5 Funerals in 8 Days

We have just had 2 funerals today - we had one on Monday, and will have two more - Thursday and next Tuesday - so a total of 5 Funerals in 8 days.  The two funerals today were very difficult... A 54 year old woman, who had Cancer, and a 2 week old Baby.   As far as funerals go - they don't get much harder - for very different reasons.  

When you celebrate the funeral of one who is so close to your own age - it causes you to stop and think about your own mortality...
When you celebrate the funeral of a Baby - you ask all kinds of questions, and cry out to God - Why? How is this right? what is hoing on? It is just not fair!

When we bury a child - we realise that this is not the way it normally is,  a parent is not supposed to bury a child, flesh of your flesh, and bone from your bone.  There are words we have developed to describe "us" after the death of a loved one: 

• When a spouse dies - we are a widow or a widower, 
• When a parent dies - we are an orphan

Yet when a child dies - we have no word to associate with that situation. It is almost as if we cannot think of such a case. It is unthinkably hard to bury a child - so we have no word for it!

There is little to say - except perhaps acknowledging just that - one just lacks words to say.   My hope is that those who have lost a child, or a paren, or a brother / sister -  will remember also the bond of love that lies behind the pain they feel, the sorrow that comes with death.

Peace

New Cardinals - Song Translation

In my last post - I put up a link to the YouTube video of the Archbishop of Managua in Nicaragua leaving to Rome for the consistory this past Saturday.  I heard about this video from one of my Chicago 6 colleagues (Rita Ferrone).  She was wondering what the music was in the background of the video - well I asked our Spanish Prayer group ladies about it - and here is the translation of the Song that they were able to come up with!

TAKE MY NEW LIFE

My Lord, take my new life,Before the expected ageWares down my years.I ‘m  ready to goNo  matter where you send me You, call me to serve!

   Refrain   Lead me to the places    where people need your words,   Where they need a reason to leave.   Where there is no hope,   And despair surrounds all,   Just because,    They don’t know you.

I give you, a sincere heart,To shout without fearThe wonder of Your Love!My Lord, I have a missionary soulConduct me to the land That desperately thirsts for you.

   And so, along the way, I’ll sing   I’ll preach by Towns   Your Grandeur my Lord,   I’ll have my arms without tiredness   Your story on my lips,   Your strength on my prayer.

What wonderful words eh?!

New Cardinals

Each year, February 22 is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and yesterday Pope Francis created 19 new Cardinals for the Church in service to the world.
This was the first Consistory held in the presence of 2 Popes! Benedict XVI - as Pope Emeritus - was at the Consistory along with Pope Francis! The Mass with the New Cardinals and Pope Francis was celebrated this morning in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

One of the new Cardinals is Gerald Lacroix, the Archbishop of Quebec City which is the primal see (the first diocese) in Canada. Gerald Lacroix was born in Saint-Hilaire de Dorset, Quebec, July 27, 1957, the eldest son in a family of seven children. At the age of 8, his family settled in Manchester, N.H., where he attended the parochial elementary school of St. Anthony of Padua and Trinity High School. He studied one year at St. Anselm College in Manchester.
He joined the Pius X Secular Institute as a consecrated lay member in 1975, and made perpetual vows in 1982. The same year, he was named secretary-general of the institute. He earned a master’s degree in pastoral theology at Laval University, and from 1985 to 1987 directed the La Maison du Renouveau, a formation and Christian renewal center.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1988. From 1990 to 2000, he served as a missionary in Colombia, where he established several houses for the institute. After his return to Canada, he became director general of the institute in 2001.
In 2009, he was named a bishop and served as auxiliary bishop of Quebec until his promotion to archbishop in 2011.

Many of the Cardinals appointed by Francis are from the "Global South" - the developing world. The Archbishop of Port au Prince was named the first Cardinal ever from  Haiti.  Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes is from Managua, Nicaragua. 

Here is an interesting video from the Diocese depicting his departure for Rome. Neat Video! There is hope!
As we sign cards for the Development and Peace action campaign - a Voice for Justice, I keep these apointments to the College of Cardinals in mind.

Peace

Venezuela

I know it may seem odd - but I am posting a video of what is happening these days in Venezuela - where many of our spanish speaking parishioners come from

This is very disturbing - and so my thoughts and prayers are with the young people in Venezuela these days.

Peace

Africa - Baby Animals

Here are some photos of the Adult and Child Animals that we saw - almost always together...

Baby Elephant & Mommy

A Close-up of the Baby - about 6-8 weeks old the guide figured!

Anothe 4-6 week old Baby Elephant - after going for a mud bath! 

Mama Lion with cubs.

Hippo and Baby - in the water

Striped Back Mongoose - litter with parents

Baboons with newborns

Wart Hog

Mom and Baby Zebra

These young Impalas are obout 2 months old

Young Puku - with larger hind legs to jump through swampy water / land

These Chickens were in the Namibian Village we visited!

Peace

Africa - Oudtshorn

This area of South Africa is almost desert - like. It is the home to Ostrich farms where there were many millionaires made in the early part of the 1900's as the Ostrich feather became a coveted item in ladies fashion throughout the world.

Baby Ostrich - 2 weeks old

Making Feather Dusters

Grown up Adults 

Tom feeding the Ostriches

Carol sitting on an Ostrich

Jockeys racing the birds!

Peace

Africa - Cape Town

I had dinner last night with my friend Maureen who had been to South Africa last year when she and her husband went - he was the president of the Canadian Orthopedic Association.  I said to her - "You were right!" she looked at me sort of strange - I said: "You were right - all the animals in Africa - were simply incredible!" 

Here are some images of Cape Town - the first place we visited.

A View of Table Mountain - which you can see from most of Cape Town

An impressive statue - in the beautiful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt - Catholic Cathedral of Cape Town

An engraving depicting the original European Immigrants to South Africa

View of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain
The stadium in the top left is from the World Cup in 2010

District 6 in Cape Town - there has been very little redevelopment

District Six  is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. Over 60,000 of its inhabitants were forcibly removed during the 1970s by the apartheid regime.

Peace

Africa - Landscapes

Here are aome landscape pictures of Africa from my trip:

Cape of Good Hope - Where Atlanticc & Indian Oceans meet

Part of Table Mountain - Simons Town is in the distance

Part of the Garden Route - North of George

Small waterfall between Prince Albert and Oudtshorn

Sunset look over the Mighty Zambezi River

About 1/3 of Victoria Falls 

Victoria Falls is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, yet it is classified as the largest, based on its width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of  Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by Argentina and Brazil's Iguazu Falls. The spray from the falls typically rises to a height of over 400 metres (1,300 ft), and sometimes even twice as high. We were there in the beginning of the rainy season - and so saw the falls at about 1/2 - 2/3 of the peak flow rate.

Peace

Africa - Flora

Here are some flower pictures from Africa!

Background on Africa

Over 6 years ago – I wanted to go to Africa – it was when South African Airways joined the Star Alliance, and started its non-stop flights from New York to Johannesburg – and I dreamed of 16 hours in Business class (redeeming Star Alliance Points!) Crazy Dreams eh? Well in those days I heard from parishioners of a priest friend of mine who had been to South Africa who said it was not safe.  That the luggage was always pilfered. Etc. 
So I put this idea off…
As part of my 50th Birthday planning – to go to Barcelona etc. last fall, I noticed in Feb. 2013 that there were business class reward flights to South Africa in January 2014 – and I said to Fr. Scott that I wanted to go… He had points. I had points. Lets do this…
He had a parishioner who had family there in South Africa – and they said – Johannesburg was not always safe – but there were lots of areas that were. So we booked it!  I wanted to see Victoria Falls – so we included Livingstone in Zambia on the itinerary, since we had also heard that Zimbabwe was not always safe.
Years ago I went to Iguazu in South America – to see the magnificent falls there… I wanted to see Victoria Falls in Africa… (Bucket List kind of trip) and so I committed to 3 weeks of Holidays! Eventually - even though my Dad decided not to go on this trip - 2 other friends who we have travelled with before booked economy seats and we travelled together.

Fr. Scott and I booked Business Class all that way – including the short flights from Cape Town to Livingstone. And then back to Johannesburg. Our routing was: 
Toronto – Washington DC – on United
Washington DC – Johannesburg – on South African Airways
     (With a 1 hour Technical stop in Dakar, Senegal)
Johannesburg – Cape Town
  Stay in Cape Town / Wine Region / Garden Route for 12 days
Cape Town – Livingstone, Zambia 
  Victoria Falls for 3 days  
  Chobe National Park in Botswana for 5 days 
  (Known for Safari’s and Elephants,  etc)
Then Livingstone – Johannesburg – New York – on SAA
And JFK – Toronto on Air Canada.
We handled all the bookings / hotels ourselves except for the final 8 days which we did thru a tour company we found online.

I left for the Airport on January 6th with both excitement and a bit of nervousness. That was after the big storm on the north east coast – which did not hurt Toronto so much as the rest of the NE seaboard in the US.
United delayed our flight.  Then delayed again.  We would miss the connection.  The Check in agent was useless.  Could not find any re-routing… finally we suggested Air Canada to Baltimore – and we would take a taxi – shuttle to Washington DC - Dulles airport.
We got on that Air Canada flight – just before it “closed” but then it was delayed an hour – due to the freezing cold – and the ground crews who could only stay outside for a 30 minutes per hour!

We got to Baltimore - got a cab to Dulles and arrived just as SAA flight would have been taking off. By now United Airlines had cancelled the Toronto – IAD flight – crew timed out…
So now United is responsible to get us to Cape Town.  After 45 minutes with a UA Special  “Additional Services” Agent we were booked on the 10 pm flight to Frankfurt with a 9.5 hour layover – then the overnight flight to Johannesburg on Lufthansa.
She can’t get SAA to confirm the JNB-CPT Leg of the flight… We say OK…
We get to Frankfurt – and in the lounge & the special United agent there – gets us on a flight to Munich at 6 pm – and then the Munich flight on Lufthansa direct to Cape Town. I could create a collage with all of the different Boarding passes I have had…

Eventually we get to Cape Town 1 day later than scheduled, and lost a prepaid room night, and have tickets that are so messed up that each time we check in they have to go to the special sales desk to get things straightened out! But we get there!

So now the holiday:  As I have said - one word – EPIC!

It was fantastic.  We felt safe at all times.  The people were so friendly everywhere. We had a terrific time in Cape Town and the Wine region. We rented a car and I drove on the left side of the road. The scenery on the Garden route – the southern oceanfront drive in South Africa – was stunning. Vast beauty.  Wonderful beaches and coastline.We also saw Ostriches and drove Mountain Passes. Incredible.

Then we went to Livingstone Zambia and stayed at a hotel that is part of the national park that the Victoria Falls are in.  
We could walk to the falls daily.  Eventually we ended up taking a Helicopter Ride over the falls.  This was a gift of our travelling companions for all the work Fr. Scott and I had done in organizing and researching things…
Again – incredible.  Then we had a minibus transfer to the Botswana border – 1.25 hrs or so – and then a boat ride across the river – this is the only place on the earth where 4 countries come together: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia!
Then a 20 minute ride to our Safari Laodge – hotel which was very nice.  All of our meals were included from this point on…

Elephants, Hippos, Baboons, Giraffe, Zebra, Lions, we saw it all on 3 game drives, 4 boat rides, and a trip to a Namibian Village!
AWESOME…

I left feeling so blessed, and we had an extra day in Pretoria on the return because of SAA Flight Changes and schedules (Not connected to the original delays in getting there)
So I got to visit the Union buildings where Mandela was waked before his Funeral…

The people we encountered, the safety we felt, the beauty of God's creation - simply marvelous. 
God is good - All the time!   All the time - God is good!
Peace

Africa II

Here are some more pics from Africa:

Swartberg Pass

Mom and Baby Elephant - One of the Big 5

Hippo behind our Safari Vehicle

Mama Lion and 5 Cubs! One of the Big 5

Troop of Baboons

Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five

Crocadile - they open their mouths to cool down!

Peace

CWL Speech Contest

On this Super Sunday - I spent the last 1.5 hours in the Parish Hall with 8 terrific students from our 4 Elementary Schools listening to speeches. There we all kinds of topics (Bullying, Romantic Movies, Premonitions, Dreams, to name a few...) and the winner was Christian - from St. John the Baptist School - speaking on being a "Vertically Challenged" person! The runner up was Cristina from Holy Family School - speaking on Fears.  Each of the participants had to not only deliver their prepared speech, they also had to speak "Impromptu" on a topic they found out 2 minutes before speaking - "What would you do if you were Principal for a day!"

Christian and Cristina - CWL Speech Contest winners!

Congrats to all the participants - and thanks to the CWL Members who always conduct a great speech contest!

Peace

Africa

Epic
That is the only word to describe my trip to Africa in January.
Epic.  The people were so friendly, and I felt safe and secure all the time... It was terrific... Ill share more later in the coming week, including the crazy hiccups in getting there! but for now I have my top few pictures to share:

Mandelas Cell on Robben's Island

Victoria Falls - the Mighty Zambezi River

Panorama of Union Buildings - Pretoria, South Africa

Zabra at the Pool

Giraffes

Melakite Kingfisher - beatiful small bird

Peace