A bit of time off

August 26, 2010

The 100th Birthday of Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Peace and Good,

This past week I was at a retreat house in Faulkner, Maryland (run by the Jesuits) giving a retreat to a group of Maronite seminarians. There were six of them. The Maronites are an Eastern Rite centered in Lebanon. They are of the Syrian tradition. In the East, there are two major tendencies. One is the Greek tradition such as the Byzantines and the Melkites. The other is the Syriac tradition. The Maronites were founded in Syria, and they migrated to Lebanon over the course of time. They now have two dioceses in the United States. It was interesting to compare the traditions in the East and the West. This is especially true when one considers the Gospel of John which was the major theme for the retreat of the week. As I would speak of the Gospel, the seminarians would speak of the Eastern Fathers and how they had said exactly the same thing. This makes sense, for the Gospel of John was written in this world. It is filled with a profound spirituality which is the characteristic of the Eastern Church. It really made me want to read more of those fathers.

I am taking a week off this week, staying at a condo that the friars have in Ocean City. I'm not too much of a sitting of the beach person. I do love to hear the waves. Ten minutes of them and I am totally calm. I am spending most of the week reading and cooking for myself.

I have finished a few works this week. One was a novel called The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee. It is a very interesting work. It has stories about China and Korea during the Second World War and the Korean Conflict. It travels to the US as well as Italy. There is quite a bit of violence due to the wars. All of the characters are very flawed characters. They do the best they can, but their baggage is so great that the best they can do is not all that good. It was well worth reading.

A second work is called from Yao to Mao by Kenneth Hammond. This was a course from the Teaching Company that gives a very long study of the history of China from its earliest days until the present. It was very well done.

A third work was a book called The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of Medieval Cathars by Stephen O'Shea. This is the story of a heresy that surfaced around the time of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua. It was a dualistic heresy which spoke of the good and the bad and how they were totally opposed. The Catholic Church first fought against them with words, but then attacked them with a crusade. Some of the episodes were brutal. As the Catholics were invading one town, a soldier asked the monk leading them how they could distinguish who was Catholic and who was heretical. His answer was that they should kill them all and let God sort out the good from the bad.

Much of the warfare was not all that religious. It was the attempt of certain medieval lords and the king of France to conquer territory, using religion as a sanctimonious excuse. This is not to say that there were not real, honest attempts to bring people back to the faith (e.g. St. Anthony, St. Dominic). Overall, though, it is a sad story.

This is my schedule for the next few months:

08/28/10 - 09/03/10 - St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN 46544 p.o.c. Br. Paschal (Novitiate Talks)

09/11/10 - 09/16/10 - Holy Rosary Cluster, Elma, IA 50628 p.o.c. Fr. Ray Atwood (Parish Mission)

09/18/10 - 09/23/10 - Sacred Heart, Newburgh, NY 12550 p.o.c. Sr. Mary McCarthy/Most Reverend Dominick J. Lagonegro (Parish Mission)

09/25/10 - 09/29/10 - St. John, the Apostle, Kingston, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. David Collins (Parish Mission)

10/02/10 - 10/06/10 - St. Raphael, Burlington, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. Maurice Richard (Parish Mission)

10/08/10 - 10/10/10 - Priestfield Retreat Center, Priestfield, WV p.o.c. Carolyn Protin (SFO Retreat)

10/14/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Evening for Married Couples)

10/15/10 - 10/17/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Men's Retreat)

10/22/10 - 10/26/10 - St. Julia Church, Siler City, NC 27344 p.o.c. Reverend James Fukes (Parish Mission)

11/06/10 - 11/11/10 - Sacred Heart, La Plata, MD 20646 p.o.c. Fr. Ron Potts (Parish Mission)

11/13/10 - 11/18/10 - St. Alphonsus, Wexford, PA 15090 p.o.c. Fr. Peter P. Murphy (Parish Mission)

God bless and Shalom,
fr. Jude

What an Event!

August 18, 2010

Peace and Good,

What an incredible event the closing of the Our Lady of Consolation Novena was. I had been preaching this novena in honor of Our Lady in Carey, Ohio, since August 6th. On the evening of August 14th we had the closing of the novena and the opening of the celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption. All that day people were arriving by car and bus. There were literally thousands of people there. Then, at nine in the evening, we had a procession to a local park (run by the shrine) where we celebrated Mass with the bishop of Toledo. There had to be four to five thousand people there, all with their candles, praying the rosary as we marched along. Throughout that day many of them had gone to confession. There were just so many good and holy things occurring in that day. Many of those who attended were from the Chaldean rite, a group of Iraqi Catholics who are in union with Rome.

While I was in Carey, I met a priest who had been reading my articles on scripture for decades. He had translated many of them and would like to publish them as a book. He lives in Kerala, India, and he translated them into Malayalan (I think that is the spelling), the language of that area. This is the most Christian area in all of India. The friars cannot afford the publishing cost, so he asked me to ask you if anyone would like to help them. It will cost about $3,000. Once they sell the books, it will be a fund to be able to publish other books and pamphlets in the future. If you could help, please contact us at our address of:

Evangelization Office
12290 Folly Quarter Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042

Thank you for considering this.

This week I am at the Jesuit Retreat House at Faulkner, Maryland, giving a retreat to the seminarians of the Maronite Rite (from Lebanon). There are six of them, and they are really a joy to work with. The theme of the retreat is the Gospel of John and how our priesthood should be a greater falling in love with our Lord.

I have finished a few books and courses.

The first is France since 1871 by John Merriman. It is a course from Openculture.com. Merriman is entertaining, but he has a fault of going off on a tangent and rarely getting back to the main theme. He also has a bit of an ax to grind with the Church, always citing the fact that he went to a Jesuit High School as his credential to be able to criticize it.

The second work was Bismark, the foundation of the German Empire by James Wycliffe Headlam. It is biography of Bismark. It is a bit too reverential to him, always excusing his lying, manipulations, etc.

The third work was the Great Upheaval. It speaks about the world toward the end of the 18th century. This was the time of the American and French Revolution and the reign of Catherine the Great of Russia. It is by John Wink, and is a well written book, worth the time to read.

Here are my assignments for the next couple of months:

08/28/10 - 09/03/10 - St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN 46544 p.o.c. Br. Paschal (Novitiate Talks)

09/11/10 - 09/16/10 - Holy Rosary Cluster, Elma, IA 50628 p.o.c. Fr. Ray Atwood (Parish Mission)

09/18/10 - 09/23/10 - Sacred Heart, Newburgh, NY 12550 p.o.c. Sr. Mary McCarthy/Most Reverend Dominick J. Lagonegro (Parish Mission)

09/25/10 - 09/29/10 - St. John, the Apostle, Kingston, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. David Collins (Parish Mission)

10/02/10 - 10/06/10 - St. Raphael, Burlington, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. Maurice Richard (Parish Mission)

10/08/10 - 10/10/10 - Priestfield Retreat Center, Priestfield, WV p.o.c. Carolyn Protin (SFO Retreat)

10/14/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Evening for Married Couples)

10/15/10 - 10/17/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Men's Retreat)

10/22/10 - 10/26/10 - St. Julia Church, Siler City, NC 27344 p.o.c. Reverend James Fukes (Parish Mission)

11/06/10 - 11/11/10 - Sacred Heart, La Plata, MD 20646 p.o.c. Fr. Ron Potts (Parish Mission)

11/13/10 - 11/18/10 - St. Alphonsus, Wexford, PA 15090 p.o.c. Fr. Peter P. Murphy (Parish Mission)

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude

A Novena for the Feast of the Assumption

August 11, 2010

The Feast of St. Clare of Assisi

Peace and Good,

I am in day 6 of a novena to Our Lady of Consolation at the Shrine of that name in Carey, Ohio (about 60 miles south of Toledo). The shrine is run by the friars of one of the Mid Western provinces, named after Our Lady of Consolation. They have a tremendous turnout during the novena, especially from Chaldean people from the Detroit area. Chaldeans are one group of Eastern Rite Catholics from the Iraq area. I worked with many of them when I was a student in Rome. They had fled Saddam Hussein in the early 80's, and I worked with various groups to help get them resettled. It is good to see them again here.

I am working on various themes throughout these days. So far I have preached on the power of prayer, why pray for the intercession of the saints, Mary as a model of prayer, Mary as a model of service, the Immaculate Conception, and tonight I will speak about Mary as a model of faith and discernment.

The friars here have been most welcoming. It is great being a friar - I feel that I am home all throughout the world.

I have finished a few books this week. The first is actually a college course I picked up on freeculture.com on the Rise and Fall of the Second Reich by Margaret Andrew. This was about the rise of Bismark and the unification of the German state in the 1870's. The course was good, but I could not believe how Bismark lashed out against the Catholic Church so severely. Many sisters groups in the United States were founded in those days when he expelled them from Germany. He did say toward the end of his life that this was the greatest mistake he had every made. He wanted to unify Germany by making everyone belong to a state church (Lutheran), and he didn't like the fact that the Catholic Church answered to a power outside of Germany's borders (the pope in Rome).

A second book I finished was Queen's Consort: England's Medieval Queens by Lisa Hillen. This dealt with with queens of England from the time of William the conqueror until the days of Henry VIII. It was quite good and informative. For example, one of the queens (I can't remember which one now) inherited the toll on London Bridge but failed to improve it physically, which was why the children's song, "London Bridge is falling down" began.

A third book was a biography of John Newton by Jonathan Aitken. His name might not be familiar, but he is the author of Amazing Grace. He worked as a slave ship captain before he converted and became an Anglican minister. It is a good story of conversion and a truly holy man.

My schedule for the next weeks is as follows:


08/05/10 - 08/15/10 - Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Kerry, OH p.o.c. Br. Jeffrey Hines (Novena)

08/28/10 - 09/03/10 - St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN 46544 p.o.c. Br. Paschal (Novitiate Talks)

09/11/10 - 09/16/10 - Holy Rosary Cluster, Elma, IA 50628 p.o.c. Fr. Ray Atwood (Parish Mission)

09/18/10 - 09/23/10 - Sacred Heart, Newburgh, NY 12550 p.o.c. Sr. Mary McCarthy/Most Reverend Dominick J. Lagonegro (Parish Mission)

09/25/10 - 09/29/10 - St. John, the Apostle, Kingston, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. David Collins (Parish Mission)

10/02/10 - 10/06/10 - St. Raphael, Burlington, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. Maurice Richard (Parish Mission)

10/08/10 - 10/10/10 - Priestfield Retreat Center, Priestfield, WV p.o.c. Carolyn Protin (SFO Retreat)

10/14/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Evening for Married Couples)

10/15/10 - 10/17/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Men's Retreat)

10/22/10 - 10/26/10 - St. Julia Church, Siler City, NC 27344 p.o.c. Reverend James Fukes (Parish Mission)

11/06/10 - 11/11/10 - Sacred Heart, La Plata, MD 20646 p.o.c. Fr. Ron Potts (Parish Mission)

11/13/10 - 11/18/10 - St. Alphonsus, Wexford, PA 15090 p.o.c. Fr. Peter P. Murphy (Parish Mission)

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude

On the Road

August 6, 2010

The Feast of the Transfiguration

Peace and Good,

I'm a little late this week getting the blog done, but a couple of things got in the way. First of all, there has been travel. I have driven over 1200 miles since this past Saturday. There was the travel from the Chautauqua Institute to Ellicott City, then I travelled up to Totowa, New Jersey and back to meet with my publisher, then from Ellicott City to Carey, Ohio, where I begin a Novena to our Lady for the Feast of the Assumption at the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation.

The Chautauqua Institute was incredible. It is a cultural institute founded by the Methodists in the late 1800's (originally a tent meeting sort of gathering) on the shore of Lake Chautauqua in south-western New York State. During the season there are bout 12,000 people there. There are lectures, concerts, operas, plays (including plays in progress where one gets to give feedback to the author), etc. The Catholic House is right across a walkway from the outside concert hall, so one can sit on the porch and listen to the lectures or the concerts throughout the day. The Catholic House does have a number of rooms which they rent out. They choose the occupants with a lottery every November, and the price of the rooms is very reasonable (although there are other fees for participating in the activities of the Institute). The people are all relaxed. Everyone is walking or biking around the grounds. It reminds one of a small town in the old days.

A second reason why this blog is so late is that I had a tear duct infection which began ten days ago. At first, I thought it was just an allergy to something, but it got worse and worse until I had to go to the Emergency Room. They gave me antibiotic drops, and I didn't realize how badly I felt until I started to get better. It is incredible that such a small thing can throw one off so much.

I finished a few books/tapes this week. The first is the Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. This is a book about the beginning of World War I. I had read it a number of years ago, and it was worth rereading. Tuchman is a very good popular historian (although she does not like the Catholic Church).

The second book was A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. This is one of the classics I picked up on my Kindle Reader for free, and I had seen this title for years and wondered what it was about. It speaks exactly about what one would think, the chronicles that an author produces during a year of an attack of the bubonic plague upon London. One sees the reactions that one would expect from a tragedy of such incredible proportions unfolding in the midst of a major city. People flee, panic, try various good and not so good solutions, hunker down, are selfish, are selfless, etc. The plague only really dies out when the city of London suffers from the great fire which burns out the disease. It is good to read when one considers things like the Swine Flu and other new diseases that might hit our world without warning.

A third work was the CD's of a book called the Thirteenth Tale. It is set in England, and concerns a famous author who is dying and the woman whom she chooses to do her biography. The title comes from the fact that the author had written a book called the Thirteenth Tale, but the book only contained twelve tales. Everyone is wondering what the thirteenth tale might be. When one first starts it, it seems like a nice and proper English novel, but there are many wicked turns in the action. It is very well written and worth reading.

My schedule for the coming months is:

08/05/10 - 08/15/10 - Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Kerry, OH p.o.c. Br. Jeffrey Hines (Novena)

08/28/10 - 09/03/10 - St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN 46544 p.o.c. Br. Paschal (Novitiate Talks)

09/11/10 - 09/16/10 - Holy Rosary Cluster, Elma, IA 50628 p.o.c. Fr. Ray Atwood (Parish Mission)

09/18/10 - 09/23/10 - Sacred Heart, Newburgh, NY 12550 p.o.c. Sr. Mary McCarthy/Most Reverend Dominick J. Lagonegro (Parish Mission)

09/25/10 - 09/29/10 - St. John, the Apostle, Kingston, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. David Collins (Parish Mission)

10/02/10 - 10/06/10 - St. Raphael, Burlington, Ontario p.o.c. Fr. Maurice Richard (Parish Mission)

10/08/10 - 10/10/10 - Priestfield Retreat Center, Priestfield, WV p.o.c. Carolyn Protin (SFO Retreat)

10/14/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Evening for Married Couples)

10/15/10 - 10/17/10 - Dominican Retreat Center, McLean, VA 22101 p.o.c. Sr. Agnes (Men's Retreat)

10/22/10 - 10/26/10 - St. Julia Church, Siler City, NC 27344 p.o.c. Reverend James Fukes (Parish Mission)

11/06/10 - 11/11/10 - Sacred Heart, La Plata, MD 20646 p.o.c. Fr. Ron Potts (Parish Mission)

11/13/10 - 11/18/10 - St. Alphonsus, Wexford, PA 15090 p.o.c. Fr. Peter P. Murphy (Parish Mission)