"I Pity the Poor Immigrant" by Bob Dylan

 

Allan Line, immigrants arriving in Montreal, around 1910

I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he would've stayed home
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with every breath
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death

I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain
Whose heaven is like ironsides
Whose tears are like rain
Who eats but is not satisfied
Who hears but does not see
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me

I pity the poor immigrant
Who tramples through the mud
Who fills his mouth with laughing
And who builds his town with blood
Whose visions in the final end
Must shatter like the glass
I pity the poor immigrant
When his gladness comes to pass

Kensington Presbyterian Church, 21 April 2025

I visited Kensington Presbyterian Church because the polling station for the 28 April 2025 Federal election was located there; I thought this church had closed long ago but I see, in their website, that although the congregation is smaller now it is still very active; "We are a Christian community worshipping in the heart of NDG — since 1896! The community of NDG has changed a great deal since then, and so have we." The church, the place of worship, is now Knox Centre for performing arts. The church is located at 6225 Godfrey Avenue, in NDG

 

Montreal skyline, on 04 April 2012

 

Driving home on the 13 March 2015

 

A walk on 09 March 2016

 

The Atwater Library on 20 February 2010

 

Remembering Darrell Morrisey

Darrell Morrisey, early 1920s

Here is a link to my essay, "Remembering Darrell Morrisey"; it's the latest information on Montreal-born artist Darrell Morrisey. Darrell was a member of the Beaver Hall Group of artists but died when she was only thirty-three years old and was then forgotten. This essay includes the five paintings by Darrell that have been discovered since 2012, that's five more than we had before that date. Darrell Morrisey is forgotten no longer.

Go to: https://archive.org/details/remembering-darrell-morrisey-morrissey-06-february-2025

St. Mary’s Hospital, Paying it Forward

St. Mary's Hospital, 20 August 2014 

Walking down the hall at St. Mary’s Hospital, I said a silent thank you to Fr. Luke Callaghan for saving the hospital. Back in the 1930s Dr. William Hingston, who founded the hospital, asked Fr. Luke for help dealing with Sr. Helen Morrissey (no relation to me), the nun who had initiated the idea of a hospital for Montreal’s Roman Catholic population; however, Sr. Helen had her own rigid ideas of how the new hospital should be run, and she proved an obstreperous and formidable opponent as she alienated the all-male board organizing the new hospital. She almost derailed the hospital before it had even opened. As a last resort, and exasperated with Sr. Helen, Dr. Hingston called in Fr. Luke, who was the pastor at St. Michael’s Church in Mile End, to see what he could do about the situation. It was because of Fr. Luke’s intervention that fund raising and building the new hospital could proceed. Soon, the new St. Mary’s Hospital opened and it has been serving Montrealers of all faiths ever since.     

It occurs to me that at this time of the year, a time for giving and thanks, we might remember those people from the past who made our present lives possible. Fr. Luke Callaghan, who is also my great great uncle, helped pay forward the gift of St. Mary’s Hospital. This hospital saved my wife’s life ten years ago; my two grandsons were born here; and the doctors, nurses, and technicians at St, Mary's gave me truly exceptional care just three years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, they saved my life. 

I would be a terrible ingrate if I did not contribute to St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. I think of Fr. Luke Callaghan and the words of Dr. William Hingston, “In my opinion, Luke Callaghan saved St. Mary's.” Of course, Fr. Luke probably never heard of the phrase “paying it forward” and he had no idea that his intervention to save the hospital would also help his family’s descendants ninety years later, but that’s exactly what he did; we, too, can pay forward something of what we have received. Be generous, be giving, and pay forward what we have been given for future generations.

Notes: Quotation from Dr. Hingston is from Allan Hustak's At the Heart of St. Mary's, A history of Montreal's St. Mary's Hospital Center, Vehicule Press, 2014.

I also recommend Dr. J.J. Dinan's St. Mary's Hospital, The Early Years, Optimum Publishing International, Montreal and Toronto, 1987.

First snow, 5 December 2024

Wet snow and -1C; so far, it doesn’t look like we’ll have the mild winter we had last year.