Dan Dufresne - My Family Golf Tournament

The Acadian side of my family has a golf tournament every year.  Acadians are the French speaking Catholics originally from the Maritime Provinces of Canada.  Our golf tournament is usually held on the first weekend of August.  Last year during the event it was announced that this year’s tournament would be special because it would be the 25^th year.  Our golf tournament is a full weekend of family fun.  The golf part isn’t serious for most of us, but it’s a way to get to meet the extended family.  We pick new teams every year and it’s always a good time.  The initial gathering takes place on my Uncle Eric’s and Aunt Yoland’s farm. They have a farm house on many acres of land which is always brimming with an abundant harvest of vegetables.  There is a road that runs right down the middle of the farm.  It leads directly into the Canadian wilderness and ends at what has always been called the River.  The road is about a mile in length from the farm house to the river and it seems like a whole world away. 

My family used to be very Catholic in every sense of the word.  On the Saturday night of the golf tournament weekend a great caravan of vehicles left the river for the church a few miles in town.  That was only a few years ago, but there has been a great change in my family.  I have to admit when I was much younger being the first to protest breaking up the party to go to Mass in French.   I didn’t like it and I didn’t want to go, but for the most part my mother insisted and we went.  These days my immediate family and I are the only ones who go.  A few months before the tournament we were asked for suggestions for events at this year’s tournament.  It was with this in mind that I suggested that we have a family Mass this year at the river.  It had happened many years ago and I thought it fitting that it should happen again.  I knew there were many who may not be interested, but it was a thought.  It didn’t work out being that there are very few Priests in this part of Canada now.  My family eventually decided we should gather for a prayer service.  One prayer would be said in French and one in English.  Since I suggested the Mass, I was asked if I would give the prayer in English.  We have a little memorial garden just as you enter the area and that is where we gathered for prayer.

I had a difficult time thinking of what to say as I began to put my thoughts down on paper.  There are so many things that go through my mind when I think about my family, Acadians and Christ.  I looked for some prayers about Acadians on the internet and I only came up with one and it didn’t fit the moment.  Acadians were French Neutrals who were rounded up by the English army in the mid 1750’s and dispersed all over the Americas and parts of Europe.  My ancestors avoided capture or returned on their own to their homes after the hostilities with the British ended.  A great deal of Acadians ended up in Louisiana and took the moniker “Cajun” which is an Americanized way of say Acadian.  Anyway, I’m really getting off the subject here so I’ll continue with my story. 

As I thought about what I was going to say for my prayer I remembered my Grandmother, Cecile Richard.  She had many, many years ago given me a small ring shaped object which is used to say one decade of the Rosary.  It had belonged to a Canadian Boy Scout who had lost it and never reclaimed it.  My Grandmother had kept it and passed it on to me.  She thought it was important that I had it and used it.  At the time I had no clue on how to say the Rosary, but I thought the ring was pretty cool and I thought I might wear it around my neck.  Many years later I picked it off my dresser and brought it back to Canada and to the river.  My prayer started with a little talk about how we Acadians are coming home to be with family again and how important it is to know how blessed we are as a family.  We’ve been doing this for many years and it’s always a wonderful time.  I talked a little about those who were no longer with us and especially my Grandmother.  Then I asked them to join me as I said one decade of the Rosary.  I explained that we were saying the first mystery of the Glorious Mysteries, called the Resurrection.  I talked about our family and friends coming together on the land that our ancestors had been driven away from so many years ago.  It’s our own resurrection of sorts.  Many in my family have become or married non-believers and I could tell there were some looking around wondering where I was going with this.  There are also some who weren’t raised Catholic.  All of them stayed and I pray they will all be resurrected on that final day when the real party starts.  Please pray for my family.

Dan Dufresne