Love, Simon is entertaining, funny in spots and reflective at times. It’s a story about a young man – a rather privileged affluent teen, with a good home, a stable family, and a secret he hasn’t shared. He’s gay, and he lives with the not uncommon fear that he may not be accepted in society. The characters resemble people we teachers (and one-time students?) can recognize – the class-mates, the principal, the drama teacher, the kid sister – and we walk with Simon through his days of seeking to be his real self, even while he experiences a loneliness and a fear of revelation of that real self. Teachers, and parents of teens and tweens, would do well to see this film. The world is becoming more tolerant of differences and this movie is gentle, leading to a happy ending and an at-peace Simon, comfortable and confident in counting the days to graduation and whatever will come after that.
Sister Maureen Baldwin and three team members met at St. Joseph Retreat Center in Cobourg, Ontario, to facilitate a weekend retreat, April 6-8. The retreat is an initiative of the Ignatian Spirituality Project, which seeks to introduce the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to people with experience of homelessness. Twelve women, who have such experience in their lives, participated in the retreat. Everyone was happy with the event.
A small but mighty group gathered in Fredericton on Saturday, April 7. An April snowstorm (yes, really!) kept most of our out-of-town associates away from our gathering led by Sister Maureen MacIsaac. This was our first visit from Sister Maureen, who enjoyed welcoming a former Sydney associate among us; Eleanor MacDonald joined us, with her daughter Nancy. Pictured above: (back row) Eleanor MacDonald, Carole Dillworth, Marilyn Rowan, Sister Eleanor, Geraldine Gordon- a Miramichi member, Edith Corbett, Nancy MacKay and Sister Karen. Front row: Sister Maureen, Merla Spires and Marjorie Allison- Ross. We enjoyed our sharing time together and later moved to the dining-room (Fredericton Inn) for lunch and animated social time – new people with our “regulars.” We are grateful to Maureen, our visiting facilitator, and to Karen, for technology.
