The Crew and Cap'n of the ship St. Thérèse, from left to right: Emily Laustch, Elizabeth Stilwell, Alana Hodge, Kathleen Wolfe and Esa Sluzar


Inside the pirate ship St. Thérèse, where these here Munroe girls eat their grub


This here crew is united in love



Ahoy there!! This Here Ship has Love as the Wind in Her Sails
by Robin Anderson
June 12, 2009

“I know of one means only by which to attain perfection: LOVE. Let us love, since our heart is made for nothing else. Sometimes I seek another word to express Love, but in this land of exile the word which begins and ends is quite incapable of rendering the vibrations of the soul; we must then adhere to this simple and only word: TO LOVE.”—St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus

So I spend too much time on Facebook. There, I said it! Lately I have had Facebook’s language set to the Pirate setting: I have been thinking in “pirate” ever since. I don’t know if St. Thérèse would approve, but… this here update will be scrawled in the language o’ pirates only!

This here scallywag had a jaw with Munroe girls this week, to ask them if they be liking living in community, or if these pirates be fighting for the upper hook on the high seas of Impact 2009. This crew be a tight one, however, led by the fearsome Captain Elizabeth Stilwell, who hails from the port o’ Vancouver, and who usually sails on the ship Simon Fraser University. “We’re really blessed, we have a lot of love for each other and we all get along really well,” says the Cap’n, “so far my ‘mom’ position has been really easy.”

Avast! Don’t these mateys wish they could make their mark? Win glory and treasure, to hoist a Jolly Roger on the mast with themselves as Cap’n? To make others swab the deck? The answer to these questions be “no”! “It’s this whole idea of choice, we hear about it a lot,” says deckhand Esa Sluzar, from Ottawa, Ontario. Sailor Emily Laustch, originally hailing from the port o’ Swift Current, Saskatchewan, accords with deckhand Esa: “We love each other so much, we love to love each other, and we’re really in tune with each other.”

We must belay the talk of a black spot on this ship, christened the St. Thérèse. These pirate hearts be united in love, and thus and therefore this here be a united crew, ready to fight on the briny deep along side each other. Each hand can count on the steel of the others to support them. “It’s such a blessing to live with people who are practicing their faith, to have that common understanding,” says deckhand Alana Hodge, a scallywag we met last week that sails under the banner of the Apostle Team. “Not only do you start on a supporting ground, but your relationships are so much better, rooted in Christ.”

“It’s about choosing to love, like what Esa was saying,” says our courageous Cap’n. “We might not feel like it, we may be tired from only having five hours of sleep. But we’ve chosen St. Thérèse as the saint of our house, and we’ve been trying to be anchored by love, as she was. Making that choice to love is really important.”

Arrrr… this here saying be pleasin’ to me ear!