28 07 2019
Constance Keyter,  Yes it is me. my email is still frcascmm50@gmail.com   Send yours and we can reunite.  Cas.

July 24, 2019

   IT seems that the article I had intended for you to see and reflect on just didn’t show in the blog. I don’t know if I kept a copy somewhere but I will try to remember what it was and where it might be. Ha. It’s not just old age. I often can’t remember which file I put something in and have to hunt and search,

    But, since I intend to fly to Zambia in September, I was asked to scan my passport to the travel agent in Zambia. It was only then that I noticed, on pg. 45, what I share with you now.

“It is immigrants who brought to this land the skills of their hands and brains

To make of it a beacon of opportunity and hope for all men”

Herbert H. Lehman

 (from an immigrant family from Germany)

(from page 45 of my passport, renewed in 2017. It should

Be in the passport of everyone who has

A recent passport)

Mr. Trump, take notice!

Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was a Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th Governor of New York and represented New York State in the US Senate from 1949 until 1957.

He was born to a Reform Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City,

·        Lehman died in 1963 and was interred in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.^[12] That same year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[3]

·        Lehman was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the U.S. Army for his service as a colonel on the Army General Staff during World War I.

I didn’t know who Henry Lehman was so I went to Google and this is what they had to say. (Wickepedia)

Besides that, I went to see the surgeon, Dr. Jayaban Naidoo, who told me to lie down and lift up my left leg. Then he told me to bend the knee. He said, oh that is very good. If you can get someone to help you, as you lie on your tummy, he/she can push down and, little by little, get the knee straight, you will be able (implied) to walk normally. Hope. Right now I use the elbow crutch when I go out of my room, but in my room I waddle booble like a drunken monkey. But he gave me hope. I will try to be faithful and keep at it.

     Tomorrow we have a big feast, Sr. Ann (Mari ANN hill). Our jubilarians will be celebrating  60 yrs. of vows, 0ne 50 yrs. of priesthood, and  two 25 years of priesthood. That is a lot of time put in to serving the Lord’s people.

I celebrated 60 yrs. of vows (especially of being obedient…hmmmm) in 2016 . I have been priesting now for 57 yrs.

How time flies. Let me leave you in peace for the time being. I will share some more stuff with you later.  

July 18, 2019

click on "view image on twitter" and then click on the link. It doesn't seem to want to print the text here. See what you think and let me know in the comments section. Thanks. Good night, it is now my bedtime. Ha.

July 17, 2019

It is actually now the 18^th. Good intentions yesterday but no follow through.

Because our retirement home is close to the retreat house, we are often asked to help with confessions, so Fr. Urs and I went to the retreat house on the evening of the 12^th to hear confessions for those who were making a retreat that weekend. This is always one of the moving experiences of a priest’s life because it is as though he is a fly on the wall and gapes in awe at the mysterious grace-full exchange of life and love between the penitent and his / her God. It is awesome. You are witness to something so sacred and intimate that you realize that it is beyond what you can absorb. You try to be of help if there is some sort of request, but, in the end, it is the prime example of God’s ever merciful, loving forgiveness, of which the priest is just the proxy, adding physical word to the spiritual reality of the forgiveness that is taking place in the spirit. It always touches my spirit and inspires me

Shirley was supposed to have come on the `135^th  for a chat and sharing a samosa or something but she chose to drop me and go to visit a friend of hers, an elderly lady over 80, who had been beaten up by thieves who had broken into the house and went on a stealing spree. She was not in good shape but at least she is alive but has lost her freedom in that her car was also stolen. Ask any senior citizen what it means to have to be for transport to go here or there or wherever.

On the 13^th 3 sisters were celebrating their jubilees, 2 X  60 yrs in vows and one, my Sr. Eugenia (we work together at the hospital) 50 yrs. If you do some mathematical calculating, you will see that their combined yrs. Of service to the Lord’s people comes to 170 yrs. Wow. That is a lot. 1 was a teacher, 1 worked in the community’s laundry for many many yrs. And Eugenia is a nurse, the one who works together with me. They still have  a lot of energy left for some yrs. To come.

On the 14^th, Sunday, I was back at Savannah Park to concelebrate with my friend Fr. Des. There was one time when I was standing free of the altar and turned too quickly and started to fall (this was just before communion) and the people gasped as I fell, comfortably, into Fr. Des’ arms. You should have seen the look on the faces of the church goers who thought, for sure, that I was going to fall. Almost. But I need something to lean on to give me stability.

 (I only checked something at the post office on the 15^th… a lazy day.)    On the 16^th, I did 5 chores—get petrol, check post office for incoming parcel, supermarket, Paulines ( religious goods store where I bought a new English Sunday Missal) and finally lunch with a family who are my age and whom I have known since I buried their Waterhead baby 50 yrs, ago.

17^th of July. This is a crucial day since it determined my future. I went to see Dr. Wolpe, the neurologist who has been looking after me, to give a report on the cortisone, how it is working. We tried something called Baclofen for a month (it is used mainly by people who have spinal injuries which sometimes cause spasms). No change,  spasms as usual.  Then we tried Cortisone (it is three weeks now with some heavy doses following 3 IV’. Some small improvements in muscle relaxation and flexibility, but the spasms keep coming, as they are playing with me leg muscles as I am writing. I told him that we tried these things (always treating symptoms, never getting to the cause, which no one can figure out). He suggested maybe trying some Valium. Ha. I hear how Hollywood lives on Valium (among other poisons) and said, no way jose. I have been thinking about my situation and am prepared to take it a day at a time and just live with it as so many other people have to do with their situations. They can’t change their situation (and many much worse off than me) and I as prepared to see who I am going to live with it. Anyway, I have been living with these spasms for 4 months now, since the knee op, and I still get up in the morning as usual (the sun keeps coming up in the East, believe it or not) I can still take my own shower, dress myself, move around, although a bit more slow with a crutch, and I can still drive, and at the dining room table, I find that my mouth works fine. Ha.

I think I will go to see Dr. Naidoo, the orthopaedic surgeon, to see if he has any advice as to how I can move forward with a knee that will probably never get 100 %. At least now I have a focus and will plunge ahead.

18^th, today, we had a meeting (the first sine Feb.) of the team that is planning the building of the new church for Savannah Park. The plans have been with the municipality for months now and still have not been approved because now they have come up with an environmental assessment necessity, like for landscaping. We have to wait for them to go through the various requirements before we can get an approval. Then we can start building. One decision that was made was to have another fund raiser in October. WE have enough to get started building, and the wisdom is that once the building is seen to be going up, people will be more motivated to give a helping hand with donations of money or bricks or other things.

One last thing before I go. I found this article somewhere on the internet and I want to share it with you. As you know, I am not a Trump supporter and am not out to impeach him ( we most likely wouldn’t get enough votes with the Republican senate and then he could crow about that too) but I am appalled at his lack of morality, or any of the so-called Gospel values, since he always seem to equate success with money---what great deals he has done, as with Saudi Arabia.

But I don’t want to get off on that right now. But here is an article that caught my eye. Let me know what you think, if you get a chance. You know my email….frcascmm50@gmail.com

July 11, 2019

All of us here, old timers, were glued to the TV watching the American World Soccer Women’s team. Hooray. I felt sorry for the Netherlands, but these women represented more than just a soccer game and I am fully behind what they stand for. The team leader told Trump that she wasn’t interested in being invited to his white house. What was understood is that many of the values that the women of this team have (respect for LGBT people and blacks, human rights more than money, women’s rights, the same reward for the winners of the womens’ game as the men---Trump has a poor record when it comes to treating women as objects and not human beings, etc. etc. etc. ) at least this is what I imagine. I was a highlight of the week.

    I had a video of me made as I am trying to get up from a sitting position and the gymnastics I go through to get up straight so that I can walk. I don’t know if the medication is doing anything big, maybe small and subtle. I do see some positive changes in my ability to walk normally now but the changes are so sloooooow. I think that that the knee won’t be able to operate properly till the swelling has gone down completely. It has gone down a lot and that is good. But enough of this stuff.

    I was invited to a birthday party last Sunday (Peter McKai—his 80^th). I had already been to the service at Savannah Park where we had 8 baptisms. I am grateful for my friend, Fr. Des, who has been lending a hand and filling in for months now. The people also appreciate his commitment to serving our community when he would have other options.

   But back to the birthday party. It was a cold day and we celebrated outside with a braii vleis, a cook out. It was the first all white gathering that I have attended. We were all in the 70’s and 80’s and these were people who were supporters of Archbishop Hurley, trying , in their various ways, to bring justice and peace to an apartheid South Africa. They, like me, are concerned about the direction South Africa has taken in the past few years but are prepared to support the new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who, we all feel, is the right person for the job but has so many challenges and problems to deal with that we all wonder if he is going to make it. But we will try to support him.

     A friend from up country (Maluti, at the foot of he Drakensburg Mts. Where it is very very cold---below zero) came to visit as he was down country (Durban, south coast) for medical check ups. I was sad to hear that they still don’t have electricity in his village, and I doubt that there is water piped to the houses. This is almost 2020. You go outside to the long drop to the toilet and it is freezing cold. Do I dare to complain about any discomforts I may have. Ha. God would punish me. I am more than blessed.

July 4, 2019

Independence Day. Hmmm. Not much commotion or activity here. I didn’t get an invitation from the consulate this year which is a bit unusual so I will ask my friend who works there if there was any outreach to the American community here in the Durban area regarding how to celebrate 4^th of July, as if there is anything to celebrate about.

Le me give a quick overview for the past weeks. Time has flown and I have been lazy and a bit down because there has been no noticeable change in my condition (the spasms are still coming 24/7 and no one can figure out why or from where. I have more or less adapted to the situation and don’t really get bothered too much and, thank God, it has let me drive in peace without any unnatural activity while I am driving.

    I joined the Savannah Park church community twice no on Sunday and joined with a concelebrating friend who did the incensing and communion distributing so I didn’t have to strain to stand still in one place for a long time.

   I also went once to the hospital for Mass at 6am and got the usual customers. I might try that once a week because it means doing a bit of setting up with a small easily moveable table that I can lean on.

   I conducted a funeral liturgy at the crematrorium as a long time friend of the family. She didn’t want a Mass but the family felt that we had to have some kind of God input as they are, on the whole, a very faithful church-going family and are plugged into lots of good church activities. It was a great celebration

After a month’s worth of wasted medicine (nothing happened to improve the situation) the doctor decided to try Cortisone. He gave me a scrip which I was able to use to order 3 IV’s and a pile of pills to see if the cortisone would help to change the situation. The sisters did the IV’s in their sick bay at the convent, 3 days in a row, each drip lasting an hour. Then we went onto oral (pills).  6 pills a day after a meal, for 5 days….then 5 pills a day for 5 days, then 4 pills a day for 4 days, etc. till we get to one pill a day. After 3 weeks we will have a look to see in there are any improvements in the situation.

I have been lazy to get at my blog and have been a bit down because no matter what we have tried so far, nothing seems to be working to take away the spasms. I think that I have adapted my life to this situation so that I just go through the day taking things as they come (like so many of you) because there is nothing else that can be done. I Use one crutch and, after a shaky beginning, gradually get to walk more or less normally and straight, but with the left leg seeming to get stiff and tired too easily.

I missed the St. Marys Nursing school graduation which I really wanted to attend to encourage the young nurses to keep on keeping on, because I was having one of those IV’s that same time that same day.

A friend brought some mutton curry over for me to chomp on and it is good for both body and spirit. I have also gotten out to do a bit of visiting just to get out of the house.

I gave up on the physiotherapy because the hard work she was doing was being undone by the spasms which more of less canceled out what she was trying to do,,,,to get that bloody leg straight.

Many people have been, I think, unreasonably sympathetic towards me. Feeling so sorry for me. Ha. Just watch the news each night,  Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. Suffering like you can’t believe. And many of you….”been there, done that”…have had your own experiences and maybe continue to deal with even life-threatening health issues so that I know that I am still in kindergarden in comparison and have no right to complain. I am OK, believe me.

The more I see of Trump the more I am sad at the whole turn of events since he became president. I won’t go into details here. Government by tweet…no consultation, just instinct, feeling, for so many complicated issues. I am just begoggled. But if the Democrats want to challenge him in the up coming election (I registered for voting absentee by the way) they will have to get a candidate (out of the many promising ones) who can address the issues that are so close to his followers. There are too many priorities, 200 means there are really no priorities. Today should be a day of trying to build unity but I feel that with all the military and huge expenses it is like the Russians of the North Koreans, showing off how we are big and tough enough with our planes and tanks and weapons to “obliterate” you if you don’t play the game our way.I am not sure that most Americans want to be seen by the world as the world’s biggest bully ready to destroy at the drop of a hat anyone or anything that gets in our way.

It seems that success is measured not in improved relationships but is purely money terms…..how many billions of dollars we have earned by selling planes, guns, rockets, etc. that are used for killing people on all sides. Sell some more, make more money, improve the economy, Yuk.

My friend Jim Meyer, priest from Detroit, sent this as a reflection for 4^th of July.

WHAT IS A PATRIOT? (edited)

As we light our firecrackers and put another vegan burger on the barbecue we would do well to reflect on the virtue of patriotism. Certainly we can be grateful for the blessings we have received as Americans. We can be equally grateful for the ways in which we as a nation have been a blessing to other peoples and places. For all of these deeds we can stand proud.

But patriotism is about more than pride. It is a virtue. In fact it is a dimension of love, love of one’s country. And love calls us to nothing less than truth. So as we reflect on those things, we would do well to also face the fact that like other nations we are fallible and at times stand in need of a different vision.

All too often patriotism is confused with nationalism. While patriotism is love of one’s country, nationalism is the misguided belief that one’s nation is better than other nations. So while patriotism calls us to truth, nationalism can cloud or even hide the truth.

So it is that from the beginning there have been Americans who have challenged the way things are done. They have painfully led us to be better than we might have been. We read of them as heroes of our history. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr. made us better but suffered for the daring of their words, let alone their actions. They were patriots, not because they waved a flag, put twisty stickers on their cars and endorsed everything that we were as a nation. They were patriots in that they spoke the truth and became catalysts for making us better.

In a nation where freedom of speech is a given, the responsibility to speak the truth is an awesome one indeed. Challenging speech in any nation may appear to be unpatriotic. But it is only seen to be such by those who do not know the difference between true love, which calls the beloved to excellence and nationalistic blindness, which prevents the vision that can bring us to greatness.

Many of us not only call ourselves American. We call ourselves Christian Americans. For us then nothing less than the message of Jesus can be the lens through which we view and judge ourselves as a nation. Where there is a conflict between what He said and what we do, when His Beatitudes conflict with our policies and endeavors, the conclusion can be none other than that we are wrong. Only a patriot can see that. Only a patriot will dare to speak it.

So speak it where you can. For those who for whatever reason cannot speak up, supporting those who do is also patriotic. "Supporting the troops" may be important but supporting the truth and those who dare to speak it is even more so. This is a dimension of patriotism that may not be spoken at the parades. May God Bless America and may America learn more fully how to bless the world.     J. Robert Schaden

I think that this is enough for now.  Enjoy the day. I will be doing some visiting today, one of those to be visited Is a young man, friend, who had to have both kidneys removed and continues to work kidneyless getting dialysis regularly hoping that he can perhaps be lucky enough to find a kidney donor. He is not 40 yet. Hey, everyone has a story.    Love and Peace ,  Fr. Cas.