January 8^th, 2016,

My boss at Kelsey Hayes, Bill Byers,  had a saying on his desk that, I think, applies to me here now. The hurrier I go the behinder I get. Ha! Life has been going too fast and I am already behind and the new year has already gone into first gear.

Let me summarize it this way. Katrina was on an emotional roller coaster as the school closed and she had to say goodbye to all the kids. Tough job. Also, we spent a good bit of time together going around from family to family saying goodbye—all people that had taken her into their homes and hearts. She had become part of mor families than she could count. And I became more and more proud of her.

For me, it was a Christmas rush, preparing Masses and liturgies for one feast after another, in both languages, English and Zulu. It takes time, you know, to think things through and then to give a decent sermon or homily on such special days.

Again, before and after Christmas, we visited sometimes 3 or 4 families in one day. Then came the departure day. One of the families that had taken her in as if she was their daughter, Logan and Rajes Govender (and their son) took us all to the airport in a bigger car than I have. We got there in plenty of time and had a cup of coffee and some time to chat.We waited, purposely, up till into boarding time so that we wouldn’t have to look each other in the eye and start you know what. We said our goodbyes quickly before tears could come and then she was off and out of sight. Then we were left to our own emptiness. That was the 29^th of December.

She had tried to put in some sim cards that would work in the States and even here but there was no communication for a long time, except for one quick notice (I don’t know how she sent it, maybe borrowed someone’s phone) that she had been very rudely served a document that said that she was an “undesirable person” (persona non grata) and would not be allowed to return to south Africa for five years. They asked her to sign this document, which she didn’t understand, so she asked them what she was signing and that’s what they told her. They also said that she could appeal, period. Damn!!! But then , silence. Eventually we connected again and she had drafted a letter to somewhere appealing this decision. She sent it off by email to some address but never got an answer back as to whether it was received or not. So we are trying to follow up on that now.

In the meantime, I have been back where I started in 1967, at St. Mary’s hospital for Mass every morning and visiting the sick there. I was asked by the chaplain to take his place while he went on home leave and for a retreat till 27^th January. Then I discovered that he won’t be back. He has been assigned to another parish far away from here. I suspect that they are thinking that I will just slide in and take over the responsibility of doing the job there but I won’t. I have too many other irons in the fire and don’t really want to be confined to just that job. Am I selfish? Perhaps, but I don’t want to have the responsibility of being the full time chaplain there, although I love the work. As I said, I have too many other irons in the fire.

It has been brutally hot here in the Durban area, 35C not uncommon, and up to 28C in the house the whole night. That is in the 90’s, at least, in Farenheit. Very uncomfortable. And we are also suffering a drought and there are some towns and villages that have to have water trucked in. I can’t imagine a city then size of Durban, with the townships and suburbs, running out of water. It would be an ubelieveable catastrophe.

Well, I am now concentrating on getting my home leave trip organized properly as I don’t want to miss anyone. I will be checking on addresses and phone numbers, hoping that most of them are the same as last time but having the new ones ready to go.

Love to you all. 2016 will be another year of great adventure. So many not problems but challenges---the middle  East,  Africa, gun control, climate change and the whole ecological earth system, etc. etc. etc. Wow!

We’d better not lose contact with the creator because we will need a lot of enlightenment to deal with all these challenges. But, as Obama’s slogan said,  Yes we can. We just have to make up our moral and political minds and put our noses to the grindstone and do it. Pope Francis has given us all a big push. Thank God for him.

 Hey, I am going to leave you now. Stay well. Grow in the Spirit. Love and Peace, Cas.   

January 28, 2016

I need more discipline to keep this blog updated.Well, here goes.

The chaplain at St. Mary’s Hospital asked me if I could help out while he was on a retreat and on his home leave. This started back in December 22^nd.  You heard some of it already. Well it somehow got into a morning routine. I get up at 4 or 4:30, take a shower, or, if I took a shower the afternoon before, have a kind of rub-down wash concentrating on my crooked back. Ha! Then, if the internet is working (on and off), I check the emails and see if there are any interesting articles that I can share with others as well. I have already read over the readings for the next day and am prepared to make a short 2 minute homily, usually reflections on some of the words of the readings. I have been going down to the kitchen to have a bowl of bran flakes with a small handful of Muesli (keeps the pipes cleaner, so they say, but not always so). I usually have about a half hour to do some meditating before heading for the hospital (via the nice little Hyundai) at 25 past 5. I get the altar organized, and then have a few minutes to get my thoughts together for the celebration of the Mass.

There are usually some communions, so, after Mass one of the sisters accompanies (and guides) me to those patients who would like to receive communion.  By the time we are finished the sisters have already gone to breakfast and I join them and we have a little natter. After breakfast (it has become routine now) I go back to visit the patients who  received communion, find out their names, pray with and for them, and greet everyone in the ward (usuall y there are 8 in a ward.) reminding them that whatever  church they may belong to , we pray for them each day at our morning service (Mass), hoping that God will listen to our prayers and help them to a speedy recovery so that they can get back home to their famiies. This is usually in Zulu, but sometimes there are patients who only know English, so we chat a bit with them as well. This got to be the routine I followed from Monday to Friday up till day before yesterday. The old chaplain has been re-assigned to a far away mission and someone has been asked to fill in for him till they find a permanent replacement. I think that it is crucial that anyone who is going to be a hospital chaplain must know that his job is to go from ward to ward, visiting, encouraging, praying with, bringing some of the good news of Jesus to whoever and letting them know that you are available to listen to , counsel, whatever to help them in their very vulnerable situation there in the hospital.

The other morning, one of the patients ( I know her name but don’t know if she wants me to use it) who looked very bad, and was on and off oxygen for a whole week and a bit more, wasn’t in bed when we came to bring her communion. I was disappointed as we moved off to the next patient, but, lo and behold, here she comes after having brushed her teeth, walking (unbelievable). So we turned back and joyfully gave her communion. I rejoiced with her after breakfast and told her how pleased I was to see her up and about, praise the Lord. I am going to take a break here…..

It is Sunday Jan. 31, and I left yesterday for Mthatha at 8am and arrived about 1:15pm. I delivered a huge crucifix to one family, took a parcel to the CPS sisters at Ikwezi Lokusa (morning star), visited an older confrere , Fr. Francis Jank and then came out here to Libode (about a 45 min. drive from Mthatha) where Fr. Winfried is parish priest. We had a long discussion as to why so many young people (mostly young but not all young) have given up on the “institutional Church” but continue to believe in God and live good lives trying to be good people (Christians?) and doing their little bit to make this a better world. Any Ideas?

But to jump back to where we left off (at the hospital).

I forgot to mention a very traumatic but very happy wedding on Jan. 2^nd. A young couple (I have known he girl since she was a youngster—Ziningi Mabaso) came to me back in October to ask what they have to do to organize a church wedding, and if I could take the wedding on Jan. 2^nd. I told them that the usual place to start was with her parish priest. (She is from near Mariannhill, a place called Klaarwater but both she and her fiancé are living and working in Cape Town. ) She managed to catch her parish priest immediately after Mass back then and started the paper work for their church wedding. However, when they tried to contact the parish priest to continue and complete the paper work, he was unable to be contacted. They flew up twice from Cape Town ( a bit expensive) but didn’t succeed in seeing him so they talked to their priest in Cape Town, who finished the paper work for them.  I also reminded them that I am not a marriage officer so they must go and register their marriage at the Magistrate’s office or at Home Affairs. Then we would do the church/God thing after that. They tried unsuccessfully to get to home affairs ( I guess that Magistrates’ are not the usual way any more) as they were told that all the offices were closed till the new year sometime in Feb. as they were being renovated. Can you believe it!!! I checked with a Bishop in CT and a priest friend and they both confirmed that it was true and that Home Affairs is hopeless. So What’s new. Well I decided that if worse comes to worst, I would conduct the church part of the wedding and would tell them to just go to Home affairs and get themselves registered there. However, I wanted to check with  a bishop friend here in Durban where this was kosher or not, but I was going to do it anyway, as they had already found a church who would allow us to have a wedding ceremony in their church, not far from where the reception would be help after the wedding ceremoy. The bishop told me that I could easily find a priest there at the monastery who is a marriage officer and he could do that. I breathed a sigh of relief to hear such a (what I thought) simple solution to a scary problem. I organized a meeting with the priest at the monastery and them for the day before the church ceremony. It happened. Then, the next day, when I went to get the civil ceremony  copy to give to the parish priest at the church, I was told that, no, he, the priest, had to be there at the church ceremony to witness to it and get them all to sign. Holy Moses. I thought that everything was taken care of. Now what! I begged him to cancel whatever he had to do that day and please come with me to do the job from the civil point of view. Thankfully , he agreed, and came along with me. Otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened. In fact he was a special blessing since he is also a musician and he wound up playing the usual wedding march and a few other things during the service which helped it be alive. The only problem was that, he is 83 yrs. old, and while I was looking forward to the dancing after the meal reception, he was tired and wanted to go home. I had to respect him so, I missed out on the dancing. This is the second time this has happened and soon I am going to lose my touch. Ha!

Just a mention of a few other highlights of this January’s events. I met a friend from Austria and we spent some time together and as a result, he wound up helping one of the women who is trying to build a house, with some funds, for which she is very grateful. I used some of your donations for that same purpose. Now she is up to the roof and we want to find some more funds to finish off the roof.

I also attended the jubilees of the FSF sisters, down the South Coast. I have known many of them for lots of years and I even had a chance to visit one of them who welcomed me when I first arrived in South Africa at my first assignment in a place called Harding. She is well on in age now and was super happy to know that a priest friend still remembered her and felt honored by the visit. It was I who was honored to spend some time with a real old faithful soul, friend of the Lord.

I’ve been back to the Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Naidoo, who checked and was satisfied that the troublesome knee is doing OK. He gave me some stuff to build up the cartilage and an anti-inflammatory to take from time to time to ease the discomfort (they say, pain, but it is easily bearable---some of you know what I am talking about---old age sort of stuff).

Since the weather has been very hot this month, and because there was a good bit of rain for a few days, the grass was busy doing its thing. So, I spent a lot of time cutting the grass especially the grass that grows on the side of the hills where the usual lawn mower can’t go. But, I discovered, that after an hour and maybe a bit more, I was running out of energy, sweating like crazy, so I had to come in, have some water and a cup of coffee, watch the Al Jazeera news for a half hour and then go back, if I felt up to it, and continue the cutting. After lunch, I usually, (if I was going to do it) went straight to work (starting about 1pm) till about 2:30 and then did the same, cleaned up the machine, had some water and a cup of coffee , watched another half hour of news, till  3:30 then took a shower and Skyped with a friend at 4pm (if there was a signal—very frustrating, on and off, now you have it, now you don’t).  Then say my evening prayers, get the table ready for supper, watch the news from 6:30 to 7:15 and then spend the rest of the evening preparing thoughts for the Mass the next morning, as well as the workshops I have agreed to give on the two new encyclicals of Pope Francis, Laudato Si (Caring for our Common Home) , the Gaudium Evangelii (the Joy of the Gospel---how he sees what the church is and what is should be doing to bring love, mercy, hope and peace to our world) and finally, Justice and Peace, especially as you see in in Luke’s Gospel. But, by 9am, especially if I have been  cutting grass and am really tired, I just say that’s it and hit the sack. Very hot, so no blankets, even a sheet is sometimes too much.

 I have to stop now as I am going to lunch. Fr. Winfried just came back from his Xhosa mass at 10:30. I took the English Mass this morning at 8am and enjoyed being able to do the whole thing in English. See you later.

Feb. 4, 2016

I am picking up again. We had a Board Meeting at Sabelani Home at 3pm with Fr. Guy’s guys. Each gave a report as to where he was at in his work or studies and then we assessed the situation as to how long we could go on before people got married or found jobs far away or whatever and what should happen to the house and grounds when people have been scattered and are starting new lives. There is no doubt that their lives have been immeasurably enriched by their upbringing by Fr. Guy. I guess that everything must come to a close but the repercussions will last for generations. We had supper together before I went off for the next meeting at Abbot Francis Home.

The meeting started on Sunday evening and lasted until 9pm on Monday. Lots of things were discussed, especially the financial situation which is precarious. (It seems that this is true where ever I have been with all communities.) But the main thing is that elections were held and a new team was chosen to lead and guide the Mthatha Province for the next three years. The world situation has changed so much in the last few years that it will be a real challenge for them to find the best way forward. On Tuesday the three young Congolese novices took their temporary vows. One is being transferred to Zambia to continue his studies there and the other two will remain here and continue their studies in South Africa. Two of our confreres made their permanent vows, one from Congo and one from South Africa. The life of the community moves on.

I spent Wednesday and will spend today visiting people, especially at Landsend and Bedford, where people are struggling, and will use some of the donations I received from some of you for helping them (some school fees, a water tank, finishing the roof, etc. etc. etc. ) The lack of water is a real problem. We really need lots of rain. Many of the dams that provide water are dry or almost dry and this is true throughout South Africa. On river, the Orange river, like our Mississippi, that is the main river taking water from the mountains to the West and the Atlantic Ocean, is completely dry. Unheard of.

Well, that’s enough of updating you. I am now planning my home leave and fine tuning who I can visit and when and where. Many of you are on my list and I really look forward to that. In the meantime, I hope that the new year is treating you with love and respect.  Me too. Love and Peace, Fr. Cas.

January 8^th, 2016,

My boss at Kelsey Hayes, Bill Byers,  had a saying on his desk that, I think, applies to me here now. The hurrier I go the behinder I get. Ha! Life has been going too fast and I am already behind and the new year has already gone into first gear.

Let me summarize it this way. Katrina was on an emotional roller coaster as the school closed and she had to say goodbye to all the kids. Tough job. Also, we spent a good bit of time together going around from family to family saying goodbye—all people that had taken her into their homes and hearts. She had become part of mor families than she could count. And I became more and more proud of her.

For me, it was a Christmas rush, preparing Masses and liturgies for one feast after another, in both languages, English and Zulu. It takes time, you know, to think things through and then to give a decent sermon or homily on such special days.

Again, before and after Christmas, we visited sometimes 3 or 4 families in one day. Then came the departure day. One of the families that had taken her in as if she was their daughter, Logan and Rajes Govender (and their son) took us all to the airport in a bigger car than I have. We got there in plenty of time and had a cup of coffee and some time to chat.We waited, purposely, up till into boarding time so that we wouldn’t have to look each other in the eye and start you know what. We said our goodbyes quickly before tears could come and then she was off and out of sight. Then we were left to our own emptiness. That was the 29^th of December.

She had tried to put in some sim cards that would work in the States and even here but there was no communication for a long time, except for one quick notice (I don’t know how she sent it, maybe borrowed someone’s phone) that she had been very rudely served a document that said that she was an “undesirable person” (persona non grata) and would not be allowed to return to south Africa for five years. They asked her to sign this document, which she didn’t understand, so she asked them what she was signing and that’s what they told her. They also said that she could appeal, period. Damn!!! But then , silence. Eventually we connected again and she had drafted a letter to somewhere appealing this decision. She sent it off by email to some address but never got an answer back as to whether it was received or not. So we are trying to follow up on that now.

In the meantime, I have been back where I started in 1967, at St. Mary’s hospital for Mass every morning and visiting the sick there. I was asked by the chaplain to take his place while he went on home leave and for a retreat till 27^th January. Then I discovered that he won’t be back. He has been assigned to another parish far away from here. I suspect that they are thinking that I will just slide in and take over the responsibility of doing the job there but I won’t. I have too many other irons in the fire and don’t really want to be confined to just that job. Am I selfish? Perhaps, but I don’t want to have the responsibility of being the full time chaplain there, although I love the work. As I said, I have too many other irons in the fire.

It has been brutally hot here in the Durban area, 35C not uncommon, and up to 28C in the house the whole night. That is in the 90’s, at least, in Farenheit. Very uncomfortable. And we are also suffering a drought and there are some towns and villages that have to have water trucked in. I can’t imagine a city then size of Durban, with the townships and suburbs, running out of water. It would be an ubelieveable catastrophe.

Well, I am now concentrating on getting my home leave trip organized properly as I don’t want to miss anyone. I will be checking on addresses and phone numbers, hoping that most of them are the same as last time but having the new ones ready to go.

Love to you all. 2016 will be another year of great adventure. So many not problems but challenges---the middle  East,  Africa, gun control, climate change and the whole ecological earth system, etc. etc. etc. Wow!

We’d better not lose contact with the creator because we will need a lot of enlightenment to deal with all these challenges. But, as Obama’s slogan said,  Yes we can. We just have to make up our moral and political minds and put our noses to the grindstone and do it. Pope Francis has given us all a big push. Thank God for him.

 Hey, I am going to leave you now. Stay well. Grow in the Spirit. Love and Peace, Cas.

Nov. 10, 2015  3:30pm

Visit to an orthopedic surgeon to check out my knee which has been bothering me.

     He seems to be a very nice guy and he treated my former parish council chairperson and his wife from way back in 69 to 71.

     He felt around the knee with his fingers and said that there is a bit of fluid there. Then he picked up my leg and twisted it one way and asked if I felt any pain. No. then the other way

and again, did I feel any pain. No. after some more moving things around and checking this and that he showed me a knee model and how the ligatures on the side kind of hold it together and there is the cartrilage inside the knee to be a kind of cushion between the two knee bones. He said that it looked like maybe these things were a bit bruised but if I didn't feel any pain when he tried twisting this way and that way, all that was needed was an anti-inflammatory. OK. Injection or pill? I said it is up to you, you are the doctor. So he injected an anti-inflammatory something straight into the knee to clear up the inflammation and to take away, pretty quickly, the pain that might still be left. He then gave me a prescription for some anti-inflammation pills to take for about 10 days. He also suggested that I get something (he showed me a pamphlet) to build up the cartilage that might have been slightly damaged. So I have become a pill taker. Yuk. But the knee does feel better now though it is still not the same as the other leg. He said to give him a call after about 3 weeks and then we will see where to go from there. If he or I aren't satisfied, he will stick a camera in there and take a look to see what the story is, but he said he hopes that that won't be necessary. I should continue to do my bending and unbending exercises as it will strengthen the knee. So that all took about 20 minutes and I am happy. So don't worry . Love and Peace, Cas.

Dec. 2, 2015

     Time seems to fly. Just a few odds and ends. I was delighted to have a grade 7 farewell Mass at Holy Family School. I love being with kids and try to simplify the Liturgy so that they don’t get lost. This school is nominally Catholic but probably 75% of the kids are from some other churches. I think the parents like the ethos and discipline of Catholic schools. )Nov. 13

     I also had a chance to talk to the Catholic Women’s league at their annual general meeting as St. Catherine parish. I tried to open up their minds to Pope Francis’ plea to be a church of the poor and to practice mercy and compassion and forgiveness. Are you prepared to accept gays and lesbians? How about people who have been traumatized by a divorce and have managed to pull their lives together with a new partner. Can you realistically expect them, especially if they are still young, to live as celibates? If they have begun new relationships that also involve children, must they now give up those new relationships, abandon that partner and those children to go back to what??? How can we help them to experience some hope and healing in their situation or do we tell them that there is, unfortunately, no hope for them? 

    I also attended a memorial celebration of an Indian Hindu lady where the grace was said in an Indian language. I was privileged to be invited to this special occasion for a woman who was multi-faithed, and a spark plug in her multi-faith community. She was a neighbor to a Catholic family and they too, have an open house and heart to all people of all faiths. It was uplifting.  Nov. 21

    I also went for my annual prostate checkup and came out with an all clear, as usual. I also popped in to see the orthopedic surgeon to tell him (he wasn’t there so I left a message with is secretary) that I have now reclaimed my bum leg and am 98% happy with it. It is like new, thanks to him. I still wear a knee support when I am working in the garden, which I was, quite heavily, after some nice rains.

     Sundays are almost always with the Zulu community at Savannah Park. They are like sheep without a shepherd if I can’t be there and they are soooo good. They are the church Francis is talking about, the church of the Poor. Nov. 22

                        

   Car blessing; visit to the Auxiliary bishop of Durban re: marriage requirements for my marriage on Jan. 2, 2016; yearly checkup with Dr. Grizic re: prostate—clean bill of health; Take Katrina to lunch on Thanksgiving day—she wanted a Greek restaurant and we found one that was perfect; then to Mala and Ernest for Thanksgiving dinner. Long back, I introduced Katrina to Mala and Ernest (she is a business woman and Ernest is a medical technician specializing in in vitro fertilization—helping women get pregnant when they can’t. (whose fault? Not so clear! Maybe not hers, but low sperm count…) Katrina promises to make the Thanksgiving Dinner. Later, having forgotten this promise, she  was asked by Mala what she would like for Thanksgiving, she said---get this---Macaroni and Cheese. Ha! A first, I believe. So we had what must be the first Thanksgiving Dinner of Macaroni and cheese. Delicious. Some other things too but that was the main meal. This is history. Nov. 26-thanksgising

     All day Friday a funeral of one of our young priests (39 yrs. old), said Mass last Sunday and then dropped dead of a heart attack. You never know. It was a 3 language celebration of his life. English, Zulu (most of the people in the church are Zulu speaking and the people he worked with were Zulu speaking, and Chichirwa, which is the language of Malawi. His mom and some of the family came from Malawi (maybe a 12 hr. drive) for the funeral, and the sermon and later some comforting words were said by priests who came from Malawi or were also working in South Africa. I am sure that it helped to take some of the pain away from such a sad event. Nov. 27

  

Then comes my birthday, Saturday the 28^th of Nov. My friend Shirley (we have been friends since I met her in the hospital at St. Mary’s here at Mariannhill, back in 1967, when she gave birth to her last born son. She later, (after I gave her instructions) became a Catholic. She is now 81 yrs. and just had a hip replacement. It has been our custom, when I am around, that I take her for a meal when it is her birthday and she takes me for a meal when It is my birthday. So it was now her turn and she agreed to take me and Katrina to lunch. She says that she booked the restaurant for 12:30. So Katrina and I got there a bit early only to find that Shirley’s daughter needed some help to find a house in a neighboring suberb. She asked if I knew Westville. Well, that depends, I said, but show me the map (from google maps) where you want to go. When I saw the map, I also saw the street name “ High Wycombe”, a very unusual name. I know it because my friend, Rajes, my travel agent lives on that street and I have been there often and so has Katrina because Rajes was organizing her ticket back to the States. Well, Lynn, needed to get some papers from that place in Westville, so I said, follow me and I will take you there. In the meantime, they refined the lie saying that it was Rajes’ house that they were going to but she was having some sort of a gathering and Katrina also left something with her so Rajes said, never mind, just come and collect what you need and it won’t disturb her gathering.

So, we get there and I think that I might as well pop in to say hello while they are getting their things and then get out and go to our lunch. Ha! As I walk in the door, there are 50 or more people singing, “Happy Birthday to you”. Holy Moses. I have never been so caught off guard in all my 80yrs. here on this earth. What is even more amazing is that I see the two retired bishops that I live with. I had told them that I wouldn’t be home for lunch today and they just played the game and said nothing. The already knew this three weeks before but kept the secret. The same with Neil. He changed my oil filter that morning and I told him I had to get out of there as I was being taken out to lunch. He and his wife just kept straight faces. And now, there they were. Plus people from Johannesburg, and from Landsend, and from Klaarwater, and from Chatsworth, and from Westville, and all over. All I could think is “how did Katrina get all these names and address and emails, etc. She must work for the CIA.

Then she produces a video (on the wall) of clips sent if by people from Switzerland, Germany, London, All over the States, Cape Town, relatives and friends, etc. etc. etc. It blew my mind. She had been working of this for a couple of months and had conned others into joining in this conniving event. Lies, lies, lies. And it was awesome. I still haven’t seen the whole video and I am still trying to recuperate for what was the greatest shock in my life. They didn’t realize that, at my age, I might have even had a heart attack!!! From the shock. It was beautiful. They asked a blessing on my continued life here on earth, and I reminded them that they are my blessing, without them my life would be empty. They were  (you all are) a gift from God to me, and I am the one that must say, over and over and over, many thanks. Nov. 28

 Sunday, 29^th, I took Katrina to a village near Mthatha to experience the real life of Africa in a village where, I said, she should learn how to carry things on her head, how to gather fire wood, cook African food, wash clothes in the river (if there is water) etc. etc. etc.

     In the meantime, I took Mona, who is one of Fr. Guy’s boys studying nursing, to his surrogate family at Sabelani home, and spent the evening with them where we had supper together and then paid our respects to the ancestors with a sip of Jack (as in Daniels). A fitting close to a lovely day.

     I have been busy visiting people, partly business (my provincial, insurance company, rent collectors for our project at Bedford) and partly keeping our friendships going. We will leave again on Friday to return to Mariannhill. I have pastoral work to do on Sat. and Sun. and Katrina is preparing an event for her kids at the orphanage and Mona has to get back to work at the hospital.

So that’s it for now.  Dec. 2

Nov. 10, 2015

The concert was awesomely beautiful and deeply meaningful. An hour and a half. The Durban Philharmonic orchestra with some compositions especially for the occasion, and there were also, aside from two beautiful choirs (almost all African), some African soloists--soprano woman and two male tenors, Bhuddist drummers (huge drums, 8 of them, and what a sound they made), Hindu dancers (very graceful), a Muslim mad singing an invitation to prayer (lovely voice), a Jewish celloist (they were remembering the horrible Krystalnacht, when, 77 yrs. ago, there was a pogrom against Jews in Germany and someone composed some very moving music that expressed the sadness of that terrible occasion). All religions was represented there and the plea was that they should be an example to the world that the world can be like the Hurley center, all religions working together to make a better world. I wept for most of the time because it was just so beautiful, and meaningful. I am sure that even the angels rejoiced together with Hurley up there.
(I am taking about a concert to celebrate the 100th birthday of Archbishop Denis Hurley at the newly blessed Denis Hurley Center which is a building next to the cathedral in Durban which caters to the poor and marginalized. They have a soup kitchen and feed hundreds of down and out people every day, there is a clinic staffed 24/7 by volunteer doctors and nurses for the homeless people, and there are several offices for migrants where they can get help of one kind or another. All is done on a volunteer basis. It is open to everyone regardless of race or religion. It is a part of the dream of Archbishop Hurley that has finally come true.)

Nov. 9, 2015 ---the 100th anniversary of Archbishop Hurley's birth. Big celebrations here today and over the whole weekend.

    The main purpose of this blog today is to remind you all that I don't do "facebook" or "linkedin". I know that I am there on both of them but I just don't have the time to play for hours on those programs. They can be addictive so I just avoid them. If you want to contact me, use my email address which is: frcascmm50@gmail.com . Enjoy the day. Cas.

Nov. 7, 2015

I went, that week, with Katrina, to the opening of  a Health Center at one of the villages not too far from Mariannhill. The Aids Outreach program has not branched out into a more broad brush program so that they try to get a container and then equip it with some basic testing equipment, like eyes, blood pressure, general checkup, keeping records, so that people can have access to some sort of health facility, staffed by a nurse, where there are no facilities available otherwise. It is on the local school grounds, so that the kids have easy access to checkups when they feel that there is something wrong. I was asked to join the Methodist lady priest who gave the blessing. I was privileged. I held the book for her. She was a local minister and that was the way it should be.

    I went to get some spare keys and parked in a zone where you have to pay but it wasn’t visible . I got a ticket after pointing out to the cop that the sign was illegible. He wasn’t impressed. But I went to the municipality and showed him the picture that I took with my cell phone of the sign that was un-readable and got the R100 ticket canceled. Ha! Every  once in a while justice does prevail, but not often enough.

    From the 20^th to the 27^th,  of Sept. I was in Mthatha. The main thing was to attend a board meeting of the Sabelani Home, and give support to Fr. Guy’s boys (young men). But of course we killed many birds with one stone, checking out our projects here and there and visiting Landsend, or course, and one of the missions at Libode, where Fr. Winfried, who had just returned from his home leave, asked to be visited. Contacted lots of people and caught up on events in their lives as well as Mthatha in general.

     After Mass on the 27^th, I caught a plane for Montreal to visit Guy. The report regarding his health was so bad (4^th stage  cancer---months not years to live) that I really wanted to see him at least once before he left planet earth for a better place. A friend encouraged me to do it and solved the problem of paying for the air ticket. Otherwise it would not have been possible. So, I spent time with him (and with the rest of the community at our House in Sherbrooke, somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City) and even made a trip to Quebec City were two of our confreres are holding down the fort for what used to be a student house, but now no students. Hm! Guy seemed to be in good spirits and the effects of the cancer didn’t slow him down at all. He had no pains and no other effects that would indicate that he is on the way out. However, we got together every morning for a cup of coffee about 6:30am and when we were finished he went out on the veranda for a smoke. I chided him and told him that that was the same as saying, OK, I am going to die, so why not die happy. Then God would say, OK, if you don’t care, then I don’t care. Go ahead and die!!! I think that if we want God to intervene here then God has a right to expect some cooperation!!! Don’t be a quitter, I said.

    It was healing, I think, for him, just to be close to a good friend and confrere who knows his story and fought with him for recognition for all that he has done.

    I left to return to Mariannhill on the 9^th of October. It was just nice and hopeful to be with Guy while praying all the while that God intervene and give him an extension on his ticket so that he can continue doing God’s work. We (all of us) are also praying to Fr. Engelmar (who gave his life to save another prisoner in Dachau) telling him that this is his chance to do a miracle so that he can get canonized. I hope that he is listening and is sympathetic. But then, there are so many other needs of people, like those hundreds of thousands of refugees, migrants, fleeing the war in Syria (and some other places too) only to have some doors slammed in their faces and get stuck in no-man’s land. How sad. Where is God, I think that  they must be thinking.

    While waiting for the plane  to take off  in Monreal, I found myself in a queue at an airport restaurant with a young lady in front of me and a party of 4 in front of her. When she and I were asked how many and said just one, there were no tables for just one, so the girl in front of me, Maki is her name, a Canadian girl of Japanese descent, turned to me and asked if I would agree to take the table that was offered for two. Clever girl. So, of course, we shared a table and had an enjoyable conversation as we devoured our meal. It was delightful.

    When I was leaving Munich (I was supposed to meet friends there but there was a mixup so I spent the whole bloody day in the airport, tired, and unhappy to have missed a chance to connect with good friends) I spotted a nun and just wandered over to ask which community she belongs to. Ha! She is a CPS sister (one of our Mariannhill sisters) from Mozambique. When I asked if she knew Sr. Edwarda, she even got Edwarda on the phone so I could talk to her. We worked together for refugees and exiles when I was in Zimbabwe. Small world and nuns who are familiar, more than me, with It stuff.

     Lots of time has been taken up with grass (weed) cutting and quite a few haircuts. I am getting pretty good at the haircuts now after being out of practice for some time.

   There was a woman who was refused to be buried at her church because she didn’t pay her dues. Yuk! So, we found a parish that let us use their church for the requiem mass and the church was full of her family and relatives and friends. Common sense is so uncommon.

    I had been having Masses at another parish where English is the language used. I like that because then I can tell a few jokes to drive my points home in a friendly and memorable way.

    I also went to fetch my new glasses ( a spare pair) and my eye doctor noticed that I was limping a bit and suggested that I see her friend who is a physiotherapist. I did for two sessions and it was very soothing and helpful. But when she suggested that I see an orthopedic SURGEON, that last word put me off and I went into denial. I don’t want or need a surgeon, was my first thought.  She, Denise, the physio-, invited me to her home for her daughter’s first communion. I  pitched up with Katrina, my niece, not knowing anyone there except the new physio, Denise, and when the people began to arrive after the Mass, I discovered that I knew at least a dozen of them with one connection or another. Ha! If you live long enough, you probably have bumped into most people and the world being round offers great opportunities for that.

    More grass cutting. And my long time friend, Shrirley, went to the hospital for a hip replacement. We have been friends since 1967 when she came to St. Mary’s hospital to give birth to her last born son, when I was chaplain there.

     My friend, Reinhard, who works for Pfizer, came to check on one of his projects in Namibia, and then passed through Durban to check on some other things and we got together with my niece Katrina for a meal. It was nice and made up  for having missed him (and his dad) when I passed through Munich on the way back here from Canada.

     On Saturday, the 24^th, I started a retreat for men in St. Catherine’s parish , nearby, at 6:30 am with breakfast, ending at 10am. I loved it and I think that so did they. Part of it was their having to read two handouts I had given to three groups, one handout being what was going on in the synod, the tug of war between the so-called conservatives who said no to any changes, and the so-called liberals who were in favor of allowing communion to divorced and remarried, making space for gays and lesbians, and even, maybe, recognizing gar marriages. The other handout was entitled “ a second marriage can be a blessing”. After they had had time to digest and share with one another these two articles, it was clear that this was exactly  what was happening at the synod, some on this side and some on the other side, both sides convinced that their stand was for the good of the Church. Very interesting, and enjoyable, that we could be on different sides of a thorny issue and still be friends and respect and love one another. We need more of that.

October 30, 2015
Wow! Time flies. It is over a month since I "blogged". Partly running and partly just too lazy. I am also running now. I have a dentist appointment at 8am this morning (it is just 5:45am) and then I take my grand niece to a doctor in Pinetown as she has been having stomach pains. She is a gem. I am proud of her and will miss her a lot when her visa runs out at the end of December and she has to leave.
    However, please excuse me for now. I promise that I will catch you up when we have completed our visits to doctors. In the meantime, stay well and enjoy our lovely weather. Cas.

    Some more hospital visits, hair cuts, grass cutting etc. to fill in the rather hot days we were having.

    Then something very special. I made some Aunt Jemima’s pancakes for our guys who had no idea what delicious Aunt Jemima pancakes are all about. Plus,  I opened the other tin of genuine Canadian maple syrup. The recipe said this batch should make 10 to 12 pancakes. Ha! I was lucky to get 6 out of that batch and had to make another batch. This was for breakfast on Wednesday the 28^th. Well, it was a sell-out. All gone.

     Katrina came to me on Thursday to say that she had had a tummy ache since Tuesday, not in one place and not all the time, but here and there. So I got her an appointment with doctor Sabbatini (his son Rory Sabbatini is a professional golfer, you may have heard of him) and after giving here a thorough going over came to the conclusion that it was worms. This is not unusual for us here. So he prescribed some medicine and she has been taking it since then. It is a longer process so she says that it is improving a bit, she thinks, but if it persists we have plan B, another doctor who will re-check her.

     I had bought some oil for the car and went for  a service to a friend and met many of the family that I hadn’t met before or hadn’t seen in a long time and I was forced (Ha) to join them for a curry dinner (as you know, I am addicted to curry. It is worse for me that Heroin).

    In the meantime, I think that I have decided to do away with my denial and will agree to let my friend organize for me an orthopedic surgeon to take a scan of this troublesome left knee and find out what is wrong with it, hoping that it doesn’t need any cutting and chopping.  

Nov. 7, 2015

Whew! That is the longest epistle I thin k I have ever put together. You should go and rest now and try  to recover.  I think that I must be more pro-active and not let things go so loooong. Lots of love. Cas

    

October 30, 2015
Wow! Time flies. It is over a month since I "blogged". Partly running and partly just too lazy. I am also running now. I have a dentist appointment at 8am this morning (it is just 5:45am) and then I take my grand niece to a doctor in Pinetown as she has been having stomach pains. She is a gem. I am proud of her and will miss her a lot when her visa runs out at the end of December and she has to leave.
    However, please excuse me for now. I promise that I will catch you up when we have completed our visits to doctors. In the meantime, stay well and enjoy our lovely weather. Cas.