Deaf Catholic Conference, Rome Italy
Wed., 11/18: the weather here continues to amaze people. 75 and sunny everyday is NOT Rome in November where it is usually 50 and rainy! The World Summit on Global Hunger is here this week with lots of "important" people coming and going, so the traffic is even worse than usual. Most Romans travel around the city on motor bikes or driving Smart Cars; the parking is crazy. There seems to be no rules except...if you can park here, then it's okay!
IN the morning, Fr. Tony Schuerger from Cleveland and I walked over to the Vatican, about ten minutes walk from our hotel, to get the passes and badges for all the people in our group to attend the Deaf Conference beginning on Thursday. Then we went shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE to shop...except for books! I did pick up some religious items for the church and deaf community. Fr. Tony went touring; I had a meeting.
5:30pm, our Chgo group left the hotel by bus to go to the Venerable English College. This college was set up 400 years ago. Why? Because at that time, the English kings(Henry VIII) and queens (Elizabeth I) were persecuting Catholics and killing priests and bishops. So, the Church set up this College to train young men as priests, ordain them, then secretly send them back to England and Ireland. Many of these young men never regturned; the English rulers tortured and killed them.We celebrated Mass in the Chapel of the English martyrs, a magnificent place to pray. (So many places in Rome and Italy are inspiring places for prayer!)
The Mass was a great reunion. Fr. Paul Fletcher (London) was there, as was Fr. Charley Dittmeier(Kentucky priest) who now works with the deaf in Cambodia. Archbishop Patrick Kelly from Liverpool celebrated the Mass in Italian, spoken English, and British sign-language! We had over 30 priests; five sign-languages. BRIAN SWATEK represented us by bringing up the bread and wine for Mass; PATRICIA SLISZ offered one of the Prayers of the Faithful in ASL. PATRICK GRAYBILL was the Deacon. After the Mass, about 90 people from many different countries gathered for a wonderful meal. I sat next to two deaf ladies from Ireland. A wonderful evening and great way to begin the Conference which officially starts Thursday morning. fr. Tony and I are the official note takers; JIM SMITH is our computer expert for those days.
IN the morning, Fr. Tony Schuerger from Cleveland and I walked over to the Vatican, about ten minutes walk from our hotel, to get the passes and badges for all the people in our group to attend the Deaf Conference beginning on Thursday. Then we went shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE to shop...except for books! I did pick up some religious items for the church and deaf community. Fr. Tony went touring; I had a meeting.
5:30pm, our Chgo group left the hotel by bus to go to the Venerable English College. This college was set up 400 years ago. Why? Because at that time, the English kings(Henry VIII) and queens (Elizabeth I) were persecuting Catholics and killing priests and bishops. So, the Church set up this College to train young men as priests, ordain them, then secretly send them back to England and Ireland. Many of these young men never regturned; the English rulers tortured and killed them.We celebrated Mass in the Chapel of the English martyrs, a magnificent place to pray. (So many places in Rome and Italy are inspiring places for prayer!)
The Mass was a great reunion. Fr. Paul Fletcher (London) was there, as was Fr. Charley Dittmeier(Kentucky priest) who now works with the deaf in Cambodia. Archbishop Patrick Kelly from Liverpool celebrated the Mass in Italian, spoken English, and British sign-language! We had over 30 priests; five sign-languages. BRIAN SWATEK represented us by bringing up the bread and wine for Mass; PATRICIA SLISZ offered one of the Prayers of the Faithful in ASL. PATRICK GRAYBILL was the Deacon. After the Mass, about 90 people from many different countries gathered for a wonderful meal. I sat next to two deaf ladies from Ireland. A wonderful evening and great way to begin the Conference which officially starts Thursday morning. fr. Tony and I are the official note takers; JIM SMITH is our computer expert for those days.
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