The Vagrant Catholic Blog

In Ottawa Ontario Canada, the Salvation Army have just had approval from Ottawa’s City Council to move from their current location to 333 Montreal Road, in the Vanier area. The Salvation Army said that according to their research, they have many “clients” in the area, and as a result will be able to help more people than they can in their current location. They’re also going to put their money where their mouth is, spending fifty (50) million dollars for the new facility.

For some additional context to this, Vanier has a certain “reputation” in the city. Some buildings look run down, there’s questionable businesses like payday loans centres. The area has been described by many within the city as “sketchy”. As a result, residents of Ottawa (including those in Vanier proper) have voiced some concerns regarding the homeless shelter. During a conversation I recently had, they mentioned four concerns/comments regarding the building of the homeless shelter:

1) Concerns about “the population it brings” (ie; more homeless people migrating to Vanier).
2) Shelters “entrench” homelessness.
3) The quality of life in the area will go down.
4) Only through economics and revenue generation can we fight homelessness. Instead of spending fifty million on a shelter, the money should be used towards grants so people can startup businesses.

For the first point, I mentioned something in my last post about this, but I want to discuss it in more detail. Primarily because it’s personal; I was once homeless myself, and this first point and what it entails is something I know about.

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For many years I have posted on the Catholic Answers Forum (“CAF”).  During my time there, I saw a conversation involving some posters who were advocates for the Society of Saint Pius X (“SSPX”).  The current status of the Society is quite irregular, and their current circumstances can be somewhat difficult to both understand and explain.

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I do not write as much as I used to, my tendinitis in both hands has prevented me from doing so. It’s been quite painful for many weeks now, so I have been wearing hand braces and reserving my efforts for work purposes.

However on this day, I must share a few different notes. Some of which is about my Patron Saint, on this his feast day and after the Transistus. And some words about other things as well.

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I’d have an easier time understanding the concept of assisted suicide within Canada if the proposed law strictly stuck with the terminally ill. But, the proposed law doesn’t; in fact many say it doesn’t reach far enough. People are advocating that assisted suicide be available to those with mental illnesses. “Unbearable suffering”, whatever that may imply.

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There’s a lot of things which become clearer through the passage of time. Things that you lived your whole life with, thinking that it’s acceptable or “normal”. As time passes you begin to discover that, no, things should not be as they were, as they are, as they would remain. Mental health and mood disorders often fall into that category, where in some senses it’s a bit like a mystery novel, where you gradually piece things together into a cohesive narrative. Continue reading →

Every year the Archdiocese of Ottawa holds the “St. Don Bosco Gala”, in which awards are given to people for the efforts in youth ministry.  This year I received the “Don Bosco: Heart of Youth Ministry” award, which considering that it’s named after the Gala itself is quite the honor.

In lieu of giving a speech, I wrote some thoughts and placed them on the Facebook event, which are as follows: Continue reading →

In light of Pope Francis being in the news with his address to Congress, his critique(s) of capitalism, and his comments regarding refugees and immigrants. It brings my mind theological constructs, economic theories, and other socio-political issues – as well as the reactions from both believers and non-believers.

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