Reviews for Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle

The average rating for Le diocèse de Montréal à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-29 00:00:00 Sean Carlisle THE SPIRITUAL PATH IS NOT EASY. IF YOU DON’T FINISH IT, IT WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU. - Chogyam Trungpa BLESSED IS HE WHO HAS A SOUL; AND BLESSED IS HE WHO HAS NO SOUL; BUT WOE, WOE TO HIM WHO HAS A SOUL THAT IS STILL GROWING! - George Gurdjieff Now that I’m at the end of this fabulous memoir I just have to take a time-out to warmly recommend it to GR readers. There are two roads we can take in this life: the road of the spirit, or the way of the world. Father Joe represents the way of the spirit. And Tony? Well, he always coveted the wide-open road to fame and success. A restless kid, Tony at first finds solid ground in the wisdom of this old monk and in the Rock on which his faith was built. But the flesh is weak - and Tony can't anchor himself anymore after awhile. And it’ll haunt him for the rest of his life. Now, to say this book is engaging is an understatement... It grabs you by the collar and shakes you. It is warm, human and very, very fallible. It contains a terrible beauty. But for a long time in the middle - when the book dragged - I was turned off by Tony's apparent egotism. NOW I see how hard he has worked to make a well-deserved name for himself in the unforgiving world of showbiz - and it’s admirable. He is very talented, very energetic, and can never contain his enthusiasm. And you know what else? He's still very much a kid when he looks back on his early years... And so honest! But he has been DESPERATELY unhappy, and he’s never found peace. Father Joe, on the other hand, has found his rainbow's pot of gold. Peace and empathy flow from him like a river. And he always forgives Tony, no matter how distant and cynical the young man becomes. He's a saint. William Butler Yeats once said that (like these two men) we have only two choices in life: to perfect our lives - or to find perfect success in our chosen vocation (our work). So, at the end of the book, Tony, with all his success with National Lampoon, sadly sees that he has -alas! - "refused a heavenly mansion, raging in the dark." But you know, that’s OK. Cause he’s just like the REST of us! When I was a kid, I was an OK student but a dud in athletics... But I had a friend, slightly older than I was, who was BOTH an Outstanding Scholar and Athlete. He was the ideal all-round Canadian kid. He was now in Med School. I revered him. But med school sometimes turns men to apes, though these guys are not to blame for their errant behaviour. Like the School of Engineering the Faculty of Medicine is Tough as Nails. So he misconstrued my adMIRation as adORation. He propositioned me. I was thrown for a loop. And dove into a tailspin. I crashed. And burned. I was admitted to urgent care with the consent of players who were (rightfully) concerned about my raging homophobia: “... to remind me of (my) and Adam’s Curse, And to be cured, (my) sickness must grow worse.” And grow worse it did. For fifty years... “... (until) refined by that Refining Fire Whose Flame is Roses, and whose Smoke is BRIARS.” That was fifty years ago. And you know what? Now I forgive the guy. And all his accessories. For when our souls are hardened - by our work or by our life circumstances - they can Sour. And he (and they) were only following his deepest compassionate impulses, albeit soured - and he (and they) honestly misunderstood my admiration. They were only human. And I was ingenuous - without having a strong defence for it. I’m extremely thankful that I now see that point of view now, and accept it as valid - flawed maybe - but valid. I’m also grateful for what he taught me: never again to let my impulses mar my behaviour (though they made my life erratic and socially distanced for a long time before Coronavirus). I have now learned that lesson well, believe me! Though EACH of us remains fallible... But in a priest, it’s much more serious. It’s a betrayal of Trust. But again, you know what? THAT’s how I KNOW Tony will be OK. BECAUSE FATHER JOE, A SAINT THROUGH & THROUGH, HAS NEVER BETRAYED TONY’S TRUST! Neither Father Joe - or even, God Himself - has ever rejected Tony. They always loved him simply for what he is. Our alienation is only an blindingly automatic defence. Which makes us more of a target. Tony has made plenty of wrong choices, and continues to pay for them, for alienation is self-perpetuating until expunged. We must learn to nip our anger in the bud, once and for all. And that HURTS. But divine love once shone upon his soul through the selfless love of Father Joe - for whom the ONLY sin he can commit is Selfishness. So Tony, like the rest of us, by accepting the rending experience of pain in his life as unavoidable, has learned to live. And love again, perhaps? THAT takes time. But with such love to inspire his heart in the midst of his pain, he will find the ONLY way to honestly live his faith: just by trusting, moment by moment, in the presence of love in Faith - and in the Real World. That’s it - simple trust. So, in effect, the innocence of Trust is still VERY MUCH intact in Tony... He just has to rescuscitate it. And THAT innocence will leave him faith enough to withstand all the bitter storms of life, till the end. That trust in God transfigured my pain, too. And it can show Any of us what REAL love is - once again - at the end of all our own Long and Winding Road back Home!

Review # 2 was written on 2015-03-12 00:00:00 Shane Walter I was fully prepared to go to battle with this book. I knew it was about a Catholic kid who found a mentor in a Benedictine (Catholic) monk. I don’t like Catholics, I don’t like Benedictines and I don’t like monks. I have to go back a few years. I was in a Methodist church. I had read some very good reviews on this book. I was less cynical. I started to read it and found out that our pastor had just finished it and loved it. That same week, I left the Methodist church in disgust, not so much with the church, but with the two pastors who represented it. I was disillusioned with both of my pastors, with churches, religion and God. Consequently I didn’t want to read the book that my pastor had recommended and I put the book down and stuffed it onto my sagging bookshelves to sit and stew for a while. Now, three years later, I picked it up ready to hate it. I had paper and pen in hand to write down all my rebuttals to this “God book;” but somehow, along the way, I was drawn into the writing. This is a language lover’s dream of a book. And the story ain’t half bad either. Tony, as a young kid, meets this monk sequestered in an old Benedictine monastery in England. He fully expects to be chastised and lectured on his behavior, but instead he is received warmly and listened to. And so begins the first of many meetings with a man who would become closer than his own father. As Tony grows and wanders through life, Father Joe is always there, whether front and center, or in the back of Tony’s mind, tucked away for future reference. His insight, his ability to cut to the chase, to peel off layers of glitz and theoutside world to bring Tony to pare down his thoughts to the medulla – is frankly remarkable. A couple of favorite quotes: [Father Joe talking:] Father Joe “You see, dear—I think there are two types of people in the world. Those who divide the world up into two kinds of people… and those who don’t.” Love it. Love it. A rather long quote, but well worth the read and the re-read: “Without God, people find it very hard to know who they are or why they exist. But if others pay attention to them, praise them, write about them, discuss them, they think they’ve found the answers to both questions.” “If they don’t believe in God, you can’t blame them.” “True, dear. But it still makes for an empty, unhappy person. I’m sure Mrs. Thatcher wasn’t always the way she is. As she came to power and got more and more attention, she began to be more and more what people wanted her to be. But that’s not the true Mrs. Thatcher. The Mrs. Thatcher God wants her to be.” Tony Hendra “I’m not sure Mrs. Thatcher would see the distinction you do between herself and God.” At least I got a smile out of him. “Are you saying, Father Joe, that in the matter of motives, or even morally, there’s not ultimately much difference between me and my targets?” I’m afraid not, dear. If the result is that you only have a personality other people shape. If you really exist only in other people’s minds.” “I think you’ve just described celebrity.” “I’ve just described pride, dear.”