- Saturday (16 July)
My plan was to drive to Buffalo, Minnesota, to speak at St. Francis Xavier Church, but in speaking to the pastor, he mentioned cheap flights on ATA from Chicago to there. When I checked, it was the same price as driving and Fr. Rayar had said he could get someone to pick me up at the airport, so I changed plans and flew. I took the #55 city bus out to Midway Airport and departed on an 0825 flight that got me into Minneapolis at 0950. Jim and Pat Whalen were there to meet me and take me back to Buffalo, 40 miles west of Minneapolis. On the way there, Jim and I discovered that we had common friends among the Redemptorist priests who have worked with deaf people in the United States.
After arriving at the rectory, I met Fr. Thomas Rayar, the pastor, and he briefed me on the schedule and what to expect for the weekend. Then he headed out to speak himself about mission work in India.
The mass was at 5:00 PM and the congregation was delightful to talk to. Less delightful was the heat. I had expected Minnesota to be cooler but a really warm spell had descended on the area.
After mass the Whalens, joined by their daughter Julie, picked me and took me to dinner at a favorite place of theirs and then invited me for an evening ride on their boat on Buffalo Lake. The ride was most pleasant, with a cooling breeze, but when we got just about as far away across the lake from their home as possible, we ran out of gas. Luckily a neighborly boatload of people came by and towed us back to the Whalens' dock.
Jim and Julie Whalen
before we ran out of gas
Jim and Pat Whalen
and our rescue boat
- Sunday (17 July)
Sunday morning there were two more masses in the St. Francis Church and then it was time to depart. A delightful young family drove me to the airport (I'll add their name here when I'm sure how to spell it correctly!) and then it was a simple flight and city bus ride back to the Maryknoll house in Chicago.