When last we saw our stalwart heroes, Silvano and Joe, they were leaving Germany for England... We spent three nights in England. Our priests staff four parishes in the London suburbs, and a fifth closer to Cambridge. Only the last was unfamiliar to me. I had visited the others a number of times, preaching novenas or retreats or attending celebrations. American La Salettes had care of the first two parishes for just over fifty years. I had met all the priests before, and so this was a very welcoming and comfortable part of the trip for me. Besides, all our interviews, conversations and liturgies were in English - the only place that is going to happen! The big thing to note is the change in the Catholic population. When the Americans worked there, the parishes were composed mostly of Irish immigrants and a smaller group of British. Now that population is dwarfed by the new immigrants: Africans (mostly Nigerian), Indians, Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, and - the largest immigrant group to England at last count - Poles. This latter fact is a bit of irony, considering our Polish confreres were in place prior to Polands entry into the European Union and the resultant easing of restrictions on the movement of her people. (The pastor in Dagenham said he has 53 languages spoken in his parish!) On Tuesday we flew to Brussels, spending twenty-four hours visiting our confreres in Belgium. Belgium reminded me a bit of Germany, in that the country is old, the churches are old, and the Catholic population old. Our four men working there all have care of more than one place. It was my first time in Belgium and my first time meeting these brothers, and it was a very enjoyable, if brief, visit. We then flew from Brussels to Zurich, and took a one-hour train ride to St. Gallen, where we took a taxi to our house in Morschwil, having missed our pickup - a constant possibility with all this travel! Switzerland used to be its own Province, with a long and proud history; like the Catholic population, however, our men there are aging and diminishing in number. The solution arrived at last year was to merge with Poland. Switzerland is home to some of our oldest members, and our oldest will celebrate his hundredth birthday next month. The residence in which we stayed also houses a school, the running of which has long ago been turned over to a lay staff. Our second house in the area is actually in the Principality of Liechtenstein, definitely one of the quaintest places on earth. Would love to return as a tourist! On this stop, French and German were the languages of choice; my brothers could be coaxed into a few words of English now and then, and a few were comfortable in Italian. After two nights in Switzerland, we are being driven to another part of Germany, which the former Swiss province also staffed. And so we leave our heroes on the road. Tune in next time to see if they made it...
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:19:54 +0000
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