Hello again, I’m back.  I had a wonderful sabbatical.  We had classes most mornings and took some trips from time to time, i.e. a museum trip to Louisville with a stop at the Merton Center at Bellarmine College.  I often concelebrated mass with the monks at St. Meinrad Archabbey.  It was inspiring to join them for Vespers from time to time.  I knew some of the monks from when I was in college there from 1970-74.  While I was there, I also met some more friends who came in for the annual reunion.  As it worked out, there were three of us priests on sabbatical.  One was a pastor from Australia and the other was a retired priest from Albany, New York.  We got along very well and shared a lot of stories.  The retired priest, who is 70 yrs. old, was getting ready to walk 200 miles of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The priest from Australia has two parishes and three schools to run in a resort area of east central Australia.  He had been away from his parish for nine months.  I did fly back to go to the Bishop’s installation, but went right back for the last week.  I got a lot of rest and a chance to read and reflect and enjoy the beauty of the Abbey. 
     There’s no place like home though.  Thanks for the staffs of both parishes and Fr. Matt for all the good work they did while I was gone.

                                                         Peace,
                                                            Fr. Ron