Joyful Day in the Lord
Today has been a long, but joyful day. I had the early morning Mass, and the I took off for my Mother’s house. We were planning a trip to NYC for the solemn profession of four friars in the Congregation of Franciscans of the Renewal, Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s community. One of the friars, Br. Luke Joseph of Red Bank, is a friend of both mine and mom. He had been a seminarian for the Diocese of Trenton (he was known as Ian then), and for a year we lived at the House of Formation in Trenton; he as a college seminarian and I was a deacon. Then for my first assignment as a priest I was assigned to St. James in Red Bank, where I got to know his family. Three years ago Mom and I traveled to the Bronx for his first profession so we wanted to be there today too.
We took NJ Transit to Penn Station, NYC, and then had the joy of figuring out the subway. Google had us taking the 5 to the S to the 1. Fortunately we asked a real New Yorker who told us to take the E to Lexington and 51st then the 6 to 86th Street. It did save us some walking, though we still had to walk six blocks, in the pouring rain, to Our Lady of Good Council.
The church was beautiful, and there was a wonderful turn out. Of course there were a lot of CFRs, both friars and sisters, as well as the Sisters of Life and the Missionaries of Charity. I spoke with Fr. Groeschel, and to my pleasant surprise ran into Fr. Brendan Kelly of Lincoln, NE. Fr. Kelly was a year behind me at the seminary and we are friends. His nephew, Br. Patrick, was one of the others making solemn profession. Two other priests from Trenton were also there; friends of Br. Luke Joseph. I also ran into a seminary classmate, Fr. Kevin McGolderick, a priest in Philadelphia. My mother also knows Fr. Kevin; the met on a pilgrimage to Medjegoria.
I am typing this on my iPhone as we are heading back to Hamilton, NJ. I hope the picture of Br. Luke Joseph also posts.
