[Sundaycommunity] René Fumoleau

[Dean Riley]

Greetings to all. 

While reflecting on the themes of advent - faith, hope, love & joy - I remembered some thing I read many years ago, written by an Oblate priest missionary … René Fumoleau. I couldn’t help but reflect on the audacity and trust of those three “wise men” who set out to follow a star not really not knowing where they would be led or what they would find. I hope you enjoy the reflection below. 

Advent blessings…

Dean. 




Born in France in 1926, René Fumoleau came to Denendeh (Northwest Territories) as a young priest in 1953. Travel to Rádeli Kóé (Fort Good Hope) involved a long boat journey down Dehcho (the Mackenzie River) into a new world.

Through all of the years, his attachment to the Dene peoples deepened. He celebrated the strength of their ancestral wisdom and committed himself to their desire for change. 

René Fumoleau served first as an Oblate priest (and eventually incardinated into the Diocese of Mackenzie) in Northern Canada where he lived for more than sixty years. Fumoleau was also a poet and published a collection of his works reflecting on all he had learned during his time among the Dene people.

Truck lights.

Winter time and very cold,
early afternoon but already dark.

I’m driving from Yellowknife to Fort Rae in my 15 year old pick-up truck,

and a Dene elder asked me for a ride.

The land has taught the Dene

to live in a world of silence.

After ten kilometres, Kolchia reflects:

“Driving the truck is like having faith in God.”

I’m trying to figure out what he means, but, after two kilometres I give up:

“Grandpa, you talked about driving and faith in God.

I’m not sure what you meant.”

Kolchia turned slightly towards me:

“You started the engine and you put the lights on. We could have said:

‘We see only one hundred metres ahead.

Further on, it’s one hundred kilometres of darkness, so we cannot go to Fort Rae.’

But you got the truck in gear,

we started to move,

and the lights kept showing ahead of us.

Must be the way with God too

who shows us only a bit of the future,

just enough for our next move.

If we are afraid and if we stand still,

we’ll never see further ahead.

But if we go with the little light we have,

the light keeps showing us the way on and on.”

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

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