Brother Eric Michel doesn’t celebrate Mass every Sunday because he is a chaplain.

Le frère Eric Michel ne dis pas la messe a chaque dimanche car il est aumônier

Easter catholic mass in South Lebanon with French contingent- 2004

A chaplain celebrates Mass in specific contexts, usually when they are tasked with providing spiritual support in places such as hospitals, prisons, military barracks, or other institutions where people may need religious guidance. In other words, a chaplain is a priest or minister who works outside of a traditional parish, often with isolated people or in institutional settings.

His primary role is to provide spiritual support and guidance to people in these settings, taking into account their specific needs.

Unlike parish priests, chaplains are not responsible for a specific parish but work in broader contexts.

There are different types of chaplains, for example, hospital chaplains, military chaplains, prison chaplains, etc.

He is a chaplain primarily for first responders, including police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. We also serve truck drivers, travelling salesmen, and tourists. Then there are prisons and mental health services, which we provide, and finally, like Saint Francis, we serve as an animal chaplain.

Le frère Eric Michel ne dis pas la messe a chaque dimanche car il est aumônier

Un aumônier dit une messe dans des contextes spécifiques, généralement lorsqu’il est chargé de fournir un soutien spirituel dans des lieux tels que les hôpitaux, les prisons, les casernes militaires, ou d’autres institutions où des personnes peuvent avoir besoin d’un accompagnement religieux. En d’autres termes, un aumônier est un prêtre ou un ministre du culte qui exerce sa fonction en dehors d’une paroisse traditionnelle, souvent auprès de personnes isolées ou dans des environnements institutionnels.

Son rôle principal est d’offrir un soutien spirituel et un accompagnement aux personnes qui se trouvent dans ces lieux, en tenant compte de leurs besoins spécifiques.

Contrairement aux prêtres paroissiaux, les aumôniers ne sont pas responsables d’une paroisse particulière mais interviennent dans des contextes plus larges.

Il existe différents types d’aumôniers, par exemple, des aumôniers d’hôpital, d’armée, de prison, etc.

Il est aumônier principalement au premier répondants, policiers, pompiers, ambulanciers, nous avons aussi les cammioneurs, les voyageurs de commerce, les voyageurs touristiques. Puis il y a les prisons et en santé mental que nous offrons des services et pour finir comme saint Francois, aumônier des annimaux.

The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the “falling asleep” (death) of Mary the Theotokos (“Mother of God”, literally translated as God-bearer), and her being taken up into heaven. The Feast of the Dormition is observed on August 15, which for the churches using the Julian calendar corresponds to August 28 on the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Dormition not on a fixed date, but on the Sunday nearest 15 August. In Western Churches, the corresponding feast is known as the Assumption of Mary, except the Scottish Episcopal Church, which has traditionally celebrated the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15.

Christian canonical scriptures do not record the death or Dormition of Mary. Hippolytus of Thebes, a 7th- or 8th-century author, writes in his partially preserved chronology of the New Testament that Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus, dying in AD 41.

The use of the term dormition expresses the belief that the Virgin died without suffering, in a state of spiritual peace. This belief does not rest on any scriptural basis, but is affirmed by Orthodox sacred tradition. Some apocryphal writings testify to this opinion, though neither the Orthodox Church nor other Christians accord them scriptural authority. The Orthodox understanding of the Dormition is compatible with Roman Catholic teaching and was the dominant belief within the Western Church until late in the Middle Ages, when the slightly different belief in the bodily Assumption of Mary into heaven began to gain ground.

Term
In Orthodoxy and Catholicism, in the language of the scripture, death is often called a sleeping or falling asleep (Greek κοίμησις; whence κοιμητήριον > coemetērium > cemetery, a place of sleeping; Latin: dormire, to sleep). A prominent example of this is the name of this feast; another is the Dormition of Saint Anna, Mother of the Virgin Mary.

Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/20–403), If any think I am mistaken, moreover, let them search through the scriptures and neither find Mary’s death, nor whether or not she died, nor whether or not she was buried—even though John surely travelled throughout Asia. And yet, nowhere does he say that he took the holy Virgin with him. Scripture kept silence because of the overwhelming wonder, not to throw men’s minds into consternation. For I dare not say—though I have my suspicions, I keep silent. Perhaps, just as her death is not to be found, so I may have found some traces of the holy and blessed Virgin…The holy virgin may have died and been buried—her falling asleep was with honour, her death in purity, her crown in virginity. Or she may have been put to death—as the scripture says, ‘And a sword shall pierce through her soul’—her fame is among the martyrs and her holy body, by which light rose on the world, amid blessings. Or she may have remained alive, for God is not incapable of doing whatever he wills. No one knows her end.

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The Dormition tradition is associated with various places, most notably with Jerusalem, which contains Mary’s Tomb and the Basilica of the Dormition, and Ephesus, which contains the House of the Virgin Mary, and also with Constantinople, where the Cincture of the Theotokos was enshrined from the 5th through 14th centuries. 

St. Michael’s Lent is our chance to fight back as one Catholic Church. Not fight back with screams and arguments, but by living the beatitudes. It is a chance, like Lent, to quiet ourselves, deny ourselves, and silently pose the question to those around us, “Who is like God?”

Though St. Michael’s Lent has begun a resurgence, it is still unknown to the majority of Catholics. A term given to the period between the Assumption, August 15, and the feast of St. Michael, September 29, by St. Francis of Assisi, St. Michael’s Lent is another period in the year to devote to prayer and fasting.

Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans)

The Manse

A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant’s ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as Manse, parsonage, presbytery, rectory, or vicarage. (In French: Le presbytère est l’habitation du curé catholique ou du pasteur protestant. Ce bâtiment est également appelé maison curiale).

A manse is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin mansus, “dwelling”, from manere, “to remain”, by the 16th century, the term meant both a dwelling and, in ecclesiastical contexts, the amount of land needed to support a single family.

Our Manse of the Right Revd. Marie and I are in an apartment with three bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a living room. Usually, the Chapel is in the living room, the main bedroom is our living room, and we use the other rooms for sleeping and an office. Due to Marie’s illness (Multiple Sclerosis (MS)), we had to adapt so that our living room is a mix of a living room and a Chapel. We needed space for a wheelchair, and now we also accommodate ambulance-paramedics who visit frequently throughout the year.

The Chapel consists of two parts: 1) the Altar, 2) the Shrine.
The Shrine or Sactuary is an all-glass shelving with mainly Holy Statues, pictures, rosaries, and souvenirs of our pilgrimages.

Until this year, I never elaborated on many artifacts at the Altar because, as a chaplain, I celebrate the eucharist or any other sacraments on location. Usually, I set up a table with tablecloths, candles, a Bible, and a communion set. As a caregiver to Marie, my external duty is limited to 26 hours a week, which includes household errands, medical visits, and car maintenance. So I needed to upgrade the Chapel’s Altar.

On Sunday, we have 6 people attending the service, but at other times, there are no parishioners. People think that I am still roaming from one place to another. Also, from time to time, you will see me worshiping in other churches, Catholic, of course, but also Anglican, Baptist, United Church or Wesleyan. That is part of the Chaplain’s role to be inter-denominational.

The Chapel walls contain icons, pictures, paintings and certifications. Lots of crucifixes, crosses, and the Last Suppers in metal, wood, plastic, and paper. Also, we have a lot of icons of Our Lady of Grace, our dedicated patron saint. 

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