ROLAND, I have taught at all 3 levels, high school, college, & university, in Ontario & Quebec.
My subjects were Social Sciences, Political Science, & International Relations. At the high school level, English/Language Arts, Social Science, & Catholic Education. I am very interdisciplinary. In Ontario, the requirement is a M.A. in the subject being taught at college, & doctorate at university. Quebec requires a specific University Faculty of Education accreditation (courses) to teach those subjects at the high school & college level in those subjects. So, I have those from McGill University, as well as the required one-year probation & Ministry of Education accreditation given after a Ministry (Govt) specialist visits the class while it is being taught & provides a Quebec Ministry of Education certificate. So, it is a much more laborious process in Quebec. I taught in both provinces, in Montreal & Ottawa. Many changes were in process in Ontario those years, when I started teaching. I also authored curriculums in those subjects in both provinces. In Quebec,Catholic Education now can only be taught in private schools. In public high schools, there are Ministry-approved courses whereby various religions have to be taught (used to be called ‘Comparative Religion’), & only certain number of weeks maximum can be used for teaching Catholic Education. Amalgamation of school boards have essentially made all ‘public‘ schools ‘secular’ in orientation. The churches themselves are almost empty in Quebec, huge high ceilings, astronomical heating costs. Two iconic historical churches in downtown Montreal have become shopping malls, & one has become the entrance to the University of Quebec in Montreal. Only the front facade & some walls remain. The claim is the Govt requires them to preserve the church, but in these two cases, only the front facade remains. Everything else inside are commercial enterprises. You r right, only Third world Christians follow traditional church practices now. St. Kevin’s Church, where I went to since I came to Canada, was originally an Irish church. A few Goan Catholics from Karachi lived in the area & went to that Church. So, we celebrated Sf. Francis Xavier Feast in the basement, after Mass. Then, large number of Filipinos moved in that area, & they are now the majority of the church goers. The choir is all Filipino, great choir, regular practices, etc.. Parish priests were all Irish. Fr. Tiberius, from Shri Lanka, a good friend, was briefly parish priest. Educated in Rome. He is now in a church on the north-west of Montreal. The present pastor is Fr. Muthu, (short for a very long name of 17+ letters). He is from Tamil Nadu. Previously, for 2 decades there was an Assistant Parish priest there, Fr. Pereira, who was Principal of a high school in Lahore. He passed away. I was at the funeral. Very long sermons, many found ‘boring’ (excuse the word, but others used it). There is a younger Fr. Vincent Pereira, parish priest at a Ottawa church. I go to meet him sometimes when I am in Ottawa. He has a doctorate from Rome University & did his thesis writing it in Latin. Imagine ! I told him the school logo at the Jesuit school I went to in Bangalore was: ‘Fides et Labore’ (Faith & Work). Yea, we used to say the ‘Angelus’ in Latin in those days. That ‘exalted’ language, no need to understand it. Fr. Vincent serves on a Vatican Committee, the Vatican Marriage Tribunal. It anuls marriages, etc.. He is a Mumbaiwallah from Mangalore, as he self-identifies. The last 2 Popes, including Pope Francis increased the number of Cardinals dramatically. 90% + are from Europe, a couple from South America. Experts within the Church have themselves noted that the Cardinals who choose the Popes will remain largely European for the next 30-40 years. Pope Francis himself is in ill-health. The last time a Pope was chosen, there were rumours the Nigerian Cardinal’s name was mentioned among 4-5 leading names. He is aging & ailing, too, I do not have in front of me the details, but age limits have been put in place, & he is unlikely to be mentioned the next time. We already have a ‘retired’ Pope still living, as u know, who lives in private quarters in the Vatican, & is occasionally photographed with Pope Francis, celebrating Mass together, etc.. The retired Cardinal of Bombay visited Montreal & Toronto a couple of times, when he was in good health, private visit years ago. I met him in Montreal. Present Cardinal, as u know, is ‘amcher’, from Goa. I met him in Goa when he was a bishop (I do not mean ‘chess’). I attended Mass there then, which he celebrated. - Ivan D. Roland, I met Fr. Raymond two or three times ago, many years ago, at university. However, my impression was that he strictly stayed away from any discussion of ‘ethnicities’. When discussion of ethnicity is totally avoided, there is an underlying dominant ethnicity in play anyway. I am sure u appreciate that, & have an acute & understanding ear re. those vibes floating in the air. > On Sep 21, 2021, at 16:16, Roland Francis <roland.fran...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Raymond De Souza is a Catholic parish priest in an Ontario Church, a > Chaplain at Queens University and on the teaching faculty of the Departments > of Education and of Economics at the University. He is a religious columnist > at the National Post, one of the country’s major newspapers and a columnist > at other major Catholic publications. > > He is the son, I am told, of Cedric De Souza a chemistry teacher at > Strathmore in Kenya in the1960s. > > This was a timely topic of discussion among concerned Catholics in Toronto > even before this article. Some Church sources were even quoted saying > anonymously that 40% less churchgoers would return for regular services once > restrictions were completely lifted. If that were true, it would have severe > financial implications for this diocese which though having other sources of > income, are overdependent on regular church donations. > > Filomena must be already knowing, but will take heart with the fact that if > this trend takes place throughout the developed Catholic world, the > non-Caucasian section of the flock is bound to have a more powerful voice in > its affairs. > > Even to me as a non-believer, I wish it didn’t happen. A traditional sense of > community and activity should not be lost. Ivan Pereira should be able to > tell us how from complete control of the population in every aspect of their > lives, the Catholic Church in Quebec today can only muster a few stragglers > in rural and even suburban churches. > > Raymond J. de Souza: COVID may have hastened Christianity's decline in Canada > | National Post > https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-j-de-souza-covid-may-have-hastened-christianitys-decline-in-canada > > Roland. > Toronto. >
