Autumn Travels

Hi Y'all:

I'm back home for the nonce, It is a stunningly beautiful October day here and i am reveling in the last of my flowers. Chances are that they won't be blooming by the time I get back from our next trip. Cause it's October and you know that means lots of airplanes and frequent flyer miles.

Friday, Fr. Mike will begin leading a weekend men's retreat at Conception Abbey in Missouri. Meanwhile, Mary Kaufman will be training more Called & Gifted interviewers for the Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa.

I leave home again on Sunday for the International Catholic Stewardship Conference in dowtown Chicago where I'll be giving a presentation on charisms in stewardship and evangelization.

Then both Fr. Mike and I fly to Germany next Tuesday where I will share the story of my conversion and he and I will teach the Called & Gifted workshop. Our venue is tough: the gorgeous Benedictine Monastery in Ettal, Bavaria.



After this, Fr. Mike loses his right to complain about those tundra mission tours.

While Fr. Mike is practicing his yodel and I my schloss, another Institute team will be offering the Called & Gifted workshop in Salem, Oregon.

If you can't join us, your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

And this, just because I have always been moved by this observation by C. S. Lewis:

"Yes, autumn really is the best of seasons; and I'm not sure that old age isn't the best part of life. But of course, like autumn, it doesn't last."