I am back at my desk in the center and listening (in the background) to the Bishops’ Conference on TV.
I would like to bring you up to date on the cruise and events of the last few weeks.
We (27 of us) left from Baltimore on the Royal Caribbean ship, Enchantment of the Seas. We were to travel for two days down to the Caribbean, where we were to visit San Juan, Porto Rico, then St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, then to Samana in the Dominican Republic, and then Labadee, Haiti. Then we had a two day return to Baltimore.
Among our travelers were me, my sisters, Marie and Maggie, my sister, Maureen and her husband, Rick. My cousins, Peggy and Rick Jensen; JoAnn Adams and June Wittington (friends of Maggie from Southern Maryland and now part of our family) and Peggy Dee (who went to St. Martin’s grade school with Marie and has been part of our family since the 50’s); Gerry Size (originally from St. Bernard’s and now living in Southern Maryland) and Mary Ann Smith (friend of Gerry’s and now our friend and part of the family);
Roger Menting (who was in the seminary with me 48 years ago – his wife Kay didn’t come with us because she had just returned from a cruise to Iceland – but she’ll come on the next one – they live in Wisconsin); David Haas ( another seminary friend – who use to take me to Grand Rapids, Michigan at Thanksgiving and Easter because it was too expensive to go home for short vacations – He and his wife, Kathy celebrated their 39the wedding anniversary on the cruise – they live in Canton, Michigan); Patrick Berry ( another seminary friend, who has travelled with us many time – His wife Carol died about 15 years ago and he lives now in Chicago). There were 51 of us who came together in the seminary at St. Nazianz’s Wisconsin in 1963. Nineteen became priests but many of us stayed good friend with those who left before ordination. You might remember that last January, I went on a cruise with Frs. Dwight Birket and John Bohrer, Joe Stoutzenberger and Roger. We had such a good time we organized this cruise. I think we’ll do it again.
More of the cast were Bill and Kate Berry, (Pat’s brother and sister-in-law) live in West Virginia and have travelled with us before. Claire Sheehan, who is a good friend of Maggie’s and mine and who lives in Virginia. Winnie Jahn, who is a long time friend and who has been our travel agent for years came with us for the first time. She brought her sister, two of her golf buddies and their families. As I said, twenty seven of us! We had a ball!
On Saturday, I went to the purser’s office to see if I might get a room for Mass on Sunday. It was too rough on Friday to have Mass so I waited till the seas were calmer. The purser said, “Are you a priest? Would you be willing to say Mass for the passengers?” I said, “Sure”. They put out the word that Mass would be in the Spotlight lounge and there were almost two hundred people there. Afterwards they offered us the same room at 8:30am and we Mass each day. I think about 30 to 40 people came regularly. I enjoyed it very much and met people who knew people I knew – like Fr. Ed O’Connor from Scranton and Fr. Carmen Carlone from New Jersey! It really is a small world in Catholic circles.
I think I’ll take a break and finish this tonight.
I’m also watching/listening to the Bishops’ meeting via Whispers while checking email, etc at the Dominican motherhouse here in Springfield,IL. Look forward to reading the notes on the rest of your trip.