Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Oratory's Divide...

Being a Montrealer has several advantages, a wonderful multicultural city, enthusiatic hockey fans(I being one of them..)and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory which is no doubt the fruit of the Holy Spirit operating through Andre Bessette by the intercession of Saint Joseph has been a spiritual oasis for many Catholics in Montreal. Many a night, one can find pilgrims entering the deafening silence that is the Crypt Church, lit only by candles and a faint smell of incense calling to mind your visit on Holy ground.

The last few visits, however call to mind a divide existing within the Church of today. The fact that many of the priests are foreign born, does not strike me, yet their adherence to orthodoxy does. As many of you know, I am of the John Paul II generation, and have no time for sillyness and dissidence in the Faith. Yet at the Oratory, I am confronted by two different worlds, the Quebec born priests wearing their suits and the 'others' wearing clerical garb. Even going to confession is different. A quebec priest will stress about psychology while the foreign priest will invite the penitant to repentance,...

I am just sayin,..isn't it curious? (And we wonder why Quebec has a 'vocation' crisis...)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well said my friend.
We need to pray a lot for our convertions!