My 100th Posting

February 20, 2011

Peace and Good,

I can't believe that this is already my 100th posting of this blog. This week has been pretty much like most of my others: San Antonio, Baltimore, London and Aberdeen. I was visiting my friary in Baltimore (Ellicott City) watching a program when a commercial came on of a bank being advertised by the Baltimore quarterback, Joe Flaco. I asked the friar alongside of my why they would be using the Baltimore quarterback in that commercial. His answer was, "Jude, where do you think you are?" I honestly thought I was in Buffalo at the time. Time to get a label for my clothes, "If lost, please return to..."

We are having a series of meetings in Great Britain and Ireland so that the friars there can meet the new Delegate, the representative of our provincial there. His name is Fr. Paul Miskiewicz. He gave a beautiful talk at the gathering in London.

I got my walk in by walking along the Thames River. Our friary is only a few blocks from the huge circus wheel that has become a great tourist attraction here in London. I love this city. It is a great place to walk and there is so much to see. The weather is cold and rainy here.

It was so good for the older friars to see the young vocations. There has been a rebirth of this jurisdiction and there is now a lot of hope for the future. Our provincial Fr. James has a lot to do with that. He is gentle and hopeful, and that is contagious.

I am up in Aberdeen diocese, the town of Huntley, to visit one of our retired bishops, Bishop John Jukes. He is the retired bishop of Kent in England. He is a wise man, and I just wanted both to pay my respects and learn anything I can from him.

I have finished a couple of books. The first is Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose. Ambrose writes extensively about war. He has a good style, honest and forthright. The book is about the soldiers of World War II from the United States. Unlike the armies of most European powers, ours was not really a professional army. They were mostly normal citizens who were drafted into the army and who responded mostly with generosity and courage.

The second book was the Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry. She writes period historical novels. This one takes place in the city of Constantinople in the middle of the 13th century. She gives an enormous amount of detail in her story and I think most of the general picture is accurate. This was a traumatic period in the history of Europe, with Western Christian fighting against Eastern Christian. It is well worth reading.

Have a good week and
Shalom
fr. Jude