Les Nouvelles de Jérusalem - Numéro 105 - Printemps 2023

Brother’s life
Big and Small Countries...
Impressions from Canada
Québec City
What professors do during the summer
? They travel… and work elsewhere
tells us Fr Martin, prior, “
joignant l’utile à l’agréable” as the
French have it.
By travelling like the Vikings, namely
via Iceland, I spent, from May
to July, two months in Canada in
the summer of 2022, first in Toronto,
then in Ottawa. The purpose of
the stay was to see some cities and
regions of this big and wonderful
country, another aim was to continue
working on a publication project.
The conditions couldn’t have been
better: the Dominican house of
Toronto maintains good relations
with the university, the Dominicans
in Ottawa have a faculty of
philosophical and theological studies
(that now, unfortunately, has to
cease operations), so both places
have good libraries. The work on
the publication project was accompanied
by numerous impressions
of a multi-ethnic society: in Toronto,
there are five Chinatowns, some
Little Italies, and many other quarters
or ethnical groups.
The French speaking parish with fr.
Raymond as minister, gathers every
sunday a lot of faithful coming
mostly from African countries, such
as Rwanda. Canada’s biggest city
became an international melting pot
as much as New York is.
Ottawa as the capital city, on the
other hand, represents the British
past of the nation. Much smaller
than Toronto, the city breathes the
somewhat dry spirit of politics
and administration. But Ottawa
is, however, the gateway to the
grandiose nature of the province
of Québec.
I had the opportunity to visit
some national parks, to see a part
of the St. Lawrence River and the
“charme” of the “Vieille ville” of
Québec City. The cathedral keeps
the memory of Canada’s first
bishop, François de Montmorency-Laval
(1623–1708), whose
diocese covered almost the entire
North American continent and
reached as far as Louisiana in the
United States!
Today, the city and province of
Québec value the French-speaking
tradition and their roots in European
history, “Je me souviens” is their
moto. Unfortunately, the Dominicans
there had to close down their
house and parish in Québec who
are situated next to the Art Museum,
today, their house is located on
the outskirts of the city. There, like
everywhere, I am grateful for the
warm hospitality and any help in
the libraries I found.
The current church situation is
marked by the sorrowful history of
the first nations, i.e. the treatment
of the indigenous population of the
country, to whom state and church
institutions inflicted endless suffering.
One reason for the church’s
guilt is that in the past practically
the entire education system, from
kindergarten to university, was in
the hands of the church, especially
strongly in the province of Québec.
Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in the
second half of July sought to provide
the necessary signs of repentance
and reconciliation.
Back to Israel, it is obvious that,
despite the enormous differences
between the two countries, there
can be found also some analogies
between them if one looks at the
past and the present.
Fr. Martin Staszak, OP
Prior
6 Nouvelles de Jérusalem - N° 105 - Pâque 2023