Madrid - Ellicott City - Mishawaka

August 30, 2011

Peace and Good,

Last Sunday was the last day of World Youth Day in Madrid. I flew out the next morning, and considering that there were hundreds of thousands of young people flying out, the airport wasn't really as chaotic as I would have thought.

I flew right into Ellicott City (Baltimore) where I spent the next few days catching up on doctor's appointments and other little projects. I always set aside mindless projects for the days after I travel when the jet lag keeps me from being able to think all that well.

I was on the east coast during the earthquake. I have been in earthquakes in a number of countries, and right away realized that this was at least a moderate one. I wasn't all that surprised when it measured 5.8.

I also just got out of Baltimore before the hurricane closed the airport. It was a bit bumpy on the way up, but once we got past the storm, things were radically different.

I am in Mishawaka (South Bend, Indiana) this week to give a workshop to the novices on the gospels and the psalms. There are seven of them from England, Nigeria, and the US. St. Francis told us that the style of life that we were to live was to live the Gospels, so it is good to know them well. Likewise, we pray the psalms several times a day when we pray our Divine Office, so it good to know that the symbolism means for they were written over 2,000 years ago in a primitive language (Biblical Hebrew).

I finished a few works. The first was a set of CD's called Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. It is about two sisters who start out in Shanghai just before World War II and who emigrate to the States where they face innumerable difficulties because of their being Chinese. The book is good both for knowing another culture and realizing how prejudiced we as a nation were against east Asians.

A second work was Callista: A Tale of the 3rd Century by John Henry Newman (Blessed Cardinal John Newman). He writes about a martyr for the faith in North Africa. His style of writing in ponderous, with long, meaningful speeches. Sometimes, it is better to imply things without having to say it out loud over and over again.

The third work was the Death of Ivan Ilich by Leo Tolstoy. This was a masterpiece of literature in which he recounts the thoughts of a man who is dying and the reactions of his friends and family. They cannot really understand, they blame him for his illness, etc. He feels all alone and confused and angry. He slowly longs for the death that will set him free from his terrible suffering. It is truly worth reading.

Hope you have a good week and a great Labor Day Weekend.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Cracow - Ostrowiec - Warsaw - Madrid

August 22, 2011

The Queenship of Mary

Peace and Good,

Hope you are all well as the summer quickly draws to an end. This has been a busy couple of weeks for me.

Last Saturday, nine days ago, I was in southern Poland for the 70th anniversary of the death of St. Maximillian Kolbe in the concentration camp in Auschwitz. We had a Mass right outside of the building where he died, giving his life for the sake of another prisoner.

The next day, one the friars drove me to see a bit of Cracow. This was my first time in Poland, and the city is famous for its beauty. We have the oldest church in the city. We walked around a bit, and then he drove me to Warsaw for the next part of our visit, via Ostrowiec. Ostrowiec is the home city of my mom´s parents. They left there for the States 97 years ago. It is not a big city, but rather a big town. Some day I will go back to visit a bit and see if here are any records in the Churches of my grandparent's baptism.

In Warsaw, we went to Niepicolanow, the community that St. Maximillian founded. There are still 150 friars there. We celebrated the Assumption in the Church there with thousands of people. The cardinal/archbishop of Warsaw was the main celebrant.

The next morning we all flew out to Madrid for World Youth Day. It is actually closer to say World Youth Week. We stayed at the high school run by our friars in Madrid. They were incredible hosts. Some of the events saw over a million young people gathered for Mass and adoration. The only problem was that it was hot, hot, hot. About 100 degrees each day.

I read a lot in the papers about the protests against the pope's visit, but I have to say I saw only two cardboard signs in windows thoughout the whole visit. This is a time of the year that there are very few tourists in town because of the heat, but the streets were packed all day long and even most of the night. (They eat supper late here, at the friary at 9 PM.)

Here at the high school we had sudents from Spain, Italy, the States, Poland, Croatia, Russia, etc.

I finished a few books this week. The first is a book called the Gospel of Matthew, part of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. The book was by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. It was a great commentary with some insights that I had never seen before. I would recommend it and probably the other books in that series.

The second was a short story called Strong as Death. It was written by Guy de Maupassant and dealt with a man who fell in love with a married woman and then her daughter in Paris during the 19th century.

Finally, there was a free book from Kindle (my e reader) called the Potluck Club by Linda Evans Shepherd and Ev Marie Everson. It was a Christian mystery book. The Christian part is always present but really not pushy. The mystery part is good. It deals with a group of ladies from a Church who gather once a month for a pot luck supper and prayer (along with a good dose of gossip). The characters are believable and engaging. It was well worth reading.

Hope you have a good week. It's back to the States for me today.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Rome - Harmesh

August 13, 2011

Peace and Good,

I am writing this blog from southern Poland. The entire General Definitory is here for the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximillian Kolbe. We arrived here yesterday, and today we went to Auschwitz for a tour of the camp where our brother franciscan died in the starvation bunker. Remember, Kolbe was already famous for his work in promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He had begun a magazine that had over a million copies a month. He had a daily newspaper with 300,000 copies a month. He had a radio station. He began a mission in Japan (Nagasaki). He was arrested by the Nazi's because he was a leader of culture in Poland.

One day a prisoner escaped and the rule was ten prisoners had to die in the starvation bunker when that happened. He was not chosen, but one man who was chosen cried out that he would never see his wife or children again. St. Maximillian broke ranks and offered himself in place of that man. He survived in the bunker (although he was very ill most of his life) and killed on the vigil of the Assumption. Tomorrow we will be walking from the friary to the camp to celebrate Mass where he died.

St. Maximillian is the patron saint of intervenous drug addicts (for he was eventually killed with an injection of carbolic acid).

From Poland, we will be going to Spain for World Youth Day.

I finished a couple of books. One was a book called Hallowland by Amanda Hocking. She is interesting. She could never get published, so she published her own books on Kindle e books and she is now a millionaire. The story is a standard Zombie story, but not all that bad.

A second book was the Other Bolyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. This is the story of Ann Bolyn's sister, who also had an affair with King Henry VIII. It is written as a bit of a scandal sheet, but nevertheless was still good.

Have a good week.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Halifax - Ellicott City

August 7, 2011

This past week I was visiting a new Franciscan foundation in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were founded by a former friar, and for the past few years they have had a loose connection with the Conventual Franciscans. Yet, in Rome, we didn't know much about them. I went and offered to give a retreat on the Gospel of John.

There are three groups: brothers (some of whom are priests or studying for the priesthood), active sisters and contemplative sisters. I didn't know what to expect, because some of the new Franciscan movements can be a bit extreme. They were balanced and filled with joy and charity. They are doing everything right as they start off their communities, and I really think God will bless them abundantly.
They are growing nicely, but they are cautious not to grow too quickly lest they loose track of what they are all about.

The weather in Halifax was a bit challenging (it has been a bad summer and quite cool), but the countryside was spectacular (

I finished a number of books with all of the travel I have been doing. The Jensen Directive and the Prometheus Deception, both by Robert Ludlum. Both of these a typical Ludlum novels in which you don't really know who is on which side until near the end. The are turns and twists all the way through. The Jensen Directive is about an agent who has become a private contractor. He attempts to save a world figure who seems to be promoting peace. The man is killed and Jensen is blamed. The Prometheus Deception involves a plot created by a secret organization which claims to be working for the government but which is actually opposing it.

I also read Travels in Alaska by John Muir. You might remember that I read another Muir book. He helped found our national parks. His descriptions of the glaciers and rivers and wild life show what a mystical experience nature was to him.

Finally, I listened to Our of Egypt: Christ the Lord by Anne Rice. I was very hesitant to listen to it, because in the past I had read a number of her vampire novels and I didn't know how she would handle the story of Christ. I was pleasantly surprised. She did very good research, and while I might not agree with everything she wrote, I have to admit that she wrote it in a very appealing way. It is a good meditation on the time from when Jesus came back from exile in Egypt until he was lost in the temple. It is well worth a read.

I hope you have a good week.

Nairobi - Rome - Ellicott City

July 28, 2011

Peace and Good,

Well, I finished off the second week of meetings in Nairobi. If you remember, the first week waa a congress with about 60 friars from all over the world speaking about interculturality and solidarity. The second week was a series of meetings at different levels.

The first meeting which went from Monday to Wednesday was with the presidents of the various conferences. The order is divided up into seven geographic divisions. Each area or conference has a president who serves as a representative to the central government and a coordinator in his own area in collaboration with the assistant general of that area. We met to discuss plans for the next few years, especially getting ready for our next general chapter which will take place in January of 2013.

The second meeting was with all of the major superiors of the conference that is situated in Africa. We are present in seven countries right now: Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burkino Faso and Malawi. A big challenge right now it to provide for the education of the students. The vocations are coming in so fast now that we can barely keep up with additions to the houses of study. It is exciting to see the Church growing and vibrant.

The third meeting was with the general definitory. We had to take care of urgent business because the next time we will be meeting is September.

The friars of Kenya took us out to dinner to a restaurant called the Carnevoir. Need I say what they served. There were the usuals: pork, chicken, beef and turkey. We also had camel, ostrich and crocadile. I liked everything but the crocadile which tasted very, very fishy.

Our flight back from Nairobi was interesting. About ten minutes after take off we must have hit an air pocket because the plane jolted and there was a booming noise. Everybody in the plane sat up very straight and alert for the next ten minutes or so.

I just stayed in Rome for a day, and then I flew back to the States. Saturday I will fly up to Halifax to give a retreat to a new religious community of Franciscans. I have been getting many, many requests to give retreats lately. Next year I will be flying all over the world to do this, and it fits in very well with my job description of helping in the initial and continuing formation of the friars. I think that will be my gift to the order. I am not all that great at writing documents, but I have a gift for preaching.

I finished a number of books.

A first was the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This is one of those books that one always hears about, but until now, I had never read it. There was a controversy about a new edition in which, instead of using the "n" work for African-Americans, they softened the text. It really is jarring to listen to it and hear a very, very frequent use of that word. I am not sure I really liked it, but it was good to have listened to it.

A second work was Louisa of Prussia and her times by Louisa Muhlbach. This is a typical historical romance from the 19th century. It is a little overblown in terms of rhetoric, although the author goes out of her way to quote from the letters of the characters involved. Louisa was a key figure in the Prussian resistance to Napoleon. I was a bit disappointed because I thought it would be a biography of her. She is said to have been an incredibly heroic woman. It was more an overview of the era, but worth reading nevertheless.

A third work was a long series of lectures from the Teaching Company on Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World by Glenn Holland. There were 72 lectures, and he goes through the religions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome and Christianity. There were some very good insights, although the style of the professor was not all that engaging.

Hope you have a good week. By the way, this past week I had my 30th anniversary of the priesthood.

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude

Rome - Nairobi

July 18, 2011

Peace and Good,

As you can see in the title, I am now in Kenya. I was supposed to travel here on Saturday morning, but at the last minute the flight was rescheduled to the evening. With flights to Africa, you always have to watch out because this often happens.

I am going to be here for two weeks. The first week we had a congress to speak about the fact that our order is changing rapidly. We are about the same size we were at the Second Vatican Council, but now many more vocations are coming from the southern hemisphere (Latin America, Africa and Asia). We talked about interculturality. How different cultures can learn to live with each other and respect their gifts. We also talked about the sharing of finances. The jurisdictions that are older tend to have more finances but fewer vocations, while those that are young have many vocations but little money to finance their education. As friars, we always have to remember that what we have was given to us by God, and if we have in excess, it is to be shared with those who don’t have enough.

I was asked to give a homily each morning to explain the readings and apply them to the themes of each day. This was in Italian and English. Each was only a few minutes long, but preaching in front of one’s confreres is challenging. The response, though, was very affirming.

We ended up with a nice document that is very practical (which isn’t always the case with international meetings). We had about 57 friars from 25 countries. What an incredible mix of ideas. The official languages of the congress were Italian and English. Because I know both, I found myself going back and forth to help with translations and by the end of the week I was not quite sure what language I was using at any particular time.

We spent one afternoon visiting two animal centers. One was a giraffe center. They are incredibly beautiful animals. Then we visited a conservancy center where animal orphans are displayed to help the various conservation projects in the land.

We finished the congress with a Mass at one of our local parishes with the cardinal of Nairobi. It was a truly intercultural experience. Mass lasted a little over three hours. Part of it was that there were 25 young people being confirmed, but also the cardinal more or less preached seven different homilies during the course of the Mass. He was an incredibly engaging speaker, though, and he had the people in the palm of his hand. We were very impressed.

This morning we moved from the retreat center where we held the congress to our seminary which was just down the road. We have another series of meetings this week to program activities for the next few years.

I finished a couple of books. The first is EM Forster's book A Room with a View. It was an excellent story of different understandings of the meaning of life and how they collide. One of my favorite sayings in it is "Life is like playing a violen in front of an audience and learning how to play it as one goes along." People make choices, mistakes, and yet they seem to muddle on.

A second book was A Sicilian Romance. This was by Ann Radcliffe. She was a novelist from the 18th century, and this was the beginning of actual novel writing in English literature. The chacterizations were not all that good, and the novel was packed with very improbably coincidences, but it was worth reading to see what was written in the generation before Charles Dickens.

Shalom
fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Rome - Nairobi

July 10, 2011

Peace and Good,

I returned to Rome on Wednesday, arriving on Thursday. That gave me a day to rest before I set out on the next trip. Saturday, I and a number of the friars flew to Nairobi, Kenya, for an international congress on interculturality and solidarity.

My order is about the same size as it was 30 years ago. What has changed is where you find the friars. Whereas the majority of the friars used to be in the northern hemisphere (Europe and North America), now, by far, the most of the vocations are coming from the southern hemisphere (South America, Africa and Asia). What does mean for how we live our Franciscan life?

Furthermore, the friars of the northern hemisphere have quite a bit of resources that have accumulated over the centuries, but they have very few vocations. The friars of the southern hemisphere have many, many vocations, but not enough money to feed and train them. How can we share the resources.

We will be here a week for the congress. Next week we have another series of meetings: with the presidents of the conferences (the groupings of provinces arranged geographically), the friars serving in Africa, and then our own general definitory.

I finished a few books. The first was a long podcast on the Religious Roots of America: The Politics of Faith in America by Ray Suarez. It points out that far from being greatly religious men, most of the founding fathers, and especially Jefferson, were at best deists (believing that there was a God who had little to do with out everyday lives).

The second book was a biography of King Richard III by Jacob Abbott. Shakespeare portrays this king as some kind of monster. He was not the nicest man, probably having killed his two young nephews in the Tower of London so that he could become king. But this presentation is more balanced, showing that, given the rough politics of the day, he wasn't the worst person who ever lived.

Finally, there was A Life of General Robert E Lee by John Esten Cooke. Unfortunately, this biography was written by a southener shortly after the civil war, so Lee is presented as a secular saint. Cooke loves General McClellan, a disaster of a general, but one whom the southerners liked because he wasn't concerning with the freedom of the slaves and didn't want to fight the south. At the very least, it's good once in a while to read an unbalanced biography to see how it should not be done.

Hope you have a good week.
Shalom
Fr. Jude