Our Lady Seat of Wisdom is pleased to announce the appointment of a new associate chaplain, Fr. Joseph Hattie, OMI, who will join OLSWA chaplain Fr. Paul Burchat in ministering to the spiritual needs of the Academy.  We are deeply privileged to have Fr. Hattie living in residence next door in the rectory of St. Hedwig’s parish, allowing him to be present at OLSWA on a daily basis and to assist the pastor, Fr. Christopher Shalla, in his ministry to the local community. Fr. Paul, who is a member of Madonna House and has been OLSWA’s chaplain from its beginning, will continue to be available on campus for spiritual direction twice weekly.

Fr. Hattie arrived in Barry's Bay in September, fresh from the busy city life of Halifax. He is originally from Nova Scotia, where he grew up just off the Bay of Fundy in the small town of Digby, which is not much larger than Barry's Bay. From there, he went on to St. Patrick's College in Ottawa and attained a Bachelor of Science, before God called him to the priesthood. His novitiate took place in Arnprior, and he spent the remaining years of his scholasticate in Ottawa. He was ordained an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1964, which means, he jokes, that "my boss is a Lady.” Fr. Hattie immediately began teaching at St. Patrick's high school in Ottawa, where he worked until he was transferred to Halifax in 1974, to work as chaplain at Dalhousie University. Ten years later, he was sent to Rome to study, obtaining a doctorate of Theology in Marriage and Family at the John Paul II Institute at the Lateran University. In the fall of 1986, Fr. Hattie travelled west to the Archdiocese of Vancouver where he established the Office of Marriage and Family Formation and worked for thirteen years, He then spent five months with his fellow Oblates at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. From there, he returned to his home province of Nova Scotia to continue another ten and a half years in the Office of Marriage and Family Formation for the archdiocese of Halifax, until he moved to the Madawaska Valley this September. Fr. Hattie is also currently a board member for Priests for Life Canada, as well as spiritual director for WOOMB Canada (World Organization of Ovulation Method Billings) and WOOMB International. He is also the author of books on sacramental marriage and manuals for marriage preparation. Needless to say, OLSWA is honoured to have him as chaplain and spiritual director.

Michael O’Brien, our Artist and Writer in Residence, remembers Fr. Hattie from his St Patrick’s high school years. “When I first met Fr. Hattie, I was a sixteen-year-old wild man, secretly toying with the seductions of agnosticism and atheism. I think the majority of my fellow students were pretty much like me, barely converted, hardly evangelized. Then one day in September, this manly, dynamic, red-haired young priest walked into our classroom and introduced himself as our new religion teacher. Within minutes he had captured our respect (no small achievement), not by force or threat or by entertaining us, but by the conviction of his faith, by his good humour, and his endless patience in dealing with us savages. Before I knew it, I was living my faith again and even involved in youth retreats.”  More than forty-five years have passed since then, and O’Brien notes that Fr. Hattie is the same man as ever, though older, (white-haired,) learned, and a great advocate of Our Lady’s role in conversion and growth in faith. “He was a kind man when I first met him,” says Michael O’Brien, “with a listening heart and depths of wise counsel. But beneath his gentleness there was a great strength. He was an unshakable rock. And he’s still the same man.”

Before accepting the invitation to join OLSWA, Fr. Hattie was invited by two archdioceses to be part of their pastoral teams. However, he has observed the growth of the academy from its beginning and has prayed for us constantly. In the end, he was very happy that the discernment process with his Oblate superiors determined that he would he be sent here to become part of our mission to serve youth in the new evangelization. For this we are deeply grateful to God and to Father Hattie’s “boss.”
He says, “As an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, it has been a privilege to have Our Lady as my boss over the years, and I look forward to benefiting even more from her wisdom, here at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom.”