Remembering Jack Layton

Vigil for Jack Layton on Parliament Hill (Photo: Fr. Ken Thorson)

St. Joseph’s Parish was saddened to hear of Jack Layton’s death. Our community expresses its sincere condolences to his partner, Olivia, to his children and to all of his family and friends. St. Joseph’s Parish shares Jack Layton’s strong commitment to social justice and believes in building an inclusive society and in serving as a voice for those marginalized in our community. Jack Layton continued to share his hopeful and optimistic vision of Canada and of our world just hours before his death, when he wrote:

“Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” Jack Layton’s vision, hope and commitment to the disadvantaged will continue to inspire us for years to come.

University mass builds friendships and diverse community among city’s new students

St. Joe's university mass social

Ottawa is just a few weeks away from welcoming thousands of new students to the city’s two universities and Algonquin College, including many who may not only be looking for a physical home, but a spiritual one as well.

When St. Joseph’s Parish first started offering a special evening mass dedicated to students and young adults eleven years ago, the service only attracted a small handful of students, filling up a dozen chairs arranged in a circle around the altar, offering a meditative, reflective experience. Many of these students have since graduated, but remain attached to university mass and continue to attend, even as young professionals from all walks of life.

The meditative nature of university mass remains the same as when it was first launched, with an emphasis on contemplative prayer, periods of silence and the lighting of candles. But the number of participants has risen exponentially over the years.

The fact that mass is offered at a convenient 7:30PM time slot on Sundays, rather than early in the morning, tends to attract students, but so does the more personal, intentional experience of standing with other young adults around the altar and praying together as a community for the social, economic and environmental well-being of our world.

University mass makes no secret of its commitment to social justice, human rights, equality, peace and multiculturalism, and building a modern, lay-led spiritual community in Sandy Hill that is fully engaged in the contemporary world and welcoming to people from all backgrounds and life experiences.

The community also serves as an open, welcoming place to meet other students, chat over refreshments and snacks after mass, and join the Parish’s young adult group for pot-luck dinners, discussion groups, themed parties and live music during musical and literary evenings.

University mass at St. Joe’s starts up again on Sunday, September 11^th, 2011.

Housing to share

The academic year is fast approaching and some of you heading back to Ottawa for another semester at university might still be looking for housing. A member of our parish community has asked us to post the following notice for lodging in Ottawa, starting in the new school year:

Home to share with 2 others in Ottawa east. 1 large bedroom, furnished, computer with internet in room- access to whole house. We share the house with 2 cats! Close to bus stops and half hour walk, (15 min. bike) to the University of Ottawa and the downtown. Rent is negotiable, depending on whether we share food or if you prefer to cook your own.

Contact: markmccormick@sympatico.ca or 613-747-4890
 
Mark McCormick

Announcement: Flyers left on cars in St. Joe’s parking lot

Some of you may have noticed that packages of flyers and pamphlets were left on most cars parked in St. Joseph’s parking lot during 11:30AM mass this past Sunday. One of the pamphlets was published by the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), a cable channel based in Irondale, Alabama. Another flyer attached to cars in our parking lot was published by a group protesting Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s proposed Equity and Inclusive Education Policy (EIE), which aims to address the problem of discrimination, bullying and homophobia in all publicly-funded schools. The group’s flyer lists a number of websites as resources and partners, including LifeSiteNews.com, CampaignLifeCoalition.com and CatholicInsight.com.

Please note that the group responsible for leaving these pamphlets and flyers on the cars in the parking lot is in no way affiliated with St. Joseph’s Parish or with the church’s ministries. St. Joseph’s communicates information on its programs and projects through the Weekly Bulletin, The Spirit Newsletter, on the information bulletin board at the back of the church, during announcements after mass and on our websites.

St. Joe’s: a place where faith meets action

St. Joseph's Parish interior (Ottawa, Canada)

St. Joseph’s Parish is in the midst of fine-tuning its new communications strategy. An important part of this process included asking parishioners at all masses, including students and young adults at university mass, to tell us what draws them to our church. We received a wide array of responses, but some of the adjectives that kept coming up in dozens of responses included: welcoming, friendly, progressive and liberal. Here’s how our parishioners and guests see St. Joseph’s Parish:

• Invitation to be the Spirit – not shackled by prescriptive Catholicsm but open to the paths of the mystics – accepting – weekly reinforcement of us in God and God in us.
• The house of God and I love the place
• Compassion, sharing, cooperative, awareness of other’s needs, gentleness, sincerety
• Equal partners ( women – men, lay-religious; young-old) parish members make decisions, take responsibility are accountable – no clericalism
• Social justice inclusiveness, re-claiming Catholicism
• Care for the poor, everyone having a place, liturgy, deep, meaningful, communal, progressive, Living the Spirit of Vatican II
• Spiritual, caring, warm, inclusive, welcoming of children. My wife is fighting stage 4 cancer and I need the spiritual and warmth of a church, so I do not feel alone in this fight we are in. She usually cannot come because of the illness, so I come alone.
• A community that tries hard to “practice what they preach”
• Realistic, 21st century – catholic teaching while respecting the history of a 2000+ year old tradition – hopefully not going backward. Should St. Joe’s begin to return to the proceedings of the church prior to Vatican II – I will reluctantly say farewell.
• Progressive, non-traditional, youthful, change-oriented
• Prayer that is alive, calls us to be attentive, nurtures the soul…lifts the heart. The preparation of liturgy calls us to a deeper sense of who we are in God and one another
• A dogma-free place and community of worship, a faith-celebratory place
• Welcoming, liberal, diverse, outreach, vocal community
• Radical, welcoming, faith in action, justice and solidarity, action community
• Oblate, home, accepted, tolerance, mission to the lonely and the poor, beautiful
• Homilies, welcoming, prayerful, challenging, inclusive, atmosphere, environment, reflection of the good. Prayer silence is powerful and necessary. No need to provide distractions like today’s dancers. It takes away from the impact of the word.
• Social justice, fellowship through liturgy that connects all, willing to take risks to express our faith, our mission, our love for God in all people.
• A community which is inclusive, vibrant, liberal, reaching out, progressive, active, loving, caring for the poor, working for social justice
• Liberal, open-minded, inclusive and still Catholic
• Service, community, openness, welcoming, unique, family. This community is so open and welcoming. No one is a stranger here.
• Truly a spiritual experience – not “religious”
• Warmth, lay homilies, liturgical dance, beautiful music
• A supportive and inclusive community – equality. “be the change you wish to see in the world”
• St. Joe’s brings life and meaning to “we are church”
• Modern and democratic – “a church for today’s world”
• Inclusive, heart centered, justice oriented, welcoming, seeking through silence, celebrating God’s love
• Liturgy well celebrated and reflective – conscious of social justice
• Apparent and intense dedication of the parishioners, strongly female
• Creative, liberal, welcoming, thought-provoking
• Refuge, home, welcome, trust and  challenge, community, safe to be self, myself, yourself, ourselves, rooted in tradition, connected to contemporary realities
• A sharing community imperfect but always striving to be inclusive…striving to find its place in the modern world
• Welcoming, avant-gardiste, open-minded, open heart
• Peaceful, translate Bible to modern stories, music
• My anchor, welcoming community, real embodiment of God’s teachings, reminder of my purpose on this earth: to love my neighbour
• All are welcome, open, not rigid, willing to bend when necessary
• A tall drink of water in a desert church
• Great music. Because the community of St. Joe’s accepts and loves me for who I am, in my strengths and my failings, I have greater faith that maybe God loves me too.

Now tell us about your experience and what you’re looking for in an open and welcoming Catholic parish community, especially as we prepare for another semester at university! Let us know by either posting your comments, or sending an e-mail to: cadam@st-josephs.ca .

Palm Sunday university mass and reception

Palm Sunday (April 17th, 2011) will be our last 7:30PM mass of the school year at St. Joe’s, as most of you will be wrapping up your final exams over the next two weeks and heading home, or beginning your summer jobs here in Ottawa. In Christian churches, Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem and marks the final days before the Passion. We will have blessed palm branches for all participants of university mass and you are invited to take these  home with you and save them until Ash Wednesday of next year. 

Since this will be our last university mass for the 2010/2011 school year, we will hold a reception after mass. You are invited to bring along light snacks to share with others and stick around for informal discussion.  During the summer months, many of us attend 11:30AM mass on Sunday’s at St. Joe’s and afterwards head over to the Royal Oak on Laurier for brunch.

Classical music and narrated stories for children

Carol-Anne Fraser, the former music director at university mass and currently a graduate student at the Université de Montréal, sent us the following information about a project aimed at getting children acquainted with classical music at a young age:

Interfaith Sandy Hill: listening to young adults living their faith

Interfaith Sandy Hill – Ottawa

Tuesday, 22 March, 2011, 7 PM,
Rideau Gardens, 240 Friel at Rideau

TOPIC: Listening to Young Adults living their Faith in 2011
Speakers:  Young adults from various faith traditions.
 
QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION, REFRESHMENTS.
ALL WELCOME!
 
ENTRANCE, PUBLIC TRANSIT and PARKING
OC Transpo buses 12, 14 and 18 stop at Rideau and Friel.  The entrance to Rideau Gardens Residence is at 240 Friel St, just metres off Rideau St to the North (Lower Town side) of Friel which is a dead end right after the entrance.   Friel is two blocks East of King Edward.  Free parking is available underground.  The garage entrance is just to the side of the circle entrance at the front door.  At the garage entrance, there is a speaker arrangement that reaches the attendant on the desk at the front door.  Just say you are attending the Interfaith meeting.  There is an elevator up from the garage to the first floor and front desk.   Usually, there is also parking on Rideau and some spaces on Friel.  The meeting is in the Games’ Room

Information: Mary Murphy mmurphy@st-josephs.ca  613-233-4095 ext 227
Jane Gibson Gibson.jane@gmail.com 613-745-1923

Trip to Vermont

Several of us from the St. Joe’s Young Adult Community visited Vermont earlier this month, while Amy Schissel was at her most recent artist residency at the Vermont Studio Centre, in the lovely town of Johnson. We stayed in Burlington and in addition to getting a glimpse into the life of a small, but dynamic artist community in nearby Johnson, we also had the chance to see a rather cool and partly frozen Lake Champlain, purchase LP’s at a nifty little record store along Church Street, as well as try  Burlington’s local brewery. All in all, a great weekend and a pleasant start to the New Year. We’re sharing some of our pictures, so take a look and stay tuned for future events,  trips or activities.

University mass has resumed at the usual time–7:30PM, at St. Joseph’s. Our Social Justice Group meets every Tuesday night, from 6:30PM until 8:00PM. Please bring a snack or light meal to share!

Oblates organize Christmas Tree decorating party

The Oblates are skilled at many things…decorating Christmas trees is not one of them. So what we do each year is invite a bunch of people over and give them food, drink, and music so they’ll decorate our Tree for us. Please Join us! The Oblate Formation Group invites all participants at St. Joseph’s University Mass to attend the annual Christmas Tree Decorating Party.

The Oblates brothers will provide snacks and spice wine, but guests are invited to bring their favourite light dish, including desserts or salads. If you do plan to contribute, please remember to avoid bringing any meals containing peanut, due to serious nut allergies. The Christmas party is scheduled for 14 December 2010, at 7:00PM and will include live Christmas music and a sing-along! The Oblates are located at 175 Stewart Street, in Sandy Hill.

This evening’s mass will offer an opportunity to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, starting at 7:30PMm, as well as a reception to follow. Please note that our newsletter, Reflections will make a come-back in the New Year. From all of us at University Mass, good luck with your final exams and Happy Christmas! We look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!