Joseph Gavin, SJ,. Is superior of Ogilvie Residence in Ottawa and province director of Gregoriana, Inc.
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Francis J. Devine, S.J., was rotund, very rotund in fact, a kind of chestertonian figure, and in many ways every bit as witty. He was nearly as tall as G. K. Chesterton, who was just shy of 2 metres, and Devine weighed every bit as much, in the neighbourhood of 130 kg....
Q was an eccentric. He was known as "Q" by his fellow Jesuits because his name was Edward Quinton Moriarty. Students at Loyola High School in Montreal called him "Mort". Certainly in every way he was a character, a source of constant amusement to students with his odd accent, loping walk, and strange hand movements. He was easy to mimic....
Of all the stories in the Gospels relating the appearances of the resurrected Christ to His disciples, surely that of the two disciples meeting him on the way to Emmaus may well grip us the most, At heart it is a very human, simple story, packed with pathos and sadness, but too, overflowing with Eucharistic celebration and spiritual joy through faith in the risen Christ. As this story reveals to us, such joy is part of faith, but faith can also be revealed to us in sadness and troubling moments...
I don't know about too many other Canadians, but I've been smitten with the television series, Downton Abbey. A period-piece if ever there was one, post Edwardian English society has been on colourful display. Of course, as one London critic observed, no one actually lived in quite that way....
Students at Loyola College in the early part of the twentieth century found Nicholas A. Quirk, S.J., somewhat eccentric. He was to some extent, yet not to the degree the stories from that era would suggest. Quirk was among the earliest teachers at Loyola College, having been assigned there in 1899....
Keeping little children attentive during liturgical services can be a task. Keeping them occupied during a baptism can be a major one. Perhaps my memory exaggerates, but I seem to recall that at baptisms outside of Mass, we spent a fair amount time waiting for some family members to show up. That generally gave the little ones time to unleash their restless energies, usually noisily running about while parents chased after them. One thing I've learned from years of baptizing is to include in the ritual, if possible, any smaller children present, which meant inviting them to gather around the font to "help" with the baptism. Carefully I show them how to scoop the water gently with both hands over the baby's head. They seem to rise to such a solemn event, and in their own way feel they too share in the service....
After two months of winter, the landscape seems rather forlorn, lonely, dreary, on these cloudy days of which we seem to get more than our fair share in Ottawa. As I look out my window towards the houses of Old Ottawa South, it is hard to imagine that Ash Wednesday and Lent are upon us, and that Easter is only about two months off, with its promise of new life and growth in spirit and nature....
For most people, Pope Benedict's resignation was a surprise, and not seen as a possibility. Or at least, it was a very remote one. Generally, the Church's tradition has not favoured papal resignations, though church law provides for such a possibility. Historically to our knowledge, four popes have resigned, the last one in 1415. Thus, the pope's resignation is all the more surprising. Two main questions arise: Who is papabile? And what qualities should the cardinals look for in a new pope?...
