Category: Blog

Dear Newmanites!

I hope you are all doing well! Lots of things happened during my exchange in the University of Hong Kong, more than I could imagine. Hong Kong is an exciting place and a fast-paced city. Soon after I arrived, I got a position to work at a lab as research assistant. My father also arranged a Cantonese opera performance for me on 31 October. Although I had lived in Hong Kong for couple years before and thought that I was used to this packed routine, this time I had an even more crazy schedule. Apart from school, work, and rehearsing for the performance, I joined the Chinese orchestra, choir, and calligraphy club at HKU. Every weekend, I visited my parents in Sheung Shui and went to church with my mother. I was baptised a few years ago. Soon after, I moved to Montreal and therefore didn’t have much to go to church with my mother. I feel that every Sunday when we are praying together, our relationship becomes closer.

Yet, the most significant event I have experienced in Hong Kong is “Occupy Central” or the “Umbrella movement”. Some major roads in Kowloon and Hong Kong are block by people who are fighting for universal suffrage. Luckily, everyone remained calm and thus no major casualties occurred. The movement has been taking place for 60 days. The most heart-breaking thing is that a lot of friendship and even families and marriages are damaged by the heated arguments and the different opinions arrised especially from different generations. I can only pray to God for guiding Hongkongers to a right path.

Yemina Chung

Hello! My name is Stephanie Wong, I graduated from McGill in 2013 and am now pursuing my Masters at the University of Toronto. Although it’s been over a year since I’ve left McGill, memories of the Newman Centre are still fresh in my mind. I remember stepping into the centre for the first time during my first week in Montreal, a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces and, not going to lie, tired from the trek up Rue Peel. Once I settled into my seat as mass began, I remember a distinct feeling of comfort, almost like I was home, even though I was in a new city, surrounded by strangers.  This is what the Newman Centre was to me – a home away from home.

Despite this feeling of being home, I did not get involved in the Newman Centre right away. I noticed that there were several churches in downtown, and spent the entirety of my first year of undergrad “church-hopping”.  I was busy with my studies and friends, so I chose the most convenient masses to go to: I would hop into Notre Dame de la Salette right before my brunch at Cora’s, the Cathedral after shopping in downtown, and the Newman Centre in between study sessions at the library. I hopped in and out, confining my faith to single hours of liturgy.

By the end of first year, I felt really alone in my faith. None of the friends that I had made were Christian, which was a stark contrast from the Catholic environment I grew up in. I was struggling with living out my ideals on my own and had a mountain of questions that I wanted answered. At that point, I realized that, just as I was advancing in my academics and adjusting to life away from home, I could no longer stay stagnant in my faith – I had to go deeper.

At the beginning of second year, I returned to the Newman Centre with openness to what it had to offer, and it was probably the best decision I made in my undergrad. I had grown to love Linda’s homemade soup, which was often accompanied with a side of silly conversation or intense philosophical discussions. My faith was nourished by wonderful talks and faith studies, and I was always comfortable with voicing my questions about my faith as they were met with patience and knowledge. My time at Newman was filled with wonderful friendships with people who walked along side me on my faith journey, be it through my day-to-day struggles, or to World Youth Day in both Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. One of my favourite memories was the time Fr. Greg caught me sleeping at a daily mass, apologized for having a “soothing voice that resembled a lullaby”, and proceeded to make the entire congregation stand and sing for the rest of the mass in order to keep me awake.

The Newman Centre was a place where I experienced genuine Christian love – both from the wonderful people, and also knowing that no matter how I’m feeling, the chapel is always open and Christ is always inviting me to spend time with Him. Faith is meant to be lived, and it is not meant to be lived alone. My time at Newman showed me the importance of community and I will take that with me and will continue to strive to remain immersed in communities of faith for the rest of my journey.

Hello Newmanites!

As you may know, I have spent this semester in Australia, working on research at the University of Sydney. One of my first stops upon arriving at USyd was the Catholic Chaplaincy, which is housed at the John Paul II Student Center in Sydney. I introduced myself as a Canadian and the first response of most people I met was “do you know Eileen?” Apparently, Eileen is also a Canadian. For the first month here, we didn’t meet in person though, but when we finally did meet, we realized we had a lot more in common than just being Canadian. In fact, Eileen is a Newman Alumna, having studied for her Bachelors and Master’s of Engineering at McGill. The more we chatted, the more mutual friends we knew! I’ll let Eileen introduce herself in a future blog post so you can hear more about the exciting things she is doing in Sydney!

On Friday, the two of us took a short pilgrimage to visit St. Mary MacKillop’s shrine here in Sydney. St. Mary of the Cross (MacKillop) is Australia’s first and only saint. She founded a community of women religious here in Australia that grew beyond all expectations, primarily for the education and care for children. She was canonized alongside St. (Brother) Andre of Montreal in 2010.

At St. Mary MacKillop’s tomb and in the beautiful garden outside, we prayed for our Newman community, which has given both of us so much over the years! St. Mary of the Cross, Pray for us!

Holly

G’Day Newmanites! Greetings from Australia!

I am writing to you from the future, where it is already tomorrow (we are 15 hours ahead here in Sydney)!

I have been here since July, working on an international research project (joint project of the University of Sydney and Harvard University), called the Electoral integrity Project, which looks at the questions: “Why elections fail and what we can do about it?” My role here is to do half of my work on the project itself, and the other half of my work on my dissertation. My work for the project so far has mostly involved writing election reports (did you know that there were over 800 million voters registered in India’s most recent general election? They had to spread voting out over ten days to just manage the task!), assisting with conferences (we hosted the election commissioners from Afghanistan and Nepal for a week-long workshop on election security last week!), reviewing articles for publication (including one of my own! Yikes!), and attending seminars (still not sure if I’m a fan of electronic voting, but we had a great discussion on it a few weeks ago!). Judging from the number of exclamation points in this last sentence, I am obviously quite excited with the work I am doing and like the people with whom I work. We have good fun too! Our office is currently working our way through every different types of Arnott’s biscuits (my favourite so far is peanut butter Tim Tams).

My first two stops when I arrived in Sydney were to find the Catholic Chaplaincy and a parish within walking distance of my flat. Here, the Newman Centre equivalent is called the John Paul II Student Centre, and the Newman Catholic Students’ Society equivalent is called the Catholic Society of St. Peter. They do many similar activities to the Newman Centre and NCSS, but since most university students live with their parents (rent is exceptionally expensive in Sydney), all the events happen during the day Monday-Thursday. My new parish, St. Joseph’s Camperdown, is a beautiful little church. It was only a matter of time before I joined the choir and got to know the parish. One of the most beautiful things at this parish is our First Friday devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The whole parish comes together for a candle-lit ‘Encounter’ mass (longer than normal, with ample opportunities for silence and reflection), followed by adoration through the night. Families come and lots of the little kids will end up falling asleep at the back of the church (so you end up stepping over little ones sleeping to get down the aisle for communion). There is such a beautiful community that I am happy to be a small part of now!

I am meeting lots of new people at work, at church and on campus. The accent gives me away as a foreigner, and the most common questions I get asked include:

• “Are you American?” (no, Canadian)
• “Do you speak French?” (yes)
• “Isn’t Justin Bieber is from Canada?” (we apologize)

But, quite honestly, it feels just like home! Australians are (in my experience) relaxed and friendly! It’s like a warmer version of Canada, just with poisonous spiders and funny accents.

Looking forward to seeing you in January (but I’m not looking forward to the cold!)

Holly

Dear Old, New and Future Newmanites,

I’d like to share some thoughts with you about Faith Studies, which have their home in the Newman Centre on the McGill campus.

After Mass in the Newman centre, a friendly girl simply asked me “Would you like to take part in a faith study?” I asked: “What is it?”

Faith studies: Small groups of ladies and small groups of men meet together once a week or so to pray together and discover more about their faith.

Initial thoughts: I wondered whether this was something intended for me. Something that I would ‘get something’ from – or whether I should politely, but firmly just say – “I’m afraid I’m a bit too busy”. I am so glad that it was a friendly, encouraging face who asked me to consider faith studies; I am so glad “I’m busy” wasn’t my response.

I took part in the first series of studies in the autumn term of last year – it is affectionately known as ‘Disco’. The series title is apt- Discovery of the heart of the Gospel Message. Through weekly meetings in which our group prayed together, expressed our understanding of the Faith, and offered our personal experiences of living of Christian life to each other, I was humbled by the faith of my friends, given courage to live out my faith and discovered for my life, the importance of making time to pray – to create time for Lord in my hectic McGill and exchange student schedule. Disco armed me with the words to express my faith to others simply and with clarity. What a huge gift that is in evangelisation- how often might we allow someone to come closer to Christ if we would only share with them the Gospel message.

In the second term, I participated in the next series of studies – “Source” is about the Holy Spirit. The faith study resources are rich. I particularly valued the times when we studied small passages of Scripture. How wonderful to be able to read passages of the Bible to each other, talk, question and discuss it and then pray together. Coming to meet my group for faith studies was something I looked forward to during the week, but I began to realise that meeting for faith studies was interesting, but increasingly helping to bring me closer to Jesus Christ. Sometimes, our group would finish our studies, and then attend Mass together. Faith Studies gave me the opportunity to consider how I could organise myself and build my life with Jesus Christ at the centre.

I pray that many of you will find the time and courage to join a faith study group this term or next. I pray that the Holy Spirit inspires you to share with your friends as you as you journey, deepening your faith in the Risen Lord.

Ruth

McGill Interfaith Student Council (MISC) is ready for its second year of action. Our first year as a newly formed Council last academic year was a huge success. The Council saw about 10 to 15 representatives from several different religious group on and off campus, including representatives from Muslim Student Association (MSA), Newman Catholic Student Society (NCSS), Hillel, Sikh Students Association (SSA), McGill Christian Fellowship (MCF), Ghetto Shul, Youth with a Mission (YWAM), IF?,  and Thaqalayn Muslim Association (TMA) and more. At the very beginning of the year, the council discussed our purpose and came up with our mandate which we have nicknamed the “3 Cs:”

• Promote collaboration and networking between religious student groups at McGill. We identify the need for students to connect with each other, facilitate collaboration and organize interfaith projects.
• Find a common ground by celebrating diversity with unity. We realize that we are not the same, that we have differences, but that we can work with both our similarities and our differences.
• Be a collective voice for religious student groups on campus.

Following this mandate, we organized two big events throughout the year; the first, a debate on religious freedom in the context of the Charter of Values, and the second, a conference exhibiting how students express their faith on campus. The council will be having its first meeting towards the end of September to discuss the direction of the council for the upcoming academic year! It will be another great year!

By: Thibault Vincent

Editor’s note: Newman students have been actively involved in MISC since its founding last year. You can talk to our VP Outreach Katie Hayman, or to Thibault, if you are interested in learning more about Newman’s interfaith collaborations. 

Today Newmanite (and former resident) Andres tells us a bit about CL:

Communion and Liberation (CL) is a lay movement within the Church whose mission is “the education to Christian maturity of its adherents.” The university students in CL meet for a weekly catechesis called “School of Community” where we discuss a text which had been proposed by the leader of the movement in light of our personal experience. This coming weekend (September 12 or 13) we will gather for a short hike and a meeting to start off the year. For details about the hike, school of community, or any questions about CL in general please write to: clumontreal@gmail.com

Today, our alumna Vanessa share her experience with a program offered in the Diocese called ‘Duc in Altum’. Many Newmanites have participated over the past few years. If, after reading this, you are curious or interested, check out the website: http://www.diocesemontreal.org/en/services-resources/youth/faith-enrichment/duc-in-altum.html 

Before starting off, here’s a passage to reflect on:

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)

In a nutshell, this is Duc In Altum. The name of the program comes from the above passage; the Latin for ‘put out into the deep’ is – you guessed it! – ‘duc in altum’. In the Gospel of Luke, this is the passage where Jesus appoints the first of the Apostles. And as members of the apostolic Church, Jesus’ words to Simon Peter are the same words that he says to us today.

So what does it mean to put out into the deep? If you’re finding yourself at a crossroads in your life, or approaching big decisions with a lot of anxiety, you might have a sort of idea. Stepping into a new chapter of life is a lot like wading into murky, deep water – you don’t know whether you can keep standing for much longer, or where your next step will take you. It lacks clarity and direction; in short, it’s a challenge and an unknown. We encounter these kinds of situations daily, but it’s in the large-scale decisions that we really start noticing. I know that it was like that for me, when I was facing the last year of my undergraduate degree and wasn’t entirely sure what the next step was. I had ideas, but I didn’t know which was the one I was meant to take. And this isn’t just related to career – this affects where you live, what you do and who you spend the rest of your life with. You may have heard the word ‘discernment’ before to mean some kind of decision-making. I think the simplest way I can describe discernment is God-centered decision-making. How do we do that?

Don’t worry. God never leaves us stranded. Look what happens when Peter follows Jesus’ instructions, despite spending his entire night trying the same thing. They are entirely rewarded for their faith in Christ, and they immediately recognize who He is for it, choosing to follow Him. Even now, He is giving us signs and directions, guiding us towards His ultimate plan for us to reunite with Him in heaven. Maybe it’s in a moment at Mass, maybe it’s a conversation you had that sparked some ideas, or maybe it’s a chance encounter on the street. We simply have to be open and receptive of these things, and they will help make those moments of discernment a lot clearer.

Sounds great, but how? That’s where Duc In Altum comes in. Duc In Altum is a series of eight ‘encounters’ where a group of young people all seeking God in their lives move towards understanding themselves, understanding the Lord, and understanding how He is calling them to live their Christian lives. Each encounter is dedicated to a different facet of the Catholic faith, bringing together seemingly unconnected aspects of life and uniting them as a whole. In addition to the encounters, you are also paired up with a spiritual director (accompaniment, as it’s called) to help you mull over things discussed at each encounter and give some clarity to things you might be experiencing. It might seem like a lot of time to commit, but discernment is all about commitment, too!

If there is one thing that I have learned from being part of this program, it’s that everything is based on your identity as a child of God, and not only recognizing but integrating that into all parts of your life – including discernment – is key. Duc In Altum not only helped me learn new things about my relationship with Christ, but also put things I already knew in perspective, and gave me concrete ways to help strengthen my relationship. Not only that, it also introduced me to a group of wonderful people from all over the city who I was very blessed to be able to journey with, from all different walks of life.

I strongly encourage you to consider Duc In Altum, especially if you do see yourself at a junction point in your life and don’t know what to do next. Even if you’re not, think about it anyway; everyone has to make decisions in their lives at some point, big or small. God is constantly calling for you – take some time to listen, and make that call your own.