We will soon approach our third month in our new parish home. It has been an incredible journey and a wonderful experience. I don't think that I ever thought it would be as stressful and emotionally draining as it turned out to be. I quickly recognized that moving not only an office, but a whole church building and a home, was much more than my emotional self could handle.Along with the excitement of the move came a somewhat hidden sense of loss and grief. Saying goodbye and moving are always hard experiences. I know that and I have had many experiences of moving. Leaving home for university, moving to Toronto for my masters and a couple of parish moves have proven to have taken their toll. Separation from family and friends and opening one's self to new people and new experiences, a loss of the familiar and a change in the circle of friends all play into the equation. Moving a church location that for many has been home for 50 years is understandably difficult for them. How do I know that? Because it was difficult for me and I had only been there for a little more than five years.

The intimacy of the old place (a place I affectionately called "the cave") is something I miss. While it was a space that was too small and far too many times people got lost in the very back of the overflow area, it was nevertheless an intimate and friendly place. The design of the new Cathedral space is also intimate but at a much different level. The space holds twice as many people: that is a bonus. More new faces are present: that is a bonus too. But there is also a great change. I fondly remember starting the Sunday evening 6:30 Mass a few years ago and we had a total of eight people, of which three were in the choir area. I watched that Mass time grow and on January 1 of this year I witness in excess of 600 people at a Mass that was traditionally comfortable at the number of 300. 

With all of the new people come new stories and new experiences. It brings new pastoral concerns and pastoral direction. It means saying goodbye to that which was, and embracing that which is and which is to come. God has been so very faithful in all of this. God knows too what is at the very core of our hearts. In saying hello to something very special we had to say goodbye to something that was familiar and consoling. 

As the Lord draws us into the journey of Lent we too enter into the spirit of a new journey in a new home with a new vision. We don't close the book. Instead we close a particular chapter and embrace the new ones that lie ahead. I am reminded of the many moves and the many goodbyes I have said in my life. I am reminded too of the many hellos that have been a part of my life. 

I look forward to all of the newness as we journey together in the future. God is faithful. I have found that the people of God are faithful too. Cheers to the past. And cheers to the future.