Monday Evening

This morning I saw the hoar frost so beautiful as the snow crystals are floating in the sky. When I was in Saskatoon while in the minor seminary I used to see this often when it was a sunny day and the crystals were coming off the trees. It was a sunny and warm day today as it was been warmer than usual and that trend will continue in the next few days.

I went to the Fort Nelson Aboriginal Friendship Centre for lunch today as on Tuesdays they have soup and bannock. Met some of the people and saw the facility and heard of some of the programs that they have for the community. There is a youth centre upstairs and a large hall that they rent. There is counselling programs and a woman transition house in the community and a men's shelter also.

Tomorrow I will attend the ministerial meeting and on Thursday visit the community of Prophet River an hour south on the Alaska Highway. I did take some pictures of the church inside so will now post some of the photo's.

Fr. Mike
Sacred Heart Church first two and last picture Our Lady of Sorrows in Fort Nelson the other pictures

Good Evening:

It is Sunday evening as the first weekend here in Fort Nelson has passed by. Yesterday was a sunny and pleasant day here. Shovelled some of the sidewalks and finished the church steps. Did some shopping as there not too much food in the house. I say that for Fr. Emmanuel is from Africa and their style of cooking is much different that for us. Found that shopping is more costly, heard that the shipping costs makes it more expensive.

The parish is Our Lady of Sorrows here in Fort Nelson and the parish on the reserve is called Sacred Heart Parish. I have felt welcomed by the people and look forward to being with them for the coming month. I took some pictures of the two churches and will post them soon. Have none yet of Our Lady of Sorrows here in Fort Nelson.

I hope that the funeral for Robin Terry goes well at the church tomorrow afternoon. Andrew Cullum is still in the hospital and hope that he will be well enough soon to come home as he has been there for two weeks now.

Fr. Mike

Good Evening from Fort Nelson

I arrived here in the early afternoon to a sunny warm day. It was an early start to the day though a lovely day to be flying with clear skies all the way. Thank you to Patty and Gus who brought me to the airport this morning.

I was impressive to see the mountains and the rivers flying in the province. One can sure tell the impact that the oil and gas industry has before Fort St. John and all the way up to Fort Nelson. Seeing all the roads, pipelines and sites where a well has been dug from the air.

I was picked up by one of the parishioners Vern and he showed me around the community after lunch. We saw the church on the reserve, Sacred Heart Parish and here in town Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. I will take some pictures in the days to come to show you. Met some of the parishioners this evening. Will shovel some snow in the morning on the walkways and steps from the other day.

Fr. Mike

Hi to all:

Tomorrow morning January 16th I will be on my way to Fort Nelson for the month to have the northern winter experience in the Whitehorse diocese. I will update you as the adventure happens.

Fr. Mike

Hi to all:

I will write some thoughts soon of the trip. I got home early Sunday morning and had a good sleep. Still getting over the jet lag as I have only once before travelled to Europe. It was a wonderful trip in many ways.

Fr. Mike

Greeting to all:

It is Friday afternoon as I write this post to you. This morning we went to the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary just outside the old city for our last Eucharistic celebration together. It is a beautiful church where it is believed that Mary after the resurrection of Jesus spent her last days and died here. We have had some free time after mass and soon will have our closing ceremony and our farewell dinner.

To recap the last couple of days on Wednesday we went to Ain Karen to the Basilica of the Visitation and  Basilica of St. John the Baptist. This was where Elizabeth lived during her pregency with John the Baptist. Mary came to visit her cousin from Nazareth and it sure is in the hill country as the town is built on a hill. I was the homilist for the day so it was extra special for me. After mass we walked to where John the Baptist was born in the lower part of the Basilica. So often it is the case that these holy places like the churches are in areas where there is just Arabs living so there is no people who come to the churches except pilgrims like ourselves and there are sure a lot of people that come. As I have mentioned this is January and February the raining season and usually it is quieter with less pilgrims, however there sure has been many groups that we have seen on our journey. We visited the National Museum of Israel and the two exhibits that are noted is model of the Old City of Jerusalem at the time of the second temple and the building where the scrolls of Qumran are kept. That afternoon and early evening we had two conferences.

Thursday was a light day as we went to celebrate mass at Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives and than we had a free day to tour, visit sites to  shop and to rest. Our last conference was on pastoral charity.

Tomorrow we are on our way back home. Our flight is not till 12:30 p.m. and just heard that there is no taxi to take us around 8:30 a.m. so we are leaving really early at 6:45 a.m. so we will be spending more time than we thought at the airport in Tel Aviv.

I will write some reflections and attach pictures later on this evening.

Fr. Mike

Hello again to all:

It has been a few days since my last post on Saturday. It is Wednesday evening now and a few days with many experiences have happen since Saturday. Firstly I have been under the weather so have not had the energy for a new post later at night or early morning as that seems to be the time that I have found for a new post.

Sunday was a day of rest with no schedule so I went with some of the fellows to a Maronite mass in the old city. It was a compound tucked away a chapel on the second floor. The liturgy we could follow as they had some order of the service in English as it was mostly in Arabic, some french and the archbishop spoke in English a couple of times. The liturgy was somewhat different with the order of the mass and they had a cantor a woman in a side room who canted parts of the mass and people responded with singing. That afternoon our Victoria crew Fr. Stephen and John, myself and a fellow from Washington D.C. went on the light rail system to the Holocaust museum for a few hours. It was intense to see some of the pictures the films and memories of what happened in many parts of Europe prior and during WWII.

On Monday we headed to Qubeibeh in Samaria (palestinian area) where the Emmaus story took place. It was a round about way we had to go on the secondary roads through Ramallah. Once you are in the Samarian zone you sure see the difference as it looks so much poorer the communities. If there are Jewish communities they are on the tops of the hills as this is hill country and they are gated and wired protected communities. The father at the church in Emmaus said you are brave to come here as seldom pilgrims these days. Our next stop was through Nablus to Sebastia as we were heading north through the hill county. We stopped in Nablus on the way back and visited Jacobs Well in a beautiful church. The icons were amazing to see. After returning to Notre Dame we had a conference and dinner and called it a night.

Yesterday was a trip to the Judean desert with a stop on the way in Bethany to see the tomb of Lazarus and celebrate mass in the church. We continued on to Qumran which is heading south along the Dead Sea  where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in some caves in the mountains besides the lake in 1947.  It was fascinating to see the site of the Essene community and how they lived. On down the road we went to Masada. It is a well know site and spectacular  as it sits on a plateau of one of the mountain tops. The fortress was built by King Herod. During the second temple period the Jews revolted against the Romans and they than destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and this fortress was the last bastion of Jews to fall to the Romans. Fr. Kelly one of the fathers who lives here was saying one time while visiting Masada while coming down on the tram a Israeli government official was saying to him that now the government is somewhat sorry that they have chosen Masada as a symbol for the people for in the end after killing those that were left including woman and children the ten men left choose lots and one killed the 9 and than the sword on himself so when the Romans entered the fortress there was no one alive. It is the idea of suicide rather than surrendering. We than stopped a bit further down the lake and some of us took a dip in the Dead Sea where one floats and would never sink. The salt was sure hard on the eyes and water not too warm till one was used to it. It was a full day and today we visited Ain Karen known for the Visitation when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and the birthplace of John the Baptist. I will write more about yesterday tomorrow and post some pictures too as I am retiring for the night.

Fr. Mike