Last weekend was one in which there was an intersection of what is best and worst about the Catholic Church. We had a mission cooperative weekend scheduled in which we hosted Fr. Machado from St. Rita’s in Dade City. The parish was welcoming, listened to his message, responded generously with financial assistance, and asked “What can we do to help?” Already parishioners are in dialogue with the staff at St. Rita’s seeking to organize some help programs for the school children. It is Church and community at its best when a people sustained and nourished by the Eucharist, spontaneously reach out to help nourish others. Continue reading
We hope…
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Last week I wrote about Catholic men’s movements in the United States during the last 10-plus years. “Men also need support from other men and mentors. Catholic conferences, retreats, seminars, and parish groups provide a supportive and prayerful context for the emotional and spiritual support men need, but usually won’t ask for on a personal level. And so, groups of ordinary men of all ages, from every social and ethnic group, who simply want more out of their Catholic faith, are coming together to make it happen.” I then went on to note that our own parish has several groups that support the spiritual life of men: Men’s Prayer Group and the Knights of Columbus. 
Every year there are many apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian movies that make the big screen — and a whole lot more that make Netflix, Amazon Prime, and all the other outlets for cinematic entertainment. These are just a few I thought of over the last several years: “The Hunger Games,” “The Matrix,” “Serenity,” “Blade Runner,” “The Book of Eli,” “Children of Men,” “Divergent,” “Maze Runner,” “The Postman,” “Terminator” — and you will note several of these were series of multiple movies. 
Cue the music marking the entry of Indiana Jones on horseback (replete with leather jacket, hat tilted at a rakish angle, whip at the ready) accompanied by skilled Bedouin horsemen all at a mad-dash gallop – and all we need is an amazing backdrop. The Nabatean world historical site at Petra, Jordan was happy to supply the setting for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Part of my summer pilgrimage was a two-day excursion into Jordan visiting the place of Jesus’ baptism, Mt. Nebo, where Moses overlooked the Jordan River into the Promised Land; and Petra. Petra is an amazing place for which my photographs do not do justice. But other than “how I spent my summer vacation,” why would I bring it up in this column? 
Last weekend was the first since my return from a pilgrimage to Israel. In addition to the “welcome back” greetings, there were lots of questions in the category of “what was it like?” That encompasses questions of weather, geography, culture, cuisine, accommodations, crowds, places, history, and a myriad of other inquiries. Perhaps the inquiry that was most common was something akin to, “What did you find most surprising?” And there are several responses to that question. But let me share one with you. 
In medieval Europe, a bell rang every evening at a fixed hour, and townspeople were required by law to cover or extinguish their hearth fires. It was the “cover fire” bell, or, as it was referred to in Anglo-French, coverfeu (from the French verb meaning “to cover,” and the word for “fire”). By the time the English version, curfew, appeared, the authorities no longer regulated hearth fires, but an evening bell continued to be rung for various purposes—whether to signal the close of day, an evening burial, or enforcement of some other evening regulation. This “bell ringing at evening” became the first English sense of curfew. Not infrequently, the regulation signaled by the curfew involved regulating people’s movement in the streets, and this led to the modern senses of the word.
A panorama of the gorge at Petra – on the way to the Treasury
July is the traditional time for vacations, holidays, and trips as families and households visit relatives, relax, and take in different parts of our great nation. Normally I am around the whole summer, preferring to take time off in the autumn when temperatures are more moderate, but this year I had an opportunity to travel to the Holy Land with friends. I had never been and so it seemed an opportune moment that might never come around again. And so, on July 6th off I went, landing in Tel Aviv some 26 hours later. 
