COVID-19 Diary: Day 133

Dear Old Blog,

Over at the Paulist Fathers' "Five Questions with a Paulist" series, we have expanded the series to include Paulist Associates and others.

Paulist Associates are non-ordained women and men who have a strong connection to the Paulist Fathers and wish to align themselves with the missionary society’s spirituality and charism. They make an annual promise to embody the ideals of the Paulists in their daily lives. 

In this installment, Mike Hayes speaks with Paulist Associate Dennis Hurley:

 

Love,

Paul 

COVID-19 Diary: Day 132

Dear Old Blog,

Here is another video from Landings International's "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series.

This installment was inspired by moment on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India:

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 131

Dear Old Blog,

Here is another installment in the Paulist Fathers' "Five Questions with a Paulist" series:

In this video, our old friend Mike Hayes chats with Paulist Fr. Steve Bell, associate director of Newman Hall - Holy Spirit Parish in Berkeley, CA:

 

To get to know Fr. Steve even better, check out this profile video from 2017 when he a campus minister at St. Thomas More Newman Center in Columbus, OH:

(In my work for the Paulists, I serve as an executive producer for these profile videos.) 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 130

Dear Old Blog,

Landings International keeps creating these wonderful videos for its "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series.

This installment was inspired by a lighthouse at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia:

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 129

Dear Old Blog,

Continuing with the Paulist Fathers' "Five Questions with a Paulist" series:

Paulist Fr. Don Andrie is pastor of St. John XXIII University Parish in Knoxville, TN. He spoke with Mike Hayes on May 7, 2020:

Love,

Paul 

COVID-19 Diary: Day 128

Dear Old Blog,

Continuing with Landings International's "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series:

The photo for meditation in this installment comes from the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya, Thailand:

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 127

Dear Old Blog,

Paulist Fr. Joachim Lally lives in Grand Rapids, MI.

In this installment of "Five Questions with a Paulist," Fr. Joachim spoke with Mike Hayes about life during the COVID-19 pandemic:

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 126

Dear Old Blog,

Here is another offering from Landings International's special video series "Reflections for a Troubled Age."

The photo used for inspiration is from Soundscape Park in Miami, FL:

 

Love,

Paul 

COVID-19 Diary: Day 125

Dear Old Blog,

Here is another installment in the "Five Questions with a Paulist" series.

In this video, Mike Hayes chats with Paulist Fr. Stuart Wilson-Smith, associate pastor of Old St. Mary's Church in Chicago: 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 124

Dear Old Blog,

"How do I practice compassion?"

That is one of the reflection questions in this seventh video from Landings International's "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series:

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 123

Dear Old Blog,

As I have mentioned before in this space, managing the Paulist Fathers' "Five Questions with a Paulist" video series has been part of how I have spent my time during the pandemic.

Our old friend Mike Hayes is on the front end conducting the interviews. I'm behind the scenes helping to select the interviewees and then, when completed, executing the social media shares.

Here is the third video in that series: "Five Questions with Paulist Fr. Charlie Donahue":

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 122

Dear Old Blog,

Serious questions:

Would you hire Donald Trump to be an intern in your office?

Would you trust Donald Trump to babysit your child?

Would you leave your pet in the care of Donald Trump?

Would you trust Donald Trump to water your house plants?

If the answer is "No" to these questions, why would anyone vote for him?

Family and friends, please support Joe Biden for president.

We need to put a trustworthy adult back in the Oval Office.

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 121

Dear Old Blog,

Here is the sixth video in Landings International's "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series:

 

Love, 

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 120

Dear Old Blog, 

 Mitt Romney is spot-on in this tweet about Trump commuting the sentence of Roger Stone:

Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 11, 2020

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 119

Dear Old Blog,

Trump commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone today.

It's one more in the endless list of reasons why Trump must be soundly defeated on November 3.

Respect for the rule of law must be restored.

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 118

Dear Old Blog,

On June 24, I wrote in this space about the "Five Questions" series that I have been producing for work during these quarantine days.

Here is the second video in that series: "Five Questions with Paulist Fr. Rich Andre" (hosted by my buddy Mike Hayes):

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 117

Dear Old Blog,

Here is the fifth video in Landings International's "Reflections for a Troubled Age" series:  

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 116

Dear Old Blog,

The great composer Ennio Morricone died yesterday at the age of 91.

Like so many, Morricone's wonderful music for the film "The Mission" touched my heart, and brought tears to my eyes, many times.

In fact, Eric and I had "Gabriel's Oboe" from "The Mission" played for our assembled guests prior to the beginning of our wedding service in 2013. It was performed by James Mobley, who then played oboe at our parish, the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, in New York City.

Here is James playing "Gabriel's Oboe" again in 2014:

 

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 115

Dear Old Blog,

I'm sorry this has to be spelled out:

Donald Trump is a racist.

He says racist things. He supports racists. He has racist policies.

There are people in our own families who support Donald Trump.

Those people enable his racist statements. Those people enable his support of racists. Those people enable his racist policies.

So, those people are also racists.

The Trump supporters are racists.

I'm sorry if they are members of your families. I'm sorry that some of them are members of my family. 

But, bottom line:

If your sweet grandma supports Trump, your grandma is a racist.

If your Wall Street-working brother supports Trump, your brother is a racist.

If a cousin of mine supports Trump, that cousin of mine is a racist.

This is how it is.

And, racists should hang their heads in shame. They should repent and turn away from Trump before our country is damaged further.

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 114

Dear Old Blog, 

To all the gays at Fire Island: 

We need you to stay alive to vote for Joe Biden in November.

Social distance and wear masks, dammit! 

No parties! Go home! Stay home!

Love,

Paul 

COVID-19 Diary: Day 113

Dear Old Blog,

Happy Independence Day!

I spied this video about "Strawberry Pretzel Salad" on Facebook today. It made me homesick for summertime picnics in Western Pennsylvania:

   

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 112

Dear Old Blog,

Eric and I watched "Hamilton" on Disney+ tonight.

It was superb.

It was our first time seeing the musical. At the time we moved to Orlando, we thought the tickets to the Broadway show were still too expensive. We were waiting for the price to go down a bit more.

Lin-Manuel Miranda (our one-time neighbor in NYC's Washington Heights) really is one of the great talents of our time.

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 111

Dear Old Blog, 

This evening, I finished watching Season 3 of "The Handmaid's Tale" on Hulu.

That means I binged all three seasons in 14 days.

It is a very compelling but very disturbing story. The spot-on cinematography enhances both of those qualities.

It disturbed me as a person of faith. Watching the abuse of religion in "The Handmaid's Tale" makes me want to be more genuine and authentic in my own religious practice.

"The Handmaid's Tale" has stirred me a desire to never let religion be a tool for hurting women or anyone.

This story also makes me want to be even more political, to do more to stand up to the affronts to our democratic republic happening in our own time.

Now, where to start?

Love,

Paul

COVID-19 Diary: Day 110

Dear Old Blog,

Today is the one-year anniversary of our move to Lake Nona, a section of southeast Orlando, FL.

Here are two photos I took on July 1, 2019, as we moved in:

Exterior of our house in Lake Nona

Eric at our front door

Love,

Paul