Rome - Montreal

April 28, 2019 Peace and Good, After spending a bit of time in Rome, I travelled to Montreal on Easter Monday. The purpose of the trip is two fold. First of all, there was a meeting of the members of the English speaking federation in preparation for our upcoming General Chapter (May 28-June 27). We especially had to go over our revised General Statues. That took a couple of days. We then discussed a number of other matters, especially questions dealing with formation (both initial and continuing). Then on Friday, I began the canonical visitation of our houses in Montreal is preparation for their upcoming Custodial Chapter (this coming September). I already visited the houses in the States (three of them in Clifton, NJ; Bridgeport, CT, and South Boston, MA). Now I am visiting the four sites in Montreal. There is a lot of rain and flooding in the area right near the rivers, much as there has been along the Mississippi and its tributaries this Spring. Their Spring here begins a few weeks later than most of the States. I fly out on Wednesday to return to Rome for 10 days. I finished some reading: Hidden: Reilly Steel Series by Casey Hill This is the third of a series concerning Reilly Steel, and American forensic expert who is part of a team working in Dublin on strange cases. This volume is about children who disappear. When two of them are found dead, they are seen to have angel wings tattooed on their backs. The story turns out to be not quite what one would have expected. Spain: the Center of the World 1519-1682 by Robert Goodwin This is a very good overview of the world of Spain in its golden age. The author speaks of the monarchy, its court, the artists, authors, poets, etc. Goodwin does an incredibly good job at drawing a full picture of what was happening in Spain and in the other domains under its control. I would highly recommend this volume. Fr. Charles Coughlin: the Life of the Controversial Catholic Priest who Revolutionized Radio by Charles River Editors This is the story of a very controversial radio priest who pitched his message for social justice during the depression. The early years, he highly supported FDR, but eventually his politics changed. He began to espouse anti-Semitic messages, and was eventually silenced by Church authorities. Russia House by John le Carre I listened to this volume as a dramatic presentation of this volume. A mysterious woman comes up to a book vender at a book fair in Moscow, asking him to pass on a manuscript written by a Russian arms expert which outlines the arms capability of the Soviet Union. British and American spies conspire with the help of a boozy low life who has to act as the intermediary in this process. Typical of le Carre’s books, there are very few heroes in the story, all the characters are very fallible. America’s Most Notorious Natural Disasters by Charles River Editors This is a compilation of accounts of the Great Chicago Fire, the Johnstown Flood, the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and Hurricane Katrina. Each of the accounts includes objective information about the disaster along with multiple firsthand accounts of those who survived the crisis. Operation Paperclip: the History of the Secret Program to Bring Nazi Scientists to America During and After World War II by Charles River Editors At the end of the Second World War, the US and the Soviets (as well as to a lesser degree the British and French) set up networks to capture information on Nazi scientific programs that might assist them in their own research (e.g. nuclear, aircraft, missile, etc.). This gives an account of how the US sought paperwork, scientific equipment and most of all experts whom they could carry back to the States. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude