As the pilgrimage blog draws to a close several people have asked that I keep a sabbatical blog. I’m happy to do this, given that people are free to come and look or not. Every now and then I will give an update on how I am spending the time. This blog is primarily for the parishioners of Our Lady of Victories and St Therese of Lisieux, Chatham Islands.
It is a full month since I left Our Lady of Victories. On the Monday of Easter week I began a week’s retreat with fifty priests of the United States. It was a powerful experience for me. The input was provided by Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete. The retreat was organised by the Communion & Liberation movement in the United States.
Msgr.Albacete was interviewed at the time of the election of Benedict XVI on US tv. You might find this video clip helpful:
After retreat I took a few days holiday before trying to leave the US – unsuccessfully at first when the volcano cancelled all flights from JFK airport. Eventually I was rebooked on a flight direct to Tel Aviv where I expected to meet up with the rest of the Our Lady of Victories Parish pilgrims.
On arriving in Tel Aviv I discovered that the volcano had caused 30 or our pilgrims to be turned back to Christchurch after spending three days at gate E27 in Changi airport. Now there were only four of us to make the pilgrimage. The OLV pilgrimage blog http://olvpilgrimage.blogspot.com/ gives an account of this journey.
Happily six of the pilgrims returned from Christchurch to meet us in Rome where we have just spent three days.
Now it is Saturday night and I have moved into the room that is to be my home with the de la Salle brothers in Rome for the next month.
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