Pope Leo & Religious Fervour in France

 

                                                        Champs Elysees during the Papal Visit

Europe has become an increasingly secular region, even though thousands of Christian church buildings dot the countryside of a number of countries. France is one of them, not only in the exodus of worshippers and distancing from traditional religious roots but in the restrictive policies of the government.

During the past few days Pope Leo has been in France and we might assume that the head of a struggling Roman Catholic church would receive a tepid welcome. This has not been the case and it may be that the pontiff is surprised by the numbers of people who have participated in public events, many of them young adults.

An estimated 800,000 lined the Champs Elysees for a drive-by on his way to celebrate an outdoor mass. I notice that there were many nuns there in habits. Strictly speaking, was this an illegal religious demonstration? I'm confident that no one was arrested or fined.

 Leo will celebrate a mass in majestic Notre Dame Cathedral with its majestic sanctuary, almost destroyed a few years ago.  Leo stood outside Notre Dame last week and grew emotional as thousands sang Salve Regina. 

These remarkable displays of religious fervour seem to support evidence of a renewed interest in Christianity in France, particularly amongst younger people. The number of young adult baptisms has grown significantly in the past few years, including a 25% increase in 2025.

Huge crowds to honour popes are not new and often as Protestants we attempt to understand the religious rockstar flavour of these papal visits. I imagine Pope Leo, a humble man, is praying that this is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit sparking a renewed desire to follow the light of Christ in a world that seems increasingly confusing and dark.  

Orange Shirt Sunday

 

Today we wear orange

to remember and honour all the Indigenous children who went to residential schools.

Today we wear orange and we pray
for the residential school and intergenerational survivors who are still struggling.

Today we wear orange and we are thankful
for those who speak the truth, and who work to shine a light on injustice.

Today we wear orange in the name of compassion and the spirit of truth and reconciliation.

Help us, God, to remember and act on this this every day.

Amen.

We put up our Every Child Matters flag a week ago, a bit earlier than usual this year for a reason. In Canada September 30th is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day -- Every Child Matters. Established to honour Residential School Survivors, their families, and those who never returned home, it serves as a reminder of the lasting impacts of the Residential School system in which several Christian denominations were complicit, including the United Church of Canada.

The orange shirt aspect is inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad having her orange shirt taken away on the first day at a residential school. The movement began as a grassroots initiative in 2013 in BC and is now recognized by the Canadian government, many organizations and school boards, and by individuals across the country. 

The United Church encourages acknowledgement with Orange Shirt Sunday, which this year is September 27 -- tomorrow. The sanctuary at Trenton United will be decorated appropriately and we're encouraged to wear orange to our worship service tomorrow. 

One reason for putting up our flag earlier is that there is a growing denialist movement that publicly attacks Webstad personally, also claiming that Residential Schools weren't so bad and children didn't die there despite evidence in school records. They actually produce orange tee-shirts with denialist slogans.  It's wicked and disheartening. 

Still, rather than despairing we will affirm Truth and Reconciliation as a matter of justice and faith. 

9 to 5 Day & Dolly's Generous Faith

In several cities and states in the US this is 9-2-5 or 9 to 5 Day, a play on words, or numbers, to honour the late, great entertainer and philanthropist, Dolly Parton. September 25, 9/25 -- get it? Dolly died a month ago at the age of 80 and lots of fans were shocked. She didn't make a big deal about her illnesses and offered assurances to those who were concerned about her health.

I was never much of a fan of her music because it leaned country, although she was eventually elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This honour was as much about how admired she was in the music world generally. She wrote and sang hits for herself and there were highly successful covers by other musicians -- think Whitney Houston. Her 9 to 5 working life anthem was central to a highly successful comedy film of the same name  in which she starred. 

I have certainly admired Dolly Parton through the years for her astonishing philanthropy and acceptance of people from all backgrounds without judgement. She grew up in a "hell fire and brimstone" Pentecostal church and knew that wasn't for her. But she was open about her Christian faith and how it kept her grounded in a crazy industry. She recorded several Gospel albums. 

Her generosity was legendary even though she wasn't inclined to draw attention to herself. According to RNS:

 In the 1990s, Parton created a program to give free books to children as a tribute to her father, who was unable to read or write. Her Imagination Library has donated more than 300 million books across the globe. In a 2018 interview, she also cited the Bible as inspiration for this program. “In the Bible, where it talks about honor your father and mother, … I think means to bring honor to their name.” In more recent years, she gave a $1 million donation for COVID-19 research that was partly used to fund the Moderna vaccine and announced a similar donation to help victims of Hurricane Helene, which affected Tennessee, her home state, and six others in 2024, People magazine reported.

When we were on rather remote Change Islands, Newfoundland, in August a neighbour, a big Parton fan, told us that she had received Imagination Library books when she was a child.

 In 2022 Amazon's Jeff Bezos gave Parton 100 million dollars to further her philanthropic efforts. 

Our oldest grandchild, now in his teens, was obsessed with the song Jolene when he was two and three, insisting that we play it whenever he was in our vehicle. I was so grateful when that phase ended. 

I figure Dolly would have made an excellent President but of course the States would never choose an entertainer as a governor or a president...

Gathering to Pray for our Jewish Neighbours

 

We took part in this service last evening, part of a small gathering at Trenton United Church with a purpose of prayer, reflection, and lament. During the service we lit a candle and we sang.

 Of course we prayed for the Sons of Jacob Synagogue and Jews everywhere who wonder about their safety in this country. The attack in neighbouring Belleville was the most violent of recent anti-Semitic incidents with Constable Jeffery Smith seriously injured in an exchange of gunfire with the attacker, who has since died. We prayed for Jeffrey Smith's recovery and for his family. Eventually we also prayed for the family of the perpetrator who live in the Trenton area. 

We were invited to consider what individual acts of kindness and mutual understanding we could engage in and to choose hope rather than despair. 

In the tranquility I thought of the other police officer who responded and was part of the shoot-out. I imagine that the majority of officers in Canada would go their entire careers without being involved in a fatal shooting and this has to be a traumatizing experience even when there is no doubt about the necessity of potentially lethal force. 

We were grateful for the opportunity to bring this deeply unsettling incident and its consequences before God, affirming the importance of freedom of religious expression. As we left the sanctuary we realized that a police cruiser was parked out front, sent to ensure that we too would be able to worship and reflect in peace. We were thankful and mindful that we live in unsettling times. 

Bon Echo Grandeur and Mystery

 

Autumn has arrived in Southern Ontario with a skein of glorious days, sunny and, well, autumnal. This morning we decided to "carpe diem" and head northward to Bon Echo Provincial Park, a gem in our region,  There was evidence of Fall colour along the way and we arrived at the park before many campers had stirred. 

We unloaded our kayaks and headed toward the towering cliff (100+ metres in height, maybe 1.5 km in length) which is Mazinaw Rock. There was virtually no breeze and the morning light was idea for viewing the Indigenous pictographs painted just above the water line along the cliff face. The red ochre images depict human and animal figures, as well as a number of abstract and geometric symbols. 

We have paddled along this cliff a number of times through the years and I've written about doing so in this blog. Today's calm allowed us to take our time and see more of the pictographs than we have on any other occasion. There were no other people around, unlike the Summer when it borders on chaotic. We made our leisurely and contemplative way along the cliff and back. 

Ruth commented that looking for the images was not unlike birding. The invisible becomes visible with attention and spaciousness in terms of time. We found that our breathing slowed and we could simply take in the grandeur of the cliff and the mystery of the unexplained images.

Who were these artists, probably Algonkian, and what was the purpose of their work? Some of the Group of Seven along with other painters came to the lodge which once stood at the water's edge, before Bon Echo was a provincial park. Some of the regular guests at that lodge were clergy who came to enjoy the marvelous view of Creation. While I appreciate these paintings and the sensibilities of the pastors who spent time there I have a reverence for these mysterious and deeply meaningful pictographs. Once again we were moved by what we experienced. 

Season of Creation & UN Ocean Action

                                                                      United Nations Assembly

May he have dominion from sea to sea
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

                   Psalm 72:8 NRSVue

Today representatives from nations around the world will convene in New York City and the United Nations complex as part of several days of sessions on a number of topics. In the arcane ways of geopolitics there will be an Iranian delegation although the members will not be allowed to stroll the streets of the city and buy stuff. Cause global chaos? Yes. Purchase gifts at Saks Fifth Ave.? No way. 

There will be a number of important discussions over the course of several days including what is described as a Climate Summit. Today's theme is Oceans Action and here is how it is described on the UN website: 

Solutions Dialogue on Ocean Action and Leadership Date: 22 September 2026 | Time: 11:00–13:00 | Conference Room 11, United Nations Headquarters Context 

The United Nations Secretary-General will convene a High-Level Meeting on Climate Action and the Just Transition during the High-Level Week of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The Meeting will focus on the leadership, implementation and international cooperation needed to accelerate delivery across the three pillars of the Paris Agreement. It will include a series of multi-stakeholder ‘Solutions Dialogues’, bringing together governments, international organizations and financial institutions, business, investors, subnational actors, civil society and the UN System to identify practical partnerships and solutions to help accelerate implementation across critical sectors and priorities. 

Objectives The Dialogue will focus on the following objectives: 

• Build coherence across the international ocean architecture and the institutions addressing different parts of the agenda.

 • Connect ocean, climate and biodiversity action, including the opportunity for COP31 to advance an ocean-centred climate agenda.

 • Identify how finance, technology and private-sector engagement can move promising ocean solutions from individual projects to scale. 

• Identify a small number of consequential actions and expectations for leaders, the UN system and other stakeholders to advance ocean action through 2030. 

                                                                Haida Gwaii, British Columbia 

Canada is a "sea to sea to sea" nation with the longest coastline in the world at about 250,000 kilometres and bordering three oceans. Our national motto, A mari usque ad mare is taken from Psalm 72. We still traverse those oceans for trade, they are essential to our national security, and we derive tremendous economic benefit from our protected waters. 

So, why are most of us unaware of what's happening today at the UN? We will likely hear far more about the address of the Bloviator-in-Chief today than this Ocean Action dialogue but the subject is vital for the health of our nation and the planet. 

We are midway through the Season of Creation with its theme of Living Water employing seldom-quoted verses from Ezekiel 47. Perhaps we can tie the vision of the prophet of old to the vision of healthy oceans and seas discussed at the United Nations. Once again I'll note that the Church of England calls these weeks Creationtide and I do love the term. 

  Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes.  People will stand fishing beside the sea[c] from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.  On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

Ezekiel 47: 9-10, 12 NRSVue

The Shattered Peace of Belleville's Jewish Community

 

       Bullet holes in the stained glass windows of the Sons of Jacob synagogue, Belleville, Ontario

As we listened to the CBC Radio national news this morning we were startled to hear of a serious police-involved community of Belleville, Ontario. An exchange of gunfire took place of the Sons of Jacob synagogue last evening as the service to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur commenced. A police officer and an armed assailant were injured and there is little doubt that this was a targeted attack on the Jewish community, a hate crime. The photo, above. was taken from inside the synagogue by one of the congregants and shows bullet holes in a stained glass window.

Belleville is a city of under 60,000 residents and the Jewish population is small. Even on such an important Holy Day there were only 20 or so congregants in the building at the time. The 1950s building itself isn't notable although the exterior menorah clearly identifies it as a Jewish place of worship. We usually drive past it a couple of times a week as we make our downtown. 

When I was in ministry at Bridge St. United Church, just a few blocks away, I wrote a letter of solidarity to the congregation during a rash of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Canada. Other than that I had no interaction with the community but I have often wondered about how this small group feels in the midst of a disturbing rise of anti-Jewish words and actions in this country and around the world. Anti-Semitism is a centuries-old poison, an irrational hatred given that Jesus and his first followers were Jewish and firmly rooted in their religion. Of course, hatred is so often irrational and rooted in prejudices and lies. 

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day in Judaism and marks the end of ten days of reflection and repentance. It seems to me that our society needs to enter into a fuller outlook of repentance, education, and protection for the Jewish population of Canada. Canada has the fourth largest Jewish community in the world behind Israel, the United States, and France with roughly 350,000 members. This is, in part, because the Jewish populations of European countries were largely destroyed during the Holocaust or Shoah of the Nazi regime. Canada must remain a safe home for Jews rather than becoming a place of fear 

Today I pray for the traumatized members of the  Sons of Jacob congregation, for anxious Jewish communities across this country which upholds religious freedom, and around the world.