The Gentle Giant

By Fr. Charles Gervais, S.F.M.
April 2000

Return to Table of Contents
Print Article

Albert Felix from Bruno, Saskatchewan, was a giant of a man with gentle hands and and a soft heart. He carried his weight well and as a young man played many sports: softball, hockey, lacrosse, handball, curling. He had a long memory of all the dazzling plays that he made and the good plays that others executed.

During the 1950s, when Scarboro Missions still had a lot of seminarians, it had an intramural hockey league. Big Al, as we called him, was not a fast skater but he had a wicked shot.

As a missionary to Guyana, Fr. Al served for a time in a place called Charity. Fr. Russ Sampson recalled the year that he and Fr. A1 worked together there in 1992. At the time there were about 14 active communities on the Pomeroon River and the Esse-quibo coast. Frs. Al and Russ alternated each weekend, one Sunday on the coast and the next Sunday on the river.

Market day in Charity falls on a Monday, when people from the various Amerindian (Native) communities come to Charity to sell produce and purchase much-needed supplies. Many travel the entire night to arrive in time for market day. Those who arrive early sleep in their boat, in the hostel or in another place of sanctuary.

Such occasions as a visit to Charity provide an opportunity for people to see the parish priest if they have a matter to discuss. Every Monday like clock-work, Fr. Felix had coffee brewing and an open door in the presbytery.

It was a common occurrence to see five or six adults and their children waiting to see Big Al. His disposition was really 'with open arms.' Anyone who came received a hearing. Whatever their distress, they knew Fr. Al would have time for them. Coffee and biscuits would be an added treat for the weary traveller.

"This disposition," Fr. Russ told me, "helped to describe what Church should be—a sanctuary, a refuge, a person or a place where one could come and feel comfortable and where one was listened to with great care."

In his last few years in Guyana, Fr. Al had been living in Springlands. He also ministered to the people of Black Bush Polder and Siparuta. In 1998 I visited our missionaries in Guyana and had the pleasure of spending a few days with Fr. Al. Every night, just before dark, he liked to sit on the steps of the church to say the Rosary and "breeze off" as he would say.

When I was 'breezing' and praying with him one evening, a young man came over to talk with Fr. Al. He was a convert to Catholicism. A few days later he was to be married. His bride-to-be was not Catholic but she was coming to church with him on Sundays.

After the young man left, a young Catholic girl called Lisa stopped by to talk. Before she continued on her way, Fr. Al said to her with a smile, "I have not seen you at church lately. We miss you." Lisa promised the Gentle Giant that she would be there the next Sunday.

Return to Table of Contents
Print Article