Journal Kudos

I was impressed with the March-April 2000 Journal issue. The articles were thought-provoking, honest, enlightening and promising of a better future. Congratulations and regards to all. I miss CORPUS BC. 

Nona Castro, Vancouver, BC

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Greetings to you and Naomi. I only recently acquired a P.C., and was inquiring from Gordon and Jim about ‘Corpus’ which continued over the years to remain elusive. Nice to see photo of Naomi. Arthur Menu sent the first two issues, Jan/Feb and Mar/Apr, which I have only had a chance to ‘skim’ but will give them a good read later. I will send a donation and request for subscription to Jake Kurtana. Any possible contribution from me will inevitabely be "On the Lighter Side," so I may as well give it now, with fond memory of Fr. Alan MacInnes who told it to me: 

A suburban family invited their next door neighbors to help them open up their lakeside cottage in the early spring, and when they arrived the small children,boy from one family and girl from the other, were impatient to hit the lake; but the swimming gear had, along with everything else not yet been unpacked. The parents agreed that skinny dipping for those two would not be any problem for anyone, so the kids trooped down to the little beach while the grownups got on with the work at hand. Later one of the them asked his offspring how they enjoyed the swim. "Oh, the water’s fine," came the reply, "but gosh, Dad; I never knew there was so much difference between Catholics and Protestants."

Good wishes to all; and to Corpus. 

Dan and Germana Driscoll, residing these many years in Germana’s motherland of Goa, former colony of Portugal (with plenty of cultural remains), but now firmly established as an integral part of the great Indian Nation. 

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 Commentary on Motherhood & Fatherhood

The last issue of The Journal on the experience of motherhood and fatherhood was appreciated, and it touched a chord with a different pull of the heart strings.

For some of us, fatherhood and mother-hood are only a ‘what if’: what if the fresh breeze of Vatican 2 had come a little sooner; what if the biological clock were not ticking (It was not a case of too late smart, too soon old!); what if we had met when we were younger.

In the parish liturgy, it was seemingly easier to speak on motherhood as the altar of sacrifice, the sense of giving , the one who knew how to mend brokeness, the one close to nature.The psalmist says that even if a mother could forget her child, God would not forget us. God’s love is comparable.

A few years ago, the film called "THE FIXER" was about a father who was able to fix everything- "a dream handyman" but who could not fix his broken relationships. In contrast, we have a modern TV fixer, "Tim the Tool Man Taylor," who blows every repair job but does make a sincere effort at being a good father. He is not above going to his neighbor, the wise sage, for help. In real life, despite losing his own father when he was twelve and having troubles with the law, he turned his life around .

For some of us, it seems we were meant to be "phantom parents" - the High School girl who needs a place to stay; the teacher who treats high school students, without exception, with respect and earns their respect and trust; the young athlete who does not feel good about math but who can be taught discipline and friendship through a game.

Growing up in a big family, we thought the stork was a family pet. My wife spent a good portion of her life finding her family. Whatever our journey, I’m sure the surprise of God is present.

Chuck McLellan, Bragg Creek, AB

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 Greetings from DownUnder

Warmest Greetings to you all from Doreen and myself. At present, miracle of miracles, I am trying to clean up my e-mail and when I came across your letter I thought I would just send a short ‘Hello.’ 

Things on this side of the Pacific are rather quiet. The only happening of some religious consequence has been a state-ment on the nature of the Resurrection by the new Anglican primate of Australia. He suggested that the possible physical resuscitation of Christ’s body had little significance for this doctrine. Others have followed up by saying the Resurrection was more like a mystical experience of light, energy and direction for the apostolic group and Christ’s early disciples. Of course this has caused a storm in the Anglican Church with accusations of heresy and exaggerated liberalism. 

To date the Catholics have not entered the media arena on the issue and I guess that they have enough on their plate to deal with already. 

My own feelings are that the Chirstian Church as a whole must fairly and squarely face up to issues such as the status of the scriptures, where does revelation and theology take over from mythology, and where does fact replace symbolism, and reality replace metaphor. Something tells me that the boundaries of mythology, symbolism and metahpor are being moved a long way forward. 

Whatever be the earthly and heavenly reality, I feel that it is the quality of the relationships we can establish and maintain, and the community life we develop on this basis - something inspired by the example and teachings of Christ in the gospels - that matters. 

Enough of my sermon this week. Hope you are all well and every one and everything in Corpus Canada are going along just fine. 

Jim Madden, Jindalee, Queensland, Australia