A Visit from a Prince of the Church

Some of you have already heard me going on about the fact that the Seminary had a visit from a Cardinal last night- but most of you don't, and I have to expound at length on it.

First of all, the background reason: His Eminence, Archbishop Marc Cardinal Ouellet of Quebec City, Primate of Canada, was invited to Edmonton several months ago to be speaker at a huge gala dinner (taking place tonight) to fundraise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Priests' Retirement Fund of the Archdiocese of Edmonton- a fund that is in sincere need of a cash injection, due to the fact that it is currently paying out to more retired priests than there are working priests to pay into it. And Cardinal Ouellet is a big name to draw people in. As Archbishop of Quebec City, he's the Primate of Canada, meaning that his diocese was the first in the country- it has the primacy. Furthermore, he's one of just three Canadian Cardinals, and he's the youngest and newest of the three.

Finally, and perhaps most pertinent to his crowd-drawing abilities, Cardinal Ouellet was a student and colleague of Pope Benedict XVI when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. The two are more than acquainted. What's more, Cardinal Ouellet was considered papabili (Pope-able) in the days after Pope John Paul II passed away.

All in all, a pretty big name in the Church, and good reason to be excited.

Now, the Cardinal was invited to Edmonton for the Retirement Fund dinner, but he asked, since he was going to be here, if he could come visit the seminary. Twelve years ago, he was Rector of this seminary, and our current rector was one of his formation team. So it was a little bit of a homecoming. Naturally, the Seminary responded with enthusiasm, and so came about an evening Mass, Supper, and private talk from the Cardinal for the Seminarians. It was our first "formallish" event of the year, and a lot of work went into getting things ready.

Mass was especially well-planning, because not only was it the visit of the Cardinal and former Rector- but because the Mass, no matter when or where celebrated, the Supper of Our Lord, and so takes precedence over any amount of suppers or talks we may have. What with the full three deacons, ten concelebrating priests, and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Edmonton (and, of course, the Cardinal himself), we had a pretty full house, clergy-wise. Then we had a four-part seminarian's choir, with organ, piano, and two trumpets. The music was particularly sumptuous. And I don't say that only because I was one of the basses. As a matter of fact, we did better the night before, but it was a job well done at Mass, anyway.

Supper was sumptuously prepared by the kitchen staff, and I was rather straining at the waistcoat buttons by the time it was gone (well, even before... it seems I was lazy and ate too much over the summer). And the conversation at my table, if at none of the others, was a hoot, as we ran the gamut of teasing Chris about his Personal Formation sheet to parodying an amusing version of Sts. Peter and Paul's relationship.

But the talk at the end was a real highlight, as we Seminarians, after having to share him with the college faculty all night, had the Cardinal to ourselves. We got a lot of personal history, and a rendition of the last days of Pope John Paul II through the election of Pope Benedict. Very interesting stuff.

And then the obligatory pictures...

Talking after the Cardinal took off, general concensus among us Seminarians was that we may well have had a meeting with the next pope. Of course, all of us would love to see that happen- although God preserve Pope Benedict for many years yet! On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that our main reason for thinking so was very Us-Centric. What Canadian wouldn't burst with pride at a Canadian pope? And seeing as Cardinal Ouellet has a much stronger personal connection (and is much younger)... well, you get the picture. It may have been a bit silly of us, it may not- but it was a very fun evening anyway.

But I definitely need to start exercising more. So say my waistcoat buttons.