Los Angeles - Chicago

July 15, 2013 The Feast of St. Bonaventure Peace and Good, This has been a good summer week in which the only major thing that I had to do was to travel from LA to Chicago. I am staying with the friars at their house of studies on Kenmore Avenue, a few blocks from Loyolla University. I have been catching up with my daily reflections and am a month ahead, which is great because for the past few months I have been lucky to be a week early. I am giving a talk to some of our friars who are here this week for a period of continuing education. This are friars who have recently finished their formation (from very recently up to five years ago). We have found that these early years after formation are critical as the friars adjust from formation houses to normal houses in the friaries. There are about twenty friars here this week from the various provinces in the States. Next week I will attend a couple of celebrations in a friary near here. Otherwise, I now have a chance to slow down a bit and catch up on some writing projects. I finished a few books. Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald This is a series of short stories that take place during the 20’s. There is the story of a young man who is known as a “jelly bean,” a gad about town who doesn’t get all that involved in life. There is the story of a costume party in which a man and a woman who were engaged but broke it off during a fight end up getting married by mistake. There is a story of a party at the end of the war told from the perspective of a series of different people involved in the action. There is the story of Benjamin Button which was made into a film not all that long ago. There is a sad story about two couples whose lives fall apart, one when a wife cannot accept the limitations of her life and the other when a young man is struck down by a stoke and his wife lovingly cares for him until he dies. They are generally good stories, but one gets the impression in many of them that the characters are looking for something in life which they just cannot find. Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day by Stephan Talty This is the story of a double agent whom the British used to make Hitler and the Nazi High Command believe that the D-Day invasion was going to occur at Calais and not Normandy. Thus, even many days after the initial invasion, Hitler held back his Panzer forces awaiting what he thought would be the main invasion, and this gave the allies the time to consolidate their beachhead. Garbo was a Spanish national who offered to be a spy for the Germans in Madrid. He eventually made his way to England and worked for MI5, the British spy agency. He made the Germans believe that he had set up a spy network with 27 operatives, all of whom were fictional. He was highly trusted by the Germans, so much so that a couple days after D-Day, when he sent a message that this was not yet the main invasion, Hitler changed his orders concerning troop deployment. This probably saved thousands of allied lives and insured the success of the invasion. This is a good book which shows the human element in the story. The Lighter Side of Darkness: Nine Flash Stories by Joshua Scribner This is a series of very short horror stories. I have read a number of his other works. He mixes horror with comedy and irony. These are very short stories, none more than three pages long. Yet he has the gift of giving enough information to set up a punch line. I enjoy his writings, even if some of them are a bit bizarre. I hope you have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude

Assisi - Vatican City - Assisi

February 10, 2013 Peace and Good, I am sorry that I did not write a blog this past week, but the General Chapter had me hopping. In these past two weeks, we have had meeting after meeting. There are the general sessions at which all are present, there are the discussions in language groups, and then there are all the other meetings that I have because I am an Assistant General (I am on one of the committees that works on documents for the chapter, we have had a few General Definitory meetings to get some things ready for the next few years, and I have had a whole series of meetings with provincials alone and then with provincials and the General). The big event last week was the elections of the Minister General and his Definitory. The General was re-elected, which was a very good thing. We have had two Ministers General in a row who had only one term, and that leads to instability. The term is six years long, so fr. Marco is the Minister General now until 2019. I was re-elected to be the Assistant General for the English speaking part of the Order. I had a bit of a scare because my name had been mentioned as being a possible candidate for Vicar of the Order, the number two spot. I didn't really think I had the talents necessary for that job. It is an administrative position, and my gifts are more charismatic - preaching, giving retreats, etc. Fortunately, enough friars recognized that, and I was saved from it. The spirit of the Chapter is quite good. The friars are honestly trying to shape the future to be more faithful to what we say we are and what we truly want to be. It is not always easy, because we always fall back on what is familiar and comfortable, but as fr. Marco says, it is time to take a risk. On Wednesday we went down to Rome to be part of an audience with the Holy Father. He looks good, but he is getting very old. (I think he is 85 right now.) We were part of a general audience, so there were thousands of people, but we were given a place right up front. I was probably not more than 50 feet from the Pope. I sat next to one of our former Ministers General, fr. Lanfranco Serini. He is 89 years old, and not in the best of health, but he is making the effort to be present at all of the meetings. We so appreciate his heroic effort. I am starting to calendar my year right now. I can foresee trips to the US, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Then there will be all the other things that get put into the schedule. I am trying to give myself a little more leeway on each of the trips so that the travel will not be quite so grueling. We have one more week here in Assisi. Then, the 19th I head back to the States. I am going to visit one of the provincials who is in California who is ill, and I am going to take care of some visits to various doctors (a 50,000 mile check up). I have finished some books: The Battle for Leyte Gulf by C. Vann Woodward This is an account of the greatest naval battle between American and Japanese forces during the Second World War. The Japanese realized that if America conquered back the Philippines, then they would be cut off from their supply of oil which they obtained in Indonesia. They would be forces to surrender. They therefore gathered all their naval forces in three groups and attacked the American ships. The Americans, on the other hand, had enormous forces. Far from the days after Pearl Harbor, they had dozens of aircraft carriers (some of them full size and many abbreviated versions). The Americans successfully countered two of the attacks, destroying most of the Japanese ships. But one of those attacks was actually a decoy to draw most of the American forces north so that another group of ships could attack the forces left and then bombard the landing ships of the invading troops. They perfectly read the personality of Admiral Halsey who was impetuous and very aggressive. Somehow the few forces left to defend the beaches were able to hold off the enemy until, for some reason which to this day remains a bit mysterious, the Japanese pulled back, not pursuing their advantage. The book is well written, giving a good perspective of what each of the groups was attempting to do and what they actually accomplished. Short Stories by Joshua Scribner This is another set of short stories by Scribner. He is what could be called a science fiction/horror writer. Among the stories I read were Hell and Back about a man who is given the opportunity to see his punishment in hell if he joins a criminal organization as an enforcer. There was Within, a story about a woman who is haunted by an evil spirit contained in a doll which causes her to murder. There was the Safest Place, a story about a man who is fleeing others who want to kill him and how he must choose the abilities of a particular ocean animal to save him. Oklahoma Dust and Nothing Happened tell of ghosts, one of which entices someone to join it and the other seeks revenge for a perceived wrong. All of the stories are well written and are filled with suspense, even if they are a bit strange at times. Xerses by Jacob Abbott This is the story of the Persian emperor who tried to invade Greece with millions of his slave troops. He even has his engineers build a massive pontoon bridge over the Hellespont (the waterway that divides Asia from Europe). He then has the engineers dig a canal through a peninsula to aid the transport of this huge fleet. The army is first slowed at the pass of Thermopile by the famous Spartan 300. The fleet is then defeated at Salamis. The totally unexpected occurs: the Greeks are able to defeat the Persians and chase them back into Asia. The story ends with Xerses assassinated by a member of his own family, a deserved fate considering all the pain and suffering he brought to the Greeks and even the members of his own army and navy. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude

Rome - Assisi - Rome

December 24, 2012 Peace and Good, This past week we had our second last definitory for the term. We will have one more in January to take care of last minute details before the General Chapter which begins on January 19th. You can see the fatigue in the faces of all of the definitors. This has been a long haul, and we are reaching the end of the journey. I am always fascinated how we can discuss the situation of the friars in so many different lands. This time, from what I can remember, we discussed Chile, Columbia, Brazil, US, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, China, Philippines, Japan, Zambia and Ghana. That is from what I can remember. On Friday I took a train up to Assisi to visit a couple of friends and get some prayer time in before our chapter begins. Once it begins, there will be an awful lot of business to take care of. Assisi is quite a bit bolder than Rome and it has less sunlight because of a winter fog that covers it for days on end. I had an interesting incident while I was there. I was praying in the Basilica of St. Clare before the San Damiano Cross, the cross which spoke to St. Francis telling him to rebuild the church. When I finished, I walked out into the main body of the church and realized that the sisters had locked me in during the lunch break. Fortunately there were still a couple of sisters in the church to let me out. I came back to Rome yesterday evening, and I will be here for the Christmas celebrations. Then the day after Christmas I will fly out to Toronto to visit family and friends. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I have finished these books: Horror and C..p: 11 Short Stories by Joshua Scribner Joshua Scribner is a very creative science fiction, horror author. This is a series of eleven very short stories, each not more than a couple of pages long. Some of the themes covered are when a group of goblins torments a couple in their new home. A neighbor comes over and explains that the goblins are only hungry and since the toilet is blocked, they are starving for their usual fare (fill in the blank). In another, a man has a switch given to him by his psychiatrist to turn on and off his impulse to smoke. Little does he know that the switch is also connected to his wife’s impulse to murder him. One very short selection has a couple arguing whether they should tell others about a tsunami that is approaching. It turns out the couple are cats, and they abandon their family for higher ground. Each of the stories comes across as a short “Outer Limits” selection. His writing is always entertaining, if not a bit strange. Tudor Rose: The Story of the Queen who United a Kingdom and Birthed a Dynasty by Margaret Campbell Barnes This is the story of Elizabeth of York, the daughter of King Edward who dies early after a dissipated life. She is the niece of King Richard III who kills her two young brothers and then seems to want to marry her after his son and his own wife die. She eventually marries Henry VII who conquers the kingdom with a very poor claim for the monarchy other than conquest. Henry is the founder of the Tudor dynasty. He is not the warmest of men, more like a calculating machine. Yet Elizabeth remains a faithful wife. She is the mother of Arthur who died before he reigned and of Henry VIII. This is a fictional historical account which is quite good. The Eagle has Landed (Liam Devlin) by Jack Higgins I have come to like this author. He tells a very good tale. This is a story that takes place during the Second World War. Hitler has challenged the army intelligence to be as creative in their efforts as his special forces were when they rescued Mussolini from a mountain top prison. A plot is launched to capture or kill Churchill when he visits a small town in northern England along the coast. One of Germany’s few spies, an elderly Boer woman who is still angry at England for conquering her people in South Africa, is spying for the Nazis. An IRA agent is sent in to help her in the plans. The commandos arrive and all heck breaks out. The book is written with more sympathy, at times, for the Germans and the IRA agent than for the allies. It reminds us that not all Germans were Nazi monsters (although it makes clear that some were). Likewise, it reminds us that not all of the allied troops were knights in shining armor. It is a very good book. I have to apologize that this is late. I had written it on Christmas Eve, but I forgot to post it until today. Yesterday a couple of friends pointed out that there had been no posting since December 17th. I was so confused because I remember writing this. It was only last night that I put two and two together. Have a great New Years. Shalom fr. Jude

Ocean City - Ellicott City - Rome

August 25, 2012 The Feast of St. Louis, the King Peace and Good, The feast we celebrate today, that of St. Louis the King, is that of one of the patrons of the Secular Franciscans. St. Francis founded three bands of Franciscans: the friars who live religious life, the Poor Clares who live Francis’ calling in a cloistered life style, and the Seculars, which is lay people who live the ideals of Francis in their daily lives in the world. One could almost say that the Seculars are the oldest of the three groups, because Francis did not really have the idea of founding a religious order right from the start. I have finished off my vacation at an apartment that the friars have in Ocean City in Maryland. I don’t really spend much time on the beach. For me, the most restful thing is to listen to the waves hitting the beach. Ten minutes of that relaxes me. Yesterday I came back to Rome. It was an uneventful trip which nowadays is quite a good thing. The number of tourists in Rome has gone done quite a bit, which is very good considering how hot it still is over here. They say that there is going to be a break in the weather this coming week. I am writing this blog a day early because tomorrow I and the rest of the General Definitory are leaving for Israel to make a pilgrimage and retreat at the end of our years of service. Remember, we are getting ready for our General Chapter which will take place in Assisi from mid-January through mid-February. All ten of our positions are up for renewal or replacement. A few of the assistants have already made it clear that they would like to pass on the responsibility to someone else. I probably don’t have much of a chance of getting out because I have only been here two years filling out Brother John Joseph’s term, and they usually seek some continuity among the assistants to pass on the historical memory to the next team. As I have said previously, I really don’t mind staying on if that is what the Spirit wants, but I wouldn’t mind retiring from this responsibility either. I love meeting the friars and sharing in what they are doing, but the travel gets a bit old after a while. I have finished a few books this week: Urgent Questions 2: Five Flash Fiction Stories by Joshua Scribner I have read short stories by Scribner before. This is a series of five very short stories that deal with a question. For example, why is it that two particular people survive a harvesting of humans from outer space. The answer is that they were wearing a particular insect repellant (which they have just run out of). Why are two others saved – because they are both obsessive compulsive (although one unfortunately started taking medicine which masks the symptoms and makes him vulnerable to attack). This is the general tenor of these stories – science fiction with a twist. The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry The story is based on the idea that Rasputin, the mad monk who guided the last czar of Russia, predicted the dynasty’s restoration after 25 years. It is set in the days immediately after communism had fallen, and the country of Russia has established a commission to name the new czar. An American lawyer and a Russian circus acrobat join forces to find a direct descendant of the last czar, but they face incredible difficulties along the way, being attacked by forces that want to take over the throne for their own candidate. Foma Gordyeff (The Man who was Afraid) by Maxim Gorky This is a very strange story of a young man who is born to a rich merchant father and who cannot find his way in life. He turns to drink, to loose women, etc. but it all leaves him feeling that something is missing and he cannot put his finger on what that might be. He drifts through life in anger and drunkenness, eventually raging out at the merchant class for their hypocrisy and their exploitation of the poor to make their riches. His Godfather, who helped raise him, has him locked away in an insane asylum, and when he is released, he wanders the streets spewing out his venom (which is true but ignored). I hope you have a good week. I will not be writing another blog until I get back from the Holy Land right after Labor Day. Shalom Fr. Jude

Rome - Seoul - San Luis Obisbo - Ellicott City

June 18, 2012 Peace and Good, I hope you are well. As you can see by the title of this posting, this has been a very busy week for travel. It involved three night flights (Rome to Seoul, Seoul to San Francisco, and San Francisco to Baltimore). That is really a lot in a week's time. Right now I am working on 18 hours of jet lag. You would think that when it went over 12 hours, it would start becoming less, but it doesn't work that way because I was in each place long enough to start the transition to local time. I went to Seoul for the beginning of the Provincial Chapter of the Korean Province. I was there because I had done the visitation for that province. The chapter went very well, and fr. Tito was elected the new provincial. I had met him in January and had warned him that his name was being mentioned as a possible new provincial. Korea is a young province with a lot of potential. I hope that he and they are able to work on a few problems they are currently experiencing and move on. On Thursday I went from Seoul to San Luis Obisbo (actually a town called Arroyo Grande, which is just outside of Pismo Beach, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles). Given the fact that I crossed the international date line, I left on Thursday and arrived on Thursday, even though I flew all night long. I was visiting fr. Chris Deitz who has been very ill. Shortly after Christmas he suddenly became paralyzed. Something had attacked the myalin of his nervous system, especially in his spine. He had recovered quite a bit, but he still had a bit of a road to go. We spoke about what is going on in his province, and also in their mission in Vietnam. Then, on Saturday evening I took the red eye to Baltimore. I will be here on the east coast for the next few weeks so I should recover soon from the jet lag. My reading has included: Bleeding Kansas by Sara Peretsky This book is based in the farmland just outside of Lawrence, Kansas. There are constant reminders of the early years of settlement in the State of Kansas and how it was tinged with violence from raids made by the pro-slavery faction from across the border in Missouri. The action takes place with various farm families and their difficulties. One loses a son in the war in Iraq, the mother has a breakdown which leads to a suicide attempt, etc. Another, a family involved in a salvation church, has a calf that might be pure red (and therefore essential for ultra-rigorous Jewish groups that want to rebuild the temple). There are references to a fire on a farm during the 60’s in which a hippie was killed. There is a woman who moves into the neighborhood who practices Wiccah and is a Lesbian. Most of the violence occurring in the present era is emotional (although not all). It is a not bad read. The Judgment of Caesar by Steven Saylor This is the second book by Saylor that I have read. He writes about a Roman official named Gordianus the Finder who is a type of private detective. He lives in the last days of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the rule of Julius Caesar, traumatic times for the Romans. This book involves the time right after Pompey the Great was defeated by Julius at Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Egypt where he was murdered. Julius arrives and tried to judge the rights of the two Pharaohs ruling at the time, Ptolemy (a 15 year old boy) and Cleopatra (his 20 year old sister). They are brother and sister as well as husband and wife, in the tradition of Pharaoh’s of Egypt. The politics are intricate, almost Byzantine. In the meantime, Gordianus’ estranged adopted son is accused of attempted murder. The book is well researched, and for those who love Roman history, it is a joy reading. Three Powers: Three Short Works by Joshua Scribner This short work is a compilation of three short stories, each of which has to do with someone with an extraordinary gift. One can smell as good as the beasts of the fields, one can taste the residue of people and things like a snake can, and one can sense the pain of creatures that are dying. Each of the stories is short and to the point, and each presents a good lesson. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude