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.

here and then

My first bank account was at Greater Louisville First Federal Savings and Loan Association. And in those days banker’s hours were 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

there and now

My bank account in Phnom Penh was with ABA Bank. Many banking practices in Cambodia call to mind banks of the 1950s in the US, but as for banking hours, ABA was the best!

Monday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Tuesday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Wednesday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Thursday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Saturday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Sunday 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM

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—except for Big Rock!

THEN

Big Rock is a well-known landmark in Louisville. Located on Beargrass Creek which meanders through much of Jefferson County, it has been a place of fun for generations. It was certainly an attraction for my family 75 years ago and it was probably around for several million years before that.

NOW

NOW is the same as THEN! Kids still clamber up the rock, feeling a sense of accomplishment, and then jump off into the water about a yard deep. It’s a fun place to play on a hot day and parents can picnic on the grassy shores–unless they’re in the water, too!

I still need haircuts in Kentucky

In Cambodia, I had my haircut by our Job Training Project students and I learned from running the program how important it is for training programs to get customers so the barber trainees get as much experience as possible. That led me to Tri City Barber College in Louisville where Connor gave me a haircut today.

Coming September 3….

In 2024, Pope Francis proclaimed the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality to be magisterial teaching [official doctrine], including the historic Paragraph 60 on women’s leadership in the Church. Under Pope Leo, our Church has entered the 2025-2028 Synod Implementation Phase, where all of the baptized are called to implement the proposals of the Synod’s Final Document and to report back on their experiences of living into synodality. Below is a quote from Paragraph 60 of the final document of the synod.

[From Paragraph 60] There are women who hold positions of authority and are leaders of their communities. This Assembly asks for full implementation of all the opportunities already provided for in Canon Law with regard to the role of women, particularly in those places where they remain underutilised. There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Additionally, the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open. This discernment needs to continue.

Falls of the Ohio River

Today I bicycled across the Ohio River to Indiana where the Falls of the Ohio national park is located.

The statue is of Meriwether Lewis (R) and William Clark, the commanders of the Lewis and Clark expedition that set out in 1803 from what became Louisville to explore the American West between Kentucky and the Pacific Ocean. Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, sent them out.
Riverboats coming down the Ohio from the new northeastern American colonies could only travel as far south as the falls of the Ohio River, not a dramatic waterfall but a drop of about twenty-five feet over these now exposed shoals loaded with fossil remains. Today Lock and Dam 41 enables river traffic to be routed around the falls. The concrete wall in the rear creates a channel by the island in the background which provides access to the locks. Lewis and Clark left here in 1803 and returned in 1806 after an epic journey.