A Quick Trip

Thursday night I took a quick flight down to Philadelphia to spend two days volunteering at the St. Francis Inn. The Inn is a Soup Kitchen in the Kensington section of Phildelphia. Located in the heart of Philly's slums, the St. Francis Inn offers hope to the suffering. Each day the serve hundreds of warm meals to the homeless, the poor and the lonely. Rather than serve the hungry cafeteria style, they are waited on much like at a Restaurant. Why? The Inn waits on their guests because they believe it extends dignity.

This weekend I was the guest of an amazing group of Trinity Alumni who had given a week of their summers to serve the poor. Despite record temperatures and no air conditioning they served without complaint and gave from the bottoms of their hearts. It was truly inspiring to be with them all. Thanks guys for a great weekend!

St. Francis Inn

A Neat Little Story from Catholic News Service.



Madrid, Spain, Jul 14, 2010 / 06:05 pm (CNA).- Spanish soccer player Andres Iniesta, who scored the winning goal during the World Cup final in South Africa, has promised to walk the Way of St. James, which leads to Santiago de Compostela.

The Way of St. James is a pilgrimage route that for centuries brought the faithful from across Europe to the city of Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of the saint are venerated.

According to the Spanish newspaper, Marca, months before the 2010 World Cup, the members of the Spanish team sent the newspaper sealed envelopes with the promises they would keep if they won the title.

Marca opened the envelopes after Spain’s historic victory on Sunday and found that Iniesta, along with Fernando Torres and Carlos Marchena said they would walk the Way of St. James.

Iniesta also revealed his promise in an interview prior to the World Cup. Speaking on Spanish television he said he would make the pilgrimage “somehow…I’ll do it however I have to!” His teammate Sergio Busquets, who was with him, made the same promise.

The Spanish media is reminding the players of their promise and although no plans have been officially made, reporters were convinced many fans would share the pilgrimage with them.

This year, Pope Benedict XVI will travel to the city for the Holy Year of St. James 2010, which is celebrated each year that July 25, the saint's feast, falls on a Sunday.

The next Year of St. James will be celebrated in 2021.

Welcome Back!

After the world's longest haitus from blogging I am proud to be back on line. I am not quite sure what has caused my long absence other than a desire to take it easy and relax. The reality is that blogging is ridiculously easy, but never-the-less it easy to fall behind. It is one of those weird things where the longer you put something off the more you realize you should do it, thus you put it off even longer.


My Summer:

This summer I have been assigned to help out at St. Aloysius of Gonzaga parish in Nashua. The parish is a neat little city parish with a diverse mixture of French, Poles, and Hispanics. The result is a tightly knit community with generous hearts. Just over a month ago when I first arrived I was warmly welcomed at every Mass by all the parishoners. Thanks to the suggestion of a good friend I made sure to use humor in my introductory remarks. By poking fun of the pastor and throwing a few barbs the people realized I was fun-loving person.

Since that first weekend I have been busy in tons of different projects ranging from visiting the homebound to door to door evangelization. Each one has taught me much and tired me out. I am excited for a couple weeks off in August before heading back to Baltimore.

This past week I had some extra time on the computer so I made some signs to post around the parish office. On Thursday the signs advertised "Father Daniel's Harvest Festival." Father Daniel, the pastor, has one sad tomato plant which he always forgets to water. So I grabbed a picture and made a poster advertising this important parish event. The staff and I celebrated with harvest pictures, tomato themed foods and many laughs. Sadly the one decreped tomato had a fungus and had to be thrown away.


The other project I worked on was advertising for our upcoming Latin-American Festival (Sunday , August 8th- 1:00-6:00pm). It is amazing what fun you can have with photoshop these days.