After just over a week of walking all over Europe, we are heading home–at the ungodly hour of 2:45 a.m. German time–tired but happy. I’d meant to write more, but between the details of the trip and the kids immense needs to email their friends, time has been scarce. Estimates are for a million people at the final mass with the Pope, and I’d say that all of them were in our section trying to get home on the same shuttle that we were. There was much pushing and shoving–and that was just the priests behind us. The teens did great though and between their responsibility and a lot of European cell phone minutes, all of us got back to the hotel. We had a good final dinner together and sent off the first bus to Frankfurt, part of our 3-leg journey home. The Mass with the Pope and so many people was unbelievable in its size, although being so far from the action makes it pretty hard to concentrate. So, too, did the fact that the organizers ran out of food and it was in the 40’s the night before. We’ll we’re off now, see you in St. Louis. As much as we’ve loved Europe, everyone is very ready to go home. Thanks for your prayers. See you in a few hours.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

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It’s Monday morning here in Paris, France and the Gateway Travelers Pilgrims are just waking up. I hope. We had a very good but long trip to get here (for which we have many pictures, but I cannot figure out how to download them yet–they will come later) but as of this morning, minus some weary bodies and some slight colds, we seem to be doing very well.

Saturday started with a short flight to Chicago and a long time in O’Hare. Some of the earliest travelers went out on the town a bit for some pizza and a look out the 95th floor of the Hancock building. The flight to Paris was smooth and pretty fast, only about 7 and one-half hours. It was made considerably longer by a woman who brought her cat on board. This cat meowed quite audibly for the entire flight. You would have thought that even cats get tired of meowing, but evidently not. Getting out of Charles de Gaulle airport was incredibly smooth. In fact, maybe a little too smooth as when we got to our hotel, our rooms weren’t ready (or even close to ready). So we explored some of Paris around our hotel, found some places to exchange money and some food and after a long few hours of waiting around the hotel lobby, we all got cleaned up and headed to Notre Dame cathedral for Mass.

Evidently, the day before the Feast of the Assumption is quite a custom in Paris as the church was packed. In fact, most of us couldn’t even get in the church (so we had mass later that night for them as well), but it was a beautiful night and so in the church for the mass with an auxiliary bishop of Paris, or outside of Notre Dame walking around and shopping, it was a beautiful night. We came back for dinner and then went to bed, exhausted.

Oh, I almost forgot. There was a little getting lost. I went for a run with Joe Federer (from Ascension) and we got way lost. So much so we finally had to have a very nice couple drive us back to the hotel! It’s amazing what you learn about a city when you’re walking around it looking for street signs–in the rain, not sure where you are. Still, all is well that ends well.

Today after breakfast and Mass, we have a full 12 hours of sight-seeing planned. Focusing on the Louvre in the morning and the Eiffel Tower at night, it should be a blast. We’ll let you know. Until then, know of our prayers and our love as we pray and laugh and eat through Paris on our way to WYD in Cologne. By they way, we’ve already met pilgrims from California, Philadelphia, and Brazil who are also heading to Cologne. It should be an awesome good time.

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I’m writing this as I’m just closing up the day from our annual summer float trip. What a great day! Despite some lunches that we left behind (oops!) and a whole lot of heat, I had a blast. First of all, a hot day is perfect to be in cold water. I don’t think the Meramac was ever so refreshing. Also, it was great to have a little time to hang out and goof off with so many of our teens and Core Team. Even better, it was nice to watch you having such a good time with each other. Great job to all who floated the day away. Special thanks to the Core Team who were great and resourcesful as usual, as well as thanks to Jim and Marsha Bathe who hosted all 46 of us for a lakeside BBQ after the float was over. Several lessons come to mind after today that I thought I’d like to share with you all:
you can never have too much sunscreen
you can never have too much cold water
the water cannons were a blast
always check twice to make sure you have all the coolers
you are never safe from a sneak attack and a sudden plunge into the water

I’d love to hear your lessons from the day or any of your favorite parts of it as well.

Again, thanks to all who floated.

Peace.

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I didn’t have Mass this morning until our 10:15 a.m. Mass at the nursing home, so I had the chance for an early morning run. As I finished and did some stretching, I looked around at the beautiful sunrise and felt the cool air on my face. What a beautiful morning! The sky was bright blue and the sun was warm but not hot. I love the sense of being connected to something bigger than myself and sharing in something beautiful. This morning I just had a strong awareness of how much was right in the world. It was a great moment of gratefulness. Since then the day has been a crazy mix of deadlines, meetings, and phone calls, but I still have that experience of connecting to something beautiful today. I hope that in your day, today, you get a chance to connect with (or simply open to) something beautiful. And that when this happens, you recognize it for the gift it is and can take a moment to celebrate it and God’s presence in it all.

Peace.

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Here, thanks to the crack St. Cletus YM Core Team, I have rocketed into the current century and am even as I am writing this completing my first blog. My first blog is a noteworthy one, we have just hired a new Director of Youth Ministry here at St. Cletus! The Core Team and Fr. Benz and I have been interviewing for several weeks and we feel like we have found a great person to lead us deeper into faith. His name is Bob Hamer, he has a Master’s in theology, a real love for youth and the church, and I’ll let him tell you the rest. He’ll be coming on staff toward the end of June, but until then, keep him in your prayers.

Peace.

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