Friday, January 1, 2016

Looking Ahead

January 1, 2016 Letter from Father Hattie

Today I received an email from Father Hattie with his latest letter attached (see above). What a nice way to start the new year. Thank You!

As usual, I tweaked the image file to emulate the greenish tint of the Aerogram stationary that Father used when he was writing from Africa. Because Father uses a manual typewriter to compose his letters, they can sometimes be challenging to read due to mis-strikes, light impressions, over-strikes, and just plain spelling errors. Therefore, below is my transcription of the above letter. Let me know if I made any erors (hahaha).

Go to my Father Hattie page for more letters I have received from Father. There is also information about how to contact Father and how to make a donation to help his orphans in Nsumba, Uganda.

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My dear Rick:          Peace of Christ & Happy New Year!

     My first and solemn task on the first day of the New Year is to thank you most sincerely for your beautiful Card and your very special & very generous Gift of $, more appreciated than you'll ever know. You're very generous & thoughtful person as I've found out in the past several years and Mama Meg and Grandma Marie can be mighty proud of you. Thanks Millions.

     I was supposed to leave for Africa this coming Monday with an American Jesuit Brother who was on his way to complete his studies, but that has been put on hold. On the very day that I was to have spinal surgery, the Dr. discovered that I had cellulitis in my legs & had to cancel the surgery. So much for my trip.

     On Jan. 3, I'm going to get an appointment to have injections in my spine OR surgery if the cellulitis has disappeared. So, down on those chubby knees & vote for the latter. In any case, I can't leave until the middle of May, for that is when the next Jesuit takes off..for I am not allowed to travel alone. Before you arise from the chubby [knees], arrange with the Lord to have another SJ leave before May and you'll be doing me a tremendous favor, for I'm getting itchy feet. By the way, I'll be staying in Nairobi (Kenya) this time.

     Be sure that you and all of yours have a super special place in my daily Mass & prayers. My love to your Mom when you speak with her and to Grandma when you pray.

     Keep smiling & spreading His & Her love, joy and peace all over W. Hartford.

Tons of love & gratitude,                                                
Fr. Gene, S.J.                                                     

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Links:
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Written Friday 1 January 2016.

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Another Latin Mass

St. Martha complex.

Today I attended another Latin Mass. This time I drove north to St. Martha' Church in Enfield, CT. I wanted to compare it with my recent experiences at St. Mary's Church for Christmas Midnight Mass and the following Sunday. Kind of odd that it has turned out to be Martha and Mary [Luke 10:38-42] so far. There are only a handful of churches within driving distance doing Latin Masses. There is another one in New Haven but it is at 2 p.m. St. Martha's Latin Mass was at 12 Noon.

Technically, January 1st is a Holy Day of Obligation for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. However, for the Latin Mass, the calendar they use celebrates  the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. All this is rather ironic for me since I am not a practicing Roman Catholic. But is stems from my heritage and experience as well as curiosity.

Interior of St. Martha's church (taken via cell phone camera after Mass).

Compared to St. Mary's Church, St. Martha's Church is incredibly ugly. It was apparently built in 1963 as the auditorium for the school that was built. And it looks like an auditorium. It is in somewhat ratty condition.  However, there was a surprisingly large number of people attending. My guess is several hundred were at this mass.

The atmosphere was one of a suburban RCism in the 1970s.  Even the altar boys had hair styles of that era. If there were any confessional booths, I did not see them. A fair amount of incense was used but it was not overpowering.

There was only one priest and four altar boys. No choir or organ. However there were three women singing by the organ (at the left side of the church). The one singer that I heard had a strong, confident and accurate voice that was attractive in its execution. I will have to go back for a Sunday Mass to see if there is a choir.


This time I initially had a difficult time following the order of the mass. However, the readings and homily were in English. I was delighted to find that the pews had copies of the First Edition of St Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal. I first saw this book when it was published in 2013 and I am rather sorry I didn't purchase a copy. The First Edition is now out of print and the Second Edition eliminated the color cover and much of the color graphics. I was able to follow much of the Mass using this Missal. I also saw that they have the little red paper booklets for the Latin-English Mass. I glanced through one of these and it appeared to be a decent primer.

At the end of Mass, I was confused because a large number of people remained in the pews. I was waiting for something to happen but as I was writing this post, I learned that a basic practice for the Latin Mass is to remain after Mass for silent reflection and prayer.

I am contemplating returning on Sunday because they are advertising a social hour after mass. As I mentioned above, I am curious about what a typical Sunday Mass involves. Since I sang in a Motet Choir during my post-college days, I am curious about (re)learning to sing Latin chants. Perhaps this might be a goal for the new year.
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Here Comes 2016!

View from my window at ~8 a.m. on the first day of 2016.

Well, 2015 is history and now past. Good. While there were many good things and blessings, it did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

Last New Year's I was rather optimistic about the prospects for 2015. I think that's the way you're supposed to be. My optimism then was somewhat fueled by a brisk sunny day.

View from my Living Room.
Since this year started out cold, cloudy, and gray, I'm not sure what to expect. Perhaps it means that life will be opposite of today's weather and therefore turn out to be warm, sunny, and full of love. (Being perennially hopeful is apparently one of my strong weak points). Well, time will tell.

I did get out later this afternoon for a walk (~90 minutes) and chatted with my mom during the stroll. There was a weather advisory for possible flurries and/or rain but I only saw some stray flurries. The walk in the cold temperature was invigorating.

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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2015/01/here-comes-another-one-happy-new-year.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2015/01/another-holiday-hike.html
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Written Saturday 2 January 2016

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