num. 524 - July-August 2012

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CANADA-UNITED STATES

Fr. François PARADIS is very clear that his involvement in the Returning to Spirit is very much the work of an Oblate. His involvement flows from the forty years of ministry with First Nation Peoples in Western Canada. There is a very natural connection between his ministry within First Nations communities and his training and education work within Returning to Spirit.

“This is my work to reach out to the marginalized and the poor.” Within in Canada, “the residential schools have made people very poor.” This was not the original intention in the establishment of the schools but “the Gospel got twisted in the process. This ministry is repairing the damage that has been done even by very well intentioned people.

“As a priest I share the ministry of Jesus Christ. His ministry is all about reconciliation. I see my ministry as bringing faith to the healing process. It is to help people see the beauty of who they truly are. Returning to Spirit is a whole process that gets us into reconciliation. This is the healing that Jesus wants. Some of these people may return to Church but that is not the first purpose of Returning to Spirit. Its first purpose is healing and reconciliation. Through the process some people have rediscovered God.”

There is a framing of his explanation. “Some people have always gone to Church but they are full of hurt and anger. This process is very much in line with de Mazenod. This is to return them to their dignity. It is to help them live in the dignity in which they were created.”

François summed up the entire ministry and the process of Returning to Spirit. “It is returning to the spirit of who they actually are as a human being.”

François first became acquainted with Returning to Spirit when he made his first workshop in February of 2004. By January of 2006 he had received his training to be a trainer of others for this process. In July 2007 he joined the Return to Spirit team full time.

The process begins with a five day workshop that directly seeks to empower three parts of the participant’s life: empowering you to yourself, you to others and you to your own life. The first three days seek to identify what is in front of your spirit that prevents the person from being fully alive. What prevents this person from embracing their own life? What keeps them stuck into their own past? How do the negatives of the past keep showing up in the present?

The process of this five day workshop asks where have they given up their personal power? What keeps them from having personal power? How can they have personal power within their own life?

The entire week is very experiential. There are homework assignments for each evening that ask the participants to apply to their own personal situation what they have learnt during the day. The goal is to reach the point where they no longer have any stuff that remains in the space between their relationships. What are the angers, the resentments that block their relationships?

Each step of the process builds on the preceding step. It is all inter-linked with one piece building on the others pieces. The direction is to learn how to shift from enduring life and just reacting to situations to a strength where they are creating their own life. It means to move into an appreciation for their own identity and live with authentic self-expression. It from within the spirit of each person that the empowerment arises.

François is very clear that there have been wonderful changes in peoples’ lives. “There have been times of physical healing. Some people explain this as mere coincidence but this is definitely a gift from God. It is God who brings about the reconciliation that we talk about during the week. So many of these people reach a completion to their lives that was unthinkable before the process began.”

His work with Returning to Spirit comprises training with non-aboriginal peoples (priests, sisters, religious workers, lay people, social workers and educators). The other team within Returning to Spirit focuses on aboriginal peoples. Once the first workshop has been completed, the two groups (aboriginals and Church people) join together for a more intense five days of working towards reconciliation.

As he moves into the future François plans to be involved in this ministry “As long as Returning to Spirit lasts.” This was spoken with affirmation. (By Nestor GREGOIRE in www.omilacombe.ca)

In the past, when the world was much less organized, outlooks, values and attitudes could be communicated only individually or face of face in very small groups. Today, values are communicated more through the public system of universal education and the media. This challenges the traditional values of the local community; not incidentally Africa’s best known novel is entitled: “Things Fall Apart,” the center cannot hold. Obviously this calls for a whole new strategy of value communication.

For this, the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) founded by Fr. George MCLEAN, has developed a new strategy, which echoes that of the Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci. It is to work with thinkers at the key thought centers of the various cultures to explore their value horizons and how these can be enriched and adapted to the present lives of their people. Fifteen such conferences will be held in the next six months up the East coast of Africa and China, across India and Russia, to Moscow, Poland, Romania, etc. Each will be joined by a number of RVP scholars from other nations, as did Fr. James LOIACONO, last year in China.

In turn, as these centers set the horizons for the educational system of their entire country, what is developed in these conferences is diffused through every city and village by the schools of their public education and administration structures. Moreover, as the RVP publishes these deliberations (270 volumes thus far) in print and on the web, the many peoples and cultures enrich one another on a global scale (see www.crvp.org).

The University of Waterloo in Ontario has approved the St. Jerome University’s nomination of Dr. Maurice SCHROEDER, to receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The degree was conferred during the Faculty of Arts convocation on June 14, 2012. St. Jerome’s is one of the founding universities of the University of Waterloo. Its president is Fr. David PERRIN, an Oblate

Dr. Schroeder is a priest and the Oblate superior of the Delegation of Peru. The degree is to honor him for his work at the Centro de Salud Santa Clotilde, as explained in this announcement of the conferral:

The Centro de Salud Santa Clotilde is a mission hospital in the Amazon Basin of northeastern Peru. The hospital has 30 beds, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy and public health programs. Since 1986, it has been run by two medical doctors who are also Roman Catholic priests. Father Maurice Schroeder is one of them. Under the active leadership of Maurice Schroeder, the hospital has served more than 20,000 indigenous people who have little or no access to healthcare. The hospital serves an area of 100 villages along the Napo River where the people are very poor. The hospital’s annual operating budget is approximately $180, 000 US funded one-third by the Peruvian government, two-thirds from the church and private donors. In winter of 2008, Father Maurice Schroeder was asked to become Superior of the Peruvian delegation, to which he has brought his wealth of experience and talent.

Dr. Schroeder exemplifies the commitment to global citizenship of St. Jerome’s University and the University’s Centre for Responsible Citizenship (Beyond Borders). Quantifying Dr. Schroeder’s connection (number of students affected, potential for continuing relationship) to the Beyond Borders program is difficult. As noted in the supporting letter from the Director of the Beyond Borders program which accompanied the original submission, Dr. Schroeder was instrumental in establishing partnerships in Peru, something that is expected to continue and, perhaps, be expanded. Even without the Beyond Borders connection, Dr. Schroeder’s significant and long-standing humanitarian aid efforts make him an ideal candidate. His work in bringing in temporary doctors to provide medical care in very difficult circumstances, make him a wonderful role model and mentor not only to SJU and UW students, but to other Canadian doctors and to society in general. Dr. Schroeder is a shining example of good global citizenship and a model of leadership that we are proud to recognize.(www.omilacombe.ca)