The Last Word – CMDA Canada’s Culture is Up to Us
Larry Worthen
Executive Director, CMDA Canada
This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of FOCUS Magazine.
This issue includes articles that are part of our “external analysis” of our 2025 strategic planning process. Together, they paint a picture of our current political and social environment. If we were a school of goldfish, this external analysis would describe the tank, the pH of the water, oxygen levels, the frequency of our feeding schedule, and the plastic and ceramic figures that our owner placed in our tank for our amusement. But there is a big difference between us and the goldfish – we have the means to contribute to the shaping of our culture, while the goldfish don’t.
This freedom we have would not exist if not for the generosity and mercy of our Maker. God has given us the capacity to step outside of our context and see life as it really is. And because we can see this reality, we can evolve in the way we respond to it. Unlike the goldfish, each day for us can be very different from the one that preceded it. Even though similar things can happen, the next day can be different because we respond to it differently.
In this issue, we heard positive responses of several people to the same Canadian culture. These are the goldfish in the tank who are swimming in the opposite direction from most Canadians! Some wonderful dental students from University of Manitoba flew to Jamaica to make a difference at a dental mission. Deacon Pedro Guevera-Mann chose to see many signs of life and growth in Canadian Christianity. In my article, I suggest that it is possible that as more Canadians lose faith in our political institutions, they may be more likely to put their faith in God.
When the environmental scan is completed, it will be up to us to decide how we will perceive and process these facts. While it is good for us to accept the real status of Canadian culture and society, we should not let the negative aspects that we see cause us to be discouraged. Sadness and grief are normal. But our task is not to solve all the problems of Canadian society. It is rather to set a course for our little organization. After all, it is up to us to decide the culture of our organization.
Historically, our organization has been based upon the Divine Word, Jesus Christ, and the Sacred Scriptures. If our society continues to follow the path of abandoning God, there will always be pressures on us to compromise on the expectations of the Gospel. But if we do so, we run the serious risk of losing what makes us distinct – being heirs of the covenant through the grace of Christ. He has already seen us through 55 somewhat tumultuous years. He will not abandon us now if we are faithful to His Word.
Two articles give us excellent hints of how to follow Christ between now and 2030. The most subversive article in this issue is the one by Dr. Gordon Wong, Dental Ministries Manager at CMDA Canada. He describes a “monastic rule” to guide our prayer and daily devotion to Christ. Monastic life was a critical element in maintaining Christian vitality during parts of the Middle Ages. Imagine if all our members embraced some form of the rule described by Gordon! It would be a kind of monastery without walls, a cross-Canada fellowship of hearts joined in thanksgiving and praise of our Saviour. This is within our capacity because we decide the culture of our organization. (We might have to start calling Gordon “Abbot Gordon”, but when you think about it, it kind of fits, as he has a very wise and fatherly air about him!)
That said, the key to this issue comes in something Dr. Adam Stewart said near the end of his article: “The Church’s operative posture […] in mass society is counter liturgy, crafting practices that interrupt standardization, undo involuntary selection, and unlearn self-abnegation before the crowd.” He believes that the Spirit reconstitutes persons so that they can find meaning through self-giving relationships with people and with God.
This, it turns out, is exactly what our country needs right now. There is a hunger that exists in every human heart for communion. We know this in our souls because we see so many examples of people who have no one to care for them. People are treated like objects and denied the recognition of the dignity God gave them.
Something that happened to me two weeks ago illustrates this. One of our members called to ask if I would speak to a Christian friend whose 105-year-old grandmother had decided to choose MAiD. The granddaughter called me, and I listened to her for quite a while. She was distraught. The grandmother had no illness that would make her death reasonably foreseeable, but was deemed eligible for MAiD because of “frailty”. I prayed with the granddaughter and together we asked the Lord to change her grandmother’s mind. The granddaughter was crying during the prayer.
I contacted Dr. Sandra Koke, our Prayer Chain Lead, and she sent a prayer request to our Prayer Chain for the elderly lady. Then, we got a text saying that the MAiD provider had moved the MAiD up until that evening at 7pm. (The MAiD provider had also chastised the granddaughter for trying to encourage her grandmother not to do go through with it.) The granddaughter went to see her grandmother, but by the time the MAiD provider arrived, the patient had changed her mind. She told the physician plainly and clearly that she wanted to have a natural death. That night the supernatural gift of faith, hope, and love made a difference in the life of a family through CMDA Canada members and the extraordinary love of a granddaughter.
We can be the people who see Christ in everyone, particularly the most vulnerable. If we work together, support each other, keep the faith and hold out hope we can help save lives and souls through the power of the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. This is all possible if we continue to believe and to develop an organization that fosters that belief. After all, we decide the culture of our organization.