Look who I found

Just a quick post from downtown ATL. I am in a meeting for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council and himself is here and in great form...wowing the crowds with stories. Glad you are ok boss.

Advent Women's Evening

Tonight at the parish we had a Women's Evening of reflection as we approach Advent. We had a great crowd there for the evening. Some of the women invited other women to sit at there table and decorated their table for the evening. It was a great time and the featured speaker was quite handsome, if I do say so myself. Enjoy...

Mexican Food

This is a continuation on eating in Tyrone. You know I love Mexican food, this is one of the places for Mexican food in Tyrone. It is called Chapultepec, and we as a staff love it. Notice the smiling faces after Richard's Birthday lunch...

I did discover one problem today when I went...it seems as if they are going to celebrate Christmas all the way through Advent...and you know how I feel about that. HMPH! Well at least they were being thwarted, because their tree was being non-cooperative...who knows maybe the work of the Holy Spirit??? HMPH!

Richard's Birthday Lunch

Well today was the day we celebrated Richard's Birthday. Seeing how this one almost did not arrive, I think it was somewhat more special. Richard was a good sport with all the fun at our Mexican restaurant. Enjoy

BTW, this is the first time I have shot a video and posted it to the blog.

I hate my job...blah blah blah

Don't complain about how much you dislike your job around these guys...they are always going to win that discussion. NYT has a good article up about manhole covers, make sure to watch the slide show, it is well done. Enjoy

1991 called and...

They want their coat back!

Just had to have some fun with our lawn guy, Deacon Bill. He said he was working outside and did not want to get his Georgia jacket dirty...because of course they are the SEC Championshis favorite team. Anyway he never reads my blog so he will never know that I posted this. Also notice how he is using his leaf blower as a weapon...I am sure it was being used in a fashion it was not intended for, like these other children below. Enjoy

The cycle begins...

Well, here we go again...
Today began the round for penance services. Usually these happen in Advent but mercifully Fr. Jimmy at OLM scheduled their penance service outside of the season of Advent, when priest are generally quite busy going from parish to parish for penance services. There were two other priest also at the service today but I did not take photos then, only at lunch. You see Fr. Michael Kingery and Mr. Danny Dorsel here reclining a bit after a wonderful meal.



And here you have yours truly and Fr. Jimmy Adams, Chaplin at OLM. It was a wonderful time for the students to receive the Sacrament of reconciliation. Just in case you did not know I really enjoy the Sacrament of reconciliation and the unique opportunities it provides me with penitents. So why the HMPH above...well

As you see it appears that Christmas is blooming at OLM, which is their choice...but it frustrates me. I hear people year after year tell me that Christmas gets here earlier and earlier (last time I checked we begin celebrating Christmas with the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve {or EPI}). They say things like, "I went to the store and they already have Christmas up, and it's only October!?!" I could not agree more. The problem is once you move the beginning of Christmas from any time before the beginning of the anticipatory Mass for Christmas begins that day, and any time is before Christmas actually begins (and therefore not Christmas yet) which is as good as any other date. It also adds to the Christmas fatigue many people experience, really how many Christmas decorations do you know that go up before Advent and come down by the 26th of December. I liken all this to a big surprise birthday party:

The people all gather and get ready for the arrival of the guest of honor. Then the guest of honor arrives with the obligatory surprise!!! Then the party really gets going. A great time is had by all...

What we see happening in our country today is more like this:

The people all gather and get ready for the arrival of the guest of honor...by eating and drinking and enjoying the party. Then the guest of honor arrives with the obligatory surprise!!! Then the people leave the party right after the "obligatory surprise!!!" because they are tired of celebrating because they have been going for a while now and don't have any energy to carry on..."but happy birthday, anyway...got to run, K thx bye bye merry x-mas.?..."

So what could be the answer...glad you asked. We have the new Liturgical year beginning this week as we being Advent. Advent is a time for us to anticipate the Coming of the Lord at the end of time and also being born to us anew at Christmas. What if we made a conscious effort to wait, celebrate, enjoy and anticipate Christmas this Advent. Lets leave Christmas to The Christmas Season (Dec. 24 at the beginning of the Vigil of the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord through January 13, 2008 after Evening Prayer II).
You know sometimes the Lord just puts you in the right place at the right time. Remember my earlier post on a the great Sunday I had in Berlin? Well when we went to Mass I saw these stickers and thought: THANK YOU LORD! I have been looking for something like this for a long time, how perfect...
This is a campaign to save Christmas, I mean really save Christmas (not like that phony baloney stuff Bill O'Reilly goes on about) YES lets keep Christ in Christmas but while we are at it lets keep Christmas in Christmas. ((as an aside it is sometimes like those old Reese's commercials, hey you got Christmas in my Advent etc...)) Anyway in the campaign to save Christmas and turn away from Consumerist Christmas, I think the Germans at Bonifatius Werk are doing a great job! You can see their main page here, their specific weihnachtsmannfreie zone page here and a nice game where St. Nicholas has to avoid the nefarious Santa Claus here. (All those pages are translated thanks to google, although not the best translations, if you speak German you can always turn off the translation.) So if you see that sticker of Santa around you know what it is about (hey if you rearrange the letters SANTA spells SATAN??!!! hehehehe). Anyway, now you somewhat know where I am coming from on all this, and now you know why I said I feel like that LOLcat...HMPH!

Peace!

Haircut...AMEN!

Today was haircut day...Alleluia! I go to Anthony Michael's Salon in Peachtree City. This is Lori washing my hair before my cut.




This is me trying to take a photo while having my hair cut by Donna. She is Italian, so you know she has difficulties in speaking without using hands...so notice each photo, although she is cutting my hair, she is also telling a story so her hand must be involved. I share your pain Donna. Thanks for the great cut.

Rosie and 680

I stayed the night, Sunday, at Emory with Frs. Bryan and Paul (other Paul). Rosie went with me and on Monday she went with me to the Archdiocesan offices (or 680 for those in the know) for my meetings that day. This is Rosie in her first ride on an Elevator, standing on her own.



This is Rosie resting as I worked in the Court of Appeals

After all that fun, we went to the airport to pick up Fr. Jimmy and Rosie got to sit in my lap as everyone went by telling me what a cute dog she is...I could not agree more!

Frs. Paul

I have two very good priest friends named Paul. So when I tell people, "I am going to dinner with Fr. Paul.", they ask me, "which one". So some of my friends have nicknames for these Pauls and before you now I will reveal their nicknames. (Just a disclaimer, nicknames are not necessarily relevant to the person but better to build an thought or image in someones mind. Like my mom, she always refered to my friend Robert Harris as The Guy in the Hat because, once, he had a hat on when mom met him so...)

Fr. Paul Hachey, SM : "Skinny Paul" : "The one who ran the Peachtree: Paul"



Fr. Paul Beryn : "Other Paul" or "The one I went on the trip with: Paul"

So now when you ask you will know which Paul I am speaking about.

Meal remains

This is from my favorite noodle house in Atlanta (this branch is in College Park near the airport) Noodle. Thai Peanut Noodle with Tofu, extra spicy...mmmmm

This is from a new favorite breakfast place Radial in Atlanta...mmmm
omelette with avocado and black beans

see I told you once I got a new camera there would be more photos.

Not at St. Matthew anytime soon...

I don't think we will get this unique feature, for this very reason...enjoy

Mark this one: "God will provide."

Got an email from Judy Baker about her son's experience with his car...

Forgot to tell you about Jeff's adventure on Tuesday. He was going up into Atlanta, heard a pop in his engine, saw the smoke, pulled over and proceeded to watch his car go up in flames! He tried to take pictures of it with his cell phone but the sun was behind it and he wasn't able to get a good picture. He and Doug are going to the tow lot tomorrow to see what is left and they will get pictures then. It was funny how you mentioned car note in your homily because Jeff's car was paid for! God will provide.

Well thanks for sharing Judy and I am sure God will provide. Thanks for the awesome photo. BTW Judy does the art and environment for our narthex and sanctuary with the help of her trusty sidekick Doug. Enjoy?

wowie look at me

OK so here are some are some awesome photos for the ESA's Rosetta comet chasing probe. It turns out the night they took the night time pictures I was in Budapest, you can see me just under the street like on Madch ter. Enjoy