English Speaking Region Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte's Christmas Homily December 2007 My dear friends, I greatly enjoy these annual Advent gatherings. They allow us to touch base and chat with one another. We have a chance to look around and see that there actually lots of people who are working to build up the church: we are many, who strive to proclaim the gospel in the diocese of Montreal. These gatherings are also an excellent occasion to reflect on the mystery of Christmas. This mystery remains fundamentally the same each time it is celebrated, but at the same time it can be highlighted in different ways based on what we have lived and will live each year. This year, our Christmas gathering takes place a little after the close of the public audiences of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission. A lot was said during these sessions about us as a church, and not all of it very positive (to say the least). As the young people would say, some of it was just plain crazy talk, with a focus on dragging up things from the past. Far fewer spoke of the present. Quebecers are not always completely honest with regard to the history of the Church in Quebec. Hurtful things are said. Certain judgements are made that are partial, or exaggerated, or simply unjust. We have seen how, in the hearts and minds of many of our fellow citizens, there is a lot of resentment towards our Church. How should we react? Certainly it must be without bitterness, or cutting remarks from an acid tongue. No, we must respond with the kind of serenity and humility that says that we are still proud of our Christian heritage. This heritage has had its periods of light and darkness, but so does everything else that belongs to the past. We should not let the reactions to our shared history get us down, but instead we must all apply ourselves to living in the honest truth. And this truth will set us free. It says so right there in the gospel of John. We must not fear the truth, nor deny it, nor water it down. The last few years have not been easy ones. The ones to come don’t look like they’ll be any easier. Many of us knew of a time when the Church was almost an omnipresent social reality. In my opinion, too much energy is spent rejecting this reality when in fact it no longer exists. On the other hand, however, we must not fall into the opposite trap of using similar energies to perpetuate this kind of church, or to try and bring it back. The task before us is to bring forth a new vision of Church, a new way of being Church. Times have changed, men and woman have changed, and the world we live in is not what it once was. In a way, though, doesn’t this sound like Christmas? Christmas is the celebration of a birth, of a beginning. It was a very humble beginning, one that almost went unnoticed when it happened. It all began with a child. It began in simplicity and weakness. It began even with a threat to that child’s life. But this child became a man, and he spoke in God’s name. He brought with him light and life. Sometimes he was welcomed, and other times rejected. Sometimes he was loved, and other times hated. Some sought to honour him, and others to humiliate him. Throughout it all, he never stopped doing good. He never stopped proclaiming the Truth that his Father gave him to proclaim. He always rose to the occasion, no matter what his Father asked of him. He cared for those in sorrow, those who suffered, those who were rejected and despised. This child did not have an easy life. On the other hand, that life certainly was fruitful. After all, we still speak of him, and we are still proclaiming his message. We are part of a great multitude who still believe in what he had to say about love and forgiveness, about freedom and solidarity, about joy and peace, about goodness and compassion, about justice and eternal life… It is Good News. It is very Good News, which merits being proclaimed to all men and women of our age and of every age. Jesus came to light a fire upon this earth. This flame has been given to us, and we must pass it on in our turn. A few days ago I was reading a magazine story about Enzo Bianchi, an Italian monk who founded an ecumenical monastic community of both men and women, in the north of Italy. He was asked about the state of Christianity in the present day. He did not say he was worried about the future. According to him, the fact that Christians are in many ways now a minority does not at all mean that they are now insignificant. He admitted that today’s Christians have “a difficult and challenging road ahead”, but reminded the interviewer that this isn’t a numbers game. Statistics cannot tell the whole story, because faith is something beyond statistics. And he added: “I have enormous confidence, for if Christianity is truly a path to becoming a better human being, then human beings will necessarily be interested in Christianity. Any obstacles to this process come from us, not from the world. It is up to us to declare our hope to the world, to attract others by a lifestyle of goodness, and to turn our life in Christ into a true work of art.” Christmas is the celebration of God who became man, the celebration of the Son of God who brings the only authentic humanism. My prayer for all of you is that you might remain passionately committed to the proclamation of the Gospel, as ardent builders of the Church here in Montreal. May we all share in this grace. Merry Christmas to all of you!   + Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte Archbishop of Montréal
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