A red thread

Juan Ramon Moncada, a Honduran priest and member of the Central Council of the Quebec Foreign Mission Society (Société des Missions Étrangères - SMÉ in French), decides to volunteer at the Patro Roc Amadour's Meals-on-Wheels program. Dressed in his cotton fleece with the SMÉ logo embroidered on his chest, he joins the other volunteers as they await the arrival of the thermal bags containing the hot meals destined for over sixty users of the service, mainly people losing their independence in the Limoilou district of Quebec City.

As he sits down, a Meals on Wheels and food distribution volunteer, Nicole, approaches him and asks, "Are you a member of SMÉ?" Juan Ramon nods with a smile. Moved, Nicole tells him that her uncle, Réal Blain, a SMÉ priest who married her forty-six years ago, was a man of great importance in her life and that of her husband, Claude. The conversation quickly drifts to memories of Réal Blain, his charisma and his human approach.

A few days later, at a food distribution, Nicole was introduced to Bernard Duquette, another SMÉ member. Bernard decided to research Father Blain, and the following week returned with a copy of Blain's missionary activities in Japan. Nicole and Claude, deeply rooted in the values of solidarity and concern for others, are touched by these discoveries.