Rome - London - Buffalo

March 22, 2019 Peace and Good, I went to London this past weekend to do a visitation of two of our friars from Malta who are working there as chaplains for the sick. The Maltese government sends a number of sick Maltese citizens there each year because Malta, being a small island, cannot provide the modern medical techniques that are available in London. (Sometimes up to a hundred a month). They have also hired two of our friars to serve as Catholic chaplains for those patients. The friars in London do a great job in this. When I did a visitation in Malta, people on the street would tell me this. Since Malta is preparing for a chapter this coming September, I visited the two friars to see how they are doing. Then on Sunday I heard that one of our ex-provincials, fr. Canice Connors, passed away in Buffalo, NY. I checked with our Vicar General, and travelled to Buffalo on Tuesday to attend the funeral today. fr. Canice was a provincial, rector of a seminary, head of two treatment institutes for priests and religious who had serious phychological problems, etc. I knew him a bit, and he was a good, good man. I will be in Buffalo until this coming Tuesday when I will head back to Rome. I finished some reading: The Hittites and the Lydians: the History and Legacy of Ancient Anatolia’s Most Influential Civilizations by Charles River Editors This is actually a combination of two books about peoples who settled in Asia Minor, today’s Turkey. Each is well done. The Hittites actually conquered a rather large empire in that area, although they disappeared from the scene around the time of Abraham or just before. The Lydians are famous as the first people to produce an actual currency (coins) and not just weights of precious metals. The Letter to the Galatians: the Bible in Medieval Tradition by Ian Christopher Levy This is a combination of commentaries which speak about the Letter to the Galatians. It is interesting to note how at times they are so similar to what we know today, and how at times they are so dissimilar. It was a bit of work getting through it, but well worth it. Easter Rising by Hourly History This is a quick history of the rebellion of the Irish against the British during the First World War. Hourly History produces a series of books similar to those of Charles River Editors, but a bit more folksy. The book speaks of how the rebellion failed, but nevertheless the brutal suppression after its failure led to an independence movement which led to freedom. War of 1812: A History from Beginning to End by Hourly History This is the story of what some call the second war of independence. It was a war that the Americans did not want to fight, but which they almost backed into due to the treatment of American sailors by the British during their war with Napoleon. It was a war without many concrete results, but it did give some self-confidence to the newly formed US because now they felt they did not have to bow down to every threat that they faced. Empire by Michelle Pacelle and Dan Cashman This is an interesting, short book about the sale of the Empire State building. It is an involved story, with the building in unknown hands for quite a while. It also includes appearances by Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley, two of the great moguls of real estate in New York. There is family intrigue in a Japanese family of a very dishonest businessman and his sons and his illegitimate daughter (the last of whom tried to steal the building for herself). Frank Lloyd Wright by Charles River Editors When Frank Lloyd Wright was starting out, the great architect, he said that he had to choose between a hypocritical humility and arrogance, and so he chose the latter. The book speaks of his life and his career. It is open on his incredibly messy relationship with his three wives. It speaks of the buildings he designed in the US and Japan and why he made particular choices. I come from Buffalo which has some of his buildings, so I was interested in him. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude