“When I criticize a system, they think I criticize them—and that is, of course, because they fully accept the system and identify themselves with it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Here and There, Then and Now
After 42 years in Asia, I returned home to Kentucky. But it isn’t the home I left. Things I saw THEN are different NOW. Life HERE is different from life THERE. Here is another sample of the differences.
THEN
45 years ago, the average parish wouldn’t have had much in the way of medical supplies or equipment available for Sunday mass. Maybe they would have had a simple generic first aid kit in a drawer somewhere.
NOW
Today at St. Augustine Church, a small black parish where I was substituting, I noticed in the back of the church there was an AED, an automated external defibrillator and a list of people trained to use it. Progress!
Death in America
Something old, new to me…
One of the residents, Myra, in independent living at Nazareth Home is an aficionado of the dulcimer, a stringed instrument that was developed in Appalachia and is still much a part of the musical scene in Eastern Kentucky. At a gathering in one of our community rooms, Myra related the history of the dulcimer and showed us her collection of the instruments, explaining the different types and how to make them and play them. Quite interesting!
Arriving home….
On this day a year ago, I arrived back in Louisville after 42 years living in India, Hong Kong, and Cambodia. I had told the people in Phnom Penh that I was returning home–but it wasn’t the home I left!
Leaving Home….
A year ago this week, with the help of Maria (of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners), I was finishing up packing at my borrowed apartment in Phnom Penh, preparing to leave my home of the last 25 years.
Kingfish Gathering
Periodically our STS alumni Chief Organizing Officer, Mo Byrne, gathers ex-seminarians from near and far for delightful gatherings. Last week we met at Kingfish and were blessed with the presence of some brothers who had not been to prior lunches.
St. Joseph Picnic
Here are five of my family at the St. Joseph Picnic for Kids (previously known as the St. Joe Orphans Picnic) last Saturday. The picnic has been a Louisville tradition for about 100 years. Our grandmother told us about taking her ten children there, all of them in suits and dresses. And when I was a college seminarian, I ran the seminary cookie booth at the picnic for two years.
Apologies
Yesterday and the day before I had some major computer problems as I tried to set up a new configuration with a new desktop. Some hardware just wouldn’t work and that problem was made worse by a refusal to connect to the wi-fi. The result: I couldn’t post anything the last two days.
Today at St. Boniface
Once or twice each month I am asked to preside at masses at St. Boniface Church, the oldest Catholic Church (1836) in Louisville. Here are a couple photos from this morning.
One of the sacristans was taking home for repairs an old-style vestment called a chasuble that was in use in the 1950s. Some of the more conservative younger priests prefer this style even though it went out of use before they were born!
When it was time to go, I went over to reclaim my bicycle for the ride home. It’s not safe to leave it outside so the Sacred Heart watches it for me during mass.