Still in Canterbury

May 19, 2010

Peace and Good,

I am still in Canterbury. I am teaching four courses here, one of which I will finish next week. The other courses will run until I return to the States for the second session of our Provincial Chapter on June 11th.

The weather is slowly improving. It has gotten to 20 centigrade (I think that is around 70 farenheit). The countryside is magnificent. Everything is so green. Now, the cost for that is frequent rain, but there is always a price to pay.

I have added a few adult ed classes on scripture study for those who wish to attend. The first class last night was on the book of revelation. It was a two hour class, and we had about 25 attend. I was very pleased.

I have to apologize. We have had a technical glitch in our podcasts of scripture reflections. I hope that it will be fixed today.

Great Britian has a coalition government. It actually seems quite peaceful here. I am sure it is only a honeymoon, but it is good to hear it after weeks of election polemics.

I have finished two books this week. The first was a history of Julius Caesar by Jacob Abbott. He is an author from the turn of the century (C. 1900) who wrote a series of reflections on historic figures. It is not the most insightful book, but it gives the basic details. I always find that whenever I read history, I pick up something for by understanding of Scripture.

The second was a biography of Erasmus by Johan Huizinga. First of all, I was thrilled to read something by this author. I had read a book of his, The waning of the Middle Ages, when I was in the seminary in a course taught by Fr. Roger Haas. That was the first course that I realized how much our views of history can be influenced by the point of view of the author. Furthermore, Erasmus was a central figure in the development of the Renaissance. He studied and published critical editions of many Greek and Latin manuscripts, including a critical edition of the Greek New Testament. Many of his ideas were considered to be controversial, and some consider his a forerunner of the Protestant reformation (although he remained a Catholic until the day he died). The book was well done. Especially appreciated were a series of his letters which were included with the text, including a long description of St. Thomas More. The irony behind this book is that I picked it up at a store called Ollies, which is like Big Lots. Who else but I would have bought a book like this at Ollies?

This is my coming schedule:

until June 11: Canterbury, England - teaching

June 13 - 18, 2010: Provinicial Chapter, Buffalo, NY

June 19 - 30, 2010: St. Victor's Major Seminary, Tamale, Ghana - seminarian retreat

July 4 - 10, 2010: St. Francis Convent, Mishawaka, IN - Retreat for Sisters

July 11 - 18, 2010: Quellen Spiritual Center, Mendham, NJ - Retreat for Sisters

July 19 - 23, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novice Retreat

July 24 - 31, 2010: Chatauqua Community, Chatauqua, NY - Priest in Residence

August 5 - 15, 2010: Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Carey, OH - Parish Novena

August 16 - 20, 2010: Maronite Seminary, Washington, D.C. - Seminarian Retreat

August 21 - 27, 2010: Ocean City, MD - vacation

August 28 - September 3, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novitiate Conferences

Shalom

fr. Jude