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In 1624, English poet and clergyman, John Donne (1572-1631) coined the expression, “no man is an island.” Yet, as we sequester ourselves in our homes and remain two metres apart in public, many of us are beginning to feel like little, isolated islands.  I happened to cough in the grocery store the other day, and five people gave me dirty looks. (I’m used to dirty looks but not that many at the one time!)  It was a little taste of what lepers would have experienced in ...

Ahoy, dear parishioners, we are living in a very different and almost surreal moment of history.  So much of our personal and collective routines, both as Church and within the greater society, have been upended by something that cannot be seen with the naked eye. How could something so small cause such catastrophic effects throughout the entire world?  I do not know. But what I am reminded of, as we all hunker down, is how fragile and vulnerable and interconnected we all are. This is not ...

When the new Roman Missal (big, red book the priest prays from during Mass) was brought into effect on the first Sunday of Advent 2011, it brought about a major shift in language. If you have ever participated at a Mass I presided at, you may not have noticed much of a change. Why? Let me explain. The new Missal is full of language like: oblation, sanctify, exultant majesty, homage, expiation, consubstantial, virtues of heaven, beseech, etc. (If I was to use words like that, I ...