Most of our parishioners had already come to know that he had served as a member of the 'White Fathers' -- a missionary order -- in many parts of equatorial Africa.
How could they have missed it?
In his Mass Homilies and one-on-one chats, he often relates hilarious stories of his experiences among his beloved African families.
Although we share a Cape Breton Acadian heritage (our hometowns were only 40 kilometres apart), and he has often been our guest at family suppers, my reading of his adventures revealed the astonishing breadth of his experience.
It opens at a noisy, crowded, rickety airport hut, as Father John is trying desperately to get his four (adopted) children to accompany him on an evacuation plane.
He has to convince a group of heavily-armed guards / border officials that he has all the valid passports and travel documents.
The tense situation is ramped up all the more because two of the youth are of mixed tribal birth, Hutu and Tutsi, sworn enemies.
He is fully aware that they could all be shot dead on the spot.
The documents are taken to a back office (for inspection) by the guards; Father John now realizes that he may never see the papers again, time is running out, and the evacuation is 'not gonna happen,' so he falls to his knees to plead their case!
The guards are shocked by his behaviour, are rendered immobile because they don't know how to deal with him -- they have never seen a priest resort to this!
And, remember, Dear Reader, this is only the opening scene!
To find out what happened next, you'll have to read the book.
The 'Amazon' book blurb claims that he "weaves you through an incredible and adventurous pattern of personal life situations.
-- "First, he takes you through the stormy years of childhood and the years of young adulthood in his beloved village of Arichat, Cape Breton.
-- Secondly, he takes you through the years as a student at Teacher Training College and his first experiences as a teacher in Nova Scotia.
-- then, you journey with him through the years of seminary training in the United States and England.
-- Finally, he shares his experience with you as a missionary priest in Africa, in particular in the countries of Burkina Faso (the former Upper Volta), Nigeria and Central Africa (Zaire, present day Congo, Rwanda, Burundi)."
He skilfully employs a number of storytelling 'tricks' to grab and hold his reader, such as 'alternating chapters.'
For example,
-- he relates childhood events in one chapter, 'catches up' to his work history in the next, then returns to update his family events.
-- Detailed African political background is presented by a conversation with a new recruit during a long taxi cab ride from the airport to the mission compound.
-- In addition, because hometown readers will surely recognize their neighbours in the stories ... the identities of characters have been artfully cloaked in the narratives.
The blurb concludes:
"Both at homme and (overseas) he faced many challenges and life decisions. This is the story of such an odyssey.
His experience of the Rwandan genocide and war touched his life deeply.
It is an amazing story of growth in relationships, in love, hope, trust and faith and the great need for a strong and deep loving presence in one's life."
I really enjoyed reading Father John's book. It's long, you don't read it in one sitting'; it presents lots of detail and political background -- you have to take time to digest information.
In one well-crafted scene, he brought me right back to the agonizing tension of opening the envelope with my Grade XII results from the Provincial Examining Board.
Your entire academic future was on the line.
You wanted to carry out this task in private; no witnesses.
If you failed (and might get to write a Supp. Exam), there was only a transcript.
If you passed, your Grade XII Graduation Certrificate was enclosed!
I'm glad to report, we both discovered our respective Certificates.
Whew!
No comments:
Post a Comment