Joseph McDaniel
Joseph McDaniel is a member of Christ the Redeemer Parish in West Vancouver, BC.
Bio last updated January 19th, 2022.
Articles by Joseph McDaniel
Unlocking the Doors of Education
By Joseph McDaniel
January 17, 2022
Life’s circumstances have a way of reintroducing us to grace, writes Joseph McDaniel. His personal journey refreshed his perspective on his vocation and encourages us to be open to the expansion of our own horizons by the grace of God.
In a Catholic high school in the United States where I had the blessing of being able to serve as a teacher for many years, there was a motto emblazoned above the study hall of the school library that I believe summarized the true power of education: “Knowledge is the eighth sacrament of the Church Francis de Sales, seeing the chapel, classroom, and library as a natural habitat in which I could hand on to students what I had first received from so many outstanding teachers over the years
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Of Hope and Home Runs
Joseph McDaniel
October 16, 2020
Non-fans often deride baseball as large men in pyjamas standing on lawns, but Blue Jays’ fan Joseph McDaniel finds in the game stubborn wisdom from deep in the human spirit.
So, when I say to myself, “they’ll be back,” when I say “yes” to the hope of a playoff run next year, it’s a reminder that even coming up short right now was utterly gratuitous: to even be playing the game, to be in a position to lose today’s game, could very well not have happened at all In a world...
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Our Scarcity, His Grace
Joseph McDaniel
April 11, 2020
When serving pork chops at a men’s shelter in Vancouver, Joseph McDaniel recognized the generosity God gives to us like excess gravy, in times such as these.
When we gather this Easter with those we love or have been forced to love through our involuntary confinement together, to break bread together in our homes, to break open the Word that spans all time and distance and will bring us all together again, we declare that even if God appears locked away ...
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Drawing To The House
Joseph McDaniel
December 30, 2019
All sports are distinctly liturgical, writes Catholic seminarian Joseph McDaniel, but the particular physics-defying practice of curling calls us to hurry hard to God.
Like many good things in the life of a young teenager, it was a ritual I assumed would always be there: the bus ride to the winter club, warming up to the inspiring sound of ABBA, stepping out onto the ice, sliding out from the hack, the coin tosses, the exchanges of “good curling” and handshakes… W...
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Fishing The Waters of Fatherhood
Joseph McDaniel
June 11, 2019
With Father's Day around the corner, seminarian Joseph McDaniel reflects on his memories of fishing with his father, contemplating times past, while examining what fatherhood truly means.
It is the grace which is seen when a father first teaches his first son to catch a fish or catch a fly ball, when he endures the cramps and pains of time to drive his youngest to school when other men have begun to retire, when he humbly acknowledges that he was perhaps too critical of coach after y...
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Presence at the Heart of the World
Joseph McDaniel
September 7, 2018
While the world often overwhelms with its cacophony of conflicting voices, the Benedictine monks of B.C.’s Westminster Abbey heed the prophetic call of St. Benedict and seek God in work, prayer and silence. But their peace, writes Joseph A. McDaniel, OSFS, is truly open to all who follow the Cross.
A recent visit home allowed me the opportunity to return to Westminster Abbey, and speak with Abbot John Braganza about the foundations of the Benedictine way of life, and the way in which it continues to serve as a visible sign of the presence of God in the world In our own present age of flux, in ...