Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Christian Goodness

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

He mentioned it to me once before. “We are attacked by weapons of mass distraction.” Such were the words Father Kevin McGee who oversees three parishes in Saskatoon and who became our guest of honour at our Bhakti Show. Father and I were speaking after the event about “the nature of the beast” in today’s world while feasting over Prasadam (sanctified food). I consider him one of my Brahmin friends. He insists I call him Kevin.

I first met Kevin five years ago at a tourist information centre in North Battleford just after trekking a good 40 kilometres for the day. My support person, Garuda, and I were warmly treated by Kevin in his rectory in Saskatoon. We broke bread together and it felt like moments of sanctity as in the event of “The Last Supper”. I say that because after a hard push under the Prairie sun at the above mentioned distance that day it was, in fact, the last meal of the day.

He played “Good Samaritan” at a two-way score by accommodating Garuda and I for that night. We had been “roughing it” at camp-sites and then due to Kevin’s hospitality, we had it comfortable.

Back to our dialogue; we both agreed that self-centeredness was a disease and whether you feel attacked or not it’s YOU as the individual that makes the choice whether to be enslaved by it or not. I asked him what his biggest challenge is for the communities he oversees and here’s where we concurred again. “Most folk don’t try to go inward”. Distractions do persist.

Besides Father Kevin, a modest one hundred people came, a mixed group of local people, came who are teachers (Brahmins again) and some from the Hindu community. In fact our program took place in Saskatoon’s Hindu temple, which is nice that Kevin did come as our esteemed guest.

7 Km