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Canadian Catholic College living out the way of Christ

It seemed almost like heaven had descended and the angels were in full voice as the Mass which preceded the April 5 Gala dinner for Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy commenced. The Academy is the only Canadian Catholic College included in the Cardinal Newman Society's list of 21 most faithful Catholic colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. That being the case, the college emphasizes the value of traditional moral principles and is the only Canadian college to travel en masse to the National March for Life in Ottawa each year, reports John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com.

The sounds of polyphony reminiscent of Palestrina came courtesy of the Academy Schola choir, under the direction of Maestro Uwe Lieflander - the founder of Canada's Sacred Music Society and the director of the World Youth Day Choir. "I haven't heard music like that since the 50's," murmured a deacon in awed reverence as he took his leave.

After the Mass celebrated by Pembroke Bishop Michael Mulhall on Saturday, the Germania Hall hosted over 200 enthusiastic guests for dinner. Milling about the room were politicians, judges, professors, proud parents and students, friends and benefactors of the Academy, prospective parents and high school principals. The joy of the music at the Mass and the reverence of the students who participated spread into conversations over dinner.

But there was another joy about the hall. A joy of true fellowship; of kindred spirits - talking in friendship without agendas, in brotherly love without vulgarity, jovial and with great peace.

At the same time, however, there was an awareness of other, disturbing realities. This wonderful event occurred near the end of an academic year that held two of the most severe crises faced by the Academy during its eight years of existence.

The small but extraordinary Catholic college in Eastern Ontario shocked the the local community and Catholics in Canada with the deaths of two students in a tragic accident only two months ago. Now it is facing another major cross.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy recently welcomed its new President, Dr. David Warner. And now Dr. Warner has been diagnosed with cancer.

The news came only weeks ago, when Dr. Warner slipped and fell on the ice, sustaining three broken ribs. An initial analysis found cancer throughout his bones. Normally such a diagnosis means weeks and months to live, rather than years, and so the news hit the community very hard. It was the second blow this school year. Early this past February, within his first few days of arriving at his new position, Dr. Warner was forced to deal with the ramifications of the gravest tragedy that the institution had experienced - the sudden deaths of Janine Lieu and Paul Sanders.

He came through that 'trial by fire' with flying colors - calming the students and staff and directing media and legalities with a presence which instilled confidence and security. He showed great concern and love accompanied by a friendly charm and humility. For two nights during the aftermath of the accident he slept in his office by the phone in order to take emergency calls.

Just as the Academy, under his direction, began to return to normalcy, his own tragedy struck. But the bad news was quickly tempered with the finding that the cancer was primary rather than secondary, thus permitting a prognosis of years to live rather than months only. Dr. Warner plans to return to the Academy after his radiation treatments and operations are complete.

Addressing the guests at the fundraising banquet in lieu of Dr. Warner was the famous Canadian Catholic novelist and painter Michael D. O'Brien.

O'Brien explained the origins of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy as "a small, hopeless, mad venture," where parents concerned for the Catholic upbringing of their children saw clearly the "woeful" state of Catholic higher education in the nation and felt they had no choice but to embark on the impossible.

We began, he said, "on our knees", adding that God likes to bring forth new fruit in impossible places as "flowers in the desert" and "water from rocks" (Biblical references). O'Brien related that from its beginnings the charity that has enabled the Academy to grow from an impossible dream into a shimmering reality that is recognized throughout the continent for its faithfulness, was crowned with sacrifice. "The characteristic gift was sacrifice on every level of its life," he said.

Such is evidently true of the professors and staff of the Academy who pour their souls into the work without the normal financial inducements. Dr. Warner accepted his newfound condition with equanimity, telling O'Brien over the phone, "We are going to the cross and that can only be fruitful for souls."

"Suffering," said O'Brien, "puts us in union with The Vine", and thus it is on the cross where we will be most successful. The dream of those parents nearly a decade ago to provide for young Catholic men and women a place where they could "breathe" the true faith without compromise, is now being lived out at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy. But it has come and continues to come at a great cost.

In his keynote address, Bishop Mulhall also addressed suffering. "You can never go wrong," he said in his concluding remarks, "by suffering for young people who desire the truth."

Sacrifice will be key for years to come, as the growing Academy is in need of hundreds of thousands of dollars to continue development goals such as academic accreditation, proper wages for professors, and extra buildings for classrooms and student residences.

Academy alumna, Elizabeth O'Brien, now in a Masters program at the University of Ottawa, gave a final address to the crowd just before Maestro Lieflander and his schola began the evening's entertainment. In her address, Miss O'Brien, a former writer for LifeSiteNews.com, recalled fondly the yearly winter excursions of the Academy students to the shrine of the Canadian Martyrs in Midland Ontario. There, she said, she joined her fellow students and professors "kneeling in the snow drifts" at the site of the brutal martyrdom of Sts. Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant, who with great suffering first brought the Christian faith to North America.

Miss O'Brien described her recent missionary excursion to Honduras, where she worked with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal ministering to those living in extreme poverty in the mountains. She noted that her strong formation in the faith assisted her immensely in spreading the Gospel among the poor.

"Even without knowing it," she said of the Academy, "they are making Catholic missionaries of the students."

[04/11/2008]

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