What Paddy Shot At

Hello from the internet cafe on the Celebrity Ship, Equinox. I tried to do this yesterday but it seems the person who used this computer before me was German and I couldn’t find any instructions except in German. Today, it seems the person before me was English speaking and so here I am.

I am on a 11 night cruise with my sisters, Maggie & Marie, my youngest sister, Maureen and her husband, Rick, Patrick Berry, who was in the seminary with me in 1963 and lives now in Chicago and is retired, and ten members of the St. Mary’s county community who are on this trip as part of a fund raiser for St. Michael’s School. Most were also on the Alaskan trip that we took in August of 2009. We left from Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, the 18th and will return on the 28th. On Sunday night, Pat Delaney, who was in St. Camillus when I was there and who now lives in Florida, came and joined us for supper. We laughed so much that I thought they might ask us to leave. Of course, we six are together for meals and again the table rocks. Already my stomach hurts from laughing so much.

We are traveling through the Western Caribbean and visiting 6 countries and the Panama Canal. I brought a book with 1100 pages all about the History of Christianity and I hope to be an authority by the end of the trip.

Two of the members of our travel group are two Sisters for Christian Community. They, of course, know Sister Kass and knew Brother Mort Byrd also. We’ve already had some great talks.

I slept through the MANDATORY Life boat drill but Pat promises to lead me to our boat if there is an emergency! I know they say that sea air makes you sleepy but I think I slept away most of Monday. Today, I made breakfast but that is because it goes on to 11:30 and I just made the cut off. I’ve been checking emails and learning how to do this, which I hope to do daily. This afternoon, I’m going to a lecture by a lady who worked at the White House for six years and I am very interested in hearing her speak. Oh, the bridge just broken in to tell us that it is noon and our boat is passing Cuba and we are travelling at 15 knots ( I have no idea how fast that is!). We will arrive in Cozumel, Mexico tomorrow morning. Tonight is “Formal Night”, which means I’ll be in a tie – first time in a year!

It is now Wednesday. the computers were not working last night. so I will publish this and write another later.

What a wonderful day I had. At 9:00am we had a service for about 65 second graders who made their first Confessions. Fr. John gave a great talk about the Good Shepherd leaving the 99 to go looking for the one lost sheep. He had the kids up sitting in the sanctuary and their answers to his questions were so delightful. His point was that Jesus told that story because God is like the Good Shepherd and leaves the 99 to look for the 1. John asked them what do you think that says about God the Father. One little girl said, ” He likes each of us because we’re each important to him.” Oh, if only we never lost that confidence in God’s ever present and always faithful love of us!! I think I had about 15 children and each was holier than the next.

We had another service at 12:30 with another sixty some and they were just as energetic and enthusiastic. We had six priests available for individual confessions and the children were inspirational again. I was floating myself.

Then Joe Stoutz and his son Tim met me for lunch at Clyde’s. Joe had brought Tim’s car down to him and then took a bus back this evening. We had a nice visit and I learned about Tim’s job at CNN. He had been in Atlanta but just transferred back to DC.

Afterwards I had a lady come to see me who is having heart surgery next week, so we celebrated the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, another sacrament I love doing. Only bad thing was I didn’t realize I was scheduled for parish confessions at the same time. Fr. Jim covered for me as he often does!

I had the 5:30pm Mass and in my homily I talked about First Penance and asked the people to remember how great they felt at the time of their first confession and again I reminded them I am often in the office and available to celebrate the sacraments.

Of course, that isn’t quite true for the next two weeks. Actually I should be down at Maggie’s but since I haven’t packed yet, I’ll go down early in the morning because on Sunday, I will fly to Florida with Maggie and Marie. We will meet Pat Berry, Maureen and Rick at the Hyatt Hotel and then on Monday we will get on the Celebrity Cruise Ship, “Equinox” and go on an 11 night cruise through the Western Caribbean. We’ll be back on January 28th.

So I don’t know if I’ll be able to post messages for the next two weeks. Lots of ships have Internet, so I will try but it might not be every day – you know, Bingo, the hot tub, etc……. but you will be in my prayers and thoughts.

I got up early this morning and presided at the 8:00am Mass. Again, I haven’t had that Mass much in the last few months because Fr. Jim has taken pity on me (as I am not a morning person) and has often scheduled me for the 11:00am and 5:30pm Masses. The Mass was very well attended – I think about 80 people and the Gospel was the one I love about the friends who couldn’t get close enough to have Jesus see their buddy; so the went up and took off the branches that were a roof and then walked on the rafters and lowered him before Jesus. I remember so clearly that picture on the large easel in our first grade class room that Sister would tell us about. I can see the men up on the rafters lowering their friend. I hope students get to see such Bible pictures today?  That was my homily and a few people stopped by to say they remembered those pictures.

Then I drove over to Arlington. I decided not to join the group on the bus because they were planning to go out to lunch afterwards and I didn’t have the time. It was very cold and windy but about 30 of her family and friends came and so it was a nice send off. We closed with a bagpipe playing, “When Irish Eyes..” and I used Cait mille falta (One thousand blessings) as our close.

I stopped by Newman Book Store to pick up a book I had ordered and then I came home and took a nap.

Tonight, Fr. Jim and I went to see another movie, “The Tourist”. I enjoyed it but mostly because it was set in Venice, which I love. Also Angelina Jolie is breath-takingly beautiful!!!

We went to the Pines of Rome afterwards and I had Spagetti Carbonara, it is the only place in DC where I have found it to be as good as in Rome!

More packing and then to bed. Tomorrow we will have First Reconciliation at 9:00am and 12:30pm. I am looking forward to that, so off to bed.

Today, I presided at a funeral for a lovely lady, named Eileen Antony Nelson. I didn’t really know her although I saw her in church when I first got here. She came with her adult son but hasn’t been able to come to church lately. Msgr. John Brady came and concelebrated as he has been the moderator of Scouting in our Archdiocese for many years and was a family friend as they were also involved in scouting. Our troop celebrated its 90th anniversary just last month and has been a very important part of the parish life. Tomorrow, we will take a bus over to Arlington and interr her with her husband, who is buried there.

Today my royalty check for the book that Joe and I wrote came. I never count on it but it is always fun when it comes. It is also nice to see that over 7000 students purchased the book between June and December 2010. That is very satisfying! I also saw that 458 copies of the original book were purchased. I am partial to the first one.

I spent the day, re-ordering my pills, so I will have enough for the trip; and beginning to pack. I am taking two books with me so I can read on the airplane and on the cruise. It has been frigid here and I am looking forward to the heat – so that I can sit in the air conditioning!

My cousin, Eddie O’Brien died last night, please keep him and his wife, Linda, and all his siblings and relatives in your prayers.

I was scheduled for the 5:30pm, so I took it because the intention was Jim Boyle, one of the first parishioners I got to know. He was part of the “6:30am Mass crowd” who insisted on having my chalice re-plated. And although I don’t have that Mass very often, I think of all of them whenever I lift the chalice. May he rest in peace.

I had the 8:00am Mass and I was surprised at the number of people who came to Mass. We did snow/ice over night and the school had a delayed opening, so I figured the crowd would be small but it wasn’t. The gospel was about Jesus curing the sick and I talked about our special role in helping people to be healed.  I am following the events in Tucson because I feel we Catholics have a special role in the healing of our country and community.

I am the presider at a special Mass for children with disabilities that will be held in our chapel at 11am on Saturday, February 5th. I agreed to do it but have been a little nervous about what it will be like. I met with Doreen and Emma today and I am more relaxed. Both have lots of experience and we went through the Mass and made, I think, some very good accomodations that will help the children and their parents to participate better in the service. I’ll let you know how it goes on the 5th.

I stayed at my desk most of the day and arranged by email to meet with three couples who will be married in the coming months. I also talked with my cousin, Helen Nolan. She called to tell me that her brother Eddie is not doing well and to ask for prayers.

Also we are working on the Feb/Mar schedule and so I called Pittsburgh to see if I might be able to arrange a trip up there around the 14th. I always wanted to spend St. Valentine’s Day in Pittsburgh! I’ll have a chance to see how Keith is doing with his recovery from surgery and to visit with him and the family as well as some of my classmates. Should be fun.

I also worked at the part of the job that I was never good at – Administration! I finally, with the help of Joan Ward, our receptionist, got five weddings recorded. I officiated at them in 2010 and just never got them recorded. Now I won’t have to hide when the dean comes for a visit.

I also should be getting packed for the cruise but maybe tomorrow!?

I just finished watching our President speaking at the University of Arizona. It was very impressive and, as I mentioned a lot in the last few days, and he spoke much of what I have been feeling about America. I think it was his closing in which he said something about making America what our children believe it is that touched me most. I think I miss teaching the children this year even though I know I can’t. They could lift my spirits so often. May God keep them safe and help them be great Catholic Americans.

I feel like Ray Milland in “Lost Weekend”. Only I wasn’t drinking. I opened this a few moments ago expecting to see what I wrote yesterday and I couldn’t find it. I assumed immediately that I must have forgotten to save it because driving home last night, I prepared in my mind what I would write. I turned on the  computer in my room and then went into the bedroom to say evening prayer. When I finished, I turned on the TV and got in bed, set the timer, and went to sleep. When I woke this morning, I noticed as I was leaving my room, that my computer was on. I figured that I must have forgotten to turn it off – BUT NOW I KNOW THAT I FORGOT TO GO BACK TO IT – Sorry.

Yesterday was lovely. I got up early at Maggie’s and drove up here in time to celebrate the 11:00am Mass. I enjoyed putting on the green chasuble, which means we are in Ordinary Time. I love that because it is the period that we celebrate most of the year. Often 37 weeks of ordinary time. Oh, I like the special seasons but when we start ordinary time again, I am reminded of the definition of a saint: “Not someone who did extraordinary things but an person who did ordinary things extraordinarly well.”

After Mass I drove over to Fairfax, Virginia to a very nice residence called “The Woodlands”. My friend, Ellen, who is Jewish ran a program for people who live there, that was  an excumenical program that brought ministers, a rabbi, a muslim, and priests to talk about religious topics. I went in November with another priest from Virginia. I stayed for dinner and had a great time. So I was invited back to give a talk on Church History, which of course, I was more than happy to do. Our meeting was from 2:28pm ( I got lost and did not arrive at 2pm) until 4:20. There were about 14 people, among them my good friend, Claire Sheehan, whom I met at Structure House and use to go to movies with Maggie and I. I stayed for dinner again with a group of about 7 and again, had a delightful time.

I left for home around 7pm and that was when I was thinking about what I’d write and I guess I was still “flying high” from the fun that I had when I sat down to pray, watch TV and went to bed. So now you are up to date.

It is now 7pm and I should tell you about this day. I went shopping because I am going on a vacation with my sisters and my brother-in-law, and Pat Berry. I leave Sunday the 16th and will be home on the 28th. We will be a cruise so I don’t know if I’ll be writing from the ship or not. I’ll let you know.

I also got my hair cut and my beard trimmed. It makes me look younger but it shows all the shins I am trying to hide by having a beard. Oh Well!

I had the 5:30pm Mass and there were about 60 people there. I guess they stopped by on the way home from work. It was suppose to snow today but nothing yet – and I think it’s another one of those “scares” so we’d go to the grocery store.  No meeting tonight so I think I’ll go to my office and try to clean the desk. I’m glad I came. I had two wonderful phone calls. One was from Lorraine Huchinson. She is the daughter of Lil, who was Nellie’s Bingo buddy. We had a great talk and she, Marie, and I will get together for dinner in February.

I also had a call from my buddy, Abbey who once again had some religion homework that she knew her “uncle Father O” could answer. And I could! Well, back to the rectory. Still no snow!!!

I am once again down at my sister, Maggie’s; and as you can see I am past midnight. Maggie and Marie have gone to bed and as I am not sleepy yet, I thought I would send out a message.

Today I had the 12:30pm Mass and as it was the Baptism of Jesus, I preached about our own baptisms and how it marked us as belonging to the children of God. I spoke about one of the hallmarks of the followers of Jesus must be “do no evil”. Then I spoke about the massacre in Arizona. I just feel terrible about those events. For the last  few months, I have been upset by the tone of much of the political rhetoric and how harsh it is. Even at the school Mass the other day, we asked the students to do one act of kindness each day and how much that would affect the life of the school community.  We Catholics are always looking for something to identify us. It use to be “no meat on Friday”…etc. Maybe one of our identifying marks might be – that like Jesus – everyone who meets us will encounter a loving person. My prayer for you and for me.

After Mass, I drove out to Bowie and met with two friends, Carol and Henry Miller. They had organized the tour of Ireland that I was suppose to go on in September but was still recovering from pneumonia. We caught up and had a really long talk.

Then I went to visit “On Our Own”, a center for adults with handicaps in Prince Frederick, where I joined my sisters, my niece and her fiance, Tim, and my “adopted” sister, Jo-Ann Adams, who directs the center. We had a great visit and ended up at Maggie’s for cards. I’ll spend the night and then be back at the parish for the 11:00am Mass.

I guess when next I see a doctor, I’ll have to find out why I sleep so much. I did go to bed early and yet today I stayed in bed till after noon.  I didn’t have much work to do but that’s a lot of sleeping.

I went to the office and found that Abbey Chambers had left me a message. I called her and her question was, “What’s the difference between a nun and a sister?” We had a very interesting conversation.

I had the 5:30pm Mass and we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. We did the sprinkling at the start of Mass. I think I walked too much and was out of breath when I said the prayer. I have the 12:30 tomorrow and I’ll limit how far I walk.

When Joe was here, he told me that my suite in the rectory needs some brightening up. I think it was a nice way to say that the boxes I brought up from St. Michael’s should be “gone thru”. I tried to do a little of that this evening.  It did not snow!!

I guess I was really tired last night because I went to bed around 11pm and I didn’t wake up till 10:20am this morning. I saw that my cell phone was glowing and I realized that I had not turned it back on after the Holy Hour. To my chagrin, the was a message from Terry Odien saying that it was 10:10 and he was looking for me. I had forgotten that at dinner the other night, Terry had offered to have Joe ride down with him when he came to pick up the man he brought down on Monday. Joe was happy to do it as his son, Tim lives nearby and Joe hadn’t seen his new apartment.  He was to ride down and meet me and then go back up to Philly with Tim. I completely forgot about  it.  A few moments later, Terry dropped Joe off and the parish center and we went out to lunch.

To pass the time, we went to the post office and I mailed some packages and then we went to the Newman Book store over by Catholic U. Then I drove Joe down to Tim’s. He is sharing a house on F street on capitol hill, which is a short walk from his job at CNN. I couldn’t go and visit since it was Friday afternoon traffic and I had to get home for the 5:30pm Mass.

I prayed for all the Raymonds in my life and now I think I’ll go to bed early again tonight. I have the 5:30pm Vigil Mass tomorrow. I might just stay in my room and try to straighten up some things.

This is the first time since he was canonized in October of 2010, that we can celebrate a Mass in honor of Brother Andre, CSC. I have known and loved Brother since I was a child. One of my relatives, the son of one of my great aunts was taken up to St. Joseph’s Oratory in the 1930’s and he left his crutches there and walked away. I remember hearing that family story so long ago and was thrilled when I went there with my family in the late 1950’s. I have been fortunate enough to return a number of times to the Oratory. Brother was born on August 9, 1845 and died on January 6, 1935. He had frail health from birth. He was baptized at home as soon as he was born because they didn’t think he would live the night. Even with his health problems, he did a lot of manual labor and in his twenties,  the Archbishop of Montreal recommended him to the Holy Cross community by saying, ” I am sending you a saint”. He was made the porter (opened the doors and met the people) and his holiness led many to come and ask his help. He always led them to St. Joseph and he said that if they received their request, it was through St. Joseph not him.  He is a great model for all of us.

My good friend, Sister M. Stella, CSC also has a great devotion to Bother and so I remembered her at prayers today and even called her at Notre Dame, Indiana to see how she was doing. She says that she is in very good health and “keeping busy”. She loves being out there and says hi to all her St. Bernard’s and Camp friends.

I had the school Mass today and the theme the students chose was “Peace”. The wanted the beginning Mass for the new semester to call all of them to be “peacemaker”.  It was a lovely Mass and at the end the principal, Chris Kelly, always builds on the homily and gives it a special school slant. Today, he reminded the total school community that if each of the 599 members of the school community committed themselves to do “one nice thing for someone else in the school” each day, that more than 200,000 good deeds would affect the school and it would be a place of peace. Good idea for all of us.

We are working on being more inclusive in our parish life and worship, so today at 4pm, Fr. Jim led a service for people with disabilities in our chapel. It was so calming. Very soft guitar music was played and in front of the altar, had been place the statues of Joseph, Mary, and the Babe as well as the three Magi. I won’t do justice to the tone, Fr. Jim set except to say that at one point each person was invited to come to the scene and bring our special gift of ourselves and offer it to the Child.  It was very moving. Fr. closed by going to each of us with the marvelous picture of “The Smiling Jesus” by Hook and blessing each of us. It was a real Epiphany gift.

Then I went to the rectory where for the next four hours, all kinds of volunteers from the parish came for the 12th Night party. It was so nice to see or to meet people from the parish but I was exhausted and so I sneaked away around 8pm and came here to the parish center.

We have a Holy Hour every First Thursday night in our chapel from 9 to 10pm and one of us priests leads it. I will do it tonight. It is well attended and very low keyed. We do it before the Blessed Sacrament and we use Scripture and the Liturgy of the Hours. So I’m off to that now and will keep all of you and your needs in my prayers.