A day off

     As I get older, I am less likely to "get away" on my day off (priests do get a day off).  The house that is provided for me is comfortable, and I'm inclined to rest or read or watch TV rather than travel.  But today was an exception.

     After Mass and the Anointing of the Sick this morning I travelled to visit good friends who recently moved because of work.  So I travelled to Ohio, about two and a half hours, in the Cleveland Diocese, to visit and have lunch.  The ride was uneventful, the visit was wonderful - I saw their new home, the area they are living in, and their new parish church and school - and after the return trip this evening, I had a great dinner at one of my local favorites in a town called Wilmerding (George Westinghouse had set up his headquarters there).  Now it is time for the post.  A satisfying day.

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     Tomorrow, September 8th, the church celebrates the Birthday of Mary.  I mentioned that Thursday was Mary's birthday to someone on our staff, and they wanted to know who?  It is the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the "big" M.  It was also my maternal grandfather's birthday - he was born in Poland in 1880 and died in 1963 - he would have been 131.  He died when I was still in high school, and my memories are fading.  It was also the birthday of my Aunt Theresa, his oldest daughter.  So to all celebrating on September 8th ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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     Tomorrow is also an important day for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and for the Dioceses of Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia is the Metropolitan See and its bishop serves as the overseer (bad word) of the other seven Dioceses of the Commonwealth.  Tomorrow afternoon Archbishop Charles Chaput will be installed as the ninth Archbishop of Philadelphia.  Prior to this he was Archbishop of Denver.  He succeeds Justin Cardinal Rigali, who retired having reached the age of retirement.

     Archbishop Chaput is a Capuchin Franciscan who has served as bishop in Denver and Rapid City.  He is 66 years old, has ties with our area, and is of French Canadian and Native American heritage, and is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe (only the second Native American bishop ordained in the U.S.). 

     His ties to the area include his entering the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Pittsburgh in 1965, having studied at Saint Fidelis College in Herman, PA.  His other tie was that he was ordained a priest in his native Kansas by Bishop Cyril Vogel on August 29, 1970.  Bishop Vogel was Bishop of Salinas, Kansas, but was the first priest of the Diocese of Greensburg to be named a bishop.  I attended his ordination (Consecration in those days) and somewhere have a few black and white pictures.

     If you want to watch the ceremonies, they will be broadcast on EWTN Thursday afternoon from Philly.  We congratulate the Church of Philadelphia and Archbishop Chaput.  Also, if you would like more insight, I'm sure that Rocco Palmo from Whispers in the Loggia will have additional coverage.  Rocco lives and works in Philly.