Christmas Draws to a Close

As the Christmas Season draws to a close, everyone is heading back to Saint John's Seminary. The Seminarians have been on retreat this past week in Maine under the guidance of Archbishop Timothy Brolio of the Archdiocese of the Military Services.

 I have been in Rome this week, celebrating the Installation of Chris Boyle (Boston), Frank Fuhrman (Springfield), Bernardo Rios (Springfield), Alfredo Porras (Worcester) and John Gancarz (Hartford) as Lectors. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See's Secretary for the Relations with States, celebrated the Mass of installation. We had a dinner to celebrate with Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield, Father Gary Daley (Springfield Vocation Director) and most of the semianrians from Massachusetts in attendance on Tuesday night.

I have also been working on preparing our next Vox Cara meeting with Cardinal Pell and the new and old members and took two days with Father Anthony Ward, one of our adjunct faculty who lives in Rome. We visited the marble quaries of Carrara at the kind invitation of Rolf Rohn of Rohn Design. It was very very cold. 

Here's a picture of Father Ward and me outside the Church of San   Bartolomeo in the little village of Colonnata, high up amidst the quarries of the Apuan Alps.

By tomorrow night I will be back to Saint John's. Monday will then be a bit of a break for us all as we prepare to begin the new semester in earnest and to embark on anoher journey to the Pro-Life March in Washington D.C. at the end of the week. Through it all we trust in your prayers!