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