Author: Charles Dittmeier

Return to St. Augustine

This morning I presided at mass at St. Augustine parish, a predominantly black church in Louisville. 45+ years ago, we had our Catholic Deaf Office located in the school (closed) building there and on Sunday afternoons had our deaf mass in sign language when the masses for the hearing community were finished. It was great to be back at St. Augustine. It is a warm and welcoming community!

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

When I left the US in the early 1980s, everyone on the TV commercials spoke “Murican”.

NOW

Now it seems it’s almost the norm to have an accented English for the voices.

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.

THERE
I had really good friends in Cambodia, even though for the group above I was their boss. They went out of their way to get together with me for lunch when I visited Phnom Penh in April.
HERE
Today I had lunch with a group of guys who were with me at St. Thomas Seminary in Louisville in the early 1960s. Some of them I didn’t know so well because they were three, four, five years ahead of me. But we all shared the common experience of a minor seminary pre-Vatican II. That created an enduring bond that brought us together 65+years later. And overlaying that was the common language, the experience of living together away from home for years, a common goal in our youth, and the shared studies, meals, sports, and pillow fights in the dorm. That all makes these friendships significantly different from those of Cambodia.

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

Back in the 1970s when I was bicycling in Louisville, I don’t think there were any dedicated bike lanes or routes THEN.

NOW

I was greatly and pleasantly surprised to see many bike paths, routes, and lanes as part of the Louisville roadway system when I returned. And now Google Maps and Apple Maps indicate the official bike ways or direct me to less busy, less dangerous streets when on a bicycle.