Category: BC Catholic

A father is the scaffolding around the growing structure of his child.

I first heard this analogy from Dr. Maria Fedoryka in the Humanum video series. She explained that while a mother’s genius is to create a space for a child to exist with unconditional acceptance, a father’s genius is to be “scaffolding,” — the “solid structure within which a person can flourish.”

My father was a tall, solid man who was often happy and sometimes scary (6’4” with an Irish temper). When I rode on his shoulders, I felt fearful, but also in awe. Being lifted that high gave me a new perspective. Fathers push security boundaries to encourage children to reach further, discover more, and venture beyond comfort. When kept in check, those “scary” qualities comfort children and assure them their father is in control.

As I grew older, my father’s structure was still there for me but in new ways. When I was a young adult, we fought about my curfew and I rashly moved out with a university classmate. My father let me know he did not agree with my decision (he was right about that — I moved home two months later), but when he visited my apartment, he brought a toolbox he’d put together for me and he patched up all the holes in the walls. He left me the toolbox. His support was love.

A child observes what his father has built his life on. He sees the very person of the father as a model of how to live. That is why, when the child gets older and recognizes the father’s faults, he may be devastated, thinking that everything he believed was false.

In reality, the father does not make the scaffolding intentionally. He does not carefully erect it by teaching the child to do certain things which are helpful and then to avoid others that are not. The father, in fact, IS the scaffolding. Not just what he wants to present to the child, not just what he wants to teach the child, not what he gives the child or what he says to the child, but his entire being (personality, character, body, actions) forms the structure within which a child flourishes — or struggles.

When young, the child stands inside this scaffolding, observing its construction, beauty or ugliness. This structure answers, for good or for bad, all the child’s big questions: Does life have guiding principles? What’s worth caring about? What is a man? How should I treat others? Whether intentionally or not, the father provides answers through his person. The child makes life decisions based on these observations.

Masculinity provides this gift, states Fedoryka.

In Chapter 10 of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul turned his attention to the intruding missionaries.

Father Thomas Stegman, SJ, explained: “Paul begins by presenting himself as a soldier in God’s army in the battle to bring about Christlike obedience within the community (10:1–6). He explains that his God-given authority is for building up the Corinthians (10:7–11). Finally, he sets forth what constitutes proper missionary boasting (10:12–18). All the while, Paul contrasts himself with the intruding missionaries.”

St. Paul wrote, “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Catholic author Stephen Ray commented: “‘Proud obstacle’ can be understood as wrong thoughts and faulty arguments that are entrenched in the mind against God. Sometimes these may be rational arguments; other times they might be sentiments or emotions that are ‘caught’ from other people like one catches the measles. It is often easier to knock down a fortress of timber and stone than it is to destroy a stronghold of mental lies and deceptions.”

Christians are engaged in spiritual warfare. The sacrament of Confirmation seals us as soldiers of Christ. St. Paul used military terminology with the words: “being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Cor. 10:6).

St. Paul wrote, “Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we” (2 Cor. 10:7).

St. John Chrysostom said, “Paul criticizes not only the deceivers but the deceived as well, for they are also accountable for their actions. Furthermore, he rebukes each one in the way which is most appropriate to their case. Those who imagine they belong to Christ must consider who Paul belongs to. If the answer is also Christ, then they must listen to what he has to say to them.”

Regarding the authority of St. Paul, the fourth-century Ambrosiaster pointed out that “Paul takes advantage of his authority only to the extent that he glories in the progress of believers, so that his power may be conducive to salvation and not self-aggrandizement.”

St. Paul “did not boast beyond the power that was given to him, nor did he claim any authority in places where his preaching had not been heard.”

St. Paul states: “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Cor. 10:18).

St. John Chrysostom commented: “Paul did not claim this for himself but left it to the Lord. Paul is modest, but not to the point where he neglects to tell the truth about himself.”

If the best metric for judging a comedy show is the amount of laughter, then Stand Up for Jesus was an undeniable success. It also might hold a key to understanding what constitutes Catholic comedy.

Held at St. Francis de Sales Church in Burnaby, the recent comedy night was the result of months of work by organizer Jo-Anne Duchscherer and her budding group of six amateur stand-up comics.

“If you have rotten cabbage, please do not throw them!” Duchscherer told the approximately 80 attendees. “This is not Elizabethan times — this is not the Globe theatre.”

She added quickly, “We do, however, accept donations of perishable items!”

All six comedians started taking stand-up lessons last year, and apart from a trial run in 2025, the May 30 event marked their inaugural public performance.

The comedy ministry was initially pitched to pastor Father Mark McGuckin when he was at Duchscherer’s parish, St. Joseph in Port Moody. The venture received episcopal approval from Archbishop J. Michael Miller last spring.

In an interview after the show, Duchscherer told The B.C. Catholic the goal of the ministry is simple: “To raise up holy fools for Jesus.” The holy fool is a medieval archetype popular in Eastern Christianity for embodying a closeness to God despite an unserious, often silly, disposition.

Duchscherer said her Catholic faith has always inspired her to embrace joy, which for her involves performing live comedy. She has been taking stand-up comedy classes and performing for over a decade.

Asked why she proposed the ministry, she simply quoted a line from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae: “Relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds.”

Anyone is capable of writing good jokes, says Duchscherer, and she tells her students to look for the Catholic stories in their lives. “We’ll take those stories and break the funny out of them.”

At Stand Up for Jesus, the stories were as wide-ranging as the performing comedians, who represented a diverse generational cross-section of Catholic life.

Valerie Murdocco offered jokes about her 32 years of marriage, including a tongue-in-cheek explanation for her conversion to Catholicism from her strait-laced Protestant upbringing: “Gambling, wine and dancing? I’m in!” she said to appreciative laughter.

A trio of younger Catholics, Kenneth Haggerty, Emily Robichaud and Daniel Williams, joked about young life in the Church and the ills of millennial and Gen Z life in general.

Robichaud, a crowd favourite, drew considerable laughs after a series of jokes about joining the CWL as a young woman.

The event was a clear success, and other pastors are considering offering Stand Up for Jesus in their parishes.

While wading through the disenchanted swamp of modernity, the approach of Father’s Day offers a chance to reflect on how children and fatherhood re-enchant the world like few things can.

It’s not just that children bring an explosion of wonder, enthusiasm, and imagination to every moment, but the experience of building a relationship with a person who lacks all the pretensions and hang-ups associated with adulthood will explode your perception of human value—and all value—if you let it. (Clarification: this is a good explosion.)

So much of the modern world’s concept of personhood and human value is wrapped up in productivity, competence, and, by consequence, economics. My children are neither productive nor competent, and they bring me no money to speak of (unless you count that time my daughter gave me a quarter she found on the sidewalk).

Children are, by their very nature, bumbling and curious and time consuming … Actually that isn’t quite right. They don’t consume my time, they fulfil it. They don’t give value to my life, they give it meaning.

These aren’t simply semantic distinctions, they are clarifications about the nature of human worth. They are clarifications about the nature of reality.

Economic and material language is the great hidden serpent of our age. Without thinking too hard we have invited it into our homes, places of worship, and political institutions, where it whispers slow death and decay, framing our conception of human value with implied economic calculus.

Saying my children “consume my time,” or that they are “valuable,” may seem harmless enough. They reflect observable phenomena: I have only so much time, and when I spend (Ack! “Spend:” there it is again!) time with my kids, that time is technically used.

Likewise, “Consumption” seems like an adequate turn of phrase to describe this occurrence, except the word exists in a larger linguistic context. It is usually used to describe the way in which commodities (and, more recently, content—another disgusting modern perversion) are used in market environments. If the go-to reference point I have for my time is its relationship to money, real or imaginary, what am I really implying by “my kids consume my time”?

Language is not a value-neutral tool. It forms the substrate of our reality. Practically speaking, things don’t exist for us if they can’t be named. There is a cognitive linguistic phenomenon in which people’s perception of colour is limited by the words their language has for various colours. African tribesmen who have no word for orange find it near impossible to distinguish between red and orange. Their language restricted their perception.

The Athenians worshipping an unknown god suffered a similar fate.

I happened to be watching the Indy 500 on the weekend and was impressed, although not overly surprised, to see the Archbishop of Indianapolis was invited to offer the opening prayer.

It was one of those subtle yet unmistakable reminders of how deeply embedded the Catholic Church remains in public life. When society needs a solid, authoritative, meaningful presence—someone or something that represents serious religion—it turns to the Catholic Church.

It’s especially true in the United States, but here in Canada religion hasn’t entirely been driven from public consciousness either. There were signs of that throughout the installation of Vancouver Archbishop Richard Smith.

If I had to guess which moments will stay with people at his installation Mass or the reception before, it won’t just be the well-documented, perfectly orchestrated liturgy—the cardinals, bishops, incense, and solemnity so many rightly praised for its beauty.

It will also be the unofficial unscripted ones.

Like the bells that suddenly rang from an unknown source during Msgr. Gregory Smith’s prayer at the Archbishop’s reception—a startling interruption that made everyone in the ballroom pause.

Or the spontaneous applause from the priests as their new shepherd climbed the cathedral steps before Mass.

What moved me most were the passersby, the people in downtown Vancouver who could see something was happening and stopped to ask about it. When they learned it was the installation of a new Catholic Archbishop, many stayed. Some took photos. Others simply stood, visibly stirred by the pageantry unfolding before them. From cars and sidewalks, phones were raised to capture something that was clearly significant.

And it was.

One young woman approached the cathedral, unaware of the event. She didn’t have a ticket, she just wanted to pray. Despite the overflow crowd, she was quietly let in for a few minutes to visit the Lord. She stepped inside and prayed silently, surrounded by hymns and choir and prayers, far removed from the noise of the city outside. A few minutes later, she left, grateful for the brief admittance, and headed back down Georgia Street.

Outside, I spoke with two young men. Both were Catholic, one a labourer, the other a military reservist. They shared how their work environments can challenge their faith, but also notied how their presence is an opportunity to witness and has an effect on those around them. Colleagues, even atheists, clean up their language when they’re around, and some ask them questions. They noted the encouraging trend of young men coming back to the Church.

And then there was the solitary man kneeling outside the cathedral doors as the Mass was underway, praying silently for several minutes, a plastic shopping bag at his side.

From Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1, 2025, the great Jubilee event dedicated to families, children, grandparents, and the elderly will be held … three full days of events and attractions, punctuated by moments of prayer, reflection, celebration and sharing.

The event is expected to attract over 60,000 pilgrims to Rome. Participants have signed up to come from 120 countries from every continent. Large groups will be present from Italy, Spain, the United States, Poland and Portugal. Many pilgrims will also arrive in Rome from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Romania, the Philippines, and Chile.

Numerous dioceses, associations, and movements will also be represented, including large groups involved in Agesci, Italian Catholic Action, the Neocatechumenal Communities, UNITALSI, the Catholic Grandparents Association, the Franciscan Movement, the Focolare Movement, and many other Italian and international groups which promote the human and spiritual growth of families.

The first day of the Jubilee, Friday, May 30, will see pilgrimages to the Holy Doors of the Papal Basilicas between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. At 10:00 am as is now customary, there will be “Dialogues with the city” – a series of cultural, artistic and spiritual events in the piazzas of the historic centre of Rome, organized by various institutions, associations and movements linked to family pastoral care, including the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day, the Association of Families for Welcoming, Nonno Banter 57 APS – Giochi di Strada, Le Muse di Archimede, and the Emmanuel Community. All the details relating to the piazzas hosting events and activities can be found on the Jubilee website.

On Saturday May 31, the pilgrimage to the Holy Doors will continue from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please note that, due to organizational requirements in the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Door of St. Peter’s will not be accessible from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday.

From 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, the “Dialogues with the city” will continue offering celebratory and educational activities, organized by, among others, the Centro Oratori Romani (COR), Italian Catholic Action, the CHARIS Association (Catholic Charismatic Renewal), the Neocatechumenal Way, the Community of Sant’Egidio, Family Global Compact and the international network of family associations, and also Le Muse di Archimede and Nonno Banter 57 APS – Giochi di Strada. For these events too, all the details can be found on the Jubilee website.

Saturday’s events will culminate in the late afternoon, from 6:30 pm to 8.00 pm, in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, with the “Family Festival” and the Prayer Vigil during which the Rosary will be recited to conclude the Marian month of May.

The celebration, which will be packed with music and testimonies, will be hosted by Lorena Bianchetti, an Italian television presenter, and will see the participation of, among others, special guests such as the actor Giovanni Scifoni, the Christian Music bands The Sun and Gen Verde, and Alfio Russo, a very young saxophonist.

At the reception before Archbishop Richard Smith’s installation Mass, Monsignor Gregory Smith, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, offered the following prayer, invoking the intercession of three beloved saints:

Loving Lord, on this occasion of such great joy and hope, ordinary words seem inadequate. But your saints can inspire our prayer… 

With St. Francis of Assisi, we pray that you will make our new Archbishop an instrument of your peace: that he will continue with your help the work of reconciliation—in our homes and in our hearts, within the Church, in our friendships with other Christians and those of other faiths, with all men and women of good will, and in our precious relationships with Canada’s First Nations, 

With St. Augustine, we pray that Archbishop Smith will be given the heartfelt support of every member of this local Church, mindful that he carries out his ordained ministry as bishop within the Christian family to which he belongs through baptism. 

And with St. John Vianney, we pray that as he works, his labours will be blessed, that as he walks, God will bless his steps, and that if he suffers, God will bless his tears.  

May Archbishop Smith experience every day these words of the Cure of Ars, the patron saint of priests: “How great, how noble, how consoling it is to do everything and in the company and under the eyes of the good Lord.” 

Your voice matters! Join the conversation by submitting a Letter to the Editor here.

This story was updated May 25.

Archbishop Richard Smith’s May 23 installation Mass at Holy Rosary Cathedral was resplendent in pageantry, flawless in organization, and liturgically solemn, and with thunderous applause, the faithful who filled Holy Rosary Cathedral welcomed Vancouver’s new Archbishop.

In addition to the overflow crowd that had to be accommodated in Rosary Hall next door, the livestreamed Mass was viewed by more than 7,000 people online. 

Also attending were Canada’s Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic; Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada; Bishop William McGrattan, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; as well as bishops from across Canada, including many who were once priests for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

The installation began with the Archbishop standing outside the cathedral doors and knocking three times with a gavel, symbolizing Jesus’ words in Revelation 3:20, “I stand at the door and knock.”

In his homily, Archbishop Smith said he was struck by two things: the traffic, and the monumental boundaries that define Vancouver, from the ocean and the mountains, or the American border to the south.

“I look forward to learning how these confines have come to shape the culture of the peoples they circumscribe,” he said.

The Archbishop said he can already see the spiritual world of Vancouver, without borders, that “exists in the very heart of this area.” Meditating on the multi-cultural reality of the city by quoting Peter in Acts 10, he said, “’God shows no partiality.’ The promise of salvation in Christ extends to all, without demarcation.”

The same universal mission of the Church that brought missionaries to British Columbia 200 years now compels the faithful to evangelize the city, he said. “We are blessed with the presence of peoples who represent a wide array of nations and cultures … we need simply to walk across the street, get on SkyTrain, or go to work to find ourselves in a vast missionary field.”

Archbishop Smith praised the “extensive and varied programs of faith and formation, creative communications, and missionary outreach” in parishes, Catholic institutions, and lay associations.

“There is a wonderful dynamism here, an enthusiasm for the Gospel, and I am eager to collaborate with all of you,” he said.

“Our world needs Jesus Christ!” said Archbishop Smith. “So, like Saint Paul, ‘we do not lose heart’ but move forward in hope. The message we announce is “Jesus Christ as Lord”, risen and alive, whose light reveals the truth of God and ourselves, and whose mercy alone has the power to overcome all sin and transform the world in view of its salvation.”

One of the first Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist to come to Vancouver 10 years ago is leaving, at the same time as the archbishop who invited her to the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Sister John Mary Sullivan was one of the first Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist to move to Vancouver in August 2015, alongside Sister Angela Marie Castellani, FSE. The community now has four sisters serving in Vancouver. 

Sister Sullivan’s departure marks a significant moment, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the congregation’s service in the Archdiocese. 

It also comes in the same year that Archbishop J. Michael Miller—who originally invited the order to the archdiocese—steps down from episcopal office. Archbishop Miller has been an outspoken supporter of women’s religious communities in Vancouver and leaves office having invited more than a dozen communities of women religious to the archdiocese.

Sister Sullivan is leaving one week to the day before Archbishop Richard Smith’s installation at Holy Rosary Cathedral. Archbishop Smith celebrated Mass with diocesan staff and offered a warm farewell to Sister Sullivan, who served as the Archdiocese’s associate director of ministries and outreach.

“[Sister,] we are thanking God today for how he has worked in your life in so many different ways,” said Archbishop Smith in his homily.

He said Sister Sullivan’s example should encourage others to ponder how God uses them. 

Despite life’s “ups and downs, the mistakes and successes, and the regrets and gratitudes,” God is preparing us to enter his kingdom, he said.

In addition to her work in the Ministries and Outreach Office, Sister Sullivan was a popular and sought-after speaker on topics ranging from faith and mental health, to vocations and discernment, as well as marriage and family. 

In an interview with The B.C. Catholic, Sister Sullivan said her time in Vancouver has been enriching and she is grateful for the many families she was privileged to meet.

“My final thought is just gratitude,” she said, “for the opportunity to encounter so many beautiful families and couples [and] gratitude for the team that I worked with.”

Sister Sullivan leaves for the Franciscan Life Center, a licensed outpatient mental health facility run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist near their motherhouse in Meriden, Connecticut. There she will be mentored into the role of director and provide clinical support to individuals, couples, and families.

Sister Sullivan said the highlight of her time in the Ministries and Outreach Office was last summer’s Family Camp, a culmination of years of planning and work by her team and the perfect capstone.

Rare is the occasion when a person chooses their own name.

In most cases we use the names our parents gave us. Mine puts me in the interesting position of having an intriguing name in Canada, but one that’s common and easy to pronounce in Poland. Its meaning (from the Latin agnus, meaning lamb), coupled with the fact that it is both unique and ordinary, has carried me through 30-some years with certain thoughts about what it says about me.

My husband and I have named three children. As I’ve pondered the meanings and significance of each one, I’ve thought of my hopes and prayers for each child and wondered how their names will influence their perceptions of themselves as they grow.

But every once in a while, we get to choose our own names. I recently learned how significant it can be for grandparents to choose what their grandchildren call them. Not everyone identifies with “grandma” or “grandpa.” Some prefer Oma and Opa, Nana and Papa, or Yaya, or Gramps, or Pops …

The names we choose are always in the context of relationship, providing clarity and flavour to what we call each other, and they say something about our identities and hopes.

The shift in name signifies that something bigger is happening. A new chapter is opening. New lines are being added to the web of our relationships.

The newly elected Holy Father has called himself Pope Leo XIV, signifying something about his identity, dreams, plans, and relationship with all of us. He explained that it marks a connection to Pope Leo XIII and a commitment to an emphasis on Catholic social teaching, justice, and human rights.

It may be surprising that there is no official rule about what a Pope’s name can be. It doesn’t have to be the name of a saint, for example. Pope Innocent I (401–417) just continued using his birth name. (He was later canonized, so all Innocents after him are named after a saint.)

The name choice is completely at the discretion of the Pope. The first Pontiff to choose a name change was Pope John II (532–535). Before he was elected, his name was Mercurius, a name inspired by the pagan deity Mercury – and presumably, he saw that as inappropriate for a Pope.

Not one Pope has dared to choose the name Peter II, out of reverence for St. Peter.

Intriguingly, the name change does date all the way back to Peter – though he did not choose it himself. Jesus told a fisherman named Simon, “you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.”