Sharing from Archbishop Collins

Archbishop met with religious from the Archdiocese of Toronto on Feb 7 at St. Bonaventure Church. At this gathering, he shared with the group his life stories.

The one saint that the Archbishop revered is St. Charles Borromeo. This Archbishop of Milan was not particularly good at speaking. Nevertheless, he never failed to touch people’s heart. During the 2-years plague in Milan, he mobilized all resources to help the sick, to the point where the archdiocese had to go into debt. He also went ahead and took care of the sick himself. He was 48 when he died.

The other saint that the Archbishop adores is St Francis de Sales. This saint from France became desolate when he was 18. However, he bravely said to the Lord, “Lord! Even if I will not have the honor to see and adore your Holy face when I die, at least grant me the ability to love you during this lifetime.” As he knelt praying in front of a statute of the Holy Mary, his doubts dissipated immediately. After becoming a priest, he worked in Switzerland. His courage and zealousness greatly influenced a lot of non-believers, who eventually converted. At the age of 35, St. Francis was consecrated the bishop of Geneva. Originally a bad-tempered person, St. Francis became a gentle and humble teacher eventually.

When he was a youth, Archbishop Collins also adored Bishop Fulton Sheen from the States. He claimed that Bishop Sheen had a deep impact on his own spiritual growth. Bishop Sheen was apparently very good with words. Also, he would pray in front of the Eucharist for an hour every day.

A priest asked Archbishop Collins for his thoughts regarding how to steward the minority communities. The Archbishop felt that effective stewarding needs to be culturally sensitive. He shared with us a personal experience. One occasion, he met this Italian, which he thought must be a Catholic. He later found out that this Italian had become a Protestant, since he had no access to an Italian community when he first immigrated to Canada.

P.S. The Archbishop has agreed to celebrate mass with us on the parish’s feast day (July 8th). He’ll also be celebrating our parish’s 20th anniversary on that day.