Clergymen Gather to Bless the Waves
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 | Updated 2:54 PM PST
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An 84-year-old Franciscan priest will be among the clergymen gathering for the annual "Blessing of the Waves" in surf city Sunday.
The Rev. Christian Mondor has cut back on his surfing since undergoing open heart surgery a couple of years ago.
"I just don't have the strength I had before the surgery. They had to cut the pectoral muscles," so longboarding's pretty much out now, the priest said in advance of today's second annual "Blessing of the Waves," an event to raise environmental awareness.
"I'll get wet, go into the shallow water, but I won't paddle out," he said. "I was hoping I could ... I've been body surfing and a little boogie boarding (since the surgery), but I can't handle the longboard now."
He's had a rough week, too. On his way back from visiting the Holy Land, he slipped in the airport, banged his head and missed his flight. But he's very excited about joining today's ecumenical gathering. St. Francis, he says, was recently named the patron saint of the environment, mostly because of his Canticle of the Creatures prayer. And it's fitting this event falls on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, he added.
"I quoted from the Canticle of the Creatures last year and I will quote from it again," he said. "St. Francis had an instinctive sense of the importance of the responsibility for a love of all creation, not to exploit it or misuse it or endanger it. He lived in the 13th Century, but in many ways he was way ahead of his time."
Rabbi Nachum Shifren, known as the "the Surfing Rabbi," said he plans to use the occasion to also stoke passions for his favorite cause -- improving public education for children.
If the next generation isn't involved in saving the environment, then it won't matter, he said.
The inner-city public school teacher griped that public education continues to decline, and that surfing can help turn young people around.
"Surfing is the answer to all of these issues," he said. "It builds self-esteem and builds character," he said.
Prayers will be offered for the victims of the recent earthquakes and related tsunamis in the Philippines, Vietnam, Samoa and Tonga, said Ryan Lilyengren, a spokesman for the Diocese of Orange County.
Parishioners from the Tongan, Samoan, Filipino and Vietnamese communities will attend the event to pray for victims and Diocesan parishes will be taking a second collection on Sunday to help with disaster relief, he added.
Also, the Tongan Choir from St. Justin Martyr Parish in Anaheim will sing several songs in their native tongue, Lilyengren said.
