Marie Zarowny, SSA, Victoria

As I began to think about what I could possibly say this evening, the melody and phrase, formed and fashioned, from a song based on Psalm 139 kept coming to mind. 
  Remi, I’ve reflected on how you’ve been formed and fashioned … by:

As I began to think about what I could possibly say this evening, the melody and phrase, formed and fashioned, from a song based on Psalm 139 kept coming to mind. 
  Remi, I’ve reflected on how you’ve been formed and fashioned … by:

• Your family and growing up on the farm in Swan Lake, MB;
• Your call to priesthood, studies and early involvement in Catholic Social Action;
• The Second Vatican Council, of course, which profoundly opened you to the world, global concerns and new approaches to “voice” and decision-making. The intense experience of the Council also provided you with the opportunity to develop lasting friendships with Bishops and theologians from around the world;
• Your keen intellect, ability to analyze and synthesize complex issues and your pursuit of knowledge;
• Your friends, colleagues ….and even political and perhaps theological adversaries;
• The people of the Diocese of Victoria, especially throughout your 37 years as our Bishop;
• Your faith and deep, abiding love for the Church.

   This list could go on, of course, and you and others here are probably already thinking of what you would add! 
   I want to also speak for a few minutes, though, about how you, in turn have fashioned and formed and continue to fashion and form others, as well as society:

• You brought the gifts and experiences mentioned above and deeply influenced all of us as we embarked on responding to the invitations and challenges of the Council. Some of us, a little younger than you, were in a time of intense formation ourselves and we were indelibly shaped by the vision you strove to bring to life in the Diocese. Others in the diocese, in other faith traditions and throughout our wider society were thirsty for the insight and pastoral approaches you shared.
• Your leadership with the Social Affairs Commission of the CCCB made the teaching of Jesus and the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church known and relevant throughout Canada and indeed, in nations around the world. You credibly and forcefully challenged the prevailing political and economic interests of the time, raising to the public discourse the needs of people not benefitting from the systems in place as well as the needs of earth itself. 
• You continuously pursued the interconnection of the spiritual and temporal, religion and society, so often presented as separate in the lives of individuals and of societies.  The Centre for Studies in Religion and Society here at the University of Victoria is a legacy that continues this pursuit.
• You’ve honoured and fostered dialogue and collaboration with peoples of other Christian traditions and belief systems. 

   Like Jesus, you formed and fashioned by action and by word:  what you did; the organizations you initiated or were part of; your relationships, your writings and of course your homilies, lectures and retreats. 
   And now, at the age of 88, you tirelessly continue to form and fashion, with a particular emphasis on the teachings and implementation of the Second Vatican Council. In spite of the discouragement and even despair of these times, you do so with hope and joy, encouraging those you meet in their struggles and dreams. 
   As I reflect on your 50 years, Remi, I also ponder what it means for those of us here this evening. In some ways, our times are not so different from just prior to the Council. I was recently reminded of Pope John XXIII’s apostolic letter convening the Council, in which he stated, Today the Church is witnessing a crisis underway within society, on the brink of major change …humanity is at the threshold of a new age.  He went on to say that many in the Church saw “modernity” as anti-religious and threatening, seeing only darkness.  John XXIII, however, saw it differently, choosing to gaze as a believer on the world and human reality where God is still revealed today. 
   We are challenged in our times to be alert to the Spirit at work in the joys and hopes, the grief and anxieties of people today, the movements they form, and the good they try to accomplish.  We are invited to collaborate in forming and fashioning a just, inclusive and compassionate society in which all people can live with dignity and the earth can flourish. The task is immense and awaits not only us but the youth of today and future generations. 
   Lest, however, we feel discouraged and that our efforts are in vain, we look to you, who continue with such dedication and hope….. and we are reminded of the familiar words of your good friend, the late Archbishop Oscar Romero:
 It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view…..
 We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.  Nothing we do is complete….no statement says all that could be said….no program accomplishes the church’s mission…..
 We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise…..
 We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.  It enables us to do something …it is an opportunity of the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. ….
 We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
   Thank you, Remi, for planting and watering the seeds … for being such a prophet in our time….