Finding the right mixture of spirituality and social contact has been an ongoing mystery for the men's group. The best time I've had so far was at the mid-Hudson monastery where Crosby spent some crucial months six years ago. The Men of St. Michael's had to find a way to fit themselves around the prayers rendered round the clock by the resident ( Read more... )

A Eucharistic service was held in Mendhan, New Jersey yesterday. It was the last day of the Men of St. Michael's annual retreat and came on the heels of approximately 48 hours of what, essentially, was an extended group therapy session ( Read more... )

The early arrivals like myself and about seventy or eighty others were put up in deluxe accommodations by RC standards, 2-3 people to a room with private baths. For me, it meant not having to parade the halls in my make-shift pajamas in the middle of the night or timing my morning shower according to how much splashing water I heard echoing through ( Read more... )

Big Bro' and Sis are going out to visit Aunt Lois today. I have a conference call I have to be in on at Noon. Sis is trying to be helpful by coordinating the ride, but, she couldn't tell me what hospital they were all driving to. I'm afraid I have been very slow off the blocks since my arrival back ( Read more... )

A little transphobia raised its ugly head during my ongoing RC class last night. It's actually a combination of two classes being taught by the Area Reference Person. This happens every so often, so far as I can figure out, in order to give the individual teachers of these classes a breather. Consequently, it's a large class with a lot new ( Read more... )

Men's breakfast went pretty well. I led for the first time in a long time and I got pretty ambitious behind it, making up a new topic and giving out copies of my YA novel cum short story ("YOU get a copy, and YOU get a copy, and YOU get a copy!") a la Oprah. I read it for the first time in two years and I think it holds up. I don't think I'd make ( Read more... )

In preparing for my Men's Breakfast presentation on Friday, I re-read the short story I wrote back in 2015 about different people's ideas of Heaven on Earth (that's the one that started off as a young adult novel then very swiftly shrank to the size of a New Yorker article) and realized that in it, I used the phrase, "I am the Alpha and the Omega" ( Read more... )

The loyalty meter between St. Michael's and RC tilted a little more toward St. Mike's yesterday morning, thanks to the men's breakfast. It's not easy setting my alarm to wake up at the crack of dawn these days, but, the promise of hot coffee and warm, easy-going, non-judgmental masculinity is a potent mix. And, Bing deserves all the credit. The ( Read more... )

In the meantime, Bing let drop the bombshell announcement that both his children are proceeding with test-runs of their fitness for matrimony by moving in with their girlfriends. He did it with complete insouciance near the end of this morning's monthly Men's Breakfast when the gathered usually go around and do a spiritual self-examination of sorts ( Read more... )

Praying for Frontpage has paid off, though probably not in the way Frontpage would have preferred. He still feels intense pain in his joints, but, his relationship to the pain has taken a decided turn for the better. He is more philosophical about it, more accepting. And, he is more inclined to listen to his doctors advice. His medical doctors, ( Read more... )