Launching Day

Bright and early on Tuesday morning, we hooked Vidi Aquam up to the tractor and watched her trundle down the road to the marine railway behind Coastal Marine for launching. There was some anxiety about whether the Yamaha outboard would behave itself, but the new fuel pump did the trick. No thanks to Yamaha for not telling anyone that they had updated their fuel pump design. I am trying to think of something that makes less sense than a sailboat owner worrying about an outboard motor and I can't come up with anything. Once at the Port Clinton Yacht Charters dock, we stepped the mast and I gave the decks a good washing. Then back to sunny Columbus the same day (had a construction meeting Wednesday 8 a.m.).

Mariological Society of America

We have just closed the 62nd annual meeting of the Mariological Society of America, held at the Franciscan Renewal Center just outside Scottsdale, Arizona. We had some really terrific talks, and were blessed by a visit from the Bishop of Phoenix, the Most Reverend Thomas Olmsted, who celebrated Mass for us last night and stayed for dinner. Here is an outline of the program.

The Mariological Society of America: 62th Annual Meeting:
The Virgin Mary in the United States and Canada
(Part I : Until 1900)


Tuesday, May 17, 2011
4:00 PM Meeting of the Administrative Council

Dinner
7:30 PM Welcome: Fr. Thomas Buffer
Fr. Emery de Gaál, Ph.D., University of St. Mary of the Lake/ Mundelein Seminary
The Marian Connection between the Americas and Europe: Our Lady of Guadalupe 1531-1900

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
7:00 AM Morning Praise, Eucharist
9:00 AM Opening Orientation: Fr. Thomas Buffer

Dr. Joseph White, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Mary Immaculate as National Patroness: New Perspectives on the Decision of the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore (1846)

10:30 AM Lynn Marie Busch, S.T.L. Dallas, PA B
The Marian Spirituality of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), Iroquois Virgin and Patroness of the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins

1:30 PM Fr. Neil Roy, STL., PhD. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
The Marian Legacy of St Marguerite Bourgeoys CND (1620-1700)

2:45 PM Bro. Lawrence Scrivani, SM, Pacific Grove, California

The Place Afforded to Mary in the Initial Evangelization of the Stone Age Peoples of New California, 1769-1824

4:00 PM Richard Bulzacchelli, S.T.L., Aquinas College, Nashville, TN
Crushing the Head of the Serpent: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Triumph of Revealed Religion in the Aztec World

Dinner
Rosary Service (Guadalupe Chapel)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

7:00 AM Morning Praise, Eucharist

9:00 AM Dr. Wendy Wright, Creighton University, Omaha, NE

The Virgin Mary's Kaleidoscopic Heart: Southern California from the 19th to the 21t Century

10:30 AM Fr. Richard Gribble, CSC. Stonehill College, MA
Fr. Nelson Baker and Our Lady of Victory Basilica, Lackawanna, N.Y.


1:30 PM Edward Looney, Diocese of Green Bay, WI
Called to Evangelize: The Story of Adele Brice and
the Marian Apparition That Changed Her Life

3:00 PM Sharon Perkins, University of Dayton
Marian Devotion among Czech Catholic Immigrants to Texas from the 1860s through the 1940s

5:30 PM Eucharist: Most Rev. Thomas Olmsted

Dinner

Friday, May 20, 2011
7:00 AM Morning Praise, Eucharist

9:00 AM: Fr. Thomas Thompson, S.M.
Select Marian Bibliography 2011


9:30 AM Business Meeting.

10:45 AM: Pilgrimage to the St. Mary's Basilica (Phoenix)

Welcome Home

Pleaes continue to pray for all catechumens and candidates for full communion who will join the Church this Saturday night during the Easter Vigil. Here are a few of their stories:

US Catholic Church finds astonishing variety of people joining this Easter :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Top choral director calls modern Church music 'ecclesiastical karaoke' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Earth Day

This year Good Friday and Earth Day coincide. Because I plan to concentrate on observing Good Friday, I am attaching this video to help everyone celebrate Earth Day early.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Just finished Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner. Highly recommended. Here's the video version (scroll past the inane introduction given by someone who must have gone to university):

Tim Weiner Discusses the History of the CIA

And here are two well-informed negative reviews:

The book is flawed but still well worth reading, if nothing else as an introduction to an endlessly fascinating subject.

Wisconsin protests: 'democracy in action' or 'mob rule'?

Now that the hoo-haa in Wisconsin has subsided somewhat, and attention has turned from the tidal wave of protesters in Madison to a literal tsunami IN Japan, it is time for a dispassionate look at what the Madison riot means in a nation of laws. And Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor has kindly provided such a gaze:

Wisconsin protests: 'democracy in action' or 'mob rule'?