"Blundering" into renewal: the Companions of the Cross.

It began inauspiciously enough.

In 1984 Father Bob Bedard was "blundering around" (his own words) as pastor of St Mary's in Ottawa after seven years' fulltime involvement in the charismatic renewal. It was there that the nascent foundations of what we now know as the "Companions of the Cross" took shape and form.

A diocesan priest for Ottawa, Bedard had been adopted as "quasi-spiritual director" by four young men attending St. Paul's seminary at the time. "For Catholics who wanted to be thoroughly Catholic, it seemed to be difficult to get through the seminary unscathed," he says.

Not only that, but the life of the parish priest seemed too daunting to young men. Around 1989-90, Fr. Bedard recalled, four men in the Ottawa diocese all postponed their ordination: "That raised a lot of eyebrows. It raised my eyebrows.

"They were saying, `we're scared, we're scared of what we see, we see priests out there by themselves. . . we don't want to turn out like that.' That fear is very, very real. It's one of the main things that's holding men back."

Longing for community

Fr. Yves Marchildon agrees. Ordained as a priest with the Companions on October 12, 1996, he says it was "longing for community" that drew him to the association. In the vision of the Companions of the Cross, there must be at least four priests assigned together, a guarantee against just that "very lonely kind of existence" as a parish priest.

"Discerning the call to priesthood is difficult," concedes Fr. Yves, a blond, bespectacled Saskatchewan lad with a frank open look, who worked in logging camps for years before accepting his vocation. "It's been a real struggle; I cannot see myself doing it without community support."

It was during his ordination to the diaconate that Fr. Yves felt most profoundly and poignantly the reality of his brothers' encouragement. "I was saying `yes' to these eternal questions and I was looking into the sanctuary, and I could just hear the guys saying to me, `Go for it!' " he laughed.

This same longing for community drew the original group around Fr. Bob. Of these four--John and Roger Vandenakker, Paul Shephard and Alan Dufour--the first two (brothers) are now priests with the Companions, the third is a priest with the Ottawa diocese, and Mr. Dufour, who eventually left the seminary, is now married and a father of a different sort, of two children.

It was around May of 1985 that they began to refer to each other as "the brothers" and to openly concur that "the Lord wants this group to live together." But while this was agreed to, it was Fr. Bob who realized the significance and noted: "Do you guys understand this is a canonical thing? We have to go to the archbishop and explain it. . ."

Somewhat to his surprise, Archbishop Joseph-Aurele Plourde did not throw the priest out of his office but instead told Bedard: "The vision you speak of is not yours, it's mine. . . in conscience I must support it."

Who are these guys anyway?

Therefore, on February 11, 1988, the Companions of the Cross became a public association of clerics. Today, it has become one of the fastest growing religious congregations in North America.

The Companions of the Cross now has 50 men: 20 ordained priests; 30 candidates for priesthood. On Saturday, June 14, the former number leapt to 23 as Brian Hennessey, Marc Syrenne and Jeff Shannon were ordained to the priesthood by Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais. There are about ten new candidates expected for September 1997.

This is a remarkable achievement in a society where the number of vocations to the priesthood is dwindling overall. Exactly who are the Companions of the Cross and why are they such a "success story" in the Church in Canada?

To read their literature is to be tempted to ask, "Is there anything these guys don't do?" The Companions' central ministries are to youth, to the poor, to revitalizing parishes and reaching out to alienated Catholics. They run a television program "Food for Life" which is broadcast nationally on Vision TV and internationally on Mother Angelica's EWTN satellite network. They provide pastors for four parishes in the Ottawa diocese, and in September this will increase to six.

One of their members is involved fulltime in giving retreats, while another, Fr. Ed Wade, works with a men's lay Catholic group Mission of the Redeemer, which is described as "a movement of the Holy Spirit to assist Catholic men in living out the fullness of their vocation in family, Church and society" (similar to the ecumenical group Promise Keepers).

After sorting through all the ministries, descriptions, explanations and visions, it becomes clear that the deepest desire of the Companions of the Cross is to evangelize. And the centre of their approach to evangelization is a personal encounter with Jesus.

At the heart, then, of all this activity is the call, that is, the call, the one that has constantly summoned men and to which they may freely respond, in the words of the poet: "I was astounded by gratitude and fright. My knees bent double and my mouth cried: `Master!' "

Openness to the Holy Spirit

Fueling this call or fueled by it, and in turn fueling the many ministries of the Companions, is a spirituality that is broad and generous in scope and rooted solidly in the Church. It is no accident that the group's rise to canonical status took place on a Marian feast, that of Our Lady of Lourdes: consecration to the Blessed Mother is an integral part of this spirituality, and all the Companions regard her as being instrumental in their vocation.

But let the Companions describe their spirituality in their own words: "Eucharistic (prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed), charismatic (use of all the ministry gifts), Marian (consecrated to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary) and Magisterial (loyal to the official teaching office of the Church)."

The Companions' charismatic character is evident in their "flagship parish", St. Mary's. Fr. Bob prefers the term "fully Catholic," noting that in Lumen gentium #12 "it is clear the whole Church is open to the charisms of the Holy Spirit."

When people come to St. Mary's, they notice "the involvement of the people in the liturgy, people sing out loud, they clap their hands, put their hands in the air, which is peculiar to the charismatic movement. . . it's a lively place."

With this openness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it was unsurprising that some members of the Companions took an interest in a phenomenon originating at Toronto's Airport Vineyard church, known as the Toronto Blessing. Much discussed in the media about two years ago, the "Blessing" reportedly resulted in diverse manifestations: people laughed uncontrollably, shook, rolled on the ground and emitted animal noises such as barking and oinking.

Fr. Bob handles questions about the Toronto Blessing with an adroit discretion. While he says that "some of our men have been deeply touched" by events at the Airport Vineyard church, he himself attended and "it was not my cup of tea." Moreover, he stressed, the Companions have not been deeply divided over the issue as some Protestant congregations have been.

"It's very much a mixed blessing," he observed. "If you raise up the name of Jesus, well, the Father is delighted." On the other hand, "if there are clinging spirits, there are infesting spirits, these spirits are quite likely to act up." Father Marchildon's cautionary note was, "A lot of people get hooked on manifestations [but] are you seeking signs and wonders or the God of signs and wonders?"

It was not in search of signs and wonders that John Likozar came to St. Mary's in 1990, even though he found the liturgy to be "much more expressive" than what he was used to, growing up in a Slovenian household. It was actually the homilies that drew him back again and again to the parish. Likozar, at 29, was a successful manager of a distribution company, but in general felt that "I was lost."

In December of that year he attended a Life in the Spirit seminar and started praying more and more. "In my prayer I started sensing this wild and crazy idea `priest'--but no way. I wanted to get married." However, the idea persisted and in September of 1993 Lizokar joined the Companions. "I guess He found some qualities in me that are somewhat redeemable." Now in his fourth year, Likozar continues his seminary studies and lives with other members of the Companions at St. Maurice Parish in Ottawa.

Seminary troubles

Finding a seminary that provides sound teaching for the group has been difficult. Fr. Bedard admitted that the Companions ran into some roadblocks at the Oblate seminary of St. Paul's and "the guys were rather fidgety and edgy." He finally told the archbishop that they needed to go elsewhere.

Therefore, the Companions developed a formation for their candidates which emphasizes community. So the men live in smaller "houses of formation", situated in the parishes at which the Companions are the pastors and which contain six to ten members.

The situation regarding academic formation has yet to be resolved in a completely satisfactory manner. The men still take some courses (theology) at St. Paul's University, and study philosophy at the Dominican College there. For some time they were attending St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto but have now withdrawn completely from that location.

The Companions would like to provide much of the academic formation themselves, and for that purpose they intend to continue to send men to study in Rome. Fr. Rick Jaworski just completed his courses there in Scripture, and he will be back in Ottawa in July with the view to teaching to the Companions in September, along with Fathers John Vandenakker and Francis Donnelley.

Financial travails

Formation and accomodation for all the new candidates takes money. Right now, seminarians with the Companions are responsible for financing themselves through the five to eight years of training. The estimated cost of one year is $8,000.

It helps that each member embraces a "promise of simplicity" which entails, according to the literature, adopting "a lifestyle of simplicity and reliance on the Spirit to direct them in their needs. Their promise is thus substantially different from a `vow of poverty' (within) a religious order which provides for all of its members' needs."

Moreover, the association was also advised by Archbishop Marcel Gervais, successor to Plourde, that they apply to become a "society of apostolic life", as is Scarborough Foreign Missions in Toronto. In this way, they will have canonical protection in case there are difficulties with new archbishops.

According to Bedard, the group has completed its constitutions so that Archbishop Gervias can forward these to Rome. He has no idea when they will hear back from the Vatican. "We've never done this before. . . we'll get there eventually."

However, far from having trouble with bishops, the Companions of the Cross have heard from 17 who are interested in having the group come to their diocese. These bishops are from Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

The new man in charge of the Companions, called "the moderator," is Fr. John Vandenakker, since Fr. Bedard has stepped down from the post effective July 1st. He is now referred to simply as "the founder." There are seven priests serving the community itself, including a public relations contact, Fr. Brian Hennessey.

As well, the Companions has a lay associate group which embraces the same spirituality.

While we can recount how the Companions of the Cross began and how the work now proceeds, the future, of course, remains to be seen. But clearly, as Fr. Bob says, "It's a bit of a phenomenon."

For more information on the Companions of the Cross, or to contribute to their work in any way, please contact them at: Companions of the Cross, 199 Bayswater Avenue, Ottaws, ON, K1Y 2G5 or call [phone].