May 2006

I had a meeting with the Cardinal Archbishop today, at his request. During the meeting, he informed me that, because of internal restructuring that is going on in the diocese, he wants me to start working in the fall as part of the diocesan curia. I am to become the assistant to the Episcopal Vicar in charge of pastoral personnel.

The Anglican Church throughout the world continues to lurch through its current crisis over sexual issues, and it was recently brought to my attention that there has a new development: the release of the St. Michael Report regarding the blessing of same-sex unions.

It’s that time of year again, where priests and couples meet with greater frequency to try and finalize the details for weddings. I know there are priests out there who really would prefer doing funerals to weddings, but I am not one of them — I love this stuff!

Catch Older Lemon Knower. For all your Da-Vinci-Code-mocking needs.

Trailer for the short film is here. And the reference to the Quebecois Secret Service can be found in this review.

Our Internet connection at the parish has been down for the past few days (it was already becoming spotty before that), and we’ve had to call a technician to take a look at things. I’m actually writing this from the hospital computer.

Our current theory is that a squirrel chewed through a cable. And don’t laugh! They’ve been known to do such things, apparently — one of our schools just this week had to cancel a day of classes because a squirrel had chewed through a power line. He must have gotten the shock of his life.

Some time ago I was asked to respond to a set of interview questions regarding my vocation to the priesthood (a number of priests in the diocese are being interviewed in this fashion). The purpose is to help find ways to encourage priestly vocations in general. I thought I might share my answers here — perhaps it will help someone else discern how God is calling them. These first two points are in a section of the questionnaire entitled “Beginnings”.