Restoration

Written by Madonna House staff, Restoration is an essential part of our witness to the Gospel. Here we share our personal stories and reflections on the Gospel challenges of today, along with writings from Catherine Doherty and the Catholic Church.

Posted May 21, 2013 in MH Combermere ON:

Growing Up Near St. Joe’s

by Christina Milan.

My earliest memories of St. Joe’s are of the toy box and being bounced on the knee of Marie Therese McLaughlin. That toy box held endless wonders for me while the adults chatted. And the bouncing knee, well, that was just plain fun. My siblings and I would stand in line for our turn of "Here’s the bumpy road. Here’s the smooth, smooth highway. Here’s the pothole!"

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Posted May 16, 2013 in MH Combermere ON:

Helping at St. Joe’s

by Toni Austin.

In the fall of l961, I was assigned to work at old St. Joe’s to help with the preparations for Christmas. I was a young working guest from Toronto, twenty years old.

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Posted May 14, 2013 in MH Combermere ON:

Memories of the Early Days

by Trudi Cortens, first director of St. Joseph’s House.

"Nothing is alien to the apostolate except sin," Catherine often told us, and that left her, and us, wide open to take on just about any kind of work to further our goal of "restoring the world to Christ."

Here are just a few of the works we undertook in response to the needs of the people of the area.

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Posted May 09, 2013 in My Dear Family:

A Nursing Story

by Catherine Doherty.

Catherine liked to reminisce about her early years in Combermere. Here is one of her favorite stories—and one of ours, too.

The day had been hard. The bed was so wonderful. Sleep was instantaneous and deep. So was the dream deep. Deep but far away. Endlessly someone was calling me. Faintly. Faintly and not so faintly. Someone was shaking me.

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Posted May 07, 2013 in MH Combermere ON:

Our Good Neighbours

by Lorna Tonack.

My memories of St. Joe’s stretch back to the spring of 1980, when my husband Carl and I moved to Combermere from Edmonton, Alberta, with our two young daughters. We were a young family hoping to buy land and pursue our homesteading dream, as well as find a community to grow in.

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Posted May 02, 2013 in MH Combermere ON:

Fifty Years of Friendship

by Melanie Murphy.

There is movement in the quiet village of Combermere. Cars line Highway 517 on both sides as far as the eye can see. Clusters of people and vehicles are also gathered on the southeast corner where the road meets Highway 62. Everyone seems headed to an old gray-shingled house with blue trim or the brown house behind it.

January, March, May, July, September; the seasons change, the tourists come and go, yet once a week on Thursdays and Saturdays, from 2 – 4 p.m., this scene remains more or less the same. What is the attraction? What’s the draw?

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Posted April 29, 2013:

A Letter from Ancient Rome

During Eastertide, the Mass readings from the Acts of the Apostles give us a glimpse of the early Christians. Here’s another glimpse.

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Posted April 26, 2013 in One Man's Scrap:

One Man’s Scrap, Another Man’s Gold (April 2013)

After a cold winter, we are glad to welcome spring with its warmer days and to be drawing near to Holy Week and Easter.

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Posted April 24, 2013 in MH Roanoke VA:

I Have Seen Christ

by Beth Ryan.

I arise and search for my beloved (cf. Song of Songs 3:2)

I have seen Him in the faces of the teenagers in a parish youth group, who came to our house to see our way of living as a witness to Christ. They were remarkably open and interested, asking how we obtain our food, clothing, make-up. I saw Him in their hunger for God.

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Posted April 23, 2013 in Milestones:

Milestones (April 2013)

New Local Directors and Transfers: Steve Héroux & Janet Bourdet, co-directors, Marian Centre Edmonton.

Deaths: Associate Fr. Duncan MacDonnell; Genevieve Enoe’s mother, Sheila

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Posted April 22, 2013 in Combermere Diary:

Combermere Diary (April 2013)

by Paulette Curran.

As I was looking over the events of the past month in preparation for writing this column, I was struck once again by the simplicity of our Madonna House life.

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