Boxing Day

December 26, 2010

Peace and Good,

I entitled this blog boxing day because that is what it is called in countriesk that were ruled by Great Britain. The servants of the family had to serve them Christmas Day,and they didn't get a chance to celebrate until the day after when they could finally open their Christmas boxes.

Well, I finished out series of meetings on Tuesday morning. They went for seven days, and we didn't quite finish the agenda. That is OK, though, because the important things were finished, and in Italy there is usually not the sense of urgency you can find in the States to get things done. Here, if they get done, then they get done. If they don't, then maybe they weren't supposed to get done.

The last few days I have been spending just getting caught up. There are a lot of e mails coming in to take care of, and then I am still moving in to my office (mostly going through old files and reading what is necessary and shreding a lot of out of date material.

I concelebrated noon Mass on Christmas Day in our Basilica with about 20 other friars. What was odd is that there were only about 25 people in the congregation. We live in the historic district of Rome where not a lot of people live. Inner Rome has a ton of Churches and very few people, while the suburbs have tons of people and very few Churches. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it. The only problem in Rome is that these churches can't be closed because they are historic.)

I got to visit one of the suburban churches one evening, St. Mark's Church, where I was ordained a deacon. I was supposed to be ordained a deacon in another parish with my class, but a couple of days before it my appendix ruptured and I came down with peritonitus. When I got out of the hospital (ten days later and probably 30 pounds lighter), they decided to ordain me before my parents left (for they had been visiting for the ordination). I had been working in St. Mark's, and they decided to have the ordination there. The Church was packed for a Monday evening Mass. It was great.

I have travelled to Assisi for a few days of quiet and prayer. There is something about this city for a Franciscan that makes one feel at home immediately. It is so beautiful, so peaceful.

I finished a couple of books. The first is Jerusalem 1913: The Origin of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Amy Dockser Marcus. 1913, just before the First World War, was probably the last opportunity for the Arabs and Jews to come to some form of agreement concerning the establishment of the state of Israel. It came close, but some sad incidents and some stubborn personalities on both sides interferred and led to what seems to be the never-ending conflict that we now see.

The second book was an essay on Cardinal Newman as a Musician by Edward Bellasio. I wanted to read it because he was recently beatified. Unfortunately, the book is horrible. I would not recommend it in any way!

Hope you have a good Boxing Day. Be safe.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Rome for meetings

December 19, 2010

Peace and Good,

I have been in Rome for meetings all week. I am part of tthe general counsel of our order (which we call a definitory). Throughout this week (and Monday and Tuesday of this coming week) we were meeting to talk about what is going on in the order and make plans for the future.

This week we met a series of friars who are responsible for various dimensions of what we do.

There was friar Martin who is from Argentina and is the Assistant general who is the spiritual assistant for the Secular Franciscans throughout the world. The seculars are lay people who live in the spirit of St. Francis in their everyday lives. There are actually many more of them than of the friars. When St. Francis founded his movement, it was originally a lay movement and only became a religious order as time went on.

There was friar Edoardo from Padua in Italy who assists the Poor Clare sisters. They are considered the second order of the Franciscans. (The frist order is the male religious belonging to the OFM, the OFM Conv and the OFM Capuchin, the second order is the Poor Clares who are a cloistered order, and the Third Order are lay people, a group of religious men who follow the Third Order Rule knows as the TOR's, and the Franciscan Sisters other than the Poor Clares.) There are 26 convents of the Poor Clares here in Italy and three in other countries (those Clares joined to our order, there are others joined to the OFM's and the Capuchins). Like many communties, those in Italy have become older and are joining communities together. The communities in Poland are doing much better.

There was friar Francisco from Columbia. He is the director of the office that speaks about Peace and Justice and the Safeguarding of the Environment.

There was friar Sebastian from Romania who works in the office that fosters interreligious dialog from Assisi.

There was friar Rafaele from Italy who works in the office of the Militia Immacolata, a movement founded by St. Maximillian Koble in which one consecrates one's life to accepting God's will in the same way that the Blessed Virgin Mary did.

There was friar Alcides from Argentian who works in the office for formation of the friars (those who are just entering and those who have been in for a while and need a time of renewal).

There was friar Fermino from Italy who is working on a rewriting of our constitutions (a very long and complicated process). The constitutions are the basic rules of how we are to live as friars both individually and in community.

There was friar Andreas from Germany who takes care of our archives and is working to catalog many of the important artifacts that we as an order possess.

There was friar Ryszard who is developing a new internet site for us. (By the way, if you are interested, the present site is ofmconv.org.)

There was friar Angelo from Italy who works on preparing the causes for beatification and canonization for our order (and for people who are somehow related to our order).

It was fascinating to listen to the work they are doing.

Last night the definitory went to see a movie together. It is called Men of God, a French film about a community of Trappists who lived in Algeria during the recent civil war. They were caught between the Islamist extremists and the army. It is excellent. It is one of the most honest portrayals of religious life and discerning God's will that I have ever seen.

Finally, I finished two books.

The first is Jeanne D'Arc: her life and death by Margaret Oliphant. Oliphant is English, and it shows in the descritions given, but there are also some good insights into the inner life of this saint. I still struggle with the idea, though, that God would root for the French against the English. In a case like this, why would God care who won the war. They were all miserable rulers who exploited their people horribly. I sometimes don't know what to make of it.

The other work was a collection of Best Russian Short Stories, including stories by Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Checkov and Gorky. It was really a good selection and it was interesting to see the tenor of the story and the forms used change as time went on. I still think that Gorky's descriptions are some of the best I have ever read, even he did some very despicable things toward the end of his life by buying into the Stalinist persecution of many of his fellow writters.

Have a great week preparing for Christmas.

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude

Baltimore - Rome

December 12, 2010

Our Lady of Guadalupe / Gaudete Sunday

Peace and Good,

Well, I travelled back to Rome and will be here for three weeks. (What a joy, sleeping in the same bed for three whole weeks.) This week, after I got over some of the worst jet lag, I have been taking care of some projects. I edited a number of reflections for the daily reflections, wrote a new article for the Messenger magazine from Padua, wrote a report for our next definitory meeting which begins tomorrow, etc. I was so busy with the projects that when I went outside Saturday for something, I realized that I had not been outside the front door since I arrived on Wednesday. I'll have to watch that, it's so easy to get caught up in what you're doing.

The various Assistant Generals have been out on the road since the last meeting. They have been coming back home one by one, and it is great to see the joy on the friars faces to see them home again. It reminds me of the scenes when the disciples were sent out by Jesus and when the first friars were sent out by St. Francis and then came home. We have stories to share with each other from Paraguay, Poland, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, Australia, the States, etc.

This coming week and a half are filled with meetings. I will be here at home (Santi Apostoli) for Christmas day, and then the day after I will head up to Assisi for a private retreat.

I finished a couple of books. The first was Alexander of Russia by Henri Troyat. Alexander was the czar who defeated Napoleon when he invaded Russia. He is a complex figure. He wanted to be liberal in his ideas, as long as it didnàt have to be applied to real life, e.g. the fact he did not liberate the serfs in his own country. He was the grandson of Catherine the Great. She wanted him to succeed her, but died before that could be made public. He allowed for some army friends to assisinate his father (who was definitely a loser), and he suffered from guilt for this for the rest of his life. This is not the first book I have read by Troyat. He is an excellent author, but one has to be willing to invest a lot of time because none of his books are short.

The other book I finished was called Cod by Mark Kurlansky. As an author, Kurlansky has cornered an interesting section of the market: food. In this book, he shows how cod fed massive portions of the population in Europe from the Middle Ages. It was considered to be a source of weaalth from the new world alongside silver and gold. He speaks of how it became a cheap source of protein for the slaves on the sugar plantations in the Carribean, indirectly supporting that horrific institution. He also speaks about the collapse of the fishing stock and how desparate life is now for cod fishermen. He even include a number of recepees for cod from earlier days and the present. It was a good read.

I hope you have a good week.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Buffalo - Albany - Montreal - Ellicott City

December 6, 2010

Happy St. Nicholas Day

Peace and Good,

Hope you are all well. This week I finished off my visits to the provincials of the US and Canada. On Sunday I drove from my brother's house to Rensselaer (across the river from Albany). There I met with Fr. Justin Biasi, the provincial of Immaculate Conception Province. This is the other eastern province (my own province of St. Anthony being the other one). The two eastern provinces are in the process of joining. The schedule has the approval coming in 2013 and the actual joining coming in 2014.

Immaculate Conception is also responsible for two other jurisdictions: a custody (a baby province) in Brazil and a delegation (smaller than a custody) in Costa Rica. We spoke about the province in the US and these two entities. There are about 100 friars in all. Like St. Anthony, they have parishes, shrines, and retreat house ministries as well as college campus ministers.

On Wednesday I drove up to Montreal to visit the custody there. There are 16 friars, all from Poland, serving the needs to Polish immigrants and recently French speaking Catholics there. In the past, this custody did not belong to our conference because the friars minister to and in Polish, but now they are a part of the North American and English/Irish conference.

From there back to Rensselaer for the night. I got to meet with one of our friars who is ministering in Assisi. We shared some information and a number of stories about the joys and confusion of life in Italy.

Then on to Ellicott City. Friday night there was a reception to say goodbye to me as I get ready to head off to Rome today for my permanent stay.

I finished a few books and tapes. The first was Brother Odd by Dead Koontz. This is part of the "odd" series. This is the third in the series that I have read. It was excellent. Odd (his name was supposed to be Todd but they made a mistake at the registry) can see ghosts and his mission is to help them find peace. In this book he is staying at a monastery of monks and nuns in the Cascades. The nuns care for mentally challenged children. There is a warmth and gentleness in the description that, in spite of the fact that this is a ghost book, is firmly pro-life. It was a joy to see a book that respected the defenseless so well.

A second book was the Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. This is one of those classics I always wanted to read. It is written in a decadent late Victorian style. It has much more to do with moral degeneracy than with age.

The third was the Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver. This is a Lincoln Rhyme book. He is a paralyzed investigator who solves cases for the police (or at times in spite of the police). This one has to do with a mass murderer who is drawing his information from an internet company that mines information and sells it to customers. It speaks of the danger of Big Brother watching our purchases, our moves, etc. I wouldn't classify it as great, but it was good.

Tonight I fly out to Rome and will be there for the vigil of the Immaculate Conception. Our Basilica of Santi Apostoli has a big celebration for the feast. People also bring bouquets of flowers to the statue of Mary in the Piazza di Spagna.

Take care and
Shalom
fr. Jude

Chicago - Carey, Ohio - Buffalo

November 28, 2010

Peace and Good,

This past Sunday began with liturgy at our friary at Marytown in Chicago. We had solemn morning prayer followed by a beautiful Mass. It was an appropriate way to celebrate the feast of Christ the King.

That afternoon, I travelled to the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio. You might remember that I was there a couple of times this past summer, preaching a retreat to our new novices and then preaching a novena for the Feast of the Assumption. I spent Monday doing some homework. Every year the Minister General sends a letter to the friars of the order throughout the world, and I was asked to translate it from Italian into English. It was a little difficult, because even though my Italian is not bad, I am not yet used to thinking in Italian (and Italians have a different way of expressing ideas, e.g. never say in ten words what can be said in twenty).

Tuesday I headed out to Buffalo where I spent the Thanksgiving holiday. Wednesday I was the celebrant at the funeral of my Godfather. He passed away Saturday morning. This was a real miracle, because I am on the road so often. What were the chances that this would coincide with one of my few visits to Buffalo. At the wake, I noticed that there was a display of his military medals, which included the silver star. Like many of his generation, Steve rarely spoke of his experience of war. One of the things that most impressed me about him was that when his wife, Eleanor, came down with Alzheimer's, he had her taken care of at home. He couldn't think of institutionalizing her. What an example! Please keep him, Steve Mayer, and his family in your prayers.

Thanksgiving was a great time to visit family here in Buffalo and then yesterday in Pittsburgh. My family is so supportive of me in so many ways.

I finished a few books this week. The first was A Passage to India by E.M. Foster. I had seen the movie made from this book years ago (it was a Merchant Ivory production). It was great, but the book was even better. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It dealt with the theme of two cultures meeting and how difficult it can be for one to understand the other. Actually, for India, it was more than two cultures (the British, the Hindus, the Muslims, etc.).

The second book was the Gracchi, Marius and Sulla by A.H. Beesley. It deals with the period just before the rise of Julius Caesar. One can understand what happened to Caesar when one understands the social turmoil that was going on in Rome at that time.

The third book was a set of CD's called the Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman. The story revolves around a Navaho retired detective who tries to solve a strange set of crimes. There are a number of insights into Native American culture. For example, ambition is not seen as a virtue among the Navaho's. One is supposed to fit in and help the tribe and family, not to stand out. This is well worth reading or listening to.

Today I head out to Albany to visit another provincial.

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Chicago

November 22, 2010

Peace and Good,

This week began with my meeting in Ellicott City with Fr. James McCurry. He is the provincial of St. Anthony Province, my home province. We spoke about the concerns of the province as we prepare for our union with Immaculate Conception Province. Both of these provinces are located on the east coast of the United States. St. Anthony was founded to serve the Polish Americans who had settled between Buffalo, Boston and Baltimore. We are now serving in two high schools (St. Francis in Athol Springs, NY and Archbishop Curley in Baltimore) and numerous parish both in that triangle described above and in Georgia and Florida. There are around 125 friars in the province.

At this past provincial chapter, St. Anthony also assumed responsibility for our friars in England and Ireland. This is a much smaller jurisdiction, and we are helping them until they can once more be a province.

Tuesday evening I travelled to our formation house in Forestville, MD to celebrate Mass and talk with those who are in initial formation. There are eleven of them from three different provinces.

Wednesday I drove is Mishawaka, IN to our novitiate. There I spoke with our novices (7 of them) and then Thursday drove to Chicago to visit the provincial of St. Bonaventure province. St. Bonaventure is a daughter of our province. There are around 50 friars in it. They have three large houses (Marytown, Chicago and Milwaukee) and several smaller parishes. Marytown was founded on the inspiration of St. Maximillian Kolbe. They have a beautiful chapel in which they have 24 hour a day Eucharistic adoration. It is also a retreat house, well used. Milwaukee is a beautiful, beautiful basilica as well as a formation house for four older vocations studying for the priesthood. Chicago is a formation house for a number of younger men who are postulants (checking out the community) or simply professed (having recently taken their vows).

I have finished a number of books. There is a Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova. This is about growing up in the Soviet Union in the 50's and 60's. The title comes from a game that her grandmother played with her children during the famine caused by Stalin. She only had a slice of bread for each, so she would break it up into crumbs so that it would look like more. The book is well written and it gives you a sense both of what it was like and why people wanted to go elsewhere.

A second book is the Third Reich in Power by Richard Evans. This is the second of a trilogy on the Third Reich. It is incredibly thorough. This volume covers the years that run from the time that the Nazi's took power until the beginning of World War II. As I read it, I am constantly amazed as to how evil some people can become. It answers well the question as to why the Germans allowed it all to happen.

A third book is the Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. This an extensive collection of legends (mostly written by the rabbis) about the early books of the Bible and the characters of those stories. Many of the stories seem strange and foreign to our ears, for they are a mixture of moralistic tales and science fiction. Yet, for me, as a Bible scholar, it was well worth reading.

Hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Rome - Baltimore - San Francisco - Baltimore

November 14, 2010

Peace and Good,

As you can see by the title, this has been a week on the planes. I came back from Rome on Monday and Wednesday I flew out to California to visit with the provincial of St. Joseph Cupertino Province.

This is a rather small province, just over 50 members. It goes from Los Angeles to San Francisco and out to Reno. Their friars are most involved in parish ministry, although a number of them do have singular apostolates.

Fr. Chris Deitz is their provincial. He is beginning his third term. He resides at Arroyo Grande which is near Pismo Beach.

The province has taken on responsibility for our new mission in Vietnam. We have a number of friars who were born in Vietnam living in California, Australia and Japan. A few of them have founded a mission in Vietnam and Fr. Chris will be visiting them shortly to help them in their early growing pains. It appears as if there are many young men who would like to join out community there. One of the friars at the friary where I was staying, Castro Valley, will be heading out there for a three month trial in a couple of months. Having worked with the refounding of the province in Romania, I find this very exciting.

The travel back and forth has left me quite jet lagged. I am not all that good on that, and at times it takes me a week to adjust. I just do what I can and when I need a rest, I do that.

This has been a good week for articles for the Messenger Magazine and daily reflections for the internet site. I finished them up to Christmas eve. It is good to be so far ahead.

In terms of books, I listened to Justice Denied by J.A. Jance. He is quite popular lately. This book speaks of a series of murders by a vigilante. She has an informant in the DNA lab and gives her information about unsolved rapes, and she then dresses in a nuns habit and executes them. The action and the character development which quite good.

A second book is Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley. This is the story of two boys, one white and one black, who become brothers through a relationship of one's father and the other's mother. When the mother dies, it all falls apart. There are some masterful sections and incredible insights, but one thing really bothered me. Twice there are instances where people in the book have sex with underage children. In both cases, the development was unnecessary and I just don't know why the author would include it and glamorize it.

A third book was The Curve of the World by Marcus Stevens. This is about a jet that crash lands in the Congo during civil war. One man runs into the jungle to escape what he is sure will be a massacre. We hear of his struggle to survive, and also of his wife who travels there with her son who is blind to try to find him. I thought that this is one of the best books I have listened to in years. Many of the insights into intercultural situations rang true from what I have observed.

This week my trips will not be quite so far - Chicago, South Bend, Carey, Ohio and Buffalo.

Take care and
Shalom
fr. Jude