Rome - Baltimore - Louisville - Baltimore

June 24, 2011

The Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist

Peace and Good,

Sorry I'm a bit late this week. It has been hectic again. I was in Rome for a week for our definitory. This is a meeting every six weeks in which we take stock of what is happening in the order. This time of year things tend to quiet down a bit which I don't mind.

The mother of our guardian, Fr. Peter Damian Masengill, passed away, and I was to be the order's representative at the funeral. I was to fly from Rome on Sunday and arrive in Baltimore Sunday evening, and then fly out the Louisville the next evening to be there for the funeral Tuesday morning. Thank goodness I checked my e mail account Saturday afternoon after I had checked in for the flight from Rome, because the flight was cancelled. Of course, my travel agent in Rome was closed, as was the British Air office in Rome. Finally, I figured out to call the US office on Skype. I was on the phone for about an hour, but they were able to get me out on Monday. I was able to change my flight from Baltimore from Monday evening to Tuesday without a penalty (I love Southwest). All worked out well. I flew back to Baltimore Tuesday evening, and have been using the past couple of days to catch up a bit.

I finished a few books these weeks. The first was the Fourth of July be James Patterson and Maxine Petro. Patterson has created an industry of writing books along with other authors. This one was quite good. It was about a mass murderer and a policewoman who solves the mystery while on administrative leave for a shooting. The plot was good, the action believable.

A second book was a biography by Jacob Abbott on Cyrus the Great. He was the Persian emperor who conquered the Babylonians and let the Jewish people return to Israel after having lived in exile in Babylon. Abbott's biographies are always informative. They are not exactly scholarly, but they give enough information to make the plot interesting.

The third book was an Op Center book by Tom Clancy called Call to Treason. This is part of a series sponsored by Clancy. Op Center is a type of CIA but on a smaller basis. This involves a plot by a senator who is running for president who is a rabid isolationist. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

I'll be in Ellicott City (Baltimore) until this coming Monday, and then off to Cincinnati for a meeting of many of the friars in the States called the Chapter of Mats.

Hope you have a good week.

Shalom
fr. Jude