Reclaiming Catholic Catholic Orthodoxy in Canada

[Here's the unedited version of my November Of Canons and Culture column for the Wanderer.]

For the first time since returning to Canada, I’m surrounded by young orthodox Catholics. Like the rest of the Canadian cottage industry, literally speaking, the Viamede Resort considers late autumn the off-season. The weather is beautiful and the cottage rentals are inexpensive. Thus about sixty of us have gathered outside of Peterborough to relax, pray, and network among ourselves.

John O’Brien, son of Catholic novelist Michael O’Brien, is the main organizer of this gathering. As principal of Wayside Academy, John is part of the growing private Catholic education movement in Canada. According to the school’s website, Wayside Academy “is dedicated to forming young Catholic students into the leaders of tomorrow, and teaches according to the ‘classical curriculum’ method, which stresses the grammar, logic, and rhetoric of each subject.”

While the school currently teaches students from grades one to ten, O’Brien plans on adding a junior high-school year in September of 2005 and a senior year in 2006. Readers concerned with the modern state of Catholic education may should stop by Wayside’s website and read John’s excellent reflection: Catholic Education: Principles of Recovery.

Fr. Scott McCaig from the Companions of the Cross is this year’s retreat master. His preaching on the Sacrament of Confession is legendary among Catholics and in Canada. He did not disappoint. Father spoke of personal prayer, Lectio Divina, and the need for regular confession within the context of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spirituality. “To be effective in carrying out the Church’s apostolate,” Father states, “you must face your sins honestly in the confessional. God already knows your sins, but you must face them candidly and receive the grace of this sacrament, or both you and your apostolate will falter over time.” Sage advice from an experienced confessor.

John Pacheco and his family rented a nearby cottage. We have five girls between the two families, and other young couples brought the fruit of their marriage as well. So this is a wonderful opportunity for our wives to form lasting friendships as our children run along the beach and explore nature’s mysteries.

Earlier this evening, I enjoyed a glass of brandy with Luc Gagnon, no stranger to the Wanderer, and Jason Kenney. Jason is the thirty-five years old Member of Parliament from Calgary, Alberta. Since winning his first federal election over seven years’ ago, Jason has grown into the most reliable voice of social-conservatism in Canadian politics.

During the Clinton years, Jason became the subject of a strange Canadian sex scandal. The controversy began when the mainstream media reported Jason had previously sworn off pre-marital sex near the beginning of his political career . After his conversion to Catholicism, Jason would share that Pope John Paul II was his main inspiration to do so. Nevertheless, Canada’s mainstream media found Kenney’s revelation more upsetting than that of the former US president. Given the nation’s permissive approach to sex education, how had the public school system failed Canada’s youngest and most promising politicians? Yet Jason survived this episode with his morals intact. He is living proof one can aspire to a political career in Canada without forfeiting one’s moral virtue–a lesson our “Catholic” prime minister likely finds disconcerting.

For my own part, I enjoyed this opportunity to reconnect with fellow orthodox Catholics in Canada and share in what G.K. Chesterton once dubbed “the fellowship of the pint, the pipe and the cross.” After a hectic move during the summer followed by a punishing schedule this past fall, I needed to rekindle my prayer life. It had become rather dry as I increasingly found myself simply going through the motions. Like any good physician of the soul, Fr. McCaig drew upon Holy Scripture and the wisdom of the saints to heal me from this latest bout of spiritual malaise.

Additionally, O’Brien invited me to introduce my two new books to the Canadian audience gathered. These are: More Catholic Than the Pope: An Inside Look at Extreme Traditionalism, co-authored with Patrick Madrid, and Surprised by Canon Law: 150 Questions Laypeople Ask About Canon Law. I co-authored this last title with Michael Trueman who is also a lay canonist. Although the books have been available in the United States for over a month, they are just hitting Catholic bookstores in my native land.

After watching the Catholic faith die in Canada over the past three decades, this weekend left me optimistic. Other young Catholics are working to reclaim Catholic orthodoxy in Canada, and we are slowly networking and coming together for the greater glory of Christ and His Church. Please keep us in prayer.