Diaspora Digest #43

________________

Editor: Gael Stahl

Webmeister: Jack Brennan

Submit articles and comments to: E-mail: ddeditors@diasporadigest.org

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Dear Diaspora,

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Pax et bonum.

Gael and Jack

 

 

20 Dec 08 Don Wildt: [Missed publishing this in DD 42. Don was a high school classmate of ours at St. Joe's. ~Eds.] Thanks for all you have done and are still doing. Some day I'll catch up on my computer skills and be able to communicate more frequently. Hope everything is going fine with you and your families.

 

27 Dec 08 Roberto Flores: Changes: (210) 494-7442 hm. (210) 240-4337 cell; everything else is correct.

 

Roberto adds this quote: "God's love and forgiveness does indeed change people. It changed me. It just didn't make me straight." --Michael Bussee, co-founder of Exodus International, in his apology to the LGBT community, as quoted in the Los Angeles Times

 

27 Dec 08 Jim Sexton: The 42 DDigest was once again fun to read. Thanks.

 

27 Dec 08 Dick Korn: Just finished reading DD 42 and thought I would contribute a bit; since I enjoy hearing about others, others may want updates from Columbus, the nation's 15th largest city. Luis Runde, I appreciated getting your mailing address in Bedford. It was great having you and Tom Fox and Larry Janezic with us last month. Madeleine and I welcome friends at 2840 Bremen St., Columbus, Oh 43224 (614) 268-9087. We are just a few miles north of the state capitol off exit 113 on I71. It was also good to read Carroll Mizicko's pieces; just today we were watching last year's pictures from the time with Alex at the Cirio in Belem, John and Greg's tourism in Santarem and Maury's hospitality in Obidos...and thinking about going next time to Bob's in Itaituba as a base to Duffy's or Gil's or even, Mike Grawe land in the other direction.

For the present, we are getting used the Shaylah (Cheila in Portuguese). She is a year-old dog that we got from the prison in Marion where we have ministered for nine years; the dog has been well-trained by inmates and has restored Madeleine's courage to be out in the yard and walk the neighborhood. Madeleine was mugged outside our back door as I was watching the OSU-Penn State game, was thrown to the ground and had her purse stolen.

My wife is currently busy writing curriculum materials for the training of guards at Ohio's 28 Youth Prison Facilities and I am working full time interpreting (three calls to local ERs already today) for the Refugee and Immigration Service. We travel as much as possible (notably this summer we were with Fr. Mark, the new provincial in Montreal) and enjoy our children and grandchildren across the street and across town.

PS Francis Roetheli...how good to hear from you too.


28 Dec 08 Dan Dolesh: What a wonderful treat, receiving the DD #42 - like sitting down with an old friend and a good glass of wine and having a long discussion. Read with great interest the comments about abortion and the Big A boys (Avicenna, Averroes, Aquinas). [Is that why we called Aristotle "A4"? JB] I like Laker's interpretations of essence/existence as matter/energy or Gael's as idea and process. However, I think both are rather positivist interpretations of the metaphysical mind. Not quite what the big A boys meant. I also recall Aquinas holding the view that it took about forty days of gestation for the male rational animal and about ninety days for the female. Seems to me the reason it took the female so much longer was because she is only half of the male. I guess she was lacking some of the essential parts that make us guys so wonderful!
 

I noticed the home page has some room for recent articles. I'm just finishing up on two, which you all might find of some interest. The first was a paper which I originally gave to the Cleveland philosophical club titled: "Pedophilia and the Psychosexual Development of the Celibate" and the second is a pretty stale statistical scientific study that I did with a Professor, Carolyn Anderson from the University of Akron and titled "three factors influencing the quality of marriage: loneliness, shared spirituality, and the expression of marital satisfaction." I'll send them to you as soon as I finish with the editing.
 

Some news. I hope to be getting married shortly to Ann Harris, who lives in Ashbourne England. On her last trip to the states customs stopped her at Philadelphia and said she has spent too much time in the United States over the last twelve months. And they put her on a plane and sent her back to England. So I finally sent in the fiancé papers, and the next time she comes into the states we have to be married within three months (Hope springs eternal...............).
 

Keep up the wonderful work with DD. 

 

Comment at the Blog    and/or   comment for the next DD.

 

28 Dec 08 Jack Brennan to Dolesh: A new simile! One time in the midst of our exchanges on line you said it was like sitting down to a good lunch with a group of over-educated schizophrenics.

There's always room for articles, Dan. In my current state of divorce process, I would probably prefer the stale stats one. I bet I could cry from the beginning to the end of it. That belies "stale."

 

28 Dec 08 Dan Dolesh to Brennan: I don't know that there is any incompatibility between having a "good lunch with a group of over-educated schizophrenics" and a glass of wine, good conversation and an old friend. As a matter fact, is there any difference?

While I am writing this I am watching the Mel Gibson movie, where he knows what women are thinking. I guess none of us would ever get divorced if we had that ability. I remember you mentioning the divorce previously. Sounds like it's going to happen and sounds like it is painful. Talking about it helps. My own philosophy is that "every kick is not a kick in the wrong direction," even though it hurts like heck.

28 Dec 08 Jack Brennan to Dolesh: You are right. No difference between being an over-educated schizophrenic and an old friend.

We should all show up for your wedding, if you will have us.

 

29 Dec 08 Dan Mazar: I have an update for Ken Dobucki's email. His address is ken of dobucki.org - That should work.

Should I join the blogging brethren? Could you guys handle my deathless prose?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you both. Pax.

30 Dec 08 Tom Senn: The Blessings of the New Year to everyone!! Had I stayed beyond the fifth year I would have been ordained with Al Merz, Ted Bracco, Cullan, and a Great Class. Cullan, Rick Prayson, "Moxie" (Fr. Doug Makowski) and I go to lunch once in awhile.

 

As it was, I was not called to priesthood, but am now a Permanent Deacon in full-time ministry at OUR LADY of ANGELS, CLEVELAND ...... what are the "odds of that"? I also am active with the Secular Order here in Cleveland, having been ordained in 1990. Many of my OFM Profs attended my Mass of Thanksgiving at St Anthony of Padua, where I served for ten years.

 

The Bishop also assigned me as Chaplain to the Cuyahoga County Jail for (7) years on Mon., Wed., and Friday. In order to be on the paid staff at the jail, I had to first become a certified "Corrections Officer". We had 2300 inmates, the largest jail in the state of Ohio. The Tues. Thurs., Sun. assignment was at St. Anthony's in Parma.

 

Gael, I do remember you from Westmont. I think it is a wonderful thing you Guys do ...... to keep "The Family" all together by Email, etc. Here is my data ..... trim it if you need to do so. Keep up the good work!! PAX.   [Senn,  SFO/ Deacon Tom (Marilyn)  401 Bounty Way, Condo #237, Avon Lake, OH 44012; (440) 930-5332 (H); assigned: OLA Cleveland, Full-time]

 

30 Dec 08 Dennis Griffin: I just finished zipping through the current Diaspora Digest. Could you tell me more about "the blog"? I would like to check it out. [Jack will have to reply to that, Dennis. I loved your letter about your history with vehicles since boyhood, bike, planes, racecars, etc. GS]

 

31 Dec 08 Francis Roetheli: It is now New Year's Eve and nice beach weather here in Brazil with some real nice sunshine. Tonight on the ocean front there will be thousands of people in all the cities on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean welcoming in the New Year of 2009 with fire works, music, noise, parties, etc. We want to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone one of you a Happy New Year and we hope that your 2009 is filled with much joy, health, happiness and the best of everything.

 

Yesterday we got our computer back from the shop and everything is now working. Attached is our Christmas letter which we were not able to send at Christmas time because the computer went down. Hope you enjoy the news about our family even though the Christmas letter is a little late.

 

Elisia spent the day before Christmas in bed with the flu as we already wrote at Christmas time. On Christmas Day she was feeling better, but still a little weak from the after effects of the flu, and it took her a few days to get over the side effects. But now she is feeling a lot better.

 

We also have attached a picture of Hercules, our 4 month old Boxer "puppy". We had a big dog, Queen, which was a mixture of a German Shepherd and Rottweiler. She was 12 years old and about 2 months ago she suddenly passed away from old age. We wanted another big dog because of security reasons here at the house and we came across Hercules. Having a big dog helps to make your house safer because the dog barks and makes the house safer from people who might try to break in. He is only a puppy now and is already really big. It is so funny as being a puppy he wants to play and when we put him with the 3 little pinchers we have, he wants to play with them. But he is so big just with one paw he knocks them down and they think that he wants to fight with them. We all like Hercules a lot because he is so playful and full of life. He is loves to run around the yard chasing a ball.

 

Once again Happy New Year from all of us. [Click here for Christmas letter   click here for photo of roetheli’s dog]

31 Dec 08 Dan Mazar: May 2009 be a better year for all of us. We all could use a break. It will start off with a bang as Bush and the outlaws finally are out of power, after all the damage they have done. I certainly would have no trouble with Congress or the new Justice Department investigating and making public all the records of the past 8 years. In fact, I hope Obama immediately rescinds Bush's order keeping everything secret all the way back to Reagan. We all should know what was done in our name. Bet it would become clear as to why our international reputation smells like very bad cheese.
Great fun reading the back and forth of Jim Sexton et al. Authors like Karl Popper I had not thought of for years. Good to see that brains are still asking questions and know that the answers will need revision constantly.

Turtle Tanna and I spent several hours with JJ Lakers, Phil Hoebing, John Leonard Ostdiek, and Jack Hardesty at the friary in QU early this past summer. I only hope they enjoyed the afternoon as much as Turtle and I did. Hope to get down there this Spring to visit again.

I have been able to visit Zach Hayes in Sherman, Ill., several times this past year. Nick Meyer is now installed in the geezer stalag down there. Had a nice chat with him back in October. Zach is doing well and is busy translating Bonaventure into English-- for the first time. The Institute at St. Bonaventure's in Olean, NY, is publishing. I think Bob Karris is a honcho there.

For some reason, my first attempt at joining the blogosphere got lost in cyberspace. I will try again. Oh, for the days of ink and quill!!!

Just a bit of an update: Br. Herb Rempe suffered a seizure a couple of months ago. He has recovered nicely and is recuperating. I suspect he might be back at St. Peter's on Madison.

Zeke, are you related to Herb? All you farm guys must be shirt tail relatives of some sort. [Gael/Zeke replies: Yes, the Ostdieks and Rempes and Stahls are related through my maternal Rempe relatives that moved from south central Nebraska to north central Kansas 100 years ago. Most stayed in Nebraska including the Ostdieks and Rempes. Some Rempes went to Kansas. My grandmother married a Joe Rempe whose hair turned white at 25 as did my Grandma Clara Rempe’s  hair. Mine started turning at 25 but took longer to dominate.]

 

We Sox fans await Spring training in the full bloom of hope with the certainty that the Cubs will fold again. That always makes for a good season. Isn't that right, Jack and Zeke? Pax. [I don't think Zeke understands Cub-hate. I do because in my neighborhood it was obligatory! JB]

 

01 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: I remember Fr. Wilbert Hegener as looking and acting manly. We need more like him. A most blessed 2009 to all the Friars.

 

02 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: No one loses their Catholic faith because of prayer, spiritual reading, and daily Bible study. Leaving the active priesthood goes back to failures in the same areas. You get back what you lost the same way.

 

One of the finest books I read about the intellectual struggles of philosophers like Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Marx, Comte, Camus, Sartre and others was "The Gods of Atheism," by Vincent P. Miceli, S.J.. Archbishop Sheen refers to it "As complete a study of atheism as exists in any language." When I finished reading the book my thought was this: "Their problem was not with disbelief but their unwillingness to be chaste."

 

It reminds me of a Catholic philosopher who once asked an atheist: "Couldn't you believe in God if you could be pure?" Cardinal Avery Dulles,S.J. has a number of books that would help those struggling with matters of Faith. Cardinal Newman would make refreshing reading and so would books by Msgr. Knox, Chesterton, Belloc, Thomas Dubay,S.M., James Schall,S.J. etc. Gold is there. Start digging!

 

04 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: John Cardinal Wright wrote in the preface to "The Gods of Atheism," these thoughts: "The logical and psychological compulsion to choose some strange god, if the God of Abraham and of Jesus Christ be rejected rests on needs deep in human nature. Man is a rational animal, as the Greeks taught us. He is also a laughing, social, economic and political animal. But underneath it all and overriding all else, he is a mystical animal. He either prays or pouts; he either adores or anguishes. In moments of cultural crises he may do all of these, in various proportions. But he remains unalterably God-centered. He cannot exist without a God, and if he rejects the true God he will invariably, instinctively, ever perversely create his own false god."

 

And Fr. Miceli writes: "It is not easy to be an atheist. It is terrifying to attempt escape from the Divine Lover. The road leads down to violent serfdom. Here, however, unlike the quest for sanctity, the drive for atheism is demanded by man but contested by God. No one becomes an atheist unknowingly or unwillingly."

 

Comment at the Blog    and/or   comment for the next DD.

 

 

05 Jan 09 Tom Higgs: [More about entry in DD42 : 10 Nov 08 Tom Higgs about Jerry Etzkorn's article on the Bush administration's actions and Gael's response to Tom JB] Thank you for setting me straight regarding Mr. Etzkorn ; As you say, I was not aware that he had left the order and had children. I stand corrected on my comments regarding his “never having fathered a child.”

 

Even so, I stand by my thoughts regarding President Bush. While I respect and thank Mr. Etzkorn for his military service, there are others who have also served who would vehemently disagree with his opinions, including my brother, a Vietnam vet. In a United States so dominated by anti-Bush rhetoric and near worship of the president-elect it is frustrating to see even more vitriol hurled in Bush’s direction, especially since the Democrats seized control of Congress two years ago and were going to “fix everything”. When the new congress was found to be impotent the only recourse was to go back to blaming Bush for everything – and the academia, Hollywood, and media communities joined in lock-step.

 

Fr. John Hogan contributed a brief but very succinct comment [DD42 :11 Sep 08 Father John Hogan] in an earlier post that was aimed at the religious community. I think it would be well if all readers – religious or not – gave some serious thought to his words. It is easy to point out alleged immoralities in a war – any war. But if you are commander-in-chief of this country, charged with everything from maintaining peace on earth to draining the swamp in New Orleans, the decisions are not quite so easy and clear.

 

Anyway, I thank you Gael for allowing me my two-cents worth, even if many feel the price is inflated! All of God’s best in 2009.

 

06 Jan 09 Bob Pawell: My recent trip to New York was both marvelous and miserable. Went to ground zero and the memorial to 9/11 at St. Paul's church in lower Manhattan and then visited our Friars church on 31st street and the memorial to Mychal Judge, OFM, the gay, Franciscan and chaplain to the NY Firefighters --the first to die at the twin Towers. He died ministering to a fallen firefighter. The memorial consists in a huge bent girder from the Trade Towers – this is surmounted by a single golden rose. The memorial in is the main church and it is elegant and very simple.

 

While there we visited the new Friary, which is also very elegant – the New York friars have no financial problems. They sold the air rights over the new friary and netted quite a bundle.

 

The production of Equus with Daniel Radcliffe was stunning – the play is rather sophisticated and I could not fathom why parents would bring their teen-age daughters to a play that young ladies could hardly comprehend, especially at the end of the play. Radcliffe is naked and having intercourse with a young lady. 

 

The miserable part of the trip was coming down with a colossal cold and dealing with the throngs of people. Manhattan crowds make Chicago's State Street look like downtown T-Town. I definitely prefer Chicago to Manhattan – it’s too much, too loud, too crowded and too dirty with garbage on the curbsides. People pushed and shoved inside St. Patrick's Cathedral gawking at everything – perhaps it was the first time they were in a church.

 

Anyway, I came back to Chicago humming, "my kind of town Chicago...." By the way I am taking a day off on Jan. 20th in order to celebrate Barack's inauguration.

 

08 Jan 09 Chris Reuter: I was totally surprised to see my name on this year's jubilee list. It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since we met in Brownie's Tavern at high noon, threw our money on the bar, and drank ourselves into oblivion. I was so drunk when we staggered across the street at 2:59 to be welcomed by Snuffy Schwartz. I'm still in recovery.

 

Monday I'm leaving for my annual desert retreat at Las Cruces NM, and then I'll spend the following weekend with Keith and Helene in Albuquerque. It's a great way to forget about prisons and winter weather for a while. This afternoon I'm off to points south, and I'll be in our super-max prison all day tomorrow.

 

I enjoyed the latest DD, and one of these days I will enter into the blog dialogues. But I hesitate to get polemical with the brothers who keep beating the same dead horses year after year. Between the church and the department of corrections, I already have more than enough controversy.

 

Happy New Year. I hope we survive until the big celebration in 2016. I'm not on oxygen yet, but I'm beginning to drool occasionally.

 

09 Jan 09 Dave Struckhoff: Hello, folks, Merry Christmas and Happy New year. I've been touring the website, but didn't find (not the site's fault) how to input messages. Please help.

 

Am struggling with a very rare type of the big C, have retired from Loyola criminology, and am now at Lewis Univ. on a part time basis. Hear from Francis Roetheli annually. Peace.

 

21 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: Peoples' wishes for Pres. Obama can be far ahead of reality. In his first full day in office our President abolished Pres. Bush's "Mexico City" policy. In other words Obama wants to pay for abortions abroad. That is just the beginning of his extreme policies on abortion and homosexuality.

 

Thinkers saw through the charm of Obama but with many emotions and feelings took primary place. Someone said elections are determined by 20% intelligence and 80% emotion. And the Italians say you win an election if you have a "bella figura" and make a "bona impressio." There is a good side to this: it might make our Bishops start to lead. We have the light but we need the fire.

 

[On another topic.] If we want vocations, there must be sermons on "Humana Vitae." No use praying for vocations unless married couples have many children and see the holiness of their Bishops and Priests.

 

23 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: Fr. Michael Perry, O.F.M., provincial of the Sacred Heart Province, wrote a fine letter in ATP. I would add this for the Franciscan reform: Semper reformanda! Christ must be central as He was in the life of Francis. Conversion of heart to Christ must occur. We might have the light but we also need the fire. Community prayer must not be missed and the Franciscan habit should be worn at prayer, when in public, and when photographs are made and published. I would add that Catholic orthodoxy must prevail. There are too many dissidents among us who want to water down the Faith. Defend the Faith, my brethren! Fr. John Corapi complains of the ignorance of the Faith among Catholics. This was evident in the recent presidential elections.

 

23 Jan 09 Bob Hoffman: I made my food drop off over to Countryside last night, 1/22, and Fr. Don Blaser told me that Jack Bartz had triple by-pass heart surgery that morning. I talked to Cheryl today. She said this morning he was feeling tired and requested no visitors. He called her about 4:30 this afternoon and said he was feeling better and wanted visitors. Jack’s sister and husband from Detroit came in as well as their daughter, Fran. Fran is stationed in England for now.

 

Cheryl said he still is in intensive care. He has fewer tubes in him today than yesterday. They had him up and walking today. She said they most likely will discharge him Monday or Tuesday of next week and have him come back as an out-patient for therapy etc.. Cheryl said when Fran was home for a week at Thanksgiving time, Jack and Fran went jogging and he was out of breath. Fran told him this was unusual and that he ought to make an appointment with the doctor. He did and the first time he could arrange the visit was this past Monday, the 19th. He also started to experience pain in his left arm. They did tests on Tuesday and Wednesday. They told him to come in Thursday for an angioplasty and they ended up doing a triple by-pass. Jack is in Good Sam Hospital in Downers Grove.

 

Jack & Cheryl’s home address: 237 Middaugh, Clarendon Hills, IL 60514-1016

 

25 Jan 09 Tony Lutz: {Comments on Friar Ken Capalbo's presence in Vietnam.] Being able to live the life of a Franciscan in Vietnam is a small aspect of the reality. Religion there is carefully controlled. All sermons are censored and secret police go to Mass to check up on what is happening. Remember, Vietnam is communist. There is no freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion. Pray for Vietnam.

 

02 Feb 09 Wayne Frederich: I was in at St. Joe's starting in 1950. Novitiate from 1956-57, ordained in 1964, taught at Padua in Cleveland, and left in 1971.

 

Cullan Uhlinger keeps in touch with me. Visited with Dick Lohkamp a few years ago.

 

Barbara Ann Pleischl Frederich and I have been married since 12/11/1971. She had been a reporter for the Catholic Universe Bulletin.

 

We have been living below in Tallahassee since May 1977 at: 2329 Hampshire Way, Tallahassee, FL 32309-3106,

850-893-0518

 

Ran (with Barbara as equal partner) the state-wide Florida Campground Association. Also was chairman of the Florida Tourism Advisory Council under two governors. Been retired since 1993.

 

We have traveled a lot, including China (Barbara's Degree).

 

Have had genealogy as a hobby since 1963 when I discovered hundreds of relatives/ancestors while visiting the Holy Childhood Catholic Church in Mascoutah, Illinois and looking at the birth, marriage, and death books.

 

Have been publishing family history books. Friederich Family History (1999) 900 pages, 15 generations, over 3500 direct descendants of the original Hans Friderich of Hombourg-Haut, Moselle, France. Working on a 2nd edition. Josephine of the Twentieth Century (2001) 350 pages. Mom lived from 1899 to 1998. All the family stories from her side of the family (Feldt) from St. Libory, Illinois. Working on two other genealogy books.

 

Health good. However, have had Parkinson's for almost five years. It's proceeding slowly.

 

Good to read about all of you and the happenings of the Province.

 

03 Feb 09 Gael Stahl: Hi, again, Wayne. I remember when you made contact a few years ago. I think I accused you of being the first ever reader of the Father Brown stories of GK Chesterton I ever knew and a willing participant of the seminary radio quiz show I conducted on Jerry Klein's radio program. It probably ran weekly. I don't know if we ever found any other willing contestants.

Great update. You've accomplished a lot since the last time you wrote, or you were way too modest back then, or, most likely, my memory faileth to that and all other generations since my boyhood. Jerry Klein, you'll likely remember. He's lived in Jacksonville since - well, that memory fails too. After he left Joliet prison as chaplain, he lived in Indianapolis awhile, he probably got to Florida by 1980 where he’s recently retired from a career working in corrections.

I've been here in the Nashville area since 1969 after a couple years in Chicago as an associate pastor. I worked for a university 1971-79, traveled two years with Susan, and have been a writer/editor of a municipal league political newspaper 1983 – part time since February 2008.

03 Feb 09 Jack Brennan: Hi, Wayne.

I remember you well. Thanks for updating us and joining the community of Diaspora and many still in cinctures who like to stay in touch.

Gael and I were ordained in 1966, so we were three classes behind you and we were in 1st year theology when you were ordained.

I hope you will continue to stay in touch.

03 Feb 09 Wayne Frederich: Reading Diaspora Digest brings back many happy memories, both of friends and of fun events.

 

It's always interesting to learn what others remember about you. I really enjoyed Chesterton and Father Brown. For a while after I left I got hooked on Marshall McLuhan (The Medium is the Message) and in fact studied under him at Fordham. This led to interest in media studies and public relations courses at various universities. Eventually that led to lobbying advocacy for the Appalachian Regional Commission in southern Ohio and tourism lobbying and promotion in Florida.

 

Some "housecleaning." I was originally named Norman Lee. The Franciscans gave me the name Wayne in Novitiate. Since there was no saint by that name, I told people that to get it I had to promise to be the first one. Fortunately, I didn't keep my promise. I chose my patron Saint to be "Juan of Avila" because "Juan" sounded somewhat like "Wayne." After I left in 1971 I had my name legally changed to Wayne Norman.

 

After I married, Barbara and I always worked together as an equal team. We were very busy and traveled extensively on the job and personally. The result has been very little contact with classmates and friends from my Franciscan era. I look upon those days as very happy ones for me. The days after I left have been even happier ones. I'm glad I made the change. I'm curious about whether others feel the same.

 

Call me. Wayne Frederich, 2329 Hampshire Way, Tallahassee, FL 32309-3106,

850-893-0518

 

04 Feb 09 Chuck Faso: Announcing a pilgrimage “In the Footsteps of St. Paul” to Turkey and Greece, May 24-June 4, 2009. Come with Fr. Bill Burton OFM and Fr. Chuck Faso, OFM to see where St. Paul preached and established Communities of Faith. Learn the message St. Paul in the places he taught, preached, and wrote. Tell you family, friends, and fellow parishioners about this trip. Fr. Chuck (www.frchuckofm.org ) and Fr. Bill (www.biblicist.net)

 

08 Feb 09 Chuck Faso: Let’s go to Oberamergau in 2010!

 

Since 1636, the citizens of Oberamergau, Germany, have performed the Passion Play every ten years. The performance lasts six hours with a break for a meal.

Hundreds of people are on the stage for Palm Sunday.

 

The Story of Holy Week unfolds with chorus, tableaux of the Old Testament,

and a very moving presentation of Christ’s Last Supper, Death, and Resurrection.

I have experienced the Passion Play four times with groups of people. Most moving experience!

 

Our hotel is in the middle of this Bavarian Mountain Village, walking distance to the theater. Join me and Fr. Bill for the 2010 Passion Play.

 

August 5-14, 2010, co-hosted by Fr. William Burton OFM and Fr. Charles Faso, OFM: a 10 Day alpine Europe Tour, featuring Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany - Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bolzano, Island of Mainau, Lucerne, and the memorable Passion Play Performance. Check our websites: Fr. Bill: www.biblicist.net and Fr. Chuck: www.frchuckofm.org

 

17 Feb 09 Jack Brennan: Sent an article from Commonweal to Tom Shannon about "The Vatican & Artificial Nutrition & Hydration." When we went to press, it was still available: http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2440

 

18 Feb 09 Tom Shannon: sometimes the SJs learn from the OFMs. Jim Walter – not an SJ, and I have been working on this stuff for a while and a few months ago I was officially labeled a dissenter by Bishop Lori, then of the Doctrine Committee. He and Rigali also wrote a special article in America condemning a previous article of mine in there.

Hope the recovery from the surgery is going well. Not much here is the wilderness of PA other than snow and ice but we have not had power failures so life is good. Peace.

 

18 Feb 09 Jack Brennan: I recall that you are a dissenter - what else is new? You sent me that article by Lori and Rigali. And you are right about OFM and SJ stuff.

The older I get the more I appreciate Scotus and William of Occam. Funny how those guys, especially Scotus, were overshadowed by Aquinas. I know you, Wolter and Etzkorn have been trying to turn it around. (Don't tell anyone, but I bought a book that has a synopsis on each of the great philosophers. I thought to myself that I wanted to read Shannon without having to go to the dictionary all the time. )

Not sure what surgery you mean. I recently had cataract surgery and I can't believe how vibrant colors have become. I was living in a drab world and didn't even know it!

Sounds like you will always keep your hand in the ethics world and that is good. Do you think Freud's pleasure principal had anything to do with Aquinas's intellectual appetite theory, that will is driven by human happiness? Sure sounds like it to me. Freud virtually eliminated the possibility of altruistic behavior.

Sorry. I got carried away.

 

19 Feb 09 Tom Shannon: Jack, though I read that you recently had by-pass surgery. [I did in 1991. Tempus fugit. JB] Guess I need eye surgery as well. Though I had the same experience with color when I got contact lenses. The MD said my glasses were cutting out about 20% of the light!

I thought the will was driven by the truth for TA. Scotus has the affection commodi which seeks the good for one's self and the affection justitiae that seek the good of another or the good in itself--which makes altruism possible. And altruism is the big debate in evolution because many argue that genes simply seek replication and then altruism got explained as a gene calculating (how is an interesting question) that its self-destructive behavior will result in the same number of its genes in the gene pool. I have a wonderful article on that if you are interested. But then I too get carried away. [Send the article, we will put it with other wonderful articles on our site. JB]

19 Feb 09 Dan Mazar: Rick Prayson (former St. Joe's student) called to say that Dennis Gustafson died. He was Medard's and Andy's nephew...

 

19 Feb 09 Dan Tanna: Yes, remembered him well! Also in Gordy Hoffman’s class, right? They were high school seniors when we were getting pink bellies as freshies. Nothing but the fondest of memories. Sic transit...

 

And, yes, wasn't Rick P part of that class, or the class below with Kurt Hartrich, Glenn Phillips, etc? I think the latter now that I think about it. Rick is living in Cleveland, OH?

 

Just had lunch with JJ Lakers OFM. One of the unanticipated joys and benefits of moving back to Quincy is lunching weekly with JJ. One week he buys, the other I buy. As he states in his book (I paraphrase of course): “we are all born into this world as pronouns looking for metaphors.” I’ll keep you posted.

 

19 Feb 09 Dick Mayer: Denny was a former friar himself - entered order in 1957, ordained in 1965.

 

[Dick comments on an ATP article about the Province's work with African Americans.] The enclosed note on the Province and the struggle for civil rights reminds me of a couple instances which made me proud of our Province's leadership. You guys probably know the stories better than I, but just to remember:

When Bennett Spivey was ordained, there was concern about sending him out to the neighboring towns where simplex priests ministered on weekends. It was decided to treat Ben no differently than anyone else. As far as I know, there were no issues, though I have no idea what went through Ben's mind.

And of course, there was the summer that Jim, you (Gael) and Mike Mooney spent at Grambling.

[This I heard from Behl - might check with him.] Jim Lyke aroused some controversy in Cleveland during his first year out. I recall spending a little time with him and John at a demonstration there in 1967. Not all the friars thought that was such a good idea. When the archbishop of Cleveland wanted Jim transferred because he was a troublemaker, Fr. Germain replied something like, "Well, you're the boss, but we have ~40 friars in your diocese and, you know, they are all probably troublemakers." That was the end of that. I thought it was poetic justice that Jim went back to Cleveland as auxiliary bishop.

 

The untimely deaths of Ben and Jim were times that caused me to wonder if God really knew what He was doing. Since then I have learned, like Job, to shut my mouth, but hopefully, we'll see it all more clearly in the new heaven and the new earth. Peace.

 

19 Feb 09 Ted Bracco: Yes, I remember him very well. He was one class ahead of me and preached for my first mass.

 

19 Feb 09 Roberto Flores: RIP - I remember him well. Please extend my condolences to the Buvalas.

 

19 Feb 09 Dick Korn: Denny Gustafson is a classmate that was ordained with us, the noble class of '57 of Mayslake. Please send more details.

19 Feb 09 Scott Kuhle: Though sad news, thanks for passing on the news of Dennis' death. Peace and Joy,

23 Feb 09 Frank Hellstern: Thanks for informing us of Dennis’s death; that was very sad to hear.

 

23 Feb 09 Fr. Bob Pahler: I was in the OFM seminary until the end of philosophy. My mother, a widow, got sick and I transferred to my home diocese seminary – Cleveland – where I serve now for 52 years. Now I am retired and helping out part-time at a Cuyahoga Falls church. I was ordained in 1957 - formerly Jerry Etzkorn's class.

 

My main message is to share that Dennis Gustafson died on 2/19 and was buried from Queen of Heaven Catholic Church on 2/21. He was 70 years old so I figure he was ordained a Franciscan priest about 1965, but this is a guess. He definitely served in my boyhood parish, Our Lady of Angels, as a young priest. He later left – got married – had children

 

I presume DD is not mailed out anymore. I never received it by e-mail. If this is done, I would like a copy. Please use my e-mail address: pahler of ihmcfo.org. [We apologize for this, we had an incorrect email address for you. You will receive an email each time we publish a new DD. JB] See Bob's Christmas letter.

 

23 Feb 09 Dick Korn: Dennis was great friend and classmate who was ordained with us in Teutopolis on January 17, 1965. Bill Tushaus and I visited with Denny up in Ashland one summer as we were finishing up at Mayslake and then went on to St. Bonnie's and Niagara Falls. Because his family and mine both had Slovak roots, our mothers, who both grew up speaking Slovak before English, became great friends during our years at Westmont. I remember Denny as a great point guard and shortstop, in imitation of his friar uncles, Gildard and Medard Buvala.

I visited Denny at his home near Canton only once after returning from Brazil and as I was settling in Columbus. I seem to recall my surprise as I spoke with his wife that he didn't want the children to know of his previous life as a friar-priest. He now joins Barney Diekemper and Paul Zoderer as fellow-ordained who intercede for us.

 

Comment at the Blog    and/or   comment for the next DD.

25 Feb 09 Isaac Braun: Writes from Brazil:

Olinda – Brazil

Feb.22, 2009

Dear Gael and All,

         Peace.

         It has been a long time since I wrote last. That was by “snail mail”. Thanks a lot for a copy of the “Happy New Year letter by Jack Brennan 12/31/05”. The Diaspora Digest went to e-mail, and I didn’t want you to go through the bother of sending it by “snail mail”. Now we have internet, though so far only Kaline really knows how to use it. Here in Brazil they say that old parrots don’t learn to talk. However, Socorro at 72 years decided to take computer lessons to help me a bit when I put all our projects, meetings, and other things on the computer. I at 73 years am accompanying her to relearn some things and learn some new things.

         Our e-mail is: ibilbraun of gmail.com.

         Here, thank the Lord, we’re busier than ever. Every once in a while we have to miss a meeting or divide our forces because two or three meetings are marked for the same hour. It was Socorro who taught me that a request for us to help or participate is a sign that God is trusting in us. We continue with the missionaries of the Archdiocese and were asked to participate in the Pastoral of the Family and with a movement called the Encounter of Couples with Christ. We continue with the Legion of Mary, and Socorro is the president of a larger group called the “Curia”. Now we are helping also in three communities with the Holy Childhood, or “children evangelizing children”. I remember we had the Holy Childhood in the country grade school in Nebraska, each class getting together enough dimes to complete $5.00 to “adopt” a child in the foreign missions. Last year Socorro and the Legion of Mary began a School of Faith with a talk or reflection once a month. First we studied the document of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops about the present-day disciples and apostles or missionaries of Christ, fruit of the visit of the Holy Father in Brazil in May of 2007. Now we are studying the letters of St. Paul because of the Year of St. Paul.

         Kaline, who was 19 years old in January, finished high school and began college at the beginning of this month studying publicity and propaganda. Thank the Lord, at the end of January she began working as a sort of sub-manager in a language school, after being out of work since last March. In 2005 she was a star of the show because of a message in English she herself decided to leave at our Braun-German Reunion in Fargo, ND. The Braun-German reunion since 1972 is held every three years.

         Socorro and some other ladies were continuing with the small professional training courses for the women in the poorer communities. The funding for these courses came from the help which the Sisters of Divine Providence here received from their Motherhouse in Germany. However, these Sisters are now leaving from here.

         One of the important happenings in our lives last year was the sickness and death of my brother Jim. On March 1st of 2007, at Mayo Brothers in Rochester, he underwent an operation because of tumors in which they removed his spleen, 40% of his liver, and I don’t know what else. The doctors were amazed at his recovery. In the summer he drove his big trucks and tractors on the farm with his nephew. But, in October more tumors started to appear. In January of last year I was called. I visited with him at home for about two weeks, at times his memory failing. His legs were getting more and more weak; so before I returned to Brazil, he had to go to a special section in St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, MN, where a niece of ours works. In July I was called again, arriving there on the 5th. In the early morn of July 15 he peacefully passed away, I being glad to be with him. May he rest in peace of all the good that he did. Jim never married and would have been 75 seventeen days later on August 1st.

         On Dec. 18 Socorro was operated for gallstones. The doc started the operation by laser, but because of some gallstone crises the bladder moved its position; so they had to revert to a normal operation of 3 1/2 hours. Doc said later that the operation was “very complicated”. Socorro is getting more and more back to normal, thank the Lord.

         Brazil in general is satisfied with Obama’s election, but knows he has a big job. We liked his inaugural speech. Kaline got a copy in Portuguese off the internet. We hope the people will remember Kennedy’s words: “Don’t ask what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country.” Unfortunately, as Obama said, one of the causes of the crisis is that some think too much about getting rich. The world crisis is felt also in Brazil, especially in industry and agriculture.

         This is about enough for now. God bless all of you.

         A big Brazilian hug to all of you,  Isaac, Socorro, Kaline

 

 

25 Feb 09 Jim Sexton: Was the "Gustafson" e-mail you forwarded about Dennis or Bert? I was in Bert's class. We spent a lot of time together at Quincy and T-Town, but lost contact when Leonard threw him out of the novitiate.

 

25 Feb 09 Dan Mazar via John (Hans) Miller: Hans: Dennis was Bert's older brother. He would have been around 70. He was ordained, left the priesthood, married and lived in Cleveland. I only met him once at some friar gathering. I understand that Bert has been living in Sweden since the early 70s. That's about all the info that I can recall.

Hope you are doing ok with the hip and assorted ailments you have been dealing with.

Plenty cold back here. Waiting very much for Spring and warmth.

Little else exciting. Retirement is nice--no having to deal with idiots at work, etc. Best wishes to Sandy. Pax. [It's official now. If Mazar says it, it's true. He is a very reliable historian. JB]

25 Feb 09 Jim Sexton: Then everybody is right. Dennis was Bert's older brother, Medard their uncle and their one and only mother worked in an infirmary as you recalled about Dennis. I doubt I ever met Bert's brother, Dennis. But I knew Medard was Bert's uncle and that his mother worked in the infirmary.

 

Both John Miller and I were Bert's classmates. John is good people.
May Bert's brother rest in peace. I'm relieved Bert is still among us, somewhere and somehow ...

 

25 Feb 09 Jack Brennan: I didn't know Bert, but I vaguely remember Dennis talking about him when we were in theology. John (Hans) Miller sends me something or other about every other week. I doubt I have actually met Hans, but have chatted with him a lot over the last several years. You guys need to get on the blog.

 

25 Feb 09 Al Merz: (From All Friars Info) Dennis Gustafson, nephew of Andy Buvala, died suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday, February 15, at his home in Green, Ohio. The funeral service was at Queen of Heaven Church in Green, Ohio, on Saturday, February 21. He is survived by his wife, Eileen, and son, Zach, and daughter, Bridget.

 

Dennis was a year ahead of me. We became good friends. When I was pastor of St. Joseph's in Cleveland, Dennis left the Franciscans and priesthood, and a few years later got married. I baptized his son and daughter. As the years went by, we lost contact. Then in '07 when his mother, Mary Gustafson, died, I wrote Dennis a letter, and that was followed by a long phone conversation that took off as if we had never lost touch.
 

Dennis had a stroke about ten years ago, but there were no signs of a heart problem.

 

I think a lot of the friars of the province would like to know about Dennis' death.

 

27 Feb 09 Justin Belitz: Check out THE FRANCISCAN HERMITAGE
MESSENGER (WINTER - SPRING 2009) You may download this issue:

http://frjustin-hermitage.org//modules/mydownloads/index.php

 

27 Feb 09 Benet Fonck: The new web site for Sacred Heart Province is live and online. Check it out: www.thefriars.org. Send your comments, corrections, and suggestions to me at fonckbenet of aol.com. Peace!

 

01 Mar 09 Chuck Faso: Hello from Singapore! I departed Chicago on Feb. 27 at noon. We flew north over the Hudson Bay and the North Pole. Continuing the path, we flew over Siberia, Mongolia, China to Hong Kong – 15 hours of flying and four movies and three meals.

 

Siberia and Mongolia were absolutely beautifully blanketed with snow. After two hours in Hong Kong the flight continued for three hours to Singapore. I will be here until March 18, then the flight back to Chicago. Next week I will preach a retreat to the thirty Franciscan Friars of the Singapore Custody. The retreat will in Malaysia.

 

Pray for us on retreat and I will pray for you all. Blessed Lenten Journey to Pesach and Easter. 90 degrees today, 97 percent humidity, and a glorious torrential tropical rain storm this afternoon, and most afternoons. Ah! The green, green hot, rainy tropics.

 

05 Mar 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on the All Friar Info article about Fr. Tom Fox, OFM.] There are at least two points that have to be mentioned regarding illegal immigrants: A nation has a God-given right to make laws regarding immigration; and we as a neighboring nation should lean on countries that have corrupt governments and fail to provide for their own people. People leave their own country because harsh remediable conditions force them to do so.

 

06 Mar 09 Carroll Mizicko: It has been some time since I have communicated with you. I assure you it is not because nothing has been happening here at St. A’s in ESL! We have been busy and again enjoying God’s continuing blessings in so many ways. Each morning as I begin my day with prayer I marvel at how God continues to bless me and my efforts to be his minister and witness. Even when bad things happen I can see, when I pause to reflect, how God has been there with me and has blessed me and others in so many ways.

What has happened since my last communication? In January we held our Annual Observance of the Birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year I was the celebrant and homilist for the occasion. I made the point that as Barack Obama prepared to be installed as the 44th President of the United States, that this certainly was part of the “Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” It is amazing that in just 40 years after the assassination of Dr. King we would have a Black President. It is also amazing that Robert Kennedy even mentioned that possibility before he was assassinated. I encouraged our people to not just sit back and enjoy this moment but to commit ourselves to monitor what is happening in our government and hold our elected officials, President Obama, and others accountable. What has happened so often in the past is that we elected our officials and then let them do whatever they wanted rather than holding them accountable and challenging them on their decisions. We have a great country, but we all need to take more responsibility for its future.

 

February saw us continuing our efforts to serve the many poor in our community. On February 17th we had our quarterly gathering of those involved in outreach ministry for a Mass and pot-luck meal. This month it was held at Vincent Gray Alternative School which provides a quality education for those who have dropped or been forced out of the public school system. We usually have 30 to 40 people present, many of whom have been working in East St. Louis for ten or more years trying to make a difference in people’s lives. We are blessed with many very dedicated and committed people who don’t receive a lot of recognition but are making a difference in many lives, one at a time.

 

One of the high lights of our recent past certainly was our Annual Revival which this year was preached by our own Fr. Ferd Cheri, OFM. The Revival began on Ash Wednesday, February 25th with the theme of “We are called to be a Covenant People.” The theme of the first night was “Ashy but Clean” which included the rite of being signed with Ashes. The second night on Thursday had the theme of “Seven Ducks in Muddy Water” which worked off of 2nd Kings and the story of Nahum. Friday night’s theme was “Do Whatever You Like,” based on a current Rap CD. It certainly got the young people’s interest. Attendance each night was very good and I have only heard positive comments about the Revival.

 

On March 1st we held our annual Soul Food Pot-Luck after Mass to celebrate both the end of Black History Month and our 3rd Anniversary as St. Augustine Parish. We were officially established on March 5, 2006. It doesn’t seem like it has been three years but we have come “a mighty long way.” I had a private meeting with our Bishop about how things were going in the Parish after three years. It was a very pastoral meeting at which he listened very attentively to my sharing of my perceptions of the parish. Our Bishop, while he certainly has his faults, also has his positive qualities.

 

Sr. Thea Bowman School continues to do amazing things with our young people. Today at our weekly Mass some of our sixth graders shared their research on more recent Martyrs in the Church including the Sisters from Ruma, IL (Adorers of the Blood of Christ) who were killed in Liberia in 1992 and a Daughter of Charity killed in Brazil. We celebrated the feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, two young African women, Felicity being seven months pregnant, who died rather than deny their belief in Jesus Christ around the year 203. I made the point that martyrs still occur in our world today when people are killed because they are trying to help people in the name of Jesus Christ. Their example is a call to each of us to be strong in our faith and commitment to living as a Christian even when we suffer criticism and hardship.

 

Future plans call for us to send at least one bus to New Orleans in June for the Archbishop James Lyke Liturgical Conference and a delegation of 15-20 Parishioners to the priesthood ordination of Br. Antony Jukes, OFM who spent three months with us last fall. We are also looking at a trip to our friends in Memphis this fall.

 

Frs. Ferd and Chris continue to do well. Fr. Ferd is doing a lot of traveling with his new position with the Province and we do miss him but enjoy the times when he is with us. Fr. Chris continues his ministry to the prisons and enriches us with his many stories from his experiences.

 

Life continues to go well here in East St. Louis. The national and world economy is a concern for all of us and we have seen a tremendous increase in the numbers of people seeking help from Catholic Urban Programs in ESL. However, there is the positive side as it calls us to reconsider our priorities and perhaps make some changes in our life style. While we struggle to make ends meet, we are still a very blessed and fortunate country.

 

May you have a very blessed Lent and a fabulous Easter. Keep in touch! I always love to open an E-mail or receive a letter from you! Check out our Parish Web Site: staugustineeaststlouis.com

 

08 Mar 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on All Friars Info article on eco event in Brazil.] While we must respect the earth that God gave us, we also know God made us and our plants and animals to inhabit the earth and make us and the environment survivable. Let honest science help us and not be panicked by unconfirmed studies.

 

12 Mar 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on article in ATP about Peace and Justice.] Is a sanctuary city legal? The civil government is a lawmaker by divine rights. Are laws regarding immigration legal and just? Also civil government has a right to mandate the death penalty although it might not be timely. And let's not skip over a person's "orientation" to homosexuality. We are all "oriented" to sin but there are natural and supernatural remedies given to us by God. We don't condemn sinners but we assist them to change.

 

13 Mar 09 Ernie Fresques: Just did a Web search for my e-mail address and came across Diaspora Digest, reference to #40.

 

I'm still in Phoenix, Arizona, since 1961. Please send me the latest issue. I'd like very much to be in touch with my friends from our days at St. Joe's. Thank you. Peace to you. musicman85008 of yahoo.com [Here is Ernie’s prayer:]

 

Keep Me Faithful

 January 11, 2007

 

Father of Jesus, my Lord and my Savior,

Keep me faithful to you today,

In all I think,

In all I do,

In all I say.

 

And in each one you send to me,

Let me see their dignity.

Let me listen with respect,

Each one’s your value I shan’t neglect.

Each person’s someone you did make,

Have mercy on all for Jesus’ sake.

 

You are wise, be my wisdom;

You are strong, be my strength.

I tend to drift away from you,

Keep me faithful, keep me true.

 

Compliments of Ernie Fresques,

LU LA ‘59, ILT ‘61, SJU ‘67

musicman85008 of msn.com

 

 

13 Mar 09 Gael Stahl: I am so glad you wrote, Ernie. You left me a message at least a year ago on the phone. I have trouble hearing messages that are spoken rapidly and I could not get that phone number correctly. So, before I forget it again, write down for me in a reply your phone number and address. I spent so much time trying to locate you by White Pages and Google, etc. and wasn't sure which city or state you were in so I couldn't pinpoint my search.
 

Jack Brennan and I are classmates and left St. Joe's for novitiate in 1959. I remember you well. I believe I sang in our SATB choir there with you. I was a soprano, then alto, then tenor. In novitiate I was a baritone.

 

13 Mar 09 Jack Brennan: Good to hear from you, Ernie. The reason we lost touch was because we have not had your correct email address.

 

We do not send out the Digest in hard copy any longer. We do publish each edition on the internet and we notify everyone on our email roster when each issue is put up on the internet. You may go to our website http://www.diasporadigest.org/ anytime and find the latest DD and most of the previous editions. You will also find a link to our blog where you may write a note to all the folks who sign up for the blog. Joining is free and I see you already are a Yahoo subscriber, so you may use your email address and password to get on the site and join the group: https://login.yahoo.com

 

We are trying to keep hackers and robots from getting our email and snail mail addresses and spamming us. So if you want to check the email address book and/or the street address book, you need the password to get on both: zeke66.

 

I just missed you since I started at St. Joe's in 56. You probably remember Dennis Gustafson who died just last month. If you go to our blog, you will see a few notes there about him and more in our next DD.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us here again. Pax et bonum.

 

13 Mar 09 Tony Lutz: I am surprised that Fr. Jack Sweeney, O.F.M. would be allowed to ask for cremation. Burial of the body recognizes the teaching of Christ about the resurrection of the body. What better than to preach a sermon in death! Requiescat in pace!

 

Comment at the Blog    and/or   comment for the next DD.

 

24 Mar 09 Gary Forrester: Can you tell me what's become of Julian Woods? I knew him in Quincy in the 1950s when he was president of Quincy College. Thanks! [Bro. Jack Hardesty is working on this for us. I will let you know when I hear anything. JB]

 

Gary Forrester (in New Zealand) <forrester.gary of gmail.com>

 

25 Mar 09 DD Editors: This is the latest we have on Julian: Woods, Julian and Winifred Tina, (rip: Patricia) (1937) 615/361-9767, 2957 Brantley Dr., Antioch TN 37013

 

This is our most recent note from him (Diaspora Digest # 30): 20 Dec 99 Julian Woods [His envelope indicates a new address in southeast Nashville: 2957 Brantley Dr., Antioch TN 37013 - GS]

 

25 Mar 09 Gary Forrester: Thank you very much. Actually, I had tried that telephone number earlier in the week, but got a recorded message saying that it had been disconnected. This caused me to worry that Julian might have passed away. I note that your last note from him was over ten years ago, and he would be in his nineties now. I wonder if there is any way of learning more? Tina, of course, would only be in her forties. If you or Gael have any "lateral thinking" approaches to locating Julian, that would be much appreciated.

 

Hope this finds you in good health and happy circumstances. I do thoroughly enjoy Diaspora. Many thanks. I believe I mentioned that my current project is helping a friend from Sierra Leone, West Africa, attain citizenship for herself and four of her five daughters. It takes over three years. With you in Spirit. [Success in your good work - and thanks for the thoughtful check. GS]

 

25 Mar 09 Francis Roetheli: This is just to advise you that I have changed my e-mail service. My new e-mail address is froetheli of viacabo.com.br instead of the froetheli of uol.com.br it used to be. From now please use the new e-mail address.

 

The end of this month it will be two months that I am fully retired. Actually I retired in March of 2008, but I continued working in the company I was with till January 31st of this year, to give them time to find someone to replace me and for me to train that person. The best part of it was that I was able to end my job with the company on January 31st. The past few years were very difficult due to the excessive workload and other changes in the administration of the company that made the job even harder. I just had to get out of there as I was not able to carry the load any longer.

 

Since the end of January I have been home enjoying life. My wife and I are now able to take 40 to 50 minute walks about 3 times a week, participate in special exercise sessions twice a week and in swimming therapy one a week. We enrolled in a Scripture course for this semester and we are studying the Acts of the Apostles and Saint Paul's Letters. There were other theology courses available but we decided to take only the Scripture Courses. There are many things to be done here around the house and I am just trying to get used to being home 24 hours a day with my wife and 3 boys.

 

I just want to thank you for the service of the Diaspora Digest sending out the ATP and other new bulletins. I appreciate this service very much. Thanks and Regards.

 

25 Mar 09 Tony Lutz: Those ATP postings are valuable. I read all of them and pray for all who need prayer. Thanks so much for your continuing efforts.

 

31 Mar 09 Cullan Uhlinger: After today, my new email address will be: cullanu of roadrunner.com Please update your address book as adelphia is being shut down.

01 Apr 09 Vince Zimmerman to Jack Brennan: Hope spring has come your way. As far as the IC newsletter, I might try it. I went to theology with several of their guys in Brazil. It's a long shot.

 

Someday I want to go see your neck of the woods. But don't hold your breath. We have three Korean high school students staying with us to learn English, so we're tied down all during the school year. Only one full month left! I thought I was finished with school. Peace. [I will not hold my breath, but you are always welcome to the Great Northwest and my home. JB]

 

01 Apr 09 Fr. Bob Pahler: Hello---will you be sending out the Diaspora Digest every so often? If so, I will watch for it. [You are reading it now. JB]

 

01 Apr 09 Tony Lutz: Can someone tell me where and when did cremation come into the lives of the crucified and buried Christ the Redeemer? Until the plague arrives we should stick with Christian burial in the earth from which we came.

 

02 Apr 09 Jack Hardesty: Haven't forgotten you. I wrote to a couple of people and asked about Julian Woods but have not heard anything yet. [Gary Forrester, please note. JB]

 

04 Apr 09 Ken Dobucki: [Requesting delivery of the Immaculate Conception Newsletter.] Sure, why not. It has been good to be enlightened on the activities going on through their efforts... stay well...

 

05 Apr 09 Friar Paul Meyers: Do you receive the newsletter from the [St Louis] Province of the Sacred Heart? Or newsletter from "Mayslake" [former location of St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary?] Toward Our Risen Christ. [You should be receiving the two newsletters put out by the Sacred Heart Province: Around the Province and All Friars Info. St. Joseph’s has been closed for many years, but through the efforts of Jack Bartz, we have a collection of articles about the ups and downs of the Mayslake properties after the Franciscans sold them. Check them out here: http://www.diasporadigest.org/articles/mayslakeupdates.html JB]

 

17 Apr 09 Jack Brennan: Photo of Jerry Klein and me. Jerry visited me for a whole weekend. We went golfing and solved most of the ancient philosophical questions. Kuhle was there for an afternoon to keep us on track. Jerry visited Gael Stahl on his way back to Florida.  [Photo: I am the fat guy on the left. JB]

 

21 Apr 09 Chris Reuter: Dear Gael (et alibi aliorum plurimorum sanctorum):

 

You must read "Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life" by Paul Mariani (Viking, 2008)--if only because we are among the survivors of Placid Hermann's ACC, where we were introduced to GMH's "Windhover". This biography is broadly chronological, but more a chronicle of Hopkins' mind and soul. It is full of generous poetry citations, and it relies heavily on his correspondence with his poet-friend Robert Bridges.

 

Reading these exchanges, I found myself frequently reminded of those in DD over the years. Hopkins had deep relationships with family, friends and fellow religious. They engaged in dialogue over all the burning issues of that day: the British Empire and its fading colonialism, the Home Rule "troubles" in Ireland, the Industrial Revolution and its ecological fallout, to name several. His conversion from Anglicanism and his friendship with John Henry Newman are also well annotated. Their writings to one another, like ours, ranged from the brilliant to the banal.

 

I was particularly intrigued by the "Franciscan" character of Hopkins the Jesuit, and I noted at least a dozen references to Duns Scotus. I can't remember if Placid ever raised the point, but Hopkins was quite taken with "haecceitas" as the basis for his poetic innovations--sprung rhythm, inscape and instress. He was well grounded in Christology and ecclesiology, and regarded the faithless individuality of Walt Whitman as "barbaric".

 

With all of that, however, Hopkins was a troubled soul. He suffered regular bouts of physical weakness and mental depression. He experienced feelings of inferiority, doubt and rejection--to the point of allowing almost no publication of his poems during his lifetime. His Jesuit confreres never quite figured out how to absorb this eccentric they had in their community. This, sadly, might be said of many religious institutes.

 

I confess that I'm a better DD reader than I am a contributor. I thought I'd send along this book recommendation as a way to elevate the great conversation that you have fostered these many years. It seemed like the "Easter" thing to do.

 

21 Apr 09 Tony Lutz: I am shocked that Fr. Jack Sweeney, O.F.M lived to only 59yrs. We have to ask ourselves: Are the Friars leading healthy lives: moderate eating, plenty of physical exercise, an active intellectual life, enough hours of sleep and a vigorous spiritual life of prayer, meditation, and spiritual reading? Observe the 5th commandment fully and cultivate humor! We can all lead healthier lives!

 

25 Apr 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on Bro. David Schulte’s illness.] In a health situation like this the best treatment is Confession, Viaticum, Anointing of the Sick, and a deathbed plenary indulgence with the apostolic blessing. Christ, the Healer, works on body and soul. Use His help soonest!

 

29 Apr 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on the Franciscan Action Network article in All Friars Info.] Climate change is very controversial subject. Why jump on the bandwagon now? We Catholics all agree that we should practice frugality, cleanliness, and consideration of others but we don't agree on digging for oil, present tax laws, government taking over the charities of churches and charitable groups etc. etc. Getting out on a limb does not honor common sense and Franciscanism.

 

30 Apr 09 Jim Martorana: I apologize for not updating you on a new email address last summer (08). New address is: anarotram of verizon.net

I don't know that I have ever seen anyone post here who was at St. Joe's in my years of 1961 to 1964. However, I still enjoy the connection. Maybe some of them are mostly lurkers like me! Keep up the good work.

 

 

02 May 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on Fr. Pio Jackson's remarks at the Justice Peace Integrity of Creation conference in Rome.] A proper follower of Jesus naturally respects His creation. Priorities, however, must be given to the sanctity and fruitfulness of marriage, the preservation of life in the womb, and the integrity of the marriage bond. Priests must preach the preservation of the marriage bond and all the commandments. I never hear sermons on the commandments. That skews the gospel message and is really heresy because Christ is not fully preached.

 

05 May 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on Fr. Frank Coens remarks from the Chapter of Mats in Rome.] The religious habit tells a story. Its use is the best advertisement for vocations. Of course the holiness of the person inside the habit is of prime importance. Regarding retreats, I would recommend Fr. John Corapi be invited to give some. He is fearless, preaches the Gospel when and where it gets very personal. You don't want to hear the easy, marshmallow kind but the one that makes demands and will get you to Heaven. The universality mentioned about the Catholic Church is very important. There is only one true Church that preaches the one same gospel as given us by Tradition and the Church. The Gospel does not need updating but the listeners need to hear the 2,000-year Gospel fearlessly preached.

 

09 May 09 Chris Reuter: I am happily stationed across the river in East St. Louis, where I've been in prison ministry the past seven years.

 

Beginning in July, I will be taking over the Office of Friar Life on Meramec Street. But it will be part time and I will be a commuter bureaucrat. I told Mike Perry, new Provincial, that I'm too old for a Monday-thru-Friday desk job and that I wanted to stay in prison work on a reduced scale. Somewhere along the line I got it all screwed up; everybody else my age is playing golf and going on cruises.

 

Mooney called to tell me Gael had some serious health problems. I called after a few days, and he seemed to be making a good recovery, and I'm glad you reached him as well. And thanks for the photo of you and Jerry. Why do some of us get old and fat and others not? We had a great reunion at Mooney's last year and were sorry you couldn't be there. Carroll Mizicko (who lives with me) and I still remember the good time we had at Spokane, whatever year that was. Do you realize that it's been exactly 50 years since we entered novitiate in 1959. I will not forget three hours of drinking at Brownie's and then stumbling across the street into the arms of Alban Schwarz. [Another party I was too late to attend. JB]

 

10 May 09 Frs. Bill Burton and Chuck Faso: The brochure for our Holy Land Pilgrimage for November 27-December 6, 2009 is ready! Let’s go to Israel and Palestine!

 

This will be my 28th trip to the Holy Land! Fr Bill Burton has his PhD in Bible Studies, is an excellent teacher, and has been to the Holy Land several times.

 

Any questions, call me at 773-276-3386! Let others know of this blessed opportunity.

 

15 May 09 Jack Brennan: [Commenting on Fr. Mike Perry's remarks about Br. Jack Hardesty in the All Friars Info newsletter.] We - Gael Stahl and I - second the notion that Jack is an unsung hero. Were it not for him, the Diaspora Digest would not have made it to the Internet. He not only designed the web pages, but he negotiated with the powers of Quincy College to keep us on their web site until we could get on our own. Since then he has remained our go-to-guy when we need to find someone. Thank you so much for everything, Jack.

 

18 May 09 Bob Pawell: I want to update you on my latest medical adventures. I had let you know that I was due for thoracic VATS wedge surgery to remove 3 nodules discovered by a CT scan on my lung. The surgery was designed to rule out metastasis. Fr. Johnpaul brought me to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for pre-surgery check in early in the morning on May 7th. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and went as I had expected; I had a similar procedure four years ago. So I went into the experience cool and collected, and deeply aware of your loving prayerful support. After the surgery the doctor visited me. I mentioned how I had prayed for him and had many others doing the same. He showed me a battered holy card in his scrub shirt pocket – an image of Christ at a surgeon’s side in an operation theater. In the same pocket he has a small beautiful crucifix. These signs as well as his attitude gave me hope that the biopsies on the nodules would be negative.

 

On Saturday, May 9th I was released from the hospital. Saturday evening went well as did Sunday morning and afternoon. I retired early Sunday evening but was awakened with a fever, pain and shortness of breath. At midnight I asked Fr. Johnpaul to take me to the emergency room of the hospital. . I would be in the emergency room until 5:00 am while a raft of doctors and nurses began IV’s in my arm, pills and injections. There was some good news on that night – the nodules were NOT cancerous. The bad news was that I had pneumonia as well as atrial fibrillation. I was transferred to a room in the hospital and would remain there until late Friday afternoon. At the time of the release most of the pneumonia was out of my system and was rendered treatable – I am on an antibiotic schedule. I have also begun to take coumadin – both orally as well as by self-administered injection; the self-injection will go on for the next four days.

 

I am a bit frail – post surgical therapy demands that I exercise my lungs in a variety of ways – using a deep breathing devise and coughing. I am encouraged to walk as much as I am able without stressing my self and have a variety of appointments with the doctors at Northwestern. Thankfully, Fr. Bill Spencer has taken me off the schedule for the rest of the month of May. Hopefully Memorial Day will be memorable with a return of energy.

 

The warm weather has returned to Chicago. This morning I made my morning mediation on our deck gazing at our friary garden which is quite spectacular. The tulips are ending their display, the peonies are getting ready and the buds on my tree peony are beginning to open. The irises are doing their thing. I think the garden is better medication than the pile of pills I have to ingest morning, noon and night.

 

To end this somewhat heavy news brief here is a happy thought and an invitation. On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June 19th I shall con-celebrate, with my classmate Fr. Christian Reuter, our Golden Jubilee as Franciscans at a midday (12:15) Mass at St. Peter’s in the Loop .The past fifty years of life in the family of St. Francis together with loving brothers has been the greatest grace of my life. If you are free that day I would love to have you join me as I renew my vows within the eucharistic celebration. After the Mass some refreshments will be served and we will have an opportunity visit.

Last week a Eucharistic minister from Holy Name Cathedral, a Franciscan sister brought me Holy Communion and gave me a booklet of prayers prepared by the cathedral. Going through the little booklet I was blown away by this simple prayer of the late Thomas Merton, one of my spiritual heroes and mentors.

 

God of love,
I am not always fond of your love given in trials, but I know your face is there.
I seek your will in my life even though, at times, I may hesitate
in my willingness to undergo darkness and pain
that you may use to wean me from my own designs.

        

 

Thank you for you loving, prayerful support. I shall need that to fact the prospect of hormone therapy and radiation, which are planned as well to completely knock out any cancer, cells which may be hiding in my body.

 

May the Lord give you peace and every good!

 

19 May 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on Fr. Al Merz's remarks in the ATP on the Franciscan Peace Center.] I think the greatest way for a priest to spread peace is to be holy, preach great sermons, write articles defending the faith, hear confessions every day if possible, learn to be a great spiritual director, and be most devout in offering the Sacrifice of the Mass.

 

24 May 09 Carroll Mizicko Greetings from 408 Columbia Place in East St. Louis! I hope that your spring has been enjoyable. We have had quite a bit of rain but the real bad storms have gone either north or south of us so far. We are grateful that we have been spared but our hearts and prayers go out to those who have felt the destructive forces of nature which are so unpredictable. I hope that you have been spared any major damage or problems.

 

Since my last newsletter we have celebrated Holy Week and Easter. I was pleased with the attendance although you always hope for more, as the services are so powerful and meaningful. I invited Fr. Ferd to be the celebrant for the Holy Thursday service and Fr. Chris for the Good Friday service. I think it is good for the people to experience another voice and style of celebration once in a while. At our Easter Vigil we welcomed eleven new members into our Church family. That is the largest number we have had since our establishment as a Church. The Mass on Easter was followed by our traditional Easter Egg Hunt for our younger children. They looked great with many of them decked out in their Easter Finery.

 

Our Community Youth Gospel Choir sang in concert on April 5th under the direction of Fr. Ferd. They were absolutely awesome. It is so good seeing young people sing praise to the Lord with such enthusiasm and energy. Fr. Ferd has a special gift for working with youth and getting them to use and share their gift of music. We had a Church full to hear and support our young people. Over $ 1,100 was raised through ticket sales and a free will offering.

 

Our last monthly Catechetical Day was held on Saturday, April 18th. Holding our religious education program once a month on a Saturday from 1-4 p.m. seems to work the best for us in terms of numbers and consistency of attendance. Each day ends with a special Children’s Liturgy which allows us to gear the Mass directly for our children. We are very blessed with a dedicated DRE in Diane Sonneman and faithful catechists and aides.

 

Bishop Braxton made a formal visit to St. Augustine on April 19th to meet with leadership from the parish. It has been three years since St. Augustine was formally established and he wanted to talk with people about how they saw the parish progressing both in terms of successes and challenges. The meeting went okay but I was disappointed that the bishop did not engage in more conversation with the parishioners. He spoke from a lectern and followed his prepared agenda. Our people did, however, manage to convey that they were happy with the way the parish was going and were proud of what they have done in bringing the four parishes into a cohesive new entity. Some were very strong in expressing their thoughts and feelings.

 

Sister Thea Bowman School held its annual Spring Concert on April 26th. The school is doing an exceptional job in preparing children from this community to be leaders in the future.

 

Other events at the parish have been First Communion on May 3rd, Mothers Day with breakfast prepared by men of the parish on May 10, Sister Thea Bowman graduation on May 15th and Confirmation with St. Stephen and Holy Trinity Parishes on May 18th. Life is indeed full and going well in East St. Louis.

 

My involvement with Metro East Interfaith Partnership continues to be very rewarding. We have concluded another Book Discussion and are in the process of making plans for the fall, which include our Festival of Faith and Cultures at the Shrine, an Interfaith Bus Tour, another Book Discussion and a new venture of promoting acceptance and appreciation through Interfaith Story Telling. This last effort is very exciting as it holds the possibility of more inter-generational participation.

 

June is going to be a very busy month. We recognize our graduates and retirees on June 7th. I will be attending my cousin Fr. Don Gross’s 50th Anniversary of Ordination in Fowler, Indiana on June 14th. June 17-21 some 60 people from the parish will attend the Archbishop Lyke Conference in New Orleans. On June 18th I will be flying to Philadelphia for my Grandniece’s wedding in New Jersey on the 20th. She is John and Karen Piehl’s daughter. Finally on June 24th, Ferd, Chris and I fly to London for Brother Antony Jukes’ priesthood ordination. He is the friar from England who spent three months with us last fall as part of his Deaconate formation.

 

Our local Franciscan community is preparing for some major adjustments. With Ferd’s new job in the Province Vocation Office and Chris’s new job in the Province Office of Friar Life, we are in the process of seeing how that affects our community life with all of the travel that will necessarily be involved. In addition we will also welcome a Friar in Formation, Rommel Perez Flores, to East St. Louis who will be spending a year with us. He will be living at the Friary and working in the Parish and with Fr. Pio Jackson in the Peace and Justice Office. We also will welcome a young African American man, Troy Kelley, who will be discerning possibly joining the Franciscans. He will be living with me in the rectory.

 

Everything is alive and well and on the move in East St. Louis. I am hoping to arrange to do some visiting over the summer but do not have any definite plans yet. In the mean time, keep in touch and keep me and our work in East St. Louis and the Diocese of Belleville in your prayers. Perhaps the next time you see me you will see a “new me!” (That should give you something to think about.)

 

Peace and everything that is good!

 

25 May 09 Tony Lutz [Commenting on Fr. Ken's journal about his Flex Mission in Vietnam.]

Dear Fr. Ken: I enjoyed your story of your stay in Vietnam. The end story must be the conversion of the Vietnamese and government people to Christ. The people have suffered so much from the atheist government. It has tried to force people to think its way through reeducation camps and have nearly obliterated the Montagnards in the highlands. A Vietnamese patriot, Fr.Andrew Phan Thanh Van, is buried in Australia, and not next to his parents in Vietnam, because he wrote against the Communists. He was in Paris for an operation when Saigon fell. I first knew him as a South Vietnam Army Chaplain and visited him in Paris and in Australia. In 2008 I saw priests walking the streets of Saigon in cassocks.

 

28 May 09 Dan Mazar: I spent last week bringing sweetness and light to the darkest parts of central Illinois. I visited Quincy and stayed with Dan and Sharon Tanna. We retrieved JJ Lakers and had lunch with him. He is not in the best of health but still thinking and writing. He was very gracious and took it easy on the slower students. I think he has pity on the old jocks from the clericate.

Later in the week, I went to Springfield to visit a classmate, Ken Dobucki, who is retired there. He and I made an escape from the geezer stalag at Sherman with Zachary Hayes and had him to dinner (Spielabend or conveniat). Zach is celebrating his golden jubilee of ordination this year. Ken and I are celebrating the 50th anniversary of our entering Westmont in 1959. (You Sox fans will note that the Sox won the pennant that year. Alas, the Cubs are still waiting and whining.)

We returned Zach to the stalag in good order. Only one alarm went off but no searchlights. I think the evening was a success.

Another classmate, Steve Robbins, stopped by the old novitiate on his way to Kentucky. He was surprised to see that the walls were down. The museum was closed so he could not inspect his "cubiculum." I think he wanted to see if the Discipline was still hanging on the back of the door!!

Hope you all are healthy or recuperating nicely.

We await Spring here. Today is very much like September – cloudy and a breeze off the lake. PAX.

 

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29 May 09 Tony Lutz: [Commenting on Fr. Pio’s writing about ecology.] I’ve been taught to be frugal by my Dad: "Waste not, want not!" My city demands recycling. However, a number of countries don't recognize the 5 Freedoms our Creator gave us - right to life, Freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly. We can do more to tame our floods, and build houses to withstand hurricanes and tornados. We can build modern hot houses to grow much more food etc.
 

06 Jun 09 Ralph Adams: Robert Frost (I think) wrote that you can't go home again.  He was not entirely correct.  While surfing the net, I seem to have stumbled in the back door of the old homestead.

 

I would love to avail myself of the opportunity to reconnect with so many confreres.  Unfortunately, I'm in the Michigan woods (the ultimate diaspora), condemned to a geriatric computer and a dial-up connection.  Just scanning the current DD has been a tedious and time-consuming process.  My bicoastal lifestyle (both sides of Lake Michigan) will return me to Chicago (and a horde of people demanding my immediate attention) on Monday night or Tuesday. Hopefully I can resume communication soon (within a week or two) in something approximating real time.

 

In the interim, my brief perusal of DD has moved me to put forward a couple of observations that I would ask you to be so kind as to forward specifically to the people to whom they're directed.

 

To Jim Sexton:  It does not appear to me that you're all being sent to hell - just me and my partner.

To Hans (John Miller):  It saddens me to hear that you've been ill.  I hope you're feeling better.  When opportunity presents, there's a story I'd like to share with you.  It's about the JB you gave me nearly forty years ago.

 

I've missed you guys.

 

09 Jun 09 John (Hans) Miller: Ralph was my classmate in novitiate.  He was a character.  While Leonard was teaching us "Franciscanism," Ralph was drawing cartoons and making me laugh.  He was very good at it, and Leonard probably thought I was laughing at him.  The "JB" he refers to, I think, is the Jerusalem Bible I gave him.  I haven't heard from him or about him since leaving novitiate.  Amazing. . .  This is the second classmate I never expected I would ever hear from again.

 

06 Jun 09 Ernie Fresques: Gael, Thank you for the most interesting report on the OFM election!

 

It reminded me of so many friends we had so many years ago. For me,

that was from September 1953 through May 1956. You were among them.

I do appreciate the training we received in choral singing.

 

A while ago I took a look at my article on the Web. I noticed it has a different

photo of me than the one posted before. Take a look. At the time, I was only

32 years young. That was 42 years ago!

 

Go to bereanbeacon.org. Click on "Testimonies," and then on "Ernest Fresques."

 

Peace to you and Jack and your families.

 

Where do you live? I've been in Phoenix, Arizona since 1961.

If you would both give me your USPS addresses, I'd like to send you each a copy of my revised article, "The Meaning of Our Lives."  Your friend.

 

09 Jun 09 Tony Lutz: Let Willi (Hegener) know that we are praying him into Heaven.

We greet the new Vicar General (Fr. Michael Perry) with "era lebe hoch!"

 

The Last Words: 3 Jun 09 Gael Stahl: Jack Brennan suggests that I should cough up some details as to how I survived a reminder that Inevitable Death can strike earlier than expected.

 

Maybe it started about three or four years ago when I learned I was a sudden and unexpected Type 1 diabetic. In January 2006, I lost 20 lbs. in 20 days (from about 205 to 185) and began losing eyesight over a weekend. Insulin and a more careful diet rectified that. But I kept losing weight gradually and during most of 2008 I was in the 165 lb. range.

 

In early 2009, I found I was eating lots but losing it all due to pernicious diarrhea so that I was not absorbing enough nutriment to require use of insulin, I was tiring and avoiding my daily hour fast walk with my dogs and/or 30 minute swim at the YMCA. I was even taking naps rather than finish a writing assignment.

 

On March 30, I joined my seniors’ softball league team for the season’s first workout and found after fielding a few balls or batting tired me so much I had to lie down on a dugout bench. And it dawned on me, finally, that at the Y the week before, I weighed in at 138 and had gone down through the 140s and 150s, losing nearly 30 lbs. in a short time. But I felt pretty strong.

 

Well, Susan, took action. She used her three sick days she gets for teaching K-4 students with special learning problems from early August through May, and took me to the doctor. The nurses could find no pulse. The doc sent me to the emergency ward, and two hours later I was in ICU. I remember nothing after getting to the doctor’s office. The fog lifted about the third day. Susan says I just sat there with my head on my chest like the patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and, Susan says, I winked at my many visitors whom I don’t remember, smiled, and hung my head again. Totally out of it. The doctor told Susan and me that she’d got me to him just “in the nick of time.” Duh! I had no idea. What do you mean no softball!

 

After six days I left ICU and got a room of my own and 10 days later was released on April 17. The doctors said it was a case for the history books. I was tested for everything conceivable, then tested again by a team of four specialists my GP had put together. They never found anything wrong “that we can work on.” They figured my pancreas had shut down, but with insulin and digestive enzymes, I didn’t need a pancreas, and I was doing fine managing my diabetes. So they had to be satisfied with stabilizing my symptoms, re-hydrated me with a drip back up to 178 lbs. when I left them April 17. Armed with 13 prescriptions to fill and a diet consisting of no alcohol, no lactose, and no more than 50 grams of fat a day. 

 

During my 18 days in the hospital, I was reinforced with phone calls (daily from the Mooneys for a month and still going) from visits (the Mooneys camped out at the hospital and with Susan at home to help her out, too, for nearly a week). Many classmates called. Jerry Klein had been visiting Jack Brennan in Spokane. Jerry visited me at home for two days on his way back home to Jacksonville, Fla.

 

By May 9, the original symptoms were under control again, and the lower body swelling caused by a conflict between two of my prescriptions, abating and as I write June 3, I’ve been walking for 12 days, swimming again, and even did a little running (well, trotting) yesterday.

 

The doctors still have no clue as to the cause and except for my triple diet, have only forbidden me to ever again eat veggies grown in foreign soil (I was in Mongolia for most of September but I think that’s being xenophobic since our food comes from all over the world). I still see my doctors a lot, and I still insist as I have from the beginning, that my drinking career had to have had something to do with it. They don’t think so, and I continue to do every single thing they tell me – for now, since they saved my life.

 

Sorry for this long “old guys sick report.” I had not intended to write it, but brother Jack, Ternan, Terry, Ternst Brennan put me under ‘suggestive holy obedience’ and I’ve always respected my editors most highly. They cover a writer’s back better than his guardian angel.

 

Seriously, I appreciate the loving calls, visits, emails, etc. from those who were alerted. You guys are truly family in the best sense of the term. ~Gael Zeke Ernest, Ernst, Ernie Stahl

 

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