President Obama comes to New York City

A Secret Service agent carefully looks over the area.

The dogs are out, too.

A section of the NYPD gather once the President is inside

Everything is ready for the President's exit

Opps, you caught me watching

Holy Rosary Church, near Wall Street

This is the Church which (Saint) Elizabeth Ann Seton attended with her family. It is now a Shrine to her memory.

Ellis Island, New York

Your family name is probably listed here also.

A Manhattan Park

One of the many, many small parks throughout Manhattan. Supurb place to relax and rest the weary feet.

Ground Zero rebuilds

You have to look through chain-link fence as the new tower is being built.

Massive area under construction

Another scene

The Esplanade: Beginning in Lower Manhattan adjacent to West Street which borders the Hudson River.

A pond along the walkway at the beginning of the Esplanade.

Jersey City as seen from Lower Manhattan.

The Esplanade: singles, couples, families walk the walk

Sun bathers gather in one of the many wide open areas along the Esplanade.

Jersey City, up close.

It is amazing what the Big Apple has arranged for the relaxation, safety, beauty, and enjoyment of its citizens and visitors. The Esplanade has a bike path, very wide walk way and an area for runners too.

A Visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral and celebration of Mass

Archbishop Timothy Dolan incenses the altar at the beginning of Mass.

The rear Steeples

Side view of St. Patrick's.

St. Patrick's steeples

The Mass consisted of the Blessing of Flags of those Nations where political prisoners are still being held. They gathered after mass on the steps of the Cathedral.

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That's all folks!

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Just about every morning as I run along Bayfront Parkway I am able to also watch the morning sunrise. Here, at the close of the day riding my bike through Aragon, the sun begins to set.

Thursday Nights at Seville Square

Each week it's great music and friendly crowds.

Swingin' to the tunes.

Wedding Bells ! Not so fast ...

Traditionally, the month of June was the "wedding" month. We all know times have changed, especially with the social and religious acceptance of co-habitation or couples "living together" without marriage.


So where are things now and where are they headed?


On this last day of June, the ole Wedding month, I thought you might like to digest some interesting facts:


"Men won't commit to marriage because they enjoy a sexually active single life in a social climate that doesn't push them to marry," according to a Washington Times story on a new report from the National Marriage Project.."Young men are indeed 'commitment phobic,' which is bad news for young women who want build a family before they get too old," said researchers Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe, who run the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.



The median age of first marriage for men has reached 27, the oldest age in our nation's history," Mr. Popenoe said. "If this trend of men waiting to marry continues, it is likely to clash with the timing of marriage and childbearing for the many young women who hope to marry and bear children before they begin to face problems associated with declining fertility," he said.



There are several specific reasons for why young men are avoiding marriage, the researchers indicate. "Primarily, young men are enjoying a sexually active single life — often with a live-in girlfriend — and "are in no hurry" to marry, the researchers said."The researchers also found that young men are often wary of marriage because of worries that they will marry the wrong person, be forced to make too many compromises or take on too many burdens as a husband, or suffer huge losses if the marriage ends in divorce.



"What young men aren't worried about is a personal, biological deadline to have children," Mrs. Whitehead said: "Men see marriage as the final step in a prolonged process of growing up," with children coming along in due time, she said. This isn't true for young women, she said, but young men "don't have much sympathy" for women's fertility problems. "As one man put it, 'That's their issue.'"



"Traditional social forces, such as the family, religion and the workplace, used to pressure men toward marriage, but that is no longer the case, she said. With the relaxation of social pressures, coupled with general silence about unmarried couples living together, 'men can relax their timetable indefinitely,'" she said. (last paragraph from "Wedded Bliss Not a Priority for Bachelors"



For all married couples, for those awaiting the sacrament of marriage, for a faithful life together and the strength which mutual love gives ... we pray to the Lord.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to the child's father and to those wailing around the girl, "she is not dead, she is asleep" but: And He said to the child: "little girl, get up" and she arose.

The woman thought to herself, "if I just touch the tassle of His cloak I shall get better." And Jesus said to her, "woman, you have great faith, be healed." And she was healed.

Rest in Peace

Yes, I had her famous POSTER on my wall....

Saw him in concert in Jacksonville, FL... to a full house in what was then the Gator Bowl football stadium.

Icons of our time.

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Brotherhood of St. Andrew

On Saturday , May 17, I was asked to give a talk to the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, a men's organization at Christ Church, Pensacola. The men were interested in the mission activity of St. Joseph's to the community's poor. Dr. Hooper, who works in our Parish Clinic and who is a member of that organization sent me these pics:

It was a great morning.

Good Sunday Morning

Sometimes we are afraid. The storms that come into our lives buffet us ...

And they were tossed about by the waves. Where is Jesus?

Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? If He can calm the waters of a storm ... just think what He could do in the midst of your own storm.

God Bless America: Flag Day 2009

Corpus Christi: II

I learned this prayer in grammar school and then began to recite it after receiving Holy Communion ... to this very day:


Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Permit me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to Thee
That with Thy saints I may praise Thee
Forever and ever Amen.

The Feast of Corpus Christi: the Body and Blood of the Lord

Other than the very words of Jesus, this says it best:

Back in the 1970s, when there was a lot of liturgical innovation going on, Dorothy Day invited a young priest to celebrate Mass at the Catholic Worker. He decided to do something that he thought was relevant and hip. He asked Dorothy if she had a coffee cup he could borrow. She found one in the kitchen and brought it to him. And, he took that cup and used it as the chalice to celebrate Mass. When it was over, Dorothy picked up the cup, found a small gardening tool, and went to the backyard. She knelt down, dug a hole, kissed the coffee cup, and buried it in the earth. With that simple gesture, Dorothy Day showed that she understood something that so many of us today don’t: she knew that Christ was truly present in something as ordinary as a ceramic cup. And that it could never be just a coffee cup again. She understood the power and reality of His presence in the blessed sacrament.

Amen.

The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Juan Sebastian de Elcano

The Juan Sebastián Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. She is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled schooner. At 113 meters (370 feet) long, she is the third-largest Tall Ship in the world.
She is named after Spanish explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, captain of Ferdinand Magellan's last exploratory fleet. The ship also carries the de Elcano coat of arms, which was granted to the family by Emperor Charles I following Elcano's return in 1522 from Magellan's global expedition. The coat of arms is a terraqueous globe with the motto "Primus Circumdedisti Me" (meaning: "First to circumnavigate me").
The Juan Sebastián de Elcano was built in 1927 in Cadiz, Spain, and her hull was designed by the Echevarrieta y Larriñaga shipyard in Cadiz. Her plans were also used twenty-five years later to construct her Chilean sail training vessel sister ship Esmeralda in 1952-1954.

In the last three days, 5,000 people have already toured this ship. All this to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the founding of Pensacola and the 60th annual Fiesta of five Flags.

A Monastic Experience Relived

The week beginning Monday, June 1, 2009 I was able to visit the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. At one time I was a member of this Trappist Community and this return was a blessing.

This gateway leads to the monastery lake which a peaceful place for prayer or simply to be alone for a while.

Side view of the Monastery Chapel which was built by the monks themsleves years ago.

Entrance to the "lower Chapel" where retreats are held and Mass is celebrated for groups.

The lake area filled with roaming geese and swimming ducks. A solemn peaceful area.

What I missed the most at the lakeside were the Peacocks originally donated to the Monastery by writer Flannery O'Connor many years ago.

June, the month of

June: the Month of the Sacred Heart

June is the Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

When I was a child my father had the prayer below pasted to the mirror of the medicine cabinet in our bathroom. He told me he said it every day. Once he told me that, I began to say it every day.



The Morning Offering


O Jesus,
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day f
or all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
in reparation for my sins,
for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,
and in particularfor the intentions of the Holy Father.
Amen