Pretoria - London - Ellicott City - Louisville

November 5, 2014 Peace and Good, I hope you are all well. The conference in Pretoria was great. I met a lot of wonderful friars doing amazing things. The greatest joy of my job is to travel from place to place and hear the good things friars are doing and be able to be a type of cheerleader for their ministries. I flew overnight to London arriving on the 28th, my feast day. fr. Peter Damian, the Custos of Great Britain/Ireland took me out to the theatre that evening. We went to see Jersey Boys. One of the friars kidded me and said it was odd to see a play with that name in Great Britain, but my answer was that it wasn't called New Jersey Boys, it was called Jersey Boys and that is found in England. I had not been to the theatre in probably 30 years, and the play was so filled with life and energy that I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then went to my favorite restaurant in China Town. It was a great surprise for my feast day. The next day I flew over to Baltimore and have been staying at the provincialate. I am just trying to rest a bit after a very busy summer and fall. I did fly out to Louisville for a few days to visit our Indian friars here. Three friars from India have founded an apostolate to reach out to young adults in this area. Their province has a chapter coming up this March, and the Assistant General for Asia did the visitation in India. We have the rule of thumb, though, that if friars from that province are stationed in other areas, then the Assistant General where they are stationed visits those friars. I have this visitation, and then I have another one in December to visit two friars in Ireland. The Indian friars here in Louisville work at Bellarmine College and they also work for the archdiocese of Louisville. They have a very original approach to spirituality which a lot of people appreciate. They are also some of the best friars I have ever met. I fly back to Baltimore this afternoon and will be there for a week before beginning a visitation of our friars in Montreal. I finished some books: “C” is for Corpse: The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries by Sue Grafton This is the third in the series of alphabet mysteries that I have read. As always, the character of Kinsey Millhone is well done. She is a detective working in a California coastal town. In this episode she is investigating the murder of someone who hired her because he was sure that someone was trying to kill him. The problem is that he didn’t know why because of a car accident which affected his memory. Kinsey continues the investigation even after this young man is killed, seeking to figure out the mystery with the slightest of information. The Reapers by John Connelly This is the story of two professional hit men and their friends. They are portrayed in a most favorable light. They have tried to kill mostly bad people, often working as unacknowledged assassins for the government. Now, after they have retired, someone is trying to kill them. It is a story of how they and their friends band together to first of all find out what is going on, and then to react in the only way they know how. Boy Made of Dawn: A Navaho Nation Mystery by R. Allen Chappell This is a novel based on the Navaho reservation in the southwest. It revolves around the exploits of a social worker who acts as part time detective. He and two others are being called to testify in a corruption case, but their lives have been placed in danger. The book is well written and provides insights into Navaho culture. The characters are well developed and believable. This is one book I would heartily recommend. The Summons by John Grisham This is a well written mystery based on the idea of an elderly judge summoning his two sons to witness his side before he dies. One son, a teacher in Virginia, arrives just after the father has passed away. The other son, a nere do good drug addict and alcoholic, arrives later. The good son finds a large amount of money hidden away. The rest of the book involves his tortured attempt to find out where the money came from and what to do with it. I hope you have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude