DD20 - Dates in parentheses refer to first profession

Dear on-liners.
You are receiving — in segments — the much less edited version of Diaspora Digest 20. For those of you I found through the Provincial email address list, we are the fringe friars who have been in contact since about 1981. The mailing list is over 300 strong now but a bunch of them are active friars who have asked to be included on our mailing. It is edited by me, Gael Stahl, profession class of 1960 (started novitiate in 1959. Pius Barth said our class brought the friar strength to 815 member. Something like that).

Let me know if you aren't interested in receiving this. I don't mean to intrude with such a huge mailing.The snail mail is drastically edited to 12 sides of 6 pages and goes out under a 32-cent stamp.

To all of you, I just want to say I have gloried in the vast input from the diaspora and active friars, and am experimenting in sending out this unedited version. It may not happen again. Let me know if you prefer more editing, less output here. I've been online a few months and may be overdoing it here.

Greetings: [Some material was leftover in September. It didn’t make DD19. That issue’s final entry was this: 17 Aug 96: I talked with Bill Stachura (1964). “His health holds steady, and he flies out to Nebraska today in his brother’s company plane to join Carol who went earlier.” He told funny stories about Cowboy Mazar (1966) missing - by a day - the diaspora gathering when Bill’s son Mike graduated and missing a party two weeks earlier for Steve Laslo’s (1965) daughter’s. The Zangs (1964) came through for a visit a month ago. - The De-Scattered Brethren reuniting. -- What I didn’t say was Bill wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, and that it could get worse. He made me promise not to make a big deal about his health in the September issue. He may have known we’d next be reunited at his death.] - Here’s where DD19 left off.

19 Aug 96: Lawrence Jagdfeld (1968) sent me his and Bob Pawell’s address: Holy Evangelists Friary, 4513 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60640-5401, (312)878-3723. The new definitors are Herb Rempe, (4th term) Tom Nairn, (3rd term), Art Anderson, (2nd term), and first-termers John Eaton, Michael Cusato, and Louis Davino. Kurt Hartrich & John Doctor continue as provincial and vice at the Mutterhaus. Tom Nairn is at 5495 Hyde Park Blvd, Chicago IL 60615-5810 near CTU. Herb Rempe’s new address is: St. Gratian Friary, 5536 Englewood Ave., Countryside, IL 60525.

1 Sept 96 Jack Brennan (1960) who had just helped me proofread DD19: Zeke, you are pretty amazing to do all that typing and to do it so well, spell checker not withstanding. We need a glossary for all the acronyms. [I don’t know what you’re talking about. You do it.] I was at times so taken by the stories that I wonder if I missed any errors. I didn’t actually cut anything or summarize. But I appreciate the concerns about the pure bulk of it. The only way to preserve the high quality of the DD is to do it the way you are doing it.

The world is so small. Larry Ragan was a dear friend of my brother Dan. Dan spoke with Larry the day before he died. I knew Larry from the Third Order at St. Pete’s and he was at my first Mass. I’ll always remember something he told me: “I judge a man by the number of patches he has on his clothes; the more patches, the closer he is to God.”

Another small world. My daughter Becky was born in ’69 at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim where Bill Kimlinger was ill. I don’t think I told you that Luis Runde and his 95 year old dad stayed a night with me a few years ago. Luis and I had a great time and I think we perfected the art of talking at the same time so that we could share all we had to share with each other. I wish Paul had been with him. Zoderer is one of my favorite people in the world.

Dick Korn need not feel badly about starting late. I will be 61 soon and my children are 27, 14, 11 and 8. I had never heard the squirrel story; at least not that one. I was touched by GK’s letter and his warmth. That’s how I remember him; warm and a great listener.

Your river run story was a masterpiece. Only you and Mooney could get away with the cell phone on a wilderness trip; I’m sure that Lewis and Clark would have understood.

7 Sep 96: Keith Eckrich (1960): I have been looking for your email address on Switchboard, Big Foot and the other Internet white pages. Let’s face it: privacy is gone, go ahead and list yourself on the Internet and have the guys submit their material electronically.

With two stepchildren in college, with Helene volunteering full blast on Parent-Teacher stuff and Girl Scouts for 9-year old Kristen, it is a rarity that I get to use the computer. And the older kids are now complaining that I take too much time on Internet thus disrupting their romantic telephone calls with significant others. I am patient: I will outlast them: they will eventually leave home and I intend to waste hours surfing the web looking for wonderful information. Like the Library of Congress on the Web? Oodles of interesting topics, pics, etc., at http://www.loc.gov.

I did find some interesting material about beekeeping on the net which was useful to Kristen and me as first year beekeepers. A colleague at work introduced me to it, I ordered two pounds of honeybees through the mail, and we were off and running. A neighbor had me collect a swarm off her eaves, and so we doubled the size of the hive immediately. We rob the hive next Saturday, and many co-workers are looking forward to the local honey to combat allergies.

Chris Reuter says you are in Chicago soon for something. I haven’t been there for many years. We have spent our time visiting the West with trips to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon and a week recently in San Francisco. Don’t rent a car there: there are no parking places at all. In February Helene surprised me with a trip to New York to see Turandot at the Met. Remember when we saw the opera with Tars at the Lyric in about our fifth year at St. Joe’s? The Met production was terrific. [So was Anna Moffo and Birgitt Nielsen in 1958, nicht wahr?]

9 Sept 96 Jerry Etzkorn (1950): Allan Wolter just left to return to Santa Barbara. We finished collating about half of Scotus’s Parisian lectures on the First Book of Lombard’s Sentences, so it was a productive summer.

Got a call from Cowboy yesterday and he is his inimitable self! A wonderful guy! Evan Eckhoff is working at the Chancery office in Knoxville and has been coming here to help out since the pastor here has retired. Both he and Allan would like to get the Diaspora Digest. Evan didn’t know you were in Nashville, so I’m sure he would be glad to hear from you.

10 Sept 96 Ron Pfeifer (1958): In DD17 there is a statement relating to my “being denied ordination at the last moment for being too obedient...” What happened was I answered, “Yes,” to a question you asked when a group of us were talking about the seminary system back then. Even in the context of the subject matter, “Yes,” seemed to stretch my thought a bit.

It seems to me a person could go through the system then, and comply with the rules/agenda (obedient was your word) without having an in-depth discussion dealing with a candidate’s vocation.

The reason I was denied ordination at the last moment is that I seemed unable to take charge or I didn’t take charge to pull out at the end of my philosophy years. The state of mind was so different back then. I hope the system is different today. Hey, you current candidates need to talk to fringers. - Best wishes and prayers for all of us.

12 Sept 96 Keith Eckrich (1960): Finding the NY Times crossword puzzles is as easy as calling up the NY Times on the internet. The exact address, though, is http://www.nytimes.com/partners/xword/. Before being able to print puzzles it is necessary to download the Lyric program located at that address. Easy as pie. Have been working them since grade school. I was probably the only elementary schoolboy who owned a paperback crossword dictionary by Dell. I still have it with many others. Thanks for Bob Pawell’s email - I need to write to him too.

17 Sept 96 Scott Kuhle (1959): I received his long Dec. 25, 1995 (sic) newsletter. Here are some headlines: Andrew spends summer in New Mexico mountains, Mary Ann’s father passes away in Kansas, summer vacation spent in Southwest (New Mexico, Mt. Rainier summons and is kind to us, Anna & Bill’s mountain-top wedding is the gala event of Spring, Reaching summits, Third granddaughter born (to Ted and Shana). Personal note dated May 29, 1996 (sic): For some reason correspondence just doesn’t get done by itself, or in my case, by being too busy hiking, biking, or playing in the great Northwest outdoors. Thank you for your efforts to keep us informed of each other’s whereabouts. I feel young and am going strong, but as I’m writing this I realize that it is 30 years since I left T-town. Hope you find your way Northwest again.

20 Sep 96 Keith Eckrich: It is predicted the internet will crash of its own weight within the year, so we need to write furiously before armageddon. An attorney who has background in Colorado and summer stock theater in Triple Creek recently introduced me to Robert William Services’ poetry: black humor and wonderful rhymes about the hardscrabble life in 1890 Yukon tail end of the Gold Rush times. Kristen and I have enjoyed the pictorial large editions of “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Shooting of Dangerous Dan McGrew.” Service’s humorous poetry makes a rainy day welcome.

I liked Bob Pawell’s story about the wolf. Here in Albuquerque we are big on “el lobo.” The University of New Mexico basketball team are The Lobos.

[DD#19 was mailed on 23 SEPT 96. We lost two diaspora households due to returned letters: Bill Hrudicka: moved left no address, Joe and Maria Emerson: Forwarding order expired. And the Cantlon e-mail address I had is out of date.]

27 Sept 96 Joe Smith (1945): As usual, I’m responding “toute suite” to Gael (Keltic Druid?) otherwise it would never happen — and wouldn’t that be a relief for you and DD?

Somehow I missed the OFM’s “in 20 years” when Jack and I were negotiating seven years ago [wasn’t there something about the Province setting 2009 as the date by which to do something?]. After it was all over I’d read in DD that Tom had been interested. But he has NOT responded to recent calls or letters. Whatever the case, Jack and I were only calling them on their own proposals. In 20 years from now I’ll be 91. And of course, not yet thinking of actual retirement. I’m still playing the (pipe) organ and teaching at a rehab institute (Chicago Teen Challenge).

Meantime, to friend Rup: Kolbe was a virulently antisemitic writer and editor and he did not substitute for a Jew” at Auschwitz. (Source Alan Dershowitz’s “Chutzpah”, i.e., ‘cheek’ or nerve’. The Vatican knows this but continues anyway with what seems outrageous and self-serving propaganda for ‘sainthood.’ See Dershowitz - I’m only reporting sources.

We’ve taken in a couple stray cats and are willing to take in wandering monks (monachi gyrovagi) or friars too, actual or diasporatic.

That’s it. If any of you need rehab, I am good at turning your brains into workable potter’s clay in just one salvific (and soporific) lecture. Only $100 an hour with nickel rebate for colleagues. - Will write in 20 years. [See Oct 14, Dec 4, below.]

28 Sept 96 Don Awerkamp (1962): Thanks for DD# #19 and for the years of maintaining the bond. I’ve enjoyed reading even though I’ve not contributed by writing. It’s great that you’ve moved into E-mail. Somehow it seems to take less effort to send messages this way rather than by letter or phone.

Just in case you are wondering, “azstarnet” in my E-mail address is for the online service of our local newspaper and not a network of local movie stars. I do live with two movie stars though—Risa and Barbara are starring in “Blue Rodeo,” a made for TV movie that is supposed to air on CBS in a month or so. Ann Margaret and Kris Kristofferson are in supporting roles.

28 Sept 96 Bob Pawell (1960): We appreciate the effort put into publishing the DD. I can hardly remember some of those other guys from previous classes or those after us. Thus I am not too invested in their stories, but I am glad that our class can get together - little by little. Always enjoy looking through the DD and was especially happy to get Chris’ e-mail, and Manuel’s snail-mail addresses. Now that there are four of us on the Internet I thought I’d create the classmates section in my e-mail address book. Having done that, it was a short step to dropping you guys a line.

I woke up this Fall morning with the smell of steam coming through the radiators of this 106 year old house. I’m definitely not in New Orleans anymore!! This will be my first Fall in many a year. I look forward to it.

The carpenter is working in the house putting up shelving in the kitchen; the painter has finished except for a return trip needed to touch things up after the carpeting has been installed. The next thing to be done is the installation of the carpeting and the window coverings - blinds and shades. Little by little this house becomes a home.

Tomorrow I’ll join with others on the Lakefront doing the Chicago AIDS walk - I hope the sun shines and it is a crisp bright day. The last few days have been kind of messy - like Ferruci’s rain in “The Life of God.” (see below).

Between fixing up this house and planning for preaching and some workshops, I have been reading a few books - all at the same time. Some books are “for riding to and from places on the CTA”, others “for morning coffee,” and still others “for evening relaxation sitting by my window watching the flow of traffic on Ashland Avenue.” I’ll let you guess which books get read where.

The first book on my list is James Hillman’s: “The Soul’s Code” - In search of Character and Calling, Random House 1996. I had never run across this hardback. Hillman works with the metaphor of the “daimon, author, genius, guardian angel” — the guiding spirit of a person’s life: the inner direction that neither nature nor nurture can account for. In this he attacks the foundations of the “victim” attitude. See Alice Miller’s “Drama of the Gifted Child.” Hillman’s point of view is profoundly spiritual, albeit not too religious. He indicts contemporary psychology, which is profoundly deterministic; you are what nature or nurture has set you up to be and there’s no escaping the inexorable fates placed before you. One will spend their life reacting to childhood events. Hillman is a masterful writer and I recommend his work to you. He especially deals with the dynamics of the manifestation of one’s call in early childhood and the role of the mentor in guiding this to realization.

The next volume is Jamake Highwater’s: “The Language of Vision - Meditations on Myth and Metaphor” Grove Press 1994, paperback. In this book, the author, a protege of the late Joseph Campbell, addresses the role of myth and metaphor using the cards of the Tarot as points of departure as he discusses various aspects of the topic.

To complement a week-long workshop I shall be giving at the end of October in New Orleans, I found Clarence Thomson’s story in “Parables and the Enneagram,” Crossroad Book, 1996, very helpful. The author applies the parables of Jesus to the English and Spanish.

Back In T-Town I was introduced to the poetry of W. H. Auden by Fr. Ron Trojack of the Springfield diocese. He used to come to Medard for spiritual direction and hang around with us for the sake of intellectual companionship. Through Ron’s introduction I began reading Auden’s christmas oratorio, “For the Time Being” every Advent. To enhance my appreciation of the poetry I have begun to read Richard Davenport-Hines: “Auden” a biography, Pantheon 1995. I have loved Auden for a long time and for too long I have lived on hearsay about his life story. The Sunday Telegraph reviewer wrote of the book: “Literary biography at its best!” An additional reason for the reading is to prepare for the Saturdays before each of the Advent Sundays. I am going to host a “salon” each Saturday afternoon from 4 - 6 pm in which we will do Auden’s christmas oratorio, “For the Time Being.” After the reading we shall do an Advent evening prayer. This will be the first event I will be hosting in our house. Last year in New Orleans some friends gathered for a wonderful meal on St. Stephen’s night. After the dishes were cleared away we read to one another some of our favorite holiday poetry. The whole evening was delicious. We were a group of adult men who are friends, sharing fellowship and poetry. Although I can not re-capture that St. Stephen’s night I want to do something like it - this too is ministry of the Word.

While guiding a friend around town the other day I spied this novel, “The Life of God - as told by Himself” by Franco Ferucci. University of Chicago Press 1996, hardback: When I read the opening lines, I was hooked, here they are:

“For long stretches at a time I forget that I am God. But then, memory isn’t my strong suit. It comes and goes with a will of its own.

“The last time it came back to me I was sunk in one of those late-winter depressions. Then one night I switched on the television set, and a firestorm of events burst before my eyes. I saw a volcano spewing lava, a skiing race in the Alps, a film on Paris as it was forty years ago, hunting in Ecuador, an office in Ottawa, open heart surgery telecast live, a documentary about submarine landscapes of the North sea. Life caught me again in a hypnotic net. As the camera circled around a flower on a seabed, I suddenly remembered that I had created all this. >From that moment, I began feeling as I always do when I remember that I am God. I felt like a child again, eager for springtime, ready for open skies.

“I admit, right from the start, that it was foolish to create winter. I couldn’t help it, though. It banged at my door and demanded to be let into the world. It was stirring inside me, insisting on being recognized. I’ve always been a bit of an odd-ball, full of contradictions, and for all my love on the light I still have my dark side.

“Winter wasn’t my only half baked idea. I can’t really warm to the heavy, damp days of in-between seasons either. How pig-headed the rain seems, coming down as though everything were about to turn into water, or as though gray clouds and wet asphalt were all there is to the world. I am not talking about thunderstorms, which nobody likes except me and a few other dramatically inclined souls, poets and lovers especially. I am inside the thunder as well as the lightning. I am inside all blasts of passion, for it is there that I rejuvenate myself.” .... sounds interesting doesn’t it?

I’m glad that we are reconnected online I have not yet loaded AOL’s new version and there are some problems with my old AOL program right now but not enough to cause a shut down. There are too many irons in the fire to worry about fine tuning on the Internet. I am able to do my work with what I have. In the months ahead I hope to take care of some of those pesky details.

Well folks I need to get away from this computer and attend to other things. Have a great weekend. Fraternally.

29 Sept 96 Keith M. Eckrich (1960): [Hi Chris, Jack & Gael: Our symphony’s first concert of the season last night was a ripsnorter with William Tell Overture and Beethoven’s Fifth, the latter an incentive to help the orchestra raise money to retire an irksome $300,000 debt going back some years. The music was winning. The 5th symphony was clearly done and just beautiful. A new client at work turns out to be a world class cellist who had contact with Pablo Casals. He plays an Amati cello produced in 1613. I guess I will try to interest him in playing with the symphony. Peace.

29 Sept 96 Rafael Ruiz: (1958): The last time we saw each other was many years ago at St. Joe’s. Fellows like Dick Mayer, Al Merz, Frank Flinn, Kurt Hartrich, etc., were my classmates. Fr. G.K. followed Edward Lutz as Subrector. I have been receiving “Diaspora” from the beginning, I suppose. There are few things I enjoy reading more. I was at St. Joseph’s for nearly 5 years and I must say they were some of the best in my life. I got to know great people. I have not kept up with them personally, but I always remember them and ask about them whenever I come across people like Nick Baxter. In fact, I almost made it to your last reunion, but things just did not work out at the last moment.

I am writing this just to thank you for keeping all of us connected and in many ways energized. Many of the “brethren” followed different paths, it is so obvious that the great spirit of Brother Francis lives strong in each of you. My warmest regards to all who may remember me. (Rafael is mission director for ELCA Division for Outreach/assistant to the bishop, ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod).

2 Oct 96 Bob Pawell OFM: Happy Feast to Diaspora, etc.! Dear Brothers, Friends through Tau House far and near, and “kind classmates....” Your Guardian Angels are buzzing in my ears today. Tomorrow morning and afternoon we shall have a Day of Recollection concluding with a House Chapter. At 4 pm we drive into Chicago’s Loop to Saint Peter’s Church to join in the “Transitus” with those who worship there. Perhaps next year we shall host the Transitus for our friends and families. Afterward we will go out for dinner at The Italian Village restaurant which is near St. Peter’s for our weekly “dinner out.”

Our dear brother Albert Haase, now a missionary in Hong Kong once commented that: “We are a crazy bunch following one of the greatest religious personages in the history of the world who cried out for “Cookies!” on his death bed. In your honor, all my sweet friends, my Brother Jacoba’s - gay, straight, male, female, young and old - who have served me more than cookies - I shall toast you tomorrow night with almond cookies and a glass of Sambucca.

Celebrating our brother Francis I want to extend to you all my love and prayers and share with you these words of Leonardo’s Boff’s “St. Francis:” ...He begins his movement in a small church, the Portiuncula, which in itself constituted a symbol, because “it is the poorest of the churches of the whole region around Assisi.” It is on the periphery where power is not the structural parameter and the principle of control, where life flourishes in all its exuberance and as a challenge, where those who hope and live at the margins of all organization, find the necessary soil for the creativity and emergence of what is new and not yet taught. It is precisely toward the periphery that Francis directs himself. From the periphery he begins to converge on the center, calling all to conversion. The periphery is where the great prophets arise, where the reforming movements are born, and where the Spirit flourishes. The periphery possesses a theological privilege, because it is there that the Son of God was born.

Love to all of you out on the periphery of power.

2 Oct 96 Bill Bergman (1962): Sent internet address and brochures from his company, one entitled Empowerment (“Let your power out. Encourage others to value their own power”) and Vision and Mission (“peace at home and at work”).

3 Oct 96 Tom Shannon (1961): Now that you have gotten online I can finally use the guilt to respond and log in with the rest of the folks. Reading the DD is always a treat and it is nice to keep up with every one. Being on the East Coast tends to keep me at a distance from the Midwest which is where the action is. We have been doing well here in Worcester and have a wonderful community around us. Cathy has been teaching in the elementary system for a while and is now in a new program focused on getting the bottom 20% of a first grade class to grade level in reading by the end of the year. And I’ve been busy at WPI teaching a variety of undergraduate courses in religion and ethics. A special treat is that for the last few years I’ve been teaching a course in moral theology each semester at the JESUIT seminary in Boston. I would think that this might count as one of the signs of the approaching apocalypse. But that has been a delight since these individuals have a wide variety of experience and various advanced degrees such as MD and JD, so that has been good. One of the other faculty and I collaborated on a book last year so many blessings have come from that. And I do manage to slip in my work on Scotus every now and then. Another wonderful experience is that I have been able to do some work with Allan Wolter on Scotus and also on the moral standing of the human preimplantation embryo. Coauthoring an article with him was a real experience and a delight. It is dismaying to find out that an 89-year-old can work longer and harder than I could. And this May, Cathy and I were invited to Quincy University where I was given an honorary doctorate. A very warm welcome from everyone and also got to see Jerry and Linda Etzkorn who were attending their son’s graduation. We have a summer house near St Bonaventure’s so we had been seeing each other then. The next week, we went to Notre Dame for our older daughter’s graduation and then moved our other daughter back from Fordham where she is currently a sophomore and on the women’s rugby team which is interesting for a parent to watch. So we grin and bear it, but did not participate in the dring (sic) up afterwards which seems to be the main purpose of rugby anyway.

3 Oct 96 Paul Suding (1958): This letter has been delayed long enough. I apologize for my slowness. While reading DD#19, I recognized so many of the names of my era at St. Joe’s, T-town, and OLA. How quickly time moves on; and the older I get, the quicker it goes.

I was in the era of Fr. Paul Zoderer, Dick Korn, Dennis Gustafson; around the time of Kurt Hartrich (whose parents were neighbors of mine), Luis Runde, Robert Flores, Fr. William Schmidt. The days at St. Joe’s and the education I received there and at OLA have stayed with me throughout the years.

A brief history post-OLA. I was drafted into the Army four months after leaving the seminary; what a change from the peace-full life we led. While in basic training at Ft. Benning, I was unable to yell “kill,” “kill.” The master sergeant sent me to the CO. In short I ended up as the company clerk (sort of a Radar type) and held that job for the remainder of my duty tour. After the Army episode, Bonnie and I were married and our union has been blessed for more than 33 years. All four of our children are grown, the youngest having graduated from college this past July.

We have maintained relationships with the friars since 1960 through many fashions. My brother, Steve, for one, is a Franciscan Brother from the Sacred Heart Province serving in the School of Theology in Kolwezi, Zaire, with Dr. Damien Isabell and others; we live down the street from St. Roch Church where Fr. Mike Ewert was recently assigned and to whom I will give the current copy of DD#19; Bonnie and I frequently go to Mass at Sacred Heart; and through the FMU. - Thanks for helping me maintain knowledge of friends.

3 Oct 96 Bill McGee: Aloha from Big 50 [Hawaii]. Your newsletter was great. I wish you had written pages about your canoe trip. What you wrote was enticing for more. We are here for two months. House exchange. Beach, beach, water, water. I’m growing scales. Alice growing fins. We think of you. [Bill wrote a poetic prose three-page account of his bike trip through the Canadian Rockies, Kalispell, Montana, Glacier, Waterton Lakes in Canada, Banff, Lake Louise, Sunwapta Falls Jasper: ...and the wind roams the forest floor playing with Bear Grass. Like goblin ghosts they bob and sway as if October’s moon is on them scaring them to run away. “Don’t run away,” I yell. “Stay another day.” - 700 miles and 30,000 feet of climb. More than 20 people.

I took a ride/ in a broken teacup/ upon sapphire lakes and pearls of snow/ Above jagged maintains/ I flew/ I cut through the clouds./ In waters’ crystal mirrors/ among nature’s beauty/ I saw myself as the moon/ sees me, how soft!/ When my bike I laid down, I came home/ to human beauty more/ than what the eagle sees/ and the water feels./ Nothing lasts forever,/ journeys end,/ memories fade.../ A moment I had.

5 Oct 96 Isaac Braun (1956): Peace. It has been almost a year since we have written. First of all, thanks for sending a copy of DD#15, which was missing. We also received #18, and don’t know if #19 already has come off the press. [Did you ever receive it?] We enjoyed the rest of the description of Bob Hankey’s visit in New Market, Tenn., to visit the roots of Wally Spivey. The vigor of Julian Woods is inspiring, but it was saddening to learn of the car accident of his son.

Toward the end of this past June, we spent about two and half weeks on a trip to the States for a reunion of the Brauns. Every three years, the descendants of my grandfather have this reunion and because this time, my sister in Wahpeton, N.D., was on the planning committee, we had to go. According to the genealogical book, as of last February there were more than 1,100 descendants including husbands and wives of descendants. About 380 were at the reunion, which included a banquet one evening and a Mass and picnic the next day. The celebrant of the Mass was a cousin’s son. The only other time that I attended this reunion was in 1984, and that time it was I who celebrated the Mass. This was the first trip to the States for Kaline, our little girl of six and a half years, and she enjoyed it very much.

Toward the end of July, I went by bus (37 hours each way) to Brasilia for the 4th International Congress of the Married Catholic Priests and the Families. Attending were about 350 persons from 25 countries. It was good to see what the others are doing. The main theme of the Congress was ministries for the third millennium. I guess you can say that the message of the congress was that even if the church doesn’t let the married priests function officially as priests, you should do what you can where you are in order to further the kingdom of God.

One of the guest speakers was Margaret Hebblewaite from England, and one of her affirmations was that if the fundamental struggle is not to spread the Good News, then all the other struggles are in vain. Rosemary Radford Reuther from the U.S. had confirmed her presence as one of the guest speakers, but, because of a conflict of dates, she was not able to attend. However, she sent ahead of time a copy of her talk, “The Challenge of being a Catholic at the end of 20th Century,” which was translated and distributed to everyone of the congress. Anthony Padovano from Corpus in the States was present, as well as several members of Corpus-Canada. The next International Congress will be in Atlanta in 1999; so you all can go there [not by bus, if we’re lucky].

In our parish, Socorro and I are Eucharistic ministers, and Socorro has some elderly persons that she visits every week. Since I’m usually at home in the morning, I take her with the car. Socorro is also in charge now of the parish liturgy committee. We had two training encounters for the readers or lectors of the parish, and during the Sunday Mass of Sept. 22, the pastor gave the official commissioning or sending of the lectors as ministers of the Word.

In the beginning of the year Socorro started some pastoral work among some 120 poor families along the river near home, with different activities according to the time of the year. She is also giving them some lessons in crochet, cross-stitch, and simple quilting in order to give the women something to do better than passively looking at the TV soap operas.

Since March, my work hours have become better. I’m with the same boss, but now as a receptionist in a small hotel along the ocean front in Recife. My work hours in general are from 3 PM to 10 PM. On weekends when one of the others have the day off, I have the night shift. Usually there is extra time, which I use at times for writing letters, and that is exactly what I’m doing right now at 2:45 AM. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all readers of the DD.

8 Oct 96 Gregory Sadlek (1971): Sends address change: In DD#19 I particularly liked the note from Gene Katoski, whom I well remember along with his peg dates from my days at OLA. My new address is: 1331 S. 78th Ave., Omaha, NE 68124. Keep up the good work! Dept. of English (402) 554-2635 University of Nebraska at Omaha FAX: (402) 554-3296

8 Oct 96 Bob Hickman (class of 1961): In DD#19 it was good to get an update on who’s who of and current events. We are doing well here in Huntsville, Alabama. I had a tour with the big “C” recently. Thanks to the blessing of the Good Lord I came away with a fairly positive prospect for the future after surgery. Some of my friends have not fared so well. Anyway, my friend and partner for life, Mary Ann, and I are settled into our life here in Huntsville. Our four children and four grandchildren live within close proximity of Huntsville. Paul, our youngest son is a neighbor of yours at Dickson, Tenn. Mary Ann is employed with the State as a Vocational Rehab Specialist for the Hearing Impaired. She is providing a real need for the deaf community both here and in Jackson County. Just a side note, we are interested in locating any Catholic Churches in the Tenn. Miss. or Ala. areas, that provide liturgy for Deaf Catholics. (American Sign Language). We are trying to get our local parish to enhance their liturgy for the deaf community.

As for myself, went to St. Joe’s with Chuck Gunti, Mike Kellett, Chuck Faso, Cyril Wagner. etc. We had a class of about 98. You probably know more about that than I can remember. I can relate well to an article in one of your early editions that so eloquently described how St. Joe’s affected our lives. It became my home away from home for the five years of my life. I can’t help but feel a certain sadness in my heart when I think of its passing. However, you can’t take away the fact that we all left a little piece of ourselves in spirit there regardless what they may do to it. Anyway, after St.Joe’s, I spent the next 21 or so years doing my patriotic duty with the US Navy. Since then, I have been working for an Electronics Company here in Huntsville. It’s a high tech area until your drive about three miles outside of town to gaze upon the bean and cotton fields.

Mary Ann and I do our small part in Good Shepherd Parish with Evangelization, Vocations, Ecumenism and Outreach to Inactive Catholics. There is a great need and a long way to go.

Chuck Gunti and I stay in contact and we communicate with Chuck Faso when we can find him. Understand that Cy Wagner, in Memphis, is not doing well. Kidney problems along with diabetes. Please keep him in your prayers.

I am always glad to get your newsletter. It is encouraging to know that so many of the St.Joe’s family continue to serve their communities and parishes. You do yourself justice in providing this service and I personally thank you for that.

8 Oct 96 Keith Eckrich: We’re back safe and sound from our trip to northern New Mexico. The train ride from Antonito, Colorado back to Chama, New Mexico was fun with many scenic vistas. Kristen seemed to enjoy it very much and for the second half of the trip she stood outside between two cars not to miss anything. She saw two deer disappearing into the woods. We stayed at a bed and breakfast one night. Interesting. It was in a house built some 130 years ago by the Martinez family. Thick adobe walls. The present owners, Corlinda and Medard Martinez, have a good eye for decorating and having everything tip top shape.

On the way home, after visiting many art galleries and shops on the Taos plaza, we took the high road to Taos, a very windy trip through the mountains. We drove through old small towns like Penasco, Las Trampas, Las Truchas and Chimayo. Many believe that Chimayo’s dirt from the church has miraculous power, and Kristen gathered her few spoonfuls of dirt. I tried to teach a bit about faith being the mover, not the dirt, and I think she sort of got it.

A tasty southwestern meal in Santa Fe finished off the four-day vacation, and we arrived home with only fifteen minutes to spare for me to take off for chorus practice and Helene and Kristen to head off to Girl Scouts meeting. We were a busy bunch on the weekend.

Today’s highlight was Kristen getting her first rental clarinet as her school begins to put together a band. Hope she takes to music. Peace.

Part 2: Oct.-Nov. 1996
Part 3: Friar e-mail list A-J
Part 4: Friar e-mail J-Z & Fringe Friars A-G
Part 5: Fringe Friars G-Z & Publications
Part 6: Addendum