Antisemitism, celibacy and the piano: Iqaluit’s Catholic priest takes Proust Questionnaire

Rev. Barry Bercier has been a Roman Catholic priest for more than four decades.

Originally from Connecticut, he served all across the U.S. and also spent a few years in Jerusalem.

But he always had a calling to go to the North, he says.

Over the years, he spent several summers in Greenland, and in 2017 he came to Igloolik and served as a priest for three years. And for the past year and a half, Bercier has been the sole priest at Iqaluit’s Our Lady of Assumption Roman Catholic Church.

In his apartment attached to the Iqaluit church, Bercier took some time to answer the Proust Questionnaire.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Well, it’s something not realizable in this lifetime, for sure.

But the goal of happiness, I think, is to be what you were created to be — a human being.

It’s to be with and for other people.

What is your greatest fear?

Failing to do this.

What is your greatest regret?

Maybe not having kids of my own. And that was not a thing that was focused on when we were training to be priests.

This talk about celibacy and, you know, not having sex and all that, but not having kids is really the big thing.

So that’s regret. But life is choices, and to choose this is to not choose that. And I guess, not having kids is the sacrifice of making this choice.

I would probably just do the same thing over again if I had to, but I think they should change that.

They should do away with this requirement of celibacy.

Which living person do you most admire?

Most of the people I admire are dead. I’m gonna be 80 this year, so I can only think of a bunch of dead people.

What is your greatest achievement?

Well, I wrote a couple of books, and I just recently finished another one [expected to be released this summer, titled The Bond].

What is your current state of mind?

I’m not sure. I like being up here in the North.

But I don’t know what’s next, and like I said, I’m gonna be turning 80 soon, so maybe there isn’t that much of a next. But still, it’s the question on my mind right now.

Which person do you most despise?

Nothing gets my goat more than an antisemite.

If somebody starts to talk along those lines, my ordinarily calm personality explodes.

It’s something I cannot tolerate.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I wish I could play the piano.

I wanted to do that when I was a kid, and I used to ask my parents for piano lessons but we were kind of poor and so that never happened.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I’m convinced of divine providence and that God works with what you have, and that includes your limitations.

So I would not want to change anything.

How would you like to die?

Well, I don’t want to be sick for long. I don’t think I want to die saying ‘oops,’ because I fell off a ladder or something like that.

I would like to have a few people around who are close.

Nunatsiaq News is borrowing the old Proust Questionnaire parlour game to get to know people who are in the news. If you know someone in your community who our readers should get to know by taking this questionnaire, let us know by email: editors@nunatsiaq.com.