Well, I'm back in the Bronx. We've been working to welcome the new men who moved into Ciszek after professing first vows and I just finished preparing breakfast for the community (cranberry vanilla blintzes, creme brulee French toast, fruit salad, Drew's sausage casserole, and oatmeal). I smell of Canola oil and sugar and need desperately to take a shower.
As many of you know, Michael and Brian English were featured on YouTube last week. I don't know how it came about, but I was most pleased to see the overwhelmingly positive response to their duet. If you've not seen it before, it is here:
You'll note, also, that I had to disable the comments function on the YouTube site. For some reason, there are purported adults out there who felt it was their right to disparage two minors for their music. It's been a galling experience to read and moderate the comments, ranging from AMAZING! to a person who wrote what some might read as a threat (that comment is being investigated as we speak).
I mention this as an instance of a much larger problem. The inter-connected nature of the internet has allowed us access to resources and ideas in a manner unparalleled by any other point in history. But our ability to lurk anonymously has, I fear, led to a loss of personal accountability. So while it would be highly irregular to have a person recite a menacing poem at a live performance, it is apparently nothing for such a person to write a (poor) poem (in rhyming couplets) and post it as a comment on a video he'd seen. No fear of retribution, no decency, no responsibility. Just a cowardly deed enacted under an invisibility cloak.
On a more pleasant level, this is a very busy week for us. We're heading off on Thursday to Cornwall, NY where we have a house. The whole weekend will be spent "getting to know" one another again, with time for faith sharing and recreation.
I've quite a bit of work to do between now and tomorrow, so I must be off. I'll not be able to blog again until Sunday/Monday, so stay tuned!
4 comments:
Make a warm welcome, would you, for George Teodoro.
His niece does Irish dancing, so maybe you can compose a little jig for her.
I was about to vent on the uncouth comments, until I realized you had written "minors" and not "miners."
Yeah. I know.
AMDG,
-J.
It's unfortunate that so many on the net spend their time committing acts of the drive-by ugly. BTW--I recall, many years ago, going on a retreat in Cornwall conducted by my friend David Cusick SJ. He was a wonderful man (painter, scholar, Scotch drinker and campus minister) and the best Jesuit (among the many fine ones) I ever knew.
Say "hi" to the Ciszekites! And keep me posted if there are any new trials.
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