New York

This week I was obliged to travel to Huntington, New York, for the annual meeting of the Mariological Society of America, which starts tonight. I decided to fly out of Columbus a day early to visit my friend Fr. Carleton Jones, OP, Pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer parish in Manhattan. The parish church has been called one of the fifty most beautiful buildings in America. What do you think?
This was my first experience of getting from JFK airport to Manhattan via public transport. It's very easy if you don't have too much luggage. First you take something called the airtrain, which links all terminals, to Jamaica Station of the Long Island Railroad.

Then you take the LIRR right into Pennsylvania Station (track 1!).



Fr. Carleton and I had a leisurely breakfast this morning at a diner with a perfect name. It was good to catch up as we had not seen each other in about five years' time.
After midday Mass I packed up and dragged my little suitcase through the turnstiles and up and down the stairs of three different subway lines to return to Penn Station, where I caught the LIRR for Huntington. From that station I took a tax to the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. In about 30 minutes I'll go downstairs to the refectory to unite with the other members of the MSA who are taking a bus in from LaGuardia airport. Theoretically.