While Bob Koppes, as Director of
the Lay Volunteer Program, has begun making contacts with folks on the Catholic
Volunteer Network’s website, as well as working at St. Joe’s Parish on Tulane
Avenue in the Business Office, he also found time for repairs to our home so we
now have lights in all areas, the air-conditioning hums along and it appears
our internet set-up is functioning. Br.
Charles continues his work as post man at Lantern Light Ministries where he
notes increasing amounts of paperwork being sent to indigent homeless people
asking for payment for medical expenses.
.JPG) |
| Kevin Bernard, Bill Casey, John reading from Kevin's poems! |
Meanwhile, John flew to New
Rochelle, New York on September 18th to be part of Kevin Bernard’s
Golden Jubilee celebration at 21 Pryer Terrace, the All Saints Community. Kevin and John’s families both lived in
Dumont, NJ when they joined, and 50 years ago John’s sister and brother stayed
at the same convent as the Bernards did during visiting days in South
Kortright, NY. The celebration became a
bit of a reunion!
 |
| Bernards and Caseys with the Jubilarian |
During the next week, John was
based in New Rochelle. He had a chance
to visit with folks in the New York area that he has known for years, like the
Keane’s from St. Philip Neri Parish in the Bronx. Marita, a student at Manhattan College,
initiated their visits to the Brothers’ Community in New Orleans two years
ago. Sr. Mary Frances Taymans, SND, came
up from Washington to visit.
.JPG) |
| Bill Casey, John, Br. Kevin Cawley, Mary Casey |
 |
| Br. Bob McGovern and Patricia Casey at Kevin's Jubilee |
During John’s sojourn in the
Northeast, Br. Jim Quinn, from Australia by way of the Philippines, came to
visit New Orleans; Bob and Charles hosted him at their worksites and toured him
around the city. He also got to spend a
day at Cabrini High School through the good offices of Sr. Regina Petersen,
MSC.
 |
| Marita Keane and Br. John at Rory Dolan's in the Bronx. Talk about Irish , , , |
John was back to join Bob,
Charles and Br. Jim for the 60th Anniversary celebrations at St.
Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Gentilly and the luncheon afterwards at the
University of New Orleans where Sr. Regina and Holy Faith Sisters Maura
O’Donovan, Nancy Hale and Pauline O’Reilly kept the conversation lively for our
Australian guest. Jim headed for a
renewal program he is attending in the West on Monday, the 29th.
John treated himself to oral
surgery on the 29th but thrived on a diet of oatmeal and ice cream
for a day or two. On the evening of the
30th John attended the executive committee of the Burning Bush group
that strives to support initiatives for peace amidst the gun violence plaguing
the city.
On the October 2nd, we
hosted a meeting of IGNITE. It describes
itself as follows:
Ignite is a mentor-based formation
program for young men who want help discerning and pursuing their Vocation.
Convinced that good formation
fosters good discernment, this program is focused on human and spiritual
formation, fraternity, and intentional mentoring.
“Christ, the final Adam, by the
revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man
himself and makes his supreme calling clear…” (Gaudium et Spes 22). Following
the themes in this statement by the Second Vatican Council, the specific areas
of formation we concentrate on are prayer, identity, and virtue (principally
charity & chastity).
Adam
Fuselier is the mentor for the group; he works with Dumb Ox Ministries, a lay
organization that is dedicated to youth and young adult formation. We hope to partner with them as we seek lay
volunteers who may be interested sharing community life with us for a
time. We figure the best way is to have
folks come here, meet us and see what the place looks like. It was good, also, to see Adam working with
the young men who came with him for the evening. We hope they continue to use this place for
meetings, and to become more familiar with us.
The weekend
of October 4th and 5th
was cool and dry; lots of pruning and fresh air. On Saturday evening “Arts on Magazine” saw
crowds on the street and lots of cars in the neighborhood—good for
business—hooray. And on Sunday, the
Saints won—in overtime—but a win is a win.
Sadly, on
October 3rd we learned of the sudden death of Travis Wain’s father,
John H. Wain, at the age of 67 in Schenectady, NY. Travis was a volunteer here for 18 months and
has continued to live in New Orleans where he works as a case manager for newly
housed formerly homeless.
REFLECTION
“How good it
would be if we could learn that God is easy to live with. . . God is the sum of
all patience and the essence of kindly good will. We please Him most, not by frantically trying
to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our
imperfections, and believing that he understands everything and loves us
still.” THE ROOT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, A. W.
Tozer
BLOG 10.06.14
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