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Yesterday and today made me dramatically aware of the maze of relationships across many countries that are part of my life. That realization started yesterday with my meeting with Julia whom I first met in Cambodia. More on this in the next few days.
Love springs from new life, love springs from death. Love acts like Gandhi and our pets and Jesus and Mr. Bean and Mr. Rogers and Bette Midler. Love won’t be pinned down.
Love is often hard, ignored, or hilarious. But one thing is certain: Love is our only hope.
In May, 1958 the eighth-grade class of St. Columba School in Louisville’s West End graduated and we all moved on to high school and the rest of our lives. That didn’t end all contact, though, and some of those classmates have continued to meet through the ensuing 68 years. Today 12 classmates and their spouses got together at an Italian restaurant, continuing bi-monthly lunches together. Because I just came back from Cambodia, it was the first time I had seen some of them since graduation. It was great! [Notice the restaurant ambiance! It is quite exotic with all sorts of Italian memorabilia and photos. Of special notice: a bust of Pope John XXIII on the table and his picture on the wall.]
One powerful realization for me when I was wandering in the forested area of The Grotto in Portland, Oregon was how much I had missed forests of large hardwood trees while I was in Asia. From my days in the Boy Scouts and from our Dittmeier family camping trips (the only vacations we could afford), I have loved being out in the forests. At The Grotto I was able to be with huge, old trees that brought back good memories and renewed my love of nature.
In Nazareth Home, there is an independent living wing where I live and the general wing which provides nursing and living care that might be needed. The general wing has a variety of activities, and when they had an ice cream tasting event, I went over to join in. It was enjoyable–eight flavors of good ice cream–and I got to meet some new people.
Every two months I write a column for The Record, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Today’s column is about the shift from mission in Cambodia to mission in Kentucky. Click here if you’d like to read about my experience.
Fr. Nick Rice was three years ahead of me at St. Thomas Seminary in Louisville and was ordained in 1967 and assigned to St. Lawrence Parish. Three years later he was transferred and I, newly ordained, replaced him at St. Lawrence. He was an exceptionally good priest and I started my ministry in the afterglow of his time at St. Lawrence. Later when Nick started Mass of the Air I worked with him to get sign language interpreters for the televised liturgies. Later he set up the deacon program in Louisville and then took positions in national church organizations. In addition to that he was just my good friend. He died last week and today we celebrated his funeral.
Advent can feel like a countdown to Christmas and a hustle of preparation for the holidays, when in fact the liturgical season is all about waiting–not for a short-lived celebration but for a person.
On Thanksgiving Day it’s easy to be thankful for the material and economic benefits we have acquired but we need always to think beyond that, to the people and programs who promote better relationships among us sisters and brothers. Pope Francis did that in Fratelli Tutti, #191:
At a time when various forms of fundamentalist intolerance are damaging relationships between individuals, groups and peoples, let us be committed to living and teaching the value of respect for others, a love capable of welcoming differences, and the priority of the dignity of every human being over his or her ideas, opinions, practices and even sins. Even as forms of fanaticism, closedmindedness and social and cultural fragmentation proliferate in present-day society, a good politician will take the first step and insist that different voices be heard. Disagreements may well give rise to conflicts, but uniformity proves stifling and leads to cultural decay. May we not be content with being enclosed in one fragment of reality.
Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti
I write a column every two months in The Record, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville. It has been about mission with deaf people in Cambodia, but now I have explained my returning to the U.S.
Click here for the link to this week’s article.