JUNE WARMS UP

Facing our parking area on Milan Street [pronounced MY-LAN]

It has been warm and wet this past week—very wet.  But after great heat, the rain is good for the grounds.  The side of the house facing our small parking area was quite bare until we put in diuranta and plumbago plants last year.  Now the task is to keep on cutting them back so they don’t take over.  They seem to have found a happy home as you can see from the photograph.

The left-hand chair sits where the water fountain was attached to the wall.

While Charles continued his service at Lantern Light Ministries, Bob split his time three ways: between Operation Helping Hands as it slowly winds down, St. Joseph’s Church [on whose property Lantern Light operates] where Bob helps with bookkeeping and our house where he is working on our renovations.  The removal of an old water fountain in the wall of the entry, and lots of repair work, spackling, sanding etc. in the kiosk area, and beginning to paint that side lobby have been accomplished in a short period of time.

Ugly Formica and tile ledges are replaced by donated Brazilian hardwood.

John had meetings with the School Leadership Program at the Office of Catholic Schools on Friday.  He prepared his reports during the week on the six schools he has visited.  The way things developed, he had about 8 minutes for his report!  Then he was invited to a breakfast meeting ["It'll only be an hour or so"] on Saturday on a different topic; it lasted three hours.  He did little talking, mostly listening at that meeting, too.  The people he met said they were delighted with both meetings!  It proves the adage that while good advanced preparation is important, 'just showing up' is what counts!

Friday morning, Charles and Bob attended the 6:30 AM Good Shepherd parish Mass which has moved to St. Henry’s Church.  The Church looked lovely and at least 100 people were in attendance.  The pastor quipped that he’d be happy to have more Eucharistic ministers if the number kept up.  There was a positive feeling among all concerned.

“Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank.”            Christina Georgina Rossetti

WEEKDAY MASSES RESUME AT ST. HENRY CHURCH

The following announcement appeared in the Good Shepherd Parish bulletin for Sunday, June 10^th.  “Beginning Friday, June 15, 2012, the daily 6:30 am Mass at Good Shepherd Parish will be moved to St. Henry church, located just a block toward the river at 921 General Pershing.  Currently, our rectory chapel can be cramped for our daily Mass, and St. Stephen church is terribly expensive to heat and cool. After consultations were made with some of the former parishioners of St. Henry’s as well as some of our daily Mass attendees, we asked permission from Archbishop Aymond to begin using St. Henry for the daily Mass.  Last week, he gave us permission to open St. Henry’s for daily Mass on Monday through Friday.  St. Stephen’s will continue to be used for all of our Sunday Masses.”

Good sense and practicality, as well as appropriate economic stewardship, have carried the day.  In addition to being a smaller venue, the St. Henry church building is in fine condition having been renovated in the recent past.  The church is an intimate and beautiful space.  The stained glass windows illustrate the Beatitudes through the saints depicted in each of them.  The altar once served as a centerpiece of a Eucharistic Congress.  This is a long-hoped for and happy event for so many who hoped that the church could still be open after the suppression of the parish some years ago.

At the Volunteer residence the renovations to the unfinished first floor space continued last week.  It involved the removal of an old water fountain, renovations to a reception kiosk, to two doors that were badly warped and the removal of debris.  We still have more items to discard and there is plenty of plastering, painting and cleaning ahead of us.

 

On Saturday the 9^th we joined Sr. Nancy Hale and Sr. Pauline O’Reilly, members of the Congregation of the Holy Faith, at their home on Coliseum Street for a wonderful dinner and evening.  

On Sunday, the 10^th, Dr. Michael Horan, a professor of theology and administrator at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, spent the day with us.  After Mass at St. Gabriel’s he treated us to brunch at C’est La Vie, a French bistro around the corner from our house.  Michael is uncle by marriage of Vincent Fiedler-Ross who was in our first group of volunteers!  Before marrying Patricia Fiedler, Michael was one of our Brothers from 1974 to 1994.  Michael was in town to lecture at the Summer Institute for Catholic School Leadership.

It has been warm and very rainy recently.  The mosquito season started 6 weeks early due to a warm winter.

On a somber note, the murder rate for Louisiana still is desperate.   The national murder rate is 5 per 100,000 people.  In 2010 it was 59 per 100,000 people in Louisiana; it declined to 50 per 100,000 in 2011.  As this is written, the second section of the local paper recorded 3 deaths by murder yesterday and the day before in the city.

The Archbishop of New Orleans speaks of “The New Battle of New Orleans: Violence, Murder, Racism.”  In a prayer recited in Catholic parishes we say: “Hear our prayer and give us the perseverance to be a voice for life and human dignity in our community.”  AMEN

TRANSITIONS AND CELEBRATION

Charles in charge--June 1, 2012.  Preparing lunch at Lantern Light Minsitries

We are busy with more than our ministries as summer draws nigh.  On May 25^th Charles and John attended a celebration bidding farewell to Sr. Linda Marie White, SND whose community is working with early childhood literacy here in NOLA; her community has called her to Rome! 

On Saturday, May 26^th, Charles, Bob and John joined a group of Presentation Sisters reflecting on a document for their general chapter.  The chapter was meeting in Ireland, and around the globe the Sisters gathered with friends and co-workers for reflection on that Saturday, adding a global perspective and other voices.  Their document spoke of heart-centered spirituality; the themes echoed those in our own community; we felt we were at home.

On the Wednesday the 30^th, John participated with the director and coaches of the Discovery Walk program in a reflection on the year, making suggestions for the future. 

On May 31^st, we joined Sr. Linda’s community, [Kirsten Deubel, Mary Ellen Schroeder, Nancy Vance and Linda] for dinner at their home in the Mirabeau Apartments, where they also staff a post-Katrina literacy project for lower-income children and adults.  We ate and prayed and shared some stories, too.

On the 1^st of June, to mark the 250^th Anniversary of the Birth of Blessed Edmund Rice we decided to give a day of service at Lantern Light Ministries; donating the money we would have spent on a party to the ministry.  After Morning Prayer focusing on a recent letter from our leadership team about community, Charles, Bob and John went to work.  We prepared the lunch, under the watchful eye of Sr. Enid, Sr. Anna and Barry, mixed lemonade, split French bread and applied relish [Bob], arranged two hotdogs on each roll [John], and placed packets of mustard and ketchup and wrapped them [Charles] before placing them in an insulated cabinet.  We prepared almost 200 lunches; the bags for the guests containing hotdogs, chips, crackers and a fork.  With only 175 guests, this was a slow day, thank God.  At 1:00 PM the guests received the bagged lunches, lemonade and a piece of cake.  The Sisters said the donation would stretch to provide another hotdog lunch --a treat for their guests. 

Ready for our lunch guests!  Would they be ready for us?

The Sisters pride themselves on efficiency and kept us moving so the line moved!

That evening, Bob served his homemade baked beans with bratwurst.  [He did not convince Charles that Edmund’s wife always served this on his birthday.]  And we had cake, too!  Happy Birthday, Edmund.

On June 2^nd we did a fair amount of cleaning up after having some renovations done by a skilled carpenter.  The funding is due to the generosity of Iona Prep last year.  We held on to their donation during a time when the parish explored using the first floor but they decided not to use the first floor at all.  So, we are spending the funds readying an area which could serve as an informal gathering space for volunteers and their friends, somewhat like the facility at Operation Helping Hands once provided.  There is a rudimentary kitchen area [to put it mildly] and a larger room that could be for informal TV viewing, and whatever.  When the new volunteers come we hope the rooms will be ready for painting.  [Maybe we could get them to do it and call it a community building exercise.]

On Sunday, June 3^rd, we went to Mass at St. Gabriel the Archangel in Pontchartrain Park as we often do and afterwards were treated to a wonderful gathering for the 19 or so religious who call it their parish.  Sisters of Notre Dame, Presentations, the Franciscan Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Faith, Sisters of St. Joseph, and a Cabrini [who made her novitiate in West Park] were present.  We had a wonderful dinner [this is New Orleans] and shared our individual and community stories and reflections on our lives in NOLA.  The Sisters, many of them supported as we are by their religious orders, work with the homeless, those in prison, in schools for minority populations, in tutoring and literacy programs, human trafficking and housing for the poor.  Our conversation reflected the themes of the recent letter from our Congregation Leadership Team which we used as our prayer and reflection on the 250^th anniversary of Edmund’s birth, June 1.

Bob has recently begun volunteering in the business office at St. Joseph’s Parish on Tulane Avenue where Lantern Light Ministries is located.  It is a Vincentian parish in an urban area that rents facilities serving the homeless and poor in central city.

“It is as community that we . . . witness to the Kingdom of God, to the values of the Jesus way of living; to simplicity; the search for God, solidarity with the suffering people of our world seen by our love and compassion.

It is no wonder that our Constitutions remind us: “Attentive to the word and open to the power of the Spirit, we are called as brothers to form gospel communities which are our principal means of evangelization.”

[From A WAY INTO THE FUTURE, a letter of May 31, 2012 from the Congregation Leadership Team]

MEMORIAL DAY 2012 --WE REMEMBER

 The following appeared in the parish news of St. Teresa’s Church in the Spring of 1945.  William Thomas Casey, Br. John’s Dad, was serving in the Pacific as a RDM 2/c on a destroyer escort.  This letter was written by his brother,  Cpl. John Anthony Casey, a Marine on his way to Iwo Jima.  His mother was an Irish immigrant, a widow who had eight children, two of whom died while infants.

From St. Teresa's Parish News:  “We would like to include here his last letter to his mother—one of the most moving documents we have seen.

                                                                                     January 30, 1945

Dear Mom,

At this writing I am on board a troop ship headed for an attack on our enemy, Japan.  As for our destination, you will know that by the newspaper headlines long before this letter reaches you.  I have no doubt of our victory, as the Marines never did learn the meaning of defeat.  One thing I know is that few of us will be injured; others will pay the supreme sacrifice.  All of us realize we have a job mapped out for us, and understand that the lot of some will be more difficult than others.  And yet the sum total isn’t too much to ask to retain our priceless heritage offered in good old America.  We’re fighting for things that we all took so much for granted before Pearl Harbor.  For a Saturday night date with the girl friend or a few beers with the boys.  For a chance to play ball on Sunday or take a ride in the country.  These and many more little things come to mind when you think of home.  And if the price asked of a few of us seems a little steep, just remember that America is made up of generations and not individuals and that a fellow not only fights for his own happiness, but for that of the people he loves.

Naturally I don’t intend having anything happen to the ‘Lil Infant’ at all.  I’ll be in there giving everything I’ve got on one hand, but keeping both eyes open and taking care of myself on the other.  I agree with the fellow 100% who says, ‘I believe in the other fellow giving his life for his country, rather than mine for America.’

Aboard this particular ship we are fortunate in having a Catholic Chaplain, and I am thus afforded the opportunity of going to daily Mass.  So far this week I went to Confession and Communion, and I intend on Receiving again tomorrow.  Naturally, I remember you all in my prayers at home, and I know you do likewise.  And don’t think I don’t need your prayers at home, as at this particular time they are most helpful.  And in your intentions, just ask God as I do, that I may be in all conflicts, a good Christian, and a good Marine and Mom Casey’s boy.

I realize that the tone of this letter is very serious, but then these are very serious times.  When the chips are down as they are now, a fellow is bound to take more seriously a lot of things he previously took for granted back home.  And while it is only natural for a fellow like me to think as I do, I only hope I am doing right in putting my thoughts across to you.  If I can but convey the idea to you that I am happy where I am, and in what I am doing for the good of all that will come about; that I am living up to my faith and am in the state of grace asking no quarter  nor giving any; and firmly believing in the adage that everything happens for the best, then I am happy and if you think I’m being too serious about this all, just remember I’m merely trying to be realistic, and not a dreamer.

Mrs. Delia Casey…was informed on April 4th, 1945 that her son, Corporal John Anthony Casey died in action on March 10^th at Iwo Jima of wounds suffered while serving as a machine gunner with the 25^th Marines, Fourth Marine Division.

Corporal Casey was 23 years old, a graduate of St. Agnes High School in Manhattan and had attended St. John’s College.  He enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack.  Corporal Casey was over six feet tall, though his family affectionately refers to him as ‘the Lil Infant’ as he was the youngest of Mrs. Casey’s three sons.” 

We remember.

ON THE ROAD

 

School visits, the volunteer program and Richard Wagner kept us in motion this past week!

New I-Pads at St. Charles Catholic High School

On Monday, John left at 6:45 AM for the 30+ mile drive upriver to St. Charles Catholic High School in La Place, LA for a Discovery Walk.  It is a small school with leadership that is a real team and a welcoming faculty committed to upping their game.  The quote at the end of this article came from a wonderful English teacher’s classroom—it is hard sometimes to look neutral and not exclaim in delight. 

On Tuesday, Bob left to drive to a conference on volunteering in Camden, NJ—who knew?  On the way he stopped in Elizabeth at our Province Leadership Team’s residence and then visited a potential volunteer and his family.  He went on to the meeting and will be back here on Tuesday of this week, in time for our last hosting of Taize prayer for this Spring.

On Wednesday, John left for another Discovery Walk that entails a 71 mile round trip drive to Pope John Paul II High School in Slidell, LA along the Gulf coast not far from the Mississippi border.  With a new principal and another fine team, it was remarkable that during the last week of class, students were actively engaged, teachers were teaching and one saw purposeful and relevant instruction—no slacking there!  On the way back, John stopped off at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in New Orleans East where Fr. Michael Joseph Nguyen is pastor and Colleen La Rocca is parish secretary.  Fr. Michael Joseph secured a very large gift for a new van for the volunteer community last August and John filled him in on the volunteers for the coming year.  The van will come in handy!

Wednesday evening, after three days of work at Lantern Light, Charles summoned up the energy to attend a simulcast of a New York Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Wagner’s “Siegfried.”  A brand new production which has been refined by new insights and enhanced by intricate staging, Charles found it entrancing.  He described this at 7 AM on Thursday morning taking John to the airport to fly to Texas. 

 

John facilitated a faculty workshop at Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Brownsville—on Friday of the next to last week of school, from 1 PM to 4:15 PM! Teachers reflected on the past year and data from visitations and assessments in order to identify with the principal areas for professional development for the coming year.  Despite the date and time the faculty was very engaged.  Amazing the dedication of teachers! After [Despite?] the faculty meeting Brs. Arthur Williams and Tony Quinn took John to dinner at ‘Dirty Al’s at Pelican Station’ in Port Isabel, Texas, across South Bay from South Padre Island.  It is a 30 minute drive generally northeast of Brownsville on US 100, the Texas Tropical Trail.  The company, food and view of the Bay were wonderful.

John arrived home Saturday night at 10:30 PM.  While ‘home alone’ on Saturday, Charles caught the four hour simulcast of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung,” again from the Met.  A matinee performance, it left time for a bit of rest before having to bring John home from the airport.

During the week, Allison Maraldo celebrated a birthday, Caitlyn De Castro received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Northeastern [We think we have that right] and Kyle Fischler and Caitlyn met up in DC to attend the wedding of OHH alums Pam and Dan. 

In NOLA, the crape myrtles are blooming; lawns are green, the roses, lantana, plumbago, and jasmines in flower.  It is getting warmer and is humid, evenings are a bit sultry.  We leave you this week with a quote from a teen with a sense of humor, a great turn of phrase and a teacher gifted with appreciation for the same.

The following quote was on a student made poster in a high school classroom. 

“If you were 17 and had to take the test that you just gave, you’d cry too.”