Francophone minister took meandering route from his roots in Quebec to Niagara
When local francophone Catholics received their new pastor five years back, few knew they were getting a Jacques of all trades in religious life.
Rev. Julien Beaulieu came to St. Catharines diocese well travelled, well schooled, well spoken and, well, not really sure about what he was getting into.
He is pastor of Welland’s francophone parish, Sacré-Coeur but also Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf in Port Colborne, l’ImmaculéeConception in St. Catharines and St-Antoine-de-Padoue in Niagara Falls.
The end of July will mark his fifth anniversary in the diocese. But his route here was a meandering one, from roots in small town Quebec to national and international routes with the Military Ordinariate (Diocese) of Canada as a chaplain in the Canadian Forces.
The Military Appointments section of his curriculum vitae reads like a road map. A partial listing: associate chaplain (Roman Catholic), 14th Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia; Base Chaplain (RC) CFB Edmonton, 1st Canadian Destroyer Squadron Chaplain at Naval Base Halifax; HMCS Preserver’s chaplain, deployed in Somalia 1992-93;
Base Chaplain (RC) at CFB Kingston; director of the new Chaplains’ Resource Centre at Canadian Forces Chaplain School and Centre, CFB Borden; Naval Base Halifax as Senior Fleet Chaplain (Atlantic); the Canadian contingent’s chaplain on Op Echo, six months rotation at NATO air force base Aviano, Italy; 431 Squadron — Snowbirds padre, Moose Jaw; Royal Military College of Canada’s padre (RC), Kingston. All this and more from 1987 to 2005.
After retiring with 18 years service in the chaplaincy, Beaulieu registered in a Restorative Justice Program at Queen’s University Theological College, Kingston. He then went to Warkworth Federal Penitentiary, Canada’s largest medium security prison, to provide pastoral and sacramental ministry to inmates.
He thought he was done with the military but that was not to be. He received a call one day.
“We need you, can you come back for a bit?” Beaulieu, who is 69, said recalling the conversation.
So he returned as a civilian support staff chaplain to the Canadian Forces Chaplaincy, serving from 2007-2011 at various bases in Canada. It was at this time that he encountered his most poignant, emotional experiences, participating in numerous “tarmac services” for fallen Canadian soldiers coming home from Afghanistan. He said it was the most stressful period of his life.
Beaulieu was back in Quebec when he got word that “the bishop of St. Catharines was looking for someone to take care of his francophone parishes.” He received permission to speak with Bishop Gerard Bergie “who explained the network of four parishes” awaiting a shepherd to guide them.
Beaulieu wasn’t sure whether he wanted to get involved.
“But I said to myself, I can go, have a look, meet with them, the people I would be serving, find out their expectations, what they are looking for.”
He found himself with doubts even after accepting Bergie’s offer. But two months after he had been here a letter arrived from a friend, also a priest, who wrote it was God’s will for Beaulieu to be here.
“I was touched by his letter,” Beaulieu recalled. “It meant a lot to be told that through the Holy Spirit’s action, I was asked to come here at this time in my life.”
It was difficult, at times, to adapt to parish life — a big departure from what he had been accustomed to, Beaulieu said.
Prior to ordination in 1978, he had been a lay pastoral associate at a high school in Quebec, and following ordination he was appointed to the bishop’s office as executive assistant and diocesan director for vocations. He was on sabbatical in 1986 and 1987, studying at the Pastoral Institute of Montreal and Montreal’s Institute for Integral Human Learning.
Some realities of the work of a pastor have taken getting used to, he said. For example, parish administration, managing finances, managing staff are more time consuming than he thought they would be.
“It’s like I always have someone at my back,” Beaulieu said. “I’m here to praise the Lord, but I found so many other things that take up your time.”
He is thankful to his pastoral team which includes an associate priest, Rev. Guy Bertin Fouda and a permanent deacon, Rev. Gérard Demers, but also laity who give so much of their time in parish council and committee involvement.
I asked Beaulieu how he knew he wanted to become a priest.
“That’s always the big one,” he said. “There was no appearance by an angel, no light that went on suddenly.
“I became a priest, I think, by osmosis. It was from my parents’ faith, but also because of prayer. We were a prayerful family, and we were a respectful family, the respect we showed to the church.”
The family was tight-knit. There were 13 siblings, including twin sisters, and Beaulieu was in the middle, the sixth.
Their parents taught them about love of God and love of neighbour.
“My mother said to me, ‘Julien, you go to take care of Mrs. Pelletier, she is a widow, she’s by herself. So I was appointed to care of her, to bring her wood inside, to clean the snow, things like that.”
And so it is that the gentle work of osmosis can be credited for Julien Beaulieu’s vocation and his priestly ordination, June 3, 1978, at Sainte-Anne-de-la- Pocatière-Cathedral, La Pocatière, Que., 40 years ago this Sunday.
In tribute, his parishes in St. Catharines diocese are holding an anniversary lunch followed by presentations, at Sacré-Coeur parish hall Sunday starting at noon.
“It’s like I always have someone at my back. I’m here to praise the Lord, but I found so many other things that take up your time.”
REV. JULIEN BEAULIEU