A Comparison of Father David Bauer and Father Athol Murray For the Bauer Tribute, Nov. 14th 2004 - Kitchner - Waterloo, Ontario Meeting the Momentby Terry O'Malley
On this occasion of the 16th year since the death of Father David Bauer, he would have been 80.
So Father Bauer has another tribute day. I recall after finally burying Fr. Dave here in Kitchener, and it was his third memorial service, Fr. Hanrahan quipped: "He has been well buried!!" Fr. Jim, it is still going on!!
Last year, on my way here, a luggage handling vehicle ran into the side of the plane and it cancelled my trip. But I sent my little talk and I understand it was read. I didn't like to leave your day in the lurch. Now you get to hear it in person.
In it I discussed the life of Father Dave Bauer in terms of Leonard Cohen's verse on "What is a Saint." You may remember it:
"What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A Saint does not dissolve the chaos: If he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is a caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of a particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and change. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men and women, such balancing monsters of love."
Today, I would like to give a different slant to this and concentrate on the statement about achieving a remote possibility and it is impossible to say what that possibility is. In doing so, I would like to compare the lives of Father Dave Bauer and Father Athol Murray. We know that the remote possibilities they achieved were so very different.
However, both men have been recognized as Members in the Order of Canada and The Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame. Both have buildings, roads and other recognitions in their honour such as scholarships, golf tournaments and honorary doctorates. Both were educators, sportsmen and priests. Both were visionaries and men of action. Both achieved.
One doesn't see too many of these kind of men today. At least I don't. Both outstanding priests made significant contributions to their church and society in such unique and different ways. And so, it may be instructive to look back at their lives.
To begin the comparison, I am reminded of the St. Paul's writing in Corinthians (1 -12) when he suggests each will make a contribution according to ones talents. "For just as the body is one and has many members," all of these, "are activated by one and the same Spirit."
It seems to me that the Spirit inspires individuals to meet the moment. Let me give you an example how awareness of that fact recently occurred at Notre Dame.
On November 11th, 2004, the College had a powerful and much sought after guest speaker, a survivor of the holocaust.
His name was Phillip Riteman.
He kept a group of 350 students from Grades 8 through 12 riveted for 75 minutes ( no little task ) as he emotionally brought to life the story of horrors unimaginable - a milder one of the lot was a six-day train ride in box cars for 8,000 of his Polish village, standing upright and in conditions so crowded that one could not turn or move - no washrooms, no food, no water. The hysteria, the stench, the horror of it all!
And, when the train arrived at Auswitsch, the babies of mothers were forcibly taken from them and hurled in a pile against a wall. He endured conditions like this for five years.
The story teller was 78 years old and only 12 years ago did he begin to tell this story. Some were denying it happened and getting a wide audience. This successful businessman from Halifax, NS, decided then and there to overcome his distaste of the experience and do something about this denial of history. In the telling of his personal story and the history it represented, his life changed dramatically.
I asked him afterwards if he ever thought he would become a teacher at such an age. He smiled and uttered: "Never!"
He simply met the moment.
He proved Leonard Cohen right; that it is impossible to know what any hero's remote human possibility might be.
I relate this story since it seems to me that most outstanding achievers simply meet the moment. And if they meet it well, heroically, all their training seems to lead them towards it. Look at Catherine Dorothy, Dorothy Day, Jean Vanier, Jean Paul 11.
Take the case of Father Athol Murray.
He began as a parish priest, moved to Regina, then Wilcox. A school was already there run by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis. The depression hit. The conditions were heartbreaking. He said that he was going to keep the young people of southern Saskatchewan active in intellectual activity until the economic cycle changed. The alternative for youth of the area was to work on road building crews for $1.00 per day - the whole prospect of it would lead nowhere.
And Murray worked furiously to achieve it.
All in authority were against - his own bishop, the small Jesuit campus in Regina, the government which had monopoly control on University charters. But he persisted and begged and managed to wrestle a charter out of the University of Ottawa with his ability to write persuasive letters.
The University of Ottawa granted a charter reluctantly because of the desperation of the times.
He thought big. He would use motivating phrases like: Dream your dream, make it a great dream and dream it greatly. Once you have the vision of it, you will never be satisfied with anything less.
His French Classical education at Laval prepared him. He knew what it took to attain a great liberal arts education - which, he firmly believed, was the starting point for building leaders and keeping sound the great democratic ideals so hard won down through the centuries.
But more than that, he had a bulldog ferocity of temperament to face down the unbelievable conditions of drought and poverty.
He did it with no resources of his own. He did it because he was keenly alert to his times and, could interpret them. He had a liberal arts education. He was able to convince others to support his dream. He did it and kept faithful to his vocation.
He met the moment.
Take the case of Father David Bauer.
He started out an educator, teaching Grade 9's, coaching Bantams in hockey and football. He became so successful at it he ended up coaching a Memorial Cup, Canadian Junior hockey Championship.
He was too successful, however, and was shipped out to Vancouver where there is rain and little ice or snow.
However, he had been mulling over the problem in Canadian hockey that robbed its youth of an education while preparing athletes for a professional career - a career that only 1% of any Junior ever achieves. He had been mulling over Canada's struggle in International hockey and had witnessed his brother Bobby lose two heartbreaking Olympics in 1956 and 1960.
Father dreamt that he could provide a model of hockey and education at a high level as well as rejuvenate Canada's tarnished reputation internationally.
He worked furiously to achieve it.
He thought big. He felt he could change the face of Canadian hockey with this new National Team in Being. He had the hockey and academic training to find the mix.
However, the NHL and Junior leagues were against him. The universities reserved judgment. And he was going to start it in Vancouver of all places - not what you would call a hotbed of hockey.
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association granted him the Charter - that organization was desperate for answers too. Conn Smythe told him if he got it off the ground, he's run for Prime Minister and recommend Father to become Pope!
He met this situation with a bulldog ferocity that took a balancing act the Cirque du Soliel would have trouble managing.
Recruiting. scheduling, relations with the press, academic scheduling for players, constant shortage of money, the convincing of his religious Basilian Order of the value of his work, the convincing of the CAHA to stick with his Ideal, the overcoming of disappointments in results.
He did this with no resources of his own. He did it because he was keenly alert to his times and, could interpret them. He had a liberal arts education. He was able to convince others to support his dream. He did it and remained faithful to his vocation.
He met the moment.
May we who share the stories of Athol Murray and Dave Bauer today continue to be inspired by their lives, and, as the torch is passed on go out to meet the moment and make a difference. |
