is its own raison d’être, and it attracts people by the mere fact of its presence. To evangelize is to present the Truth, but that truth should be presented in a way that nourishes hope; and when hope is present, the habits of joy are ready to be learned. Hope must then lead to charity, of course, or else the joy can lead to narcissism, but the joy itself, well-lived, can provide the energy for that charity. This is the motor of the new evangelization: being able to give reasons for the hope that is in us, living in the joy of that hope, and turning that joy into love of God and neighbour.