July-August-September Issue

Summary

contents

(VOL. 43, No. 3 /July-August-September 2016)

Columns

Spiritual Life

What Is There To Eat? I’m Starving! — André Gadbois

Cooking shows and culinary magazines have never been so popular, and yet around the world there have never been so many starving people. Perhaps our hearts need to rise up, like a freshly baked loaf of bread.

On the morning of Saint-Valentine’s Day, the sky was clear and sunny – but the thermometer read -29C! Ouch. As I cleaned the dishes in the kitchen sink, I looked outside and noticed a colourful flutter of wings. I had recently refilled the long, narrow birdfeeder hanging from the patio ledge, and the birds were crowding around excitedly – like people flocking to the dinner table. The frail little juncos and sparrows were pushed aside by the larger blue jays, and they in turn were chased off by the mourning doves. Finally an imposing grey squirrel drove all the birds away. From a distance, the cardinals watched and waited, tentative and cautious. The woodpecker and chickadees pecked out their soft, savoury dinner from the suspended log feeder, far from the commotion. Was this the law of the jungle? The nature of things?

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Cultures and Mission

The Clamor of a Colorful Field — Audrey Charlan

These words sound like something straight out of a fairy tale, but they were spoken by Mother Marie of
the Holy Spirit, the Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. She was  describing a dream she’d had: a vision of a wheat field extending as far as the eye could see, and sunlight illuminating all five continents. The thousands of miraculous wheat heads bloomed and became the faces of smiling children. The smooth gold sea suddenly became an array of skin colours, expressions, and languages. At the heart of this collection of cultures, the Malagasy people were answering the call. Amongst them, Sister Catherine’s voice could be heard: singing hymns and teaching the ways of the heart.

Youth

Just Out of the Blue — Katherine Broso, m.i.c., scholastic

I am an ordinary person with an ordinary life. But in that commonness, the Lord invited me. As far as I can remember, I was at the age which psychology describes as—one having a “quarter-life crisis”. I was feeling incomplete and restless, looking for some pieces in the puzzle of my life, searching for meaning in life. To state it plainly, I was at a crossroad, a very important one, as if to say ‘you better choose wisely
since it is for a lifetime’.of the Cap-Haïtien Diocese, opens up Haiti’s entire northern region, and was hence nicknamed “la Trouée du Nord”, meaning “gap of the north”. Because of the river, trucks passing through Trou-du-Nord are at risk of sinking or stalling, and the town’s nickname was eventually changed in honor of these sink “holes”.

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Gratitude

A Note from Madagascar — Miriama Ranorosoa, m.i.c., Nadya Rakotonirina, m.i.c., scholastic

In the MIC Mission News, Volume 42, No. 4 - December 2015, a request was made to help fund the new bush school in Madagascar. Through your generous donations, a sum of $10,000 was collected. This fund will help build a new classroom at St. Joseph’s school and assist children who now come to the Literacy Center in Tsaramasay.


A message from the MIC Sisters in Madagascar:
To all who extended a helping hand, We have received your generous contributions and we are most thankful. The donations will help us build a new classroom and thanks to your support we will be able to welcome the students who will begin their fourth year. We hope that many children will enroll at Saint Joseph’s School.


May the Lord bless you with His finest Gifts, and to each one of you, a most sincere “THANK YOU”.
Sr. Miriama Ranorosoa, m.i.c., Ambatofotsy-Est, Madagascar

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IN FOCUS

WHAT IS THERE TO EAT? 

Comfort Food — Interview by: Carole Guévin

A recent trend in television has been to showcase top chefs from around the world. They have taken center stage and are more popular than ever. What are we eating? has become a pivotal question at
the centre of our culinary activities. Chefs have many responsibilities besides cooking. They must know how to manage and lead a team. They must be creative and versatile to design menus that follow the seasons and please a wide range of tastes.


Chefs are also concerned with the health and wellbeing of their customers, for the good of the body as well as the soul. Didn’t the Lord say: “Human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”?
(Matthew 4:4)

Let us gives thanks to God for the meals we are given, and remember the thousands of others who are not asking themselves “what are we eating? " but rather, “will we be eating?"


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Who You Are Makes a Difference — Adrienne Guay, m.i.c.

After ten years of working as an animator for the Faith and Light organisation, Sister Adrienne decided to lend a hand at the Maria Goretti residence in Montreal. There, she listens to the daily struggles of young women who have come from all over the world in search of a better life.

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Three Meals a Day — Émilien Roscanu

As a student who studies and works in downtown Montreal, I spend most of my time in a veritable urban jungle, one that is vibrant and brimming with life. Restaurants, cafés, grocery stores, and hangout spots are around every corner. There are theatres and cinemas, and a variety of stores offer all kinds of products and services. But the city’s apparent prosperity is not shared by everyone, and hides an important societal problem. Thousands of homeless people roam the streets of Montreal, excluded and unable to taste the fruit of our Promised Land.

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ABOUT THE MICs

Dining at a Crossroad of Cultures — Murielle Dubé, m.i.c.

Welcome to our annual feria, a festival of veritable crossroad of cultures. On this day, students from the
Institut d’Éducation Rurale (IER) wear their finest clothes and prepare delicious dishes to represent their countries of origin: Potosi, La Paz, and Cochabamba. Their presentations show how adaptable and creative their countries’ cuisines are. The locals know how to make the most of their land and cherish their Pachamama (Mother Earth). There is a stark difference between Chapare’s lush vegetation, the arid Andean plateaus, and the various regions in between; but wherever you go in South America, people are cooking, eating, and savouring delicious food. Read on to discover their exquisite dishes.

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Fruits Beyond our Borders — Mary Hsu Pei-Fang, m.i.c.

For the past sixty years, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MIC) have lived among the Taiwanese people and shared the highs and lows of their history. Today, the MIC Community situated in the Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation region includes eight Taiwanese Sisters and two Chinese Sisters, one
of which is a scholastic. Their commitment to the country’s 2.3 million inhabitants is a ray of sunshine, and the fruits of their labour can be found far beyond the borders of Taiwan.

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UP

Bread of Life

Our grocery stores offer us an astounding variety of bread: white, brown, rye, multigrain, baguette, and even home-baked.


In many countries, bread is the primary source of food, much like rice in Asia. But bread is also a symbol of everyday life: we work for our bread and butter and to put bread on the table; we break bread, or take the bread out of someone’s mouth. All of these idioms demonstrate how fundamental
bread is to our daily lives.


Sharing bread at the dinner table is a ritual of friendship and fraternity. We talk about our day, enjoy communion with our guests, and even address difficult problems that must be resolved. In these moments, bread becomes a symbol of love, understanding, and kindness.


The Lord understood the importance of bread and offered us the Bread of Life, bread that transforms us from within. Today it is given freely to the crowds at the Eucharist. Standing to receive it is a gesture that transforms us into spiritual nourishment for others.


During the summer season, families and friends gather under the warmth of the sun for picnics or celebrations. They share bread, as Jesus did at the Cenacle, and it becomes a symbol of their friendship; it is
bread that nourishes.


What are we eating? Nourishment is much more than the food we enjoy. While food keeps our bodies healthy, the Bread of Life keeps our hearts open and welcoming.


The following essays invite you to taste the bread that has a special flavour—a bread that was prepared with exceptional love by the Head Chef Jesus.

The Team

Marie-Paule Sanfaçon, Directress of publication

Originally from Quebec, Sr. Marie-Paule was a missionary in Haiti; she worked with high-school students in the field of catechesis and also in youth ministry.  She is now directress of the MIC Missionary Press.

Carole Guévin, Direction's assistant

Assistant Director of the MIC Missionary Press, Carole lived in Nicaragua and Lebanon as a lay missionary.

Translator : French to English - MIC Mission News

Sr. Claudette is a former missionary in Malawi, Africa.  She also worked in the Archdioceses of San Francisco, California; Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Colombia as Archdiocesan coordinator and promoter of mission awareness activities. Within parish contexts, she coordinated religious education programs and accompanied youngsters on their faith journey.

André Gadbois, Editorial Board

Married and father of two children, André Gadbois, after several years in pastoral work, taught children with serious learning disabilities for 20 years and was school director for ten years. He has been very involved with catechumens of the Church in Montreal, and is the editor of their journal, le Sénevé.

Audrey Charland, Editorial Board

Audrey Charland, a 25-year-old graduate student with a master’s degree in Religious Studies, is trying her hand at something new: first the thesis, now the news article! After studying the history of Catholic missionary nuns in India, she has joined the MIC Missionary News team as the new Communications and Development Officer. This position will allow her to take on new and exciting challenges, and put her knowledge and skills into practice.


Léonie Therrien, M.I.C., Editorial Board

Occupation: She is a member of the editorial team for the missionary magazine Le Précurseur/MIC Mission News. She is also responsible for a group of MIC Associates (ASMIC).

Experiences: Educator; youth group animator as well as animating groups of Associates; member of an intercommunity mission animation team.

Emilien Roscanu, Editorial Board                                                                            

Emilien Roscanu History and politics are his passion as well as the arts scene and dramatic art.  Dedicated to his community, he is a young man who also loves debating ideas.

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