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...relaxing. No pain just have lots of restrictions. Thanks for your prayers. Peace.

Pray and Give to Haiti!

CRS.ORG

CRS Promo video

Send this link around and lets get more support for the suffering people in Haiti. Pray & Give!

Just heartbreaking...and uplifting as well.

Check out this blog from a guy who is working to get clean water to the people in Haiti...something he has been doing before the earthquake. His name is Chris and the past two days have been a harrowing experience. Please make sure to pray for the people of Haiti and those affected by the earthquake. Make sure to read the whole post from his day when the earthquake hit. Pray and Give!

All I could see was her face and left arm, and she frantically called out to me. I asked her to calm down because it would help me to work and asked her to pray for both of us. She calmed down and became very brave. I was having trouble seeing her where she was jammed under the slab. I pulled out a very large piece of rubble that didn’t really help Jacqueline at all (her name was Jacqueline). There was some sort of object behind that rubble and when I went to move it it turned out to be another girl’s bottom. The girl cried out but I could barely hear her – her whole head was underneath rubble.
At this point I began to realize that I was in over my head. All I had was a hammer, and it was quickly becoming pitch dark with twilight fading and no electricity anywhere. I tried to borrow a flashlight, but it was impossible. I had a moment of feeling intense helplessness. After thinking and praying for a minute, I told Jacqueline that I had to leave her and find more help. I couldn’t do anything without a flashlight, and she needed to keep praying and remember that her parents were coming to look for her.

CRS.ORG

Haiti

Sorry this post is so late. Please PRAY for the people of Haiti! Also, if you can, GIVE to help them live and rebuild. More photos when I can compile a better post. If you need a link to give here is is:

CRS.ORG

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This is an image of the Cathedral in Port au Prince.

PRAY

God of all creation, as we weep with our family in Haiti, console us.

In this time of crisis, open our eyes to look beyond the disaster

to see Christ in our brothers and sisters in Haiti, as Christ sees us.

Be with us as we stand in solidarity with those living and working in Haiti.

Be with us in our mourning and guide our efforts to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the grieving and stand for justice.

With your mercy, sustain us at this time as we continue to work for peace and justice.

Amen.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. Let us keep all those suffering with and have died from AIDS in our thoughts and prayers. Want to know the scope of AIDS, what is being done about it and how you can help with HIV/AIDS around the world...head over to CRS they will oblige. Peace!

CRS Bet

Well the bet raised over 9000$ for CRS. Here is a group shot of the three who got shaved. Thanks for your support and help in this endeavor! Peace

CRS photos

Here are a few photos of two days of meetings at CRS. My small breakout group was The BEST! Enjoy

Day two of meetings at CRS

Here we are at CRS for another day. It promises to be a great one. Here is a video of something really cool for you to enjoy. More about CRS later!

VIP Guests

So after lunch we had a brief visit from Ken Hackett and Bishop Woldetensaé Ghebreghiorghis, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Harar. He was sharing thanks from the people of his area and the good work CRS does for the people in his area. Likewise he shared a story of when then Senator Obama visited as a Congreassional delegtaion on a fact finding mission about the floods in the area. What a wonderful and humble man! Pray for him and his people.

In Baltimore

Deacon Bill and I are in Baltimore for the Global Fellows Gathering. Lot of great info on the good work of CRS and specifically of the Global Fellows. Great to reconnect with old friends and create some new ones as well. I will post some photos when I get the chance. Peace.

The first cut!

We raised over $8000 for CRS!
Since Deacon Gayle will be leaving mid week we went on ahead and shaved him. Deacon Bill and I will be shaved next Sunday after 11AM Mass!

The bet is coming to a close

If you want to give money let me know. 

Shaving Bet

Special Awards

Last night at our evening reception they handed out three special recognitions and the Global Fellow of the year. The three recognitions went to the three deacons who have helped the Global Fellow program find new preaching dates. Of course our own Deacon Bill, who has been working quite hard for CRS, and was duly recognized with two others for their similar work. The Global Fellow of the year went to Fr. Tom Fenlon. Good job and congratulations to all! The photos are below.

CRS Day 2, part II

This afternoon we are continuing with Peacebuilding. We have already heard from Mr. John Katunga, CRS' Regional Technical Advisor for Peacebuilding and Justice in the east Africa region, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is traveling around the US giving speeches and we were lucky today to hear part of his full presentation, it was wonderful. After Mr. Katunga we heard from Mr. Hedley Abernethy and the work of CRS in the area of Peacebuilding. Again this afternoon we had plenty to mentally digest, almost too much. Below I have some photos of the presenters, a shocking map of the conflicts happening right now on the continent of Africa and then a definition of Peacebuilding.

Mr. John Katunga

Mr. Hedley Abernethy and Mr. John Katunga

"Peacebuilding refers to the long-term project of building peaceful, stable communities and societies. This requires building on a firm foundation of justice and reconciliation. How we build on that foundation is very important. The process needs to strengthen and restore relationships and transform unjust institutions and systems. The focus on relationships and the process of how we achieve justice and build peace is unique to peacebuilding." John Paul Lederach

CRS Day 2

Fr. Bill speaking from his "podium"

We are well into the swing of things at CRS for our second day. This morning we are hearing a talk on Reconciliation and Peacebuilding by Fr. William (Bill) Headley. It is interesting that KenM made a comment on my post about Sachsenhausen and remembered his trip to Dachau when he commented..."your pictures brought back memories of that place! Certainly is a period in history that we wish we could erase!" I think that kind of thought resonates with us all. Too bad that reconciliation and forgiveness is not just about moving on or forgetting about the past, but how to deal with the sin/hurt and what that means in the light of the forgiving love of God. Today as we are learning all sorts of facets about Reconciliation and Forgiveness, Ken's thoughts were quite thought provoking in one of my breakout small groups. We are dealing with this topic all day...very emotional and lots of cerebral work. I will leave you with just one line from John Paul Lederach.

"...imagine yourself in a web of relationships that includes your enemies."

Good news

We finally got some news from Deacon Bill in Nicaragua, while he is there with the CRS Global Fellows on an immersion trip. All seems to be going well and he is a bit homesick (just like kids at camp) but he will be home on Friday, I am sure that will be soon enough. Here is a bit of a note he wrote home.

Today we are going to a coffee cooperative run by women . Should be interesting. We have seen cheese making, goat farming, organic farming, housing developments, pottery making, and marble works. And a fertilizer farm complete with chicken poop. Tell Vic this would be the place for him, everything is free range. We just have to be careful not to hit them as we drive down the dirt and rock roads. We are leaving for Mataluga today and will be there till Thurs. afternoon when we head to Managua. Our group is very compatible. They have been good to travel with. Our driver has done a good job. Driving is somewhat perilous at times. Roads, other than the Pan American hwy, are horrendous. It is amazing to me to see so much joy and peace among such poverty. They are just a beautiful people. And so generous and grateful. I am hugging the old ladies and holding and kissing the babies. Held a 45 day old baby last evening at Mass.Just wonderful and she was gorgeous.

Lets keep him and all the Global Fellows in our prayers.

Guatemala + some adoptions =Trouble

(photo: Xeni Jardin, 2007)

Xeni over at boingboing has a good piece up regarding human trafficking and adoptions in Guatemala. This is the kind of stuff I heard about while in Guatemala with CRS. This is really sad, let us keep all those involved in our prayers.

Off to DC back on Wednesday

Well I am headed to the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington DC. I am going on behalf of CRS. It will be a good time of renewal in the Social Teaching of the Church...I will also be attending meetings with our Senators this Tuesday with Archbishop Gregory. Keep us in your prayers. Peace

St. Catherine Newman Center

Well here are some photos from my preaching this weekend and St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center at the University of Utah. All in all it was a pretty light weekend because of the generosity of Fr. Daniel Rolland, OP and Fr. Peter Rogers, OP (Pastor). Fr. Daniel was kind enough to celebrate the 5 and 8:30, I celebrated the 10:45 and Fr. Peter showed up to celebrate the 7, so I had one Mass to celebrate and four Masses to preach, such a sweet deal. Combine all this with seeing some old friends, being with family, working for CRS and snowboarding a bit, it was a great weekend.

This is Kelly and Chad Rosamond and family. Kelly was a CYO member of mine in Rome Georgia when I was a seminarian. She is a member of the Newman Center as well. Eat your heart out Pamela!!!

Do I always look like this when I preach?

So serious!

Look at those hands, yikes!

Lunch at CRS Southeast office

Since we are both Global Fellows, Deacon Bill and I were invited to share some thoughts with the staff at the CRS regional office here in Atlanta. Executive Vice-President of US Operations Joan Neal was present for a lively discussion on the work of CRS in our world and our region. Here are some photos from the lunch. I love oranges.