Basement Priest

The last few years in my basement flat, apart from leaving it to help out in the parishes of Scarborough in Toronto and those of Durham of Ontario Province, have helped me to reflect on many issues, most of them concerning Faith, its acceptance or rejection by today's secular culture, and how its very common misrepresentations could be corrected and clarified. I had to begin by understanding myself.

Born in Trinidad, West Indies, in 1937, to a working-class family, I have lived through what may have been perhaps the most fantastic and important 80 years of all human history. World War l (1914-1918) saw my family involved, and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) welcomed me into the world. This was followed by World War ll (1939-1945), the Cold War (1945-1989), the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnamese War (1956-1975), the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the moon landings (1969 et seq), the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968), the Sexual Revolution (1965-1977), years during which hundreds of millions were killed and/or displaced, new nations were born, border lines were re-drawn, political philosophies directed how nations were to live-and I am still alive, even in these ongoing nuclear and electronic ages! The past 80 years have seen the rise and fall of big and small dictators-Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, Idi Amin, Mugabe, and the super-important papacies of Pius Xll, John XXlll, Paul Vl, John-Paul ll, and Benedict XVl. Everything being considered, a most interesting time. But . . .

This 21st century didn't happen by itself; it has been formed by the preceding centuries, their histories, philosophies, wars, and their immense cultural changes. How will it affect the succeeding ones?

My primary and secondary educations were followed by legal studies, resulting in my admission to the Bar in 1975, which was upgraded in 1987. I left the profession of law for various reasons, joined the Society of Missionaries of Africa in 1963, and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1970. There followed 50 most interesting years as a missionary in Africa and other countries, and at the present moment my superiors have allowed me to remain in semi-retirement to aid the Archdiocese of Toronto.

The issues of these reflections concern mainly Faith and religion as understood by my Church, and thus this book is both catechetic and apologetic, no holds barred. The use of the Bible is necessary and recommended. Due to the proximity of some of the themes, there's a bit of necessary repetition here and there, but all are my way of trying to find the "big picture," to "smell the roses," as it were. I trust the reader will enjoy them as much as I did in putting them together.

Fr John Boos MAfr