March 22, 2016

Not much to report in the last few weeks. I have been trying for some time to get into the prison as a chaplain (not an inmate---been there, done that). Holy Moses, they want more information than the CIA. I should just refer them to the CIA and copy their files. But, the minister who is in charge of all the other ministers who minister at the prison is a very friendly guy but doesn’t easily brook foolishness. Ha! When I went to see him on business, I didn’t realize that I parked in a mud puddle, and when I walked into his office, he said “ look at your shoes”. Holy Moses, I dragged a bucket full of mud into his clean, clean office. Talk about being embarrassed. I offered to clean it up and promised that next time I would bring a broom but also would follow the Muslim tradition and leave my shoes outside the door. He wasn’t impressed. I finally filled in all the papers and still have to go to the bank to get a stamp from them and then, I think, I will be OK.

    We have had several home masses and gatherings which are always enriching. I have also been busy with haircuts before Easter. I will wait till after Easter for mine.

    Quite a few visits to hospitals, even one I never heard of before. It is more a psychiatric hospital where people who have had mental breakdowns can get some peace and quiet and get themselves back together again.

    Last Saturday, I was called away from the supper table by a young man who identified himself as a  colleague of Mona, one of Fr. Guy’s guys who is doing nursing here at St. Mary’s hospital. He had been attacked with a knife and had been sliced across the face from above the left eye down to the bottom of his nose. Thanks goodness, no damage to the eye. We went first to this guy’s house to get Mona’s key and then to Mona’s room to get some clothes (what he had been wearing was soaked with blood). Then off to the hospital (RKKhan, a regional hospital not too far away). His other friend had organized for an ambulance to take him there as it looked bad and bled like crazy. He stayed with him the whole day in the hospital (this happened at 9:30 in the morning and we arrived at 6:30pm). Great guys, really good friends. I waited in the parking lot while Skumbuzo took Mona’s clothes up to him. I was preparing for Palm Sunday and said that I would visit him the next day after the service. However, when Skumbuzo returned he said that Mona had been discharged and we cold pick him up. So we drove to the emergency entrance and loaded up Mona and his other friend. He had a huge bandage around his head also covering that eye. I took them to their homes and took Mona to his room. I left him there knowing that when the shock wore off he would feel a good bit of pain so I told him that I would visit him in the afternoon tomorrow (Palm Sunday). I managed to see him yesterday and took him to the hospital to make a report. It is important because he can’t afford to miss any time on duty now as it is part of the requirement for passing. He went today and will be reporting for night duty tomorrow. Wednesday. I keep my fingers crossed.

     I attended, some time back, a gathering of Americans invited by the consul here, Frances Chisholm, to her place for an informal lunch. I have been avoiding American gatherings for the last 50 yrs. telling everyone that I can go to America and see all the Americans I want. I didn’t come to Africa to see Americans. However, there is a program connected to the hospital indirectly, that started out as an HIV outreach program (St. Mary’s hospital was the first hospital in South Africa to introduce ARV’s). It developed well and morphed into a more wholistic program that has several branches. One is a mobile clinic that gets deposited at a school in a village where all the children are checked out be a qualified nurse for any beginning symptoms of illness (eyes, ears, teeth, etc.) to get early intervention before things develop more. They are helped by other organizations as well as the University dental program. Another is a program that concentrates on pre-school children who are the children of child headed households. The idea is that while someone is looking after these little kids during the day and feeding them with a decent meal, the older kid or kids can get to school. I told Frances about this so she came out and we took her on a tour of several of these places where she could see with her own eyes a genuine and great need that was being addressed by these programs. But there are only a few now and they need to expand as the need is great. Frances, with her accompanying guru was able to give suggestions as to how  and where to get funding from American programs that would most likely fit the bill. I think it was a good meeting, and hopeful.

    On Palm Sunday after the service, I visited a guy who has a construction firm to get some idea what we could get for the R80,000 that has been collected already to get some kind of temporary accommodation for our community that meets every Sunday at Savannah Park. It is a poor community and will take about 500 yrs. to get the R2,000,000 together to build a new and proper church. After doing kind of cost analysis, he came to the conclusion that if we used basic cement blocks, it would be better and about the same as if we used 2 X 4’s with what we call zinc sheets. He said the material alone would cost almost R97,000. If you add the labor it comes to about R150,000. At the present rate of exchange, the extra for labor would come to about $ 10,000. I think I am going to try to see if anyone wants to pitch in. If we get started, we can just add on and up as we get the funds. Never a dull moment.

     Now I am getting ready for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. It will all be in Zulu so it is a challenge. But they are important days as they tell the story of what we are all about. I will clue you in after Easter. Let me wish you all a happy and holy Easter and don’t forget that Easter was a huge surprise. Totally unexpected and impossible happened—coming back from the dead. Wow! So if you seem to be in a situation where there is no hope, well, Easter is a reminder that no matter what, there is always hope. Just hang in. Love and Peace, Cas.

March 5^th, 2016

Hey, a whole month has gone by and I am behind as usual. Since most people had pushed off for home after our meetings, there were only a few of us left at Abbot Francis Home so I bought a couple of pizzas for the house. Wow, I didn’t realize that pizzas were so expensive, but as a once off it was more than worth it. That was on the 4^th of Feb.

     I headed back for M’Hill on the 5^th, early in the morning, stopping to visit Coolock House, which is a retreat house that was taken over by Mariannhill  right on the sea (Indian Ocean) and I am wondering how we are going to pay for it. We don’t rely enough on competent lay people to advise us when it comes to  “worldly” things like this and too often we get stung.

     When I got back to M’Hill, I found out that the priest who was supposed to take over as chaplain at the hospital won’t be available till some time in May, so I have been going to the hospital for Mass every morning at 5:45. After Mass and breakfast, I usually go up and visit the patients to whom I gave communion, to find out more about them and to encourage them and remind them that they are being supported in prayer every day. I also greet all those in the ward and offer a blessing on them, praying that they recover quickly and get home again, whole and healthy.

     I went to Dr. Moffat whom I haven’t seen for many months now, and he says that my blood pressure is good.

     I had forgotten about Ash Wednesday being on the 10^th and had promised to pick up some friends from Italy at the airport that evening, so Savannah Park had to get someone else to give out the ashes.

     Manuela Carida and Pupa Brunori, friends from Rome, whom I met in Zimbabwe, sent by their group to get information  about the ugliness of apartheid. That must have been around 1989 or so. They belonged to a group called Colletivo edili de Monte Sacro. On Monte Sacro most people are in the building trade, brick layers , plsterers, carpenters, roofers, etc. and the living conditions were horrible. When it was discovered that the owners were the Catholic Church, they abandoned their allegiance to the church and worked , through this organization, for a better society. They are both retired now and just came for a visit for a few days. In that short time we managed to visit 1) the orphanage  2) the monastery  3) the Aids Outreach program and Wellness Program  4) SEDA, an organization that tries to give business skills to young people so that they can start their own businesses instead of depending on someone to hire them. 5) The Hurley Peace Center in the heart of Durban that offers food once a day to the street people, as well as a place to have a shower and clean up after roughing it again, several offices for refugees to make sure that they have the right papers and to help them find places to stay and improve their education (like basic computer courses, etc. ) and also the clinic that treats the street people who would never have a chance to be treated otherwise by nurses and doctors who volunteer their time and talents for this. It is probably the only center in the world where Christians of all faiths, as well as Muslims, Hindus and Bhuddists, all pitch in to help the down and out. They make sure that the food they dish out is Halal so that Muslims can eat in peace.  I discovered that Raymone Perrier, the director of the Hurley  Center  speaks Italian so my guests were delighted to converse in their home language. Raymond is from the UK but took Italian when he was in college. We were also given a tour by a young may from the Congo who arrived here some years back as a young man and was sponsored byArchbishop Hurly for his education. He now is on the staff and helps many others to find their feet in their new place of exile.

    Then we had lunch at a Greek restaurant and enjoyed a lovely Greek meal, including, for me my favorite Baclava.

    On Sunday the 14^th Feb. I traveled to a parish at Verulam. Everyone knows that this is an Indian (from India) area. However to my happy surprise, there were about 500 people in the church , both black and Indian (maybe even a few whites). I was lucky to have brought along my “travelling kit” so that I could switch back and forth between Zuluhe and English and make everyone feel welcome and at home.

    During the announcements it was mentioned that there had been some misunderstandings between some members of a certain group, probably mostly because of language difficulties. That prompted me to give an impromptu homily on the necessity of  recognizing that when we are trying to pull together people of different language groups and different cultures, we are bound to find hitches and difficulties. However, if we, who are professed Christians, in a parish setting, where there is peace and a good atmosphere, cannot get our act together, what can we expect of Syria and Iran and Afghanistan, and Lebanon, and Egypt, and Palestine and Israel???? So don’t give up. Just do it, in the name of the Lord, please!!!

     On the 17^th, using some of the money that you all have sent for this purpose, two of us pitched in to buy a used car for Mike Pillay, the leader of the community at Savvanah Park. He was driving a 1982 Honda, and it was really falling apart and was costing more to keep repaired than we were willing to put out. He uses it to transport old people to the hospital, to get their pensions, to bring them to church, to bring communion to them, as well as get his wife to work and back and take the children to catechism in English at a neighboring parish. He uses the car for other people so we decided to stop pouring money into the sink hole of trying to keep that jalopy ( scorocoro) going and get something reliable. We used your money since you said that we should use it for good causes. His wife and children were ecstatic. It is a 2005 model, just like my Huyndai Atos. It should last  a while.

    On the 18^th of Feb. Sr. Consolata asked me to accompany  her to the hospital to visit a prisoner who had been sentenced to life. We had to just through many hoops to get permission to do that and to our disappointment, when we got there and got in to the various queues  to find out how to get to her, we discovered that she had been discharged the day before. Bad communication. However, when I asked Sister why she had gotten a life sentence, she said that she didn’t know and didn’t want to ask. I thought that that was not  a very good way to take he job, so I got on the internet and, through the public records, found out that she had done an insurance scam, faking dead people and getting their insurance and even arranging for some of them to have an early death. No wonder she got a life sentence. I told sister that you don’t find out the why by asking the convict because it could easily be that they would give you a story about how the whole thing was unfair, and how they didn’t deserve this sentence, etc. etc. etc. But if you really want to help someone, the public record of their judgment is there. Then you know what you have to talk about to help them.

     On Saturday the 20^th I gave a presentation on Justice in the Gospel of Luke, and also a second presentation on The Spirituality of Justice and Peace. It took the whole morning and  I hope that it was OK. I didn’t have time for an evaluation and am still waiting for it.

    On the 26^th, I was invited, as a resident American, to a party at the Consul’s home in Durban North, a nice part of town. Frances Chisholm. A nice woman. I managed to organize for her to visit St. Mary’s hospital and the Outreach Program and Wellness program  in earl y March. She may be impressed, I hope, and use some American money to support these programs that are meant to help and uplift the poorest of the poor.

     We had several home masses, partly to renew and revive old friendships, and partly to celebrate brirthdays and memorial days for those members of the family who have gone on before us. At one of those visits we were assaulted by a vivious thunderstorm. As we watched the rain come down in buckets and the wind  trying to tear the roof off, I remembered that I had left my car window open. Ha! Too late. As I dashed out to close the window (electric), in the first 2 seconds I was drenched, and got more drenched as I sat on the now-soaked seat of the car. Ha again. I took my shirt off which Gerry put in the dryer, but, modestly kept my short pants on. Hmmm.

     I was busy on March 4^th, the feast of St. Casimir, my namesake, using the slasher , trying to cut down some of the tall, tall grass on the side of the hill beside our place where when, because it was wet underneath, I slipped and started sliding down the hill and managed to twist my ankle again, but not severely. So I am using the knee wrap to give it a bit of support.

     It is our custom, when someone has a feast day or birthday, to have a bit of a celebration at lunch time. Bishop Lobinger is “Friedrich” and although  his feast is today, we decided to combine. He said that he would get the wine for the meal and that I should pick up the liquer  that we usually have a sip of before lunch.  I got something called “Jugger naut”, claiming to be a local South African product from local herbs. Ha. It really has a punch. So by the time I had a few sips of this and some wine, I knew that my nap was going to last a bit longer that usual, and it did. Ha.

     Well, that’s it for now. This coming week it will be hospital visits to various hospitals, visits to the prison ( I am trying to get permission to be a part time prison chaplain),  Class with the novices, and a home Mass for a friend who had his right foot amputated because of diabetes. Never a dull moment.

I have already pre-packed my suitcase and weighed it to make sure that it isn’t overweight. I still have time to check and recheck to make sure I don’t take what I don’t need and to make sure I have what I will probably need. People think I am a nut case. (I guess I am). I wish you all a very happy and hopeful Easter. May we all share his conquering in one way or another. Love and Peace, 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.   

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.