Famille Marie Jeunesse Visit
By: Stephen Decarlo

From November 30th to December 3rd, Famille Marie-Jeunesse came to visit the diocese. Marie Jeunesse is a vibrant, young, and quickly growing Quebec-based ecclesial community of young people, families, priests, and consecrated men and women. They specialize in youth outreach and youth ministry. They also attended SONfest ’06 and ’07. Their mission in the diocese, the first such mission to be held in an English speaking diocese, was that of reaching out to our youth and hosting two very special retreats, a World Youth Day retreat and a vocational day of reflection.

They arrived on the evening of the 29th, after a long and tiring drive from Sherbrooke, Quebec. The six members that came to visit us were Fr. Paul-Dominic, Deacon Michel, Jean-Francois, Pamela, Jennifer, and Andrea. Rooming accommodations were made available in the VEYO centre/House of Discernment, as the five discernment residents were more than happy to vacate their rooms temporarily in order to make room for Marie-Jeunesse. We in turn had to sleep in the VEYO library for the four days! (It was no real problem, as the basement was quite warm!). After Marie-Jeunesse settled in, they joined us for the house community’s Evening Prayer. Now, consider this, the VEYO chapel is built for only about eight people. On the evening that Marie-Jeunesse visited, there were about fourteen people crammed into the Immaculate Heart of Mary chapel! There was standing room only! After reciting Evening Prayer, Marie-Jeunesse and the house community sat down for dinner, which our very blessed housekeeper Lorraine prepared. Dinner was quite enjoyable, as all of us had a chance to meet Marie-Jeunesse along with eating a very delicious meal. After dinner, Marie-Jeunesse joined in the CORC meeting at Sacred Heart Church. There, Marie-Jeunesse discussed youth ministry with the CORCs. They talked about what works in youth ministry, how best to reach young people, various activities to try out, and also how to apply some very valuable practical tips. Fun and music soon followed this meeting, as always.

On the 30th, after another thankfully crowded recitation of Morning Prayer and the Rosary, Marie-Jeunesse joined the house community for breakfast. After a hearty meal and exchanges of “good mornings”, Marie-Jeunesse left and set out for their first stop during their mission, St. Mary’s Secondary School in Lindsay. There, they met with the staff and students to share their personal stories of the faith and their vocations. They also provided some musical entertainment following these discussions. After this trip was over, they rendezvoused back at the VEYO centre and joined the house community for part of their Friday Holy Hour. Later, Marie-Jeunesse, the house community, and a few friends of VEYO, met up in Sacred Heart’s sanctuary where Fr. Paul Dominic celebrated Mass. After the Mass, the whole group gathered for more prayers and another magnificent dinner. After dinner was over, the whole group was invited to attend a hockey game at the Douro Community centre where Krista, Katie and Laura Wood, VEYO’s own Office Administrator, Youth Coordinator and CORC were playing. The group also brought along with them little Vatican City flags, which they waved while yelling, “Vive il Papa!” in the stands!

The next day was the World Youth Day retreat. Here, over fourty pilgrims who were registered to attend WYD in 2008 gathered in the Sacred Heart parish hall for an all-day retreat. Marie-Jeunesse led this retreat, which was filled with various prayers, skits, witness talks, and an exceptional hour-long Eucharistic Adoration held in Sacred Heart sanctuary. During the Adoration, the pilgrims gathered at the base of the altar while Marie-Jeunesse led the prayers, songs, and reflections. The retreat ended with the parish’s 5:00 p.m. Holy Mass.

But that day wasn’t over yet! Later that evening, Marie-Jeunesse and the house community were invited to a Ceili held at St. Joseph’s parish hall in Douro. A ceili is a series of various Irish dances where the people are led by a dance moderator. After arriving and checking our coats, we were met up with one of the discernment residents, John Perdue, who is a native of Douro and of St. Joseph’s parish. Marie-Jeunesse was given a chance to make a very short presentation which followed up into a musical performance by them where they played the song “Here I Am”. After, everyone joined in the fun with plenty of singing, dancing, relaxing, and just good fun. Unfortunately, the night was getting late and Marie-Jeunesse needed to rest in order to prepare for the vocational awareness retreat the next morning, so they and a few of the house members had to leave for the night.

The next morning was the vocational retreat/day of reflection. This retreat was originally scheduled to take part in the diocesan retreat house in Morinus, but bad weather forced the relocation of this event to Sacred Heart basement. The retreat was about finding one’s specific vocation, whether it is the married life, the priesthood, or being a consecrated Brother or Sister. It started off with a skit in which these vocations were creatively introduced. Then, a talk was given by Pamela. The focus of her talk focused on several points in which a person would truly know their vocation, such as a sense of joy, peace, happiness, and the realization of personal characteristics and common sense. Following the talk, the entire group broke up into two smaller groups to talk about various things such as what impressed, interested, or simply moved each person about Pamela’s talk or about vocations in general. Following this, the entire group moved up into Sacred Heart sanctuary where there was Eucharistic Adoration done in a very similar way as the World Youth Day retreat. A small pizza lunch was served following the Adoration, which led into a game of soccer being played in the church parking lot. The entire retreat culminated in the celebration of Mass, which was again held in the sanctuary with all the people gathered together around the altar.

What was originally scheduled for Marie-Jeunesse on December 3rd was a visit to Wayside Academy, Monsignor-Jamot school, and a afternoon trip to Radio Maria in Toronto. Unfortunately, inclement weather forced the cancellation of the Wayside and Toronto trips. Instead, Marie-Jeunesse briefly visited Monseignor-Jamot in the morning and entertained the students there. Afterwards, Marie-Jeunesse, Fr. Norbert, and the five VEYO house residents, all traveled to the Chancery office to meet with the Most Reverend Bishop Nicola DeAngelis. After a pleasant greeting, everyone sat down in the Bishop’s office for some pleasant conversations and exchange of stories. After this initial sit-down, Mass was celebrated in the Bishop’s private chapel. Bishop DeAngelis celebrated the Mass along with Fr. Norbert and Fr. Paul-Dominic concelebrating. During his homily, the Bishop thanked Marie-Jeunesse for their hard work in evangelization and spoke about the happiness that finding one’s true vocation can have. Lunch was served after Mass, where we were all served delicious roasted chicken, salad, French fries, and soft drinks, by the always generous and hard-working Passionist Sisters. During the meal, the Bishop presented a jar of maple syrup to Marie-Jeunesse as a “promise to return gift”. After lunch, the group thanked the Bishop and Passionist Sisters for the wonderful and hearty lunch. The Bishop led the entire group on a tour through the basement, where he showed us pictures of previous bishops, the archives, and various antiques which are stored down there. Afterwards, the group took a few pictures around the Chancery office including one big group photo with the Bishop. After the Bishop presented Marie-Jeunesse with a copy of the picture of SONfest 2006, the group unfortunately had to leave.  After thanking the Bishop for his always generous hospitality in having Marie-Jeunesse visit the diocese, the whole group departed the Bishop’s House to go back to the VEYO centre.

Shortly before the house community celebrated Evening Prayer, Marie-Jeunesse was kind enough (as usual) to lead the pre-seminarians in singing lessons. The pre-seminarians usually have an hour-long chant class every Monday afternoon led by an amazing and well qualified teacher, but on this day the inclement weather and other factors forced the cancellation of the class. So, Marie-Jeunesse took on the role of substitute teachers! They helped the pre-seminarians with their notes, pitches, and matching their voices to the note of the piano. We also practiced singing the popular French song “Frere Jacques”. After this enjoyable and very useful practice, we sat down for an informal chat in the library.

Dinner was, as usual, very delicious and scrumptious. But the most memorable aspect of this particular meal was when we, as was initiated by Marie-Jeunesse, spoke about how we saw God in our day and what we were thankful for. Marie-Jeunesse thanked us for our generous hospitality and our treating them like family. We thanked them for their hard work in our diocese and their kindness. We also praised the entire Famille Marie-Jeunesse community in Quebec for their work at rejuvenating the faith wherever they go and whatever they do. After dinner prayers was led, or to be more accurate, sung beautifully, by Marie-Jeunesse.

After dinner, the entire house community and Marie-Jeunesse gathered in the St. John Bosco Room for a friendly fun, fast-paced, and exciting game of Pictionary. The group was divided into three teams. We had some real fun trying to decipher what someone was trying to draw! I don’t know who won, but that is irreverent. The real goal of the game was to have fun and to enjoy Marie-Jeunesse’s last night in the diocese.

The next morning, Marie-Jeunesse attended the 8:30 a.m. Mass at Sacred Heart while a few of us cooked up a delicious breakfast of pancakes. After Mass, we all sat down to eat this delicious meal, which was served up with some of Paul Long’s maple syrup, which is from the Long Farm in Trout Creek.

Later that day, Marie-Jeunesse had to sadly depart from us. Later, we were surprised and delighted to discover that they were generous enough to clean up the rooms they stayed in without being asked! We also found out that they, instead of using up the bed sheets, slept in sleeping bags on the beds. And finally, they left us various notes hidden around the house thanking us over and over again.

In conclusion, we all felt truly blessed by Marie-Jeunesse’s visit. We will be eternally thankful for their generosity, hard work, and joyfulness that was quite present during their stay. I truly felt touched by the joy that radiated from them whenever they prayed, worked, helped out, socialized with, or simply greeted us when they met us. I truly felt God’s presence when during their too short stay. On behalf of everyone they met here at the VEYO centre, I would like to wish them good luck, God bless, and may we see you all again in the near future! Au Revoir!