I just learned an important lesson, you MUST save anything you write before you go away to see if you can edit things. I had written a bit and then I wanted to see how I could put something in Italics, so I went away and when I came back, my message was gone. Best way to learn!!
So I repeat:
I was scheduled for the 11am Mass today but Fr. Jim was asked to do a memorial Mass for a lady from Bolivia and so I didn’t have Mass today.
Instead I went to the American Diner a few blocks away and met with Paul Belford, who is the author of two great novels I read recently (under the nom de plume of PD St. Claire). They are Swampoodle and St. Patrick’s Day (notice they are not in Italics!!). They are set in an area of Washington, where many of the poor Irish settled when they came to DC. The parishes are St. Dominic and St. Aloysius, where my grandparents grew up. The second is set here in Blessed Sacrament, where I am living now. It starts in Baltimore in St. Peter’s parish, Hollins Ave, where Fr. Mike Roach was pastor and where Jean Pizza, the mother in law of my nephew Rick Walburn, grew up. Small world!
I had enjoyed and cried a bit as I read the books and I was looking forward to meeting Paul. We had a great time and a fascinating conversation. He is not from DC but is from an Irish Catholic clan in the New York City area. I had found so much of my own experience of my older relatives in the books and our visit answered some of the questions I had. He did extensive interviews with Washingtonians and has a real feel for their family and community experiences. He told me about another book that will complete the trilogy and I know I shall enjoy it. I hope to meet him again and he gave me another book, that I know I shall enjoy because in the beginning he explains how his son attended a Jesuit High School and that they had a “junior retreat” program that was very similar to the one we had at Good Counsel. He wrote that he was asked to write his son a letter and say the things parents often neglect to tell their teenagers because they are busy trying to make them grow up. Because he is a good writer, Paul describes well how difficult but important it is for parents to tell their children how much they love them. It reminded me of so many times during the retreats at GC, when those letters have such a profound influence on the students. I’ve only read part of chapter one, but got teary and put it down for later.
I am reminded of one of the best courses I took at St. Vincent’s College, taught by the president. It was a Shakespeare course and Fr. Maynard introduced us to the concept of “economy of language”. That is when a real good author can say in a sentence, what most of us would take a paragraph to convey. I love that and always enjoy reading something that an author has demonstrated that quality. Never having mastered that myself; as I usually take ten minutes to tell something that should take two minutes, I do so admire that in another.
I came back to my office and “straightened up” and then I have spent the rest of today, here in my rooms at the rectory. I went through my closet and put into a suitcase a lot of clothes I will never use or fit into again and will take them out tomorrow to a box near Gate of Heaven cemetery that collects clothes and shoes for those in need. I sat on the floor and folded things as I put them in. I have two suitcases and will get some help getting them downstairs and into the car. I really am in a Christmas mood.
Then I worked on my homily for tomorrow’s Masses. I have the 10:30 in the church and the 5:30pm. I don’t remember if we have rose vestments for Joy Sunday but I will be able to encourage people to get ready for Christmas by celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation sometime soon. Also I think on Monday, we will do that for the school children, which is always a joy.
As I write this, I have just finished evening prayer, so I wish you a joyful Vigil of Gaudete Sunday.
Thanks for taking the time to retell your meeting with Paul. Did I tell you I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog?!?!
I have enjoyed your discussion about the books you have read. When I was working on my “senior thesis” back in undergrad, I researched the areas where different immigrant groups lived in D.C. at the end of the 19th / early 20th centuries. Do you remember you took me to a party with Aunt Nellie? I spent a fantastic 4 or 5 hours with her and her friends telling me stories about Swampoodle. They were wonderful stories and she kept me laughing the whole time; I got great information for my paper that night and it was some of the best “research” I have ever done! Such a good memory for me 🙂 And I can’t wait to read Swampoodle now that you have been talking about it.