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Taking One for the Team

/ esteban

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SQPN had its annual online Podcast Marathon to end its Giving Campaign.  CEO Fr. Roderick Vonhogen literally took one for the team by allowing viewers to bid on ingredients for a nasty concoction.

The shots above show what a good sport Fr. Roderick is.  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it.  The viewing crowd was sending prayers out to St. Timothy and St. Erasmus, both patrons of stomach disorders!  🙂

What were the ingredients?

  • apple juice
  • Tabasco sauce
  • condensed milk
  • hazel nut paste
  • raw, chopped onion
  • whipped cream
  • raw mushrooms
  • spicy French mustard

I’m still a bit queasy having watched it.  I have to award this concoction an ignominious 3 burnt toast.

Slainte!

/ esteban

I thoroughly enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day.

The day started with a fun recording of Catholic Weekend.  It must have sounded fun too, because Captain Jeff accused me of having too much Irish in my coffee.  I didn’t have any, actually.

Later in the day, while out running some errands, I picked up this terrific Reuben sandwich from Tulsa’s Petty Fine Foods grocery/deli.  Let me tell you, this was some of the finest corned beef I’ve ever had and the sandwich, while nothing special to look at, it was proportioned just right.

I ate it in Woodward Park among the blooming red buds and some particularly twitchy squirrels.

The evening was spent with my great friends, Jim and Kerry Fox.  Along with their two young daughters, we watched some basketball, enjoyed the backyard with the kids, and supped on Jim’s corned beef and cabbage.  There might have been a few Irish beers too.

The culinary fare ended with this:  Guinness Chocolate Cake from Antoinette’s Baking Company, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  A perfect combination I would say.

All in all, this was a 4 napkin day of good food and great friends.

Saint Patrick’s Day

/ esteban / 4 Comments

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On behalf of Saint Patrick’s Day, and since I’m Irish, and because I had the privilege of touring the northern part of Ireland with a group of Newman Center students in 2005, here are some photos we took that show just how idyllic the country really is.

If you can, go there.  Immerse yourself. Visit the holy places.  Visit the historic places. But most importantly, meet the people and share a pint with them.

Before you go, read this reflection, “Praying St. Patrick’s Breastplate”, by my buddy Pat Gohn on Patheos.com.

NewAdvent.org has the whole prayer and whole bunch of information about St. Patrick here.

Guatemala in the Springtime

/ esteban / 3 Comments

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The Call of Atitlan

I’ve heard it said that if you practice a virtue long enough, it becomes a habit; and, if you practice a vice, it becomes an addition.  I think this is a bit of both.

This time each year, unbidden, I feel a longing to visit the Lake Atitlan region in the western highlands of Guatemala.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is caused by the many trips I took there during my time as campus minister at the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa.

Each March for 9 years, I spent a week there with a group of college students.  No wonder that I feel the pull to go there even now.

This tweet came across my screen this morning and it got me thinking about Guatemala all over again.  I jumped into my iPhoto library and rather willy-nilly started selecting photos for this post.

And I couldn’t stop until I reached nearly 250 shots, some from each of the trips I took with students.   (My apologies for attaching them all to this post and for the time it took to load on your screen!)

Unless you went on one of these trips, these photos won’t mean much to you.  Not knowing the context or the people in them won’t help either.  However, every time I look at them, I am struck over and over at how life changing these experiences were for me and for those I traveled with .  This was truly the best thing we did while I was campus minister.

 

Micatokla

The first six years, I think were the best.  We stayed in Santiago Atitlan, at the south end of Lake Atitlan, home of Micatokla (Mision Catholica de Oklahoma), the Oklahoma Catholic Mission that had reopened the parish there at the end of the 1950’s.  It had been abandoned for almost 150 years before that.

The dioceses of Oklahoma had strong ties to this mission and it was important for us to build on that connection.

We stayed in the guest rooms of the mission rectory, cooked our own food in the kitchens, prayed in the chapel and church, visited the schools, but most importantly, we assisted in the construction of stone homes in the Canton of Panabaj.

Panabaj is an outlying community south of Santiago Atitlan.  The parish owned land there and for several years, various parishes in Oklahoma funded the construction of homes (casa familiares) in that neighborhood.   The Newman Center was one of the few groups that actually went there, assisted in the construction of the homes,  learned about the mission and the community, and experienced a certain solidarity with the people who would live in those homes.

 

Luz Alta

Year after year, we would build homes next to, or nearby, the homes of the previous years. We made friends with the families, mostly the kids, and saw them growing up.   We were certainly not tourists and the people there didn’t see us that way either.

I enjoyed walking in that neighborhood, playing with the kids, greeting families of previously built homes and watching the interactions the students were having.

We always “sold” the trip to the students as a “house building trip.”  Serving the poor through their hard labor over spring break.

If you look at the photos, you’ll see many with the students up to their waists in trenches, pushing wheelbarrow, or hauling dirt and rocks.

And then, a few days into the trip, you would see the relationships take hold and the realization would dawn on the student that these trips were much more than just “house building trips.”    It was about learning, sharing, putting their own lives in context, and dealing with the idea that they were taking away more from the experience than they were giving.

I find it hard sometimes to keep my emotions in check when I think about these experiences and the wonderful students that went on them.  I think they were changed as much as I was.

 

Luz Differentes

The trip in 2006 was a major turning point in our program.  In October of 2005, a hurricane crossed Central America, causing terrible flooding in many parts.

Santiago Atitlan, and especially Panabaj, experienced terrible mudslides.  The areas, a tenth of a mile in any direction, around the neighborhood of our homes was devastated.  More than 750 people died in one night.

Our little neighborhood, now with about 30 houses, was miraculously spared any significant damage though I think a few of the inhabitants were killed or injured.

When we returned to Panabaj the following March, much had changed.  The visibile reminders of the mudslide were everywhere.  The neighborhood school, just up the road was battered and covered with 5 feet of dirt, rock and debris.

Our little neighborhood and all the homes that we had built was mostly abandoned, inhabited by squatters who snuck in after the government closed it.  It was deemed a high risk area of future mudslides and not suited for habitation.  It was a ghost town.

It was heart wrenching to go there, especially for any of us who had been there before and seen the life of that community.  Many of us cried when we visited the refugee camp where our friends had been forced to move and see the struggles they were once again facing without homes of their own.

From that point on, we started building homes closer to Santiago Atitlan, and eventually moved our location to the mission of San Lucas Toliman (operated by the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota) about 20 miles up the lake road.

Mision de San Lucas Toliman

San Lucas is a much bigger operation than the Oklahoma Mission (which had been returned to the local diocese a few years earlier). The experience for the students visiting this mission was still very good, but much different.

The students still worked on mission projects, visited its clinic, toured its coffee collective, forestry project, etc., but never really recaptured the same sense of camaraderie that we had with the people of Panabaj.

The mission in San Lucas is terrific and gave us new opportunities to share the life of the community, but I missed Santiago.

Perhaps fittingly, my last trip with students was during Holy Week of 2008.  We helped the parish prepare for Good Friday and Easter by mixing colored sawdust for their street decoration, and preparing flowers for the church.  We were very fortunate to take part in the town wide processions on Good Friday and the Living Passion liturgy in the church.

I guess if my time taking students to Guatemala had to end, that was a good time to do it.  As memorable a trip as any of them had been.

Four years have now passed since the last time I traveled there with students, and my thoughts still turn there every spring.   I hope I never forget all that we experienced.  The joy of the people, working side-by-side with them, making friends with the children, the amazing beauty of Lake Atitlan and its surrounding volcanoes.  I also want to remember the occasional food poisoning, amoebas, cold showers, harrowing highway journeys, tuk tuk rides, threats of bandits, long dusty hikes and the culture shock of returning home.

Some day I hope I can return there with another group of people, former students of one of the trips perhaps.  My pastor, Fr. Jack recently told me that I have “a heart for missions.”

I think he’s right.  I’m ready to go again.

 

Obsolete Skills

/ esteban / 4 Comments

My brother Kevin and his wife Maureen were in town last weekend for my birthday.  We had a great time.

Whenever we get together, it seems like there are always occasions when I am reminded of the vast amount of trivia that seems to be stuck in my head.  I don’t know why I remember so many seemingly useless things, but I do.

For example, we bought some bananas at the local super market.  Unfortunately, the ones for sale were all very green.  Into my head popped the method I learned from somewhere about quickly ripening bananas by sealing them in a paper bag.  I haven’t the faintest idea where I learned this trick, but it was in my head.  And it works!

Then it occurred to me that over the years, I’ve learned some pretty specific skills, many that are pretty obsolete and not likely to be used much in the future.   I don’t know how I should feel about this.  Archaic?  Well-educated? Road-weary?

Anyway, here are a few of my well-honed skills that have entered the realm of obsolescence, at least in the context of my life.  I dare say this is not an exhaustive list.

Rotary Phone Dialing

I grew up with telephones just like the one.  I image someone who’s never used one like this might have to pause for a moment the first time.  There’s a certain panache needed to dial a number and not look like a total doofus.

Did you use one of these?  Do you remember how to call for help before 911 service was started?  How to tell your loved ones that you reached your destination without actually paying for a long distance call?  What the sound of an actually ringing phone is?

Church Keys & Pull Ring Cans

I betcha that there are kids in America today, that have one of these in a kitchen drawer and don’t have the faintest idea for what it is used:

 

This is what my dad would call a “church key”, although I’m sure that anything that is made to open one of these could also be called that:

 

 

Although pull ring cans were pretty common when I was a boy, there were still plenty of cans around that used church keys.  Motor oil cans come to mind as one example.

I think these are really pretty efficient and don’t cause all that unsightly littering that other pull top and pop top cans caused.

One of my first physics lessons came from using cans like these.   Two holes on opposite sides of the can, of course, made drinking and pouring so much easier!

 

Drive-in Movie Projectionist

My first real paying job came during high school.  Yes, my social security records will show that I began my work life as a movie theater nerd.  Ever see Fast Times at Ridgemont High?  Yep, I was just like the repressed teenaged geek in that film.  I worked at all three of the movie theaters in Hobbs, New Mexico, including the Flamingo Drive-in.

I felt pretty lucky when I graduated from ticket seller and concessionist to running the awesome projectors at the Flamingo.   That baby, similar to the one above, used carbon arc welding rods to produce the light.  It was like watching a small nuclear reaction.  That was great fun and, boy, did I learn a lot at the drive-in!  Here’s a Youtube video that does a pretty good job illustrating what I used to do:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iScIfqfCGk]

 

 

 

Oilfield Roustabout

During my undergraduate college years, I spent my summer working as an oilfield roustabout.  Not to be confused with a roughneck.  Roustabouts do repair work on oilfield production equipment, such as pumpjacks, tank batteries, heater-treaters, separators, etc.  Roughnecks are the workers who work on oil drilling equipment – much harder and more dangerous work.

I learned quite a bit about the various types of oilfield equipment.  Not much call to use it now, but I still know my way around an oilfield.  I do still use some of the skills I learned with the various types of tools we used – mostly different kinds of wrenches.  Pretty handy fixing that old kitchen sink.

That summer I spent changing mufflers on a fleet of pickup trucks?  Yeah, not so handy now.

Other Stuff

There are loads of other things I could write about, but here what comes to mind:

  • how to write a computer program using punch cards
  • how to fix typewriter ribbons
  • how to clean a four-barrel carburetor
  • that awkward bamboo dance I learned in elementary school gym class
  • MS DOS commands / BASIC
  • the chemical formulas for ferrous and ferric oxides
  • how to bake an apple in a campfire

Cool, huh?  I think I’m tending toward the archaic. Time to learn some new things.

What skill do you have that are mostly useless these days?

 

previously esteban

/ esteban

Yup. I got distracted by a few things and haven’t posted anything here in awhile.  We all go through things like this.

So, I’m going to do what others have done and gather up some of what’s happened in the last 6 weeks, wrap a big bow around it and offer it up to you in a neat package.   People like lots of photos, so hopefully it won’t be too boring or self serving.

The Cabin

As the summer started winding down, I began a project to paint the outside of my family’s lake cabin.  As you can see from the photo, it’s not a particularly big cabin, only about 4 rooms.

It’s a great place, full of so many memories.  It’s been in our family for over 60 years and includes 14 acres of lake front.  I have memories of being in the lake even before I learned how to swim.  It’s the one place left in our family that ties us all together.

Anyway, the cabin is overdue for a new paint job.  The early 80’s mauve has long since faded and needs to be updated.  I chose a sea foam (ish) green color in a moment of nostalgia.  It was originally painted a really minty green color (ala 1950).  I couldn’t quite go there.  The new color is really not as green as the photo portrays it.

As it stands, I’m only about 50% done.  I’m hoping to recruit some help to finish it before it gets too cold.  Wanna help?

Kansas City

I made two trips to Kansas City in the last month.  The first was an overnight trip to check on preparations for the Catholic New Media Conference which I helped organize for SQPN, and the second was a full week for the CNMC itself.

What a great time!  I love the time that I get to spend with the SQPN folk and all those involved in Catholic new media.  It is such a passionate and lively group.

Take a minute and have a looks at these photos:

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There’s a lot in those pictures.  A trip to see the Kansas City Royals with my friend Dr. Paul Camarata, several photos of my new friend Ian Maxfield (an English podcaster, now living in Scotland) and his adventures at Waffle House, California Pizza Kitchen and Latte Land, and many shots of the CNMC and the good folks in attendance.

 Football Season

It’s college football season now and I have had a great time following both of my favorite schools, the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane.    I’ve been able to attend a game at each school, so here are some photos, which include my sister Stacey and my friend Jim, the one burying his face in a funnel cake.

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I don’t have any photos to show it, but I was also enthralled in the baseball World Series during this lapse of blogging.  If you follow baseball, you’ll understand why.  No one will ever forget Game 6 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.

There’s more to catchup, but I think I’ll save those for other posts.

Adios!

 

Gumbo and Haiti Talk

/ esteban

Last night, I was privileged to attend a dinner hosted by the pastor of my parish, Fr. Jack.  The event was a meeting of FIAT (Faith in Action Team), the name given to our Haiti mission group.

Fr. Glenn Meaux, pastor of the SOLT Mission in Kobonal Haiti (see my mission blog at haiti.everythingesteban.com) is making his yearly visit to our parish.

The purpose of the meeting/dinner was twofold.

First, to get the members of the mission team preparing to visit the mission in November together.  There is much work still to be done to pull off this particular trip, and it was important for them to meet Fr. Meaux.

Second, to sample the gumbo that Fr. Meaux prepared.  Being from Louisiana, he is adept at preparing gumbo and other Cajun cuisine.

It was fine fare, along with grilled asparagus, potato salad, bread pudding and pecan pie.  Coupled with a little red wine and ample talk about mixing cement, making bricks and building houses, it was a solid 3-Napkin dinner.

I’m not planning to make this November trip to Haiti, but the one scheduled for the end of February is definitely calling my name.

Esteban’s Dining Experience Scale

/ esteban / 3 Comments

I had three wonderful meals this week.  Two were home-cooked, one was at a small mom&pop Chinese restaurant, and all three were with wonderful friends.

All of these dining experiences were memorable because they each had their own unique mixtures of thoughtful food preparation, interesting conversation, and shared camaraderie.

During the last of these meals, we actually had a discussion of how we would rate the meal itself.  This led to some pondering of how I might develop my own, totally arbitrary and objective dining experience scale.

Thus, I deliver to you Esteban’s Dining Experience Scale!

I reserve the right to award any dining experience I have with whatever level I wish, but here is a general idea of what I have in mind.

The Positive Scale

1 Napkin – A meal I might cook for myself.  Frankly, it would be nothing special, hardly memorable, but not likely to make you sick.

 

2 Napkins – Something a bit better, probably at a restaurant.  A quick meal caught with a friend.  A hot dog at a football game.

 

3 Napkins – A meal I would remember and tell others about.  Any meal that ends with gelato or decent pie.  A special occasion, like a birthday or wedding reception or a meet-up with old friends.

 

4 Napkins – An outstanding meal!  Photos were taken, drinks were shared.  All were relaxed and no harsh words were exchanged.  These are the meals when the “good china” is brought out and people might dress up a bit.  People often come from afar for these meals.

 

4 Napkins + Wet Wipe – The pinnacle of the dining experience!  These are those experiences that you wish would never end.  They require bold culinary experimentation among friends you know won’t mind if it fails.  Gatherings of folks with whom you have shared many journeys.  These have that quality for which the phrase “je ne sais quoi” was coined.

The Negative Scale

Unfortunately, not all dining experiences come up to the basic 1 Napkin level of what I might prepare for myself.  We’ve all had them, haven’t we?

Here is my scale of progressively worse meal experiences:

1 Burnt Toast – This is a dining experience that meant well but didn’t live up to expectation.  The food might be edible but a bit cold, or over spiced.  The service might have been just “meh”.

2 Burnt Toast – These unfortunate meals are memorable because of some notable mishap.  The service is so bad that you dock the tip or complain to the management.  An argument among friends breaks out or someone imbibes too much in that “bad way.”

3 Burnt Toast – These meals are so bad that you end up with a serious belly ache.  A bad date that you walk away from in the middle of, or a restaurant that you flee from without paying.  Service so bad that you tell all your friends and create a new Twitter hashtag as a warning beacon for others.

4 Burnt Toast – Remember that one meal in Cuzco, Peru and the 8 hours of absolute misery that followed?  Or that other time in Peru when we had bad ceviche?  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  These experiences have their own special trauma so as to live on perpetuity.

I expect that I’ll be pretty liberal in my awarding of positive reports on meals that I share with friends.  All three of the meals that I had this week were at least 4 Napkins because of the people I was with.   Look for another posting on the most imaginative of these and the first awarding of the coveted 4 Napkins + Wet Wipe award!

You too can compete for this coveted award.  Of course it means you have to invite me over!

Do you have any special meal memories that have been evoked by this?  I’d love to hear them!

Move, Eat, Learn

/ esteban / 1 Comment

The three videos below have really captivated my imagination.  If you haven’t seen them yet, you’re in for a treat.

It’s not so much the actual content of the videos that grabs my attention, so much as the idea behind them.  The joie de vivre, in other words.

As some of you may know, I work from home.  For me, it’s a real challenge.  Apparently, I’m more extroverted that I thought and there are days when I want to run around the house yelling and banging my head into the walls for lack of real human interaction.

These videos, and in a similar essence, this recent post by Matthew Warner, have me considering new possibilities, new and daring challenges.

Perhaps I should have entitled this entry “Faith, Hope, Courage.”

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27246366]

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27243869]

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27244727]

 

Padre A’plas – Servant of God

/ esteban / 1 Comment

Fr. Stanley Francis Rother

July 28, 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of Oklahoma priest Fr. Stanley Francis Rother.

A missionary priest, Fr. Rother was the pastor of the Parroquia de Santiago, in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala when he was killed by men thought to be paramilitary hit-men of the government.

Below are links to where you can find the whole story, so I won’t recount it here.

I first learned about Fr. Rother in March 2000 when I accompanied a group of Newman Center students from the University of Tulsa on a spring break trip to Santiago Atitlan.

The Dioceses of Oklahoma operated  the parish in Santiago Atitlan as “Micatokla,” the Mision Catolica de Oklahoma, so it was a natural place for us to visit.  Through that visit and a dozen more, I came to admire Fr. Rother greatly and to feel a personal connection to him as a missionary.

The room where Fr. Rother was murdered, at one time a bedroom in the rectory, has been converted into a chapel and a memorial for him.   Through the years, the students and I have prayed there, attended Mass, and used it for quiet meditation, mere inches from the blood-stained walls and bullet-ridden floor.

That probably sounds a bit macabre, but it really isn’t. Because of Fr. Rother’s example of serving the people and defending them from the dangers of the time, the Church has deemed it worthy to open a cause for sainthood for Fr. Rother.  Someday I hope to hear that he has been declared Venerable or even Blessed.

Honestly, despite the tragedy that occurred in this room, it is one of the most peaceful and prayerful places in parish complex.

My good friend Mark Steichen and I, along with a contingent of other Oklahomans, attended the 25th anniversary observances in 2006.  It was an incredible experience, and proved to us the love and respect the people there have for Fr. Rother.

We were staying at a small office building 2 blocks from the parish, sleeping on the floor and cooking our own meals in a small kitchen.  At midnight on July 28th, we could hear singing coming from the church and from the rooftop of our building we saw that the church was open.

Late a night, dozens of people where in the church praying before the memorial to Fr. Rother built near the main entrance.  Catechists had gathered young and old around them and were teaching them the story of Fr. Rother, about his work with the people and his work for justice.

There is no doubt in the minds of the people there that Fr. Rother is a saint.

I understand that a large contingent from Oklahoma, as well as several bishops, are in Guatemala this week for this anniversary.  My heart is with them.  I would have loved to be there.

Note:  The people of Santiago Atitlan are members of the T’zutujil Maya and speak their own distinct dialect.  There is no equivalent name for Stanley, so they called him Padre Francisco (in Spanish) or Padre A’plas (the T’zutujil equivalent).

Here are a few links.  Spend a few moments learning about this faithful priest, loyal Oklahoman, and Servant of God.

There are better videos around, but this is the only one I could find online.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_kl-uD4inY]

My Close Encounter: STS-1

/ esteban / 4 Comments

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I’m feeling a bit melancholy about the end of the US Space Shuttle Program.  Today, via the wonders of the internet, I witnessed the 135th and final launch of these awesome machines.

As I write this, Shuttle Atlantis is in orbit over the Earth, making its way to a docking with the International Space Station.

The photos you see above were taken by me on April 27, 1981,  just a few weeks after the completion of the first Shuttle mission, STS-1, by Shuttle Columbia.   It had landed at Edwards AFB in California and was being transferred back to Florida piggybacked on a NASA 747.

My college roommate at the time, Michael Ryan, and I had heard that the shuttle was going to make a stop at Tinker AFB just outside of Oklahoma City.  When we heard that it was going to be open to the public, we couldn’t resist seeing it.

We made a mad dash from Stillwater, OK, driving the 70 miles to Tinker, arriving just in time to see the shuttle/747 descending over the highway towards the runway.  Traffic for miles around came to a standstill and people got out of their cars to watch.

Eventually making it onto the Air Force base, we were allowed to view the shuttle from less than 100 yards away. I can’t imagine being allowed to do that today.

I have been captivated by the manned space program my whole life.  In the ’60s and 70’s, I was mesmerized by the Apollo program and vividly remember watching Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, during Apollo 11.

For 30 years, the Shuttle program has waxed and waned in my attention, but I remember, almost painfully, where I was when I learned of the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

And so, yes, there’s melancholy to see this program end and I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see America continue its manned exploration of space.

Americans have always been curious explorers of the frontier.  It’s part of our definition and our genetics.  I worry about the cohesion of our national identity when we set this aside.

Oh, how I pray we remember to be pioneers.  I take hope from Commander Christopher Ferguson, who before the flight,  saluted all those who contributed over the years to the shuttle program.

“The shuttle is always going to be a reflection of what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through,” he said. “We’re not ending the journey today … we’re completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.”

 

Lest We Forget …

/ esteban / 5 Comments

On this Memorial Day, I wish to honor Harold W. Linihan, my mother’s cousin, who served in the US Army Air Corps. during World War II.

This morning, I attended the annual Memorial Day Mass at Tulsa’s Calvary Cemetery.  There were more than 400 people in attendance including a large number from Tulsa’s Vietnamese community.  The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Edward Slattery, who you can see in this (rather poor) photo.

Eleven members of my family are buried in this cemetery and it’s probably where I will someday be buried.    For the past several years, it’s been my habit to visit the cemetery with my aunt Joanne to place new flowers on the various family graves.

Next to my grandfather (Roy McKeever) is the grave of Harold Linihan who died on Christmas Eve 1943 while flying a mission aboard a B-24J Liberator, during service in China.

As I passed his grave, I was reminded that he was only 21 years old when he died.  Only twenty-one, and the circumstances of the war took him and so many other young men and women away to lonely places around the world.  And he, like so many others, did not return.

I honestly had not given much thought about Harold although I had visited his grave before, but I was inspired this day to find out what I could online and so perhaps give a little more life to his fleeting memory.

Here is what I’ve been able to determine so far, thanks to the wonders of the Internet.

  • Harold Linihan was my grandfather’s nephew and cousin to my mother Mary and my aunt Joanne.
  • According to the limited military records available online (without paying a fee to retrieve his official military records – something I may do someday), he is listed as being from Rogers County, Oklahoma.  This would put him in the Claremore area, NE of Tulsa.
  • His headstone lists some of the pertinent data that I started my search with.
  • He was born June 6, 1922 and died December 24, 1943
  • He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 308th Army Air Force Bomb Group.
  • With a little more research, I was able to determine that he was part of the 374th Bombardment Squadron and part of the 14th US Air Force (which is a descendant of the 1st American Volunteer Group aka “The Flying Tigers.”)

    308th Bombardment Group

  • This squadron flew the B-24J Interceptor (heavy bomber) which normally carried a crew of 7-10 men.
  • During 1943, the squadron was stationed at Chengkung Airfield in China.
  • According to the very limited records I’ve found so far, he died along with the following members of his crew:  Dale R. Anderson (2L / Illinois), Harvey Berman (2L / New York), Terry Lamar Humphries (TS / Louisiana), Wendell Guy Mettert (SS / Ohio), Raymond L. Paulina (SS / Pennsylvania).
  • A brief mention in the “West Bend News” (May, 24, 2006) says that Mettert was killed during a “bombing raid” on December 24, 1943.
  • According to this brief unit history, 18 B-24s of the 14th Air Force conducted a bombing raid over a Tien Ho satellite airfield on December 24, 1943.  One

    374th Bombardment Squadron

    B-24 was lost in the raid, which I presume was the plane carrying Harold Linihan and his fellow crewman.

  • I believe that the Tien Ho airfield was near what was then called Canton, now Guangzhou.

This is not much information and it does nothing to tell you about him as a young man, but perhaps there are other members of his family that know more and can keep his memory better than I’ve been able to do here.

I hope this post in some way honors Harold Linihan and all the others who served our country in defense of liberty, in defense of freedom, and to free other peoples from tyrannies that sought to oppress them.

 

We Are Many Parts

/ esteban

I am not quite sure what it is that I’m trying to convey with this particular post.  I suppose it’s more for my own memory than anything else.

Those of us who have been blessed with opportunities to travel the world, as I have been, sooner or later have one of those “a-ha!” moments when we personally experience what we call the “universality” of the Catholic Church.

These moments occur when we understand that the Church we belong to, and the faith we profess, is much bigger and richer than what we experience in our home parish.    We see and hear this all the time, but actually experiencing it is the real eye-opener.

My first such experience occurred on my first trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala with students from the Newman Center.   I attended a Sunday Mass celebrated in a mixture of Spanish and T’zutujil Maya with a crowd of 2000 people that filled the church and spread into the plaza outside.   Although I couldn’t really understand what was being said, I still “knew” the Mass and could participate in it fully.  It’s a real rush to know that you really and truly belong to something much bigger than yourself.  Such experiences give you a new and broader perspective on being Catholic and in some sense your own place in the world.

I had another, yet different, sort of experience during my recent trip to Rome.   Several times during the week I spent there, I found myself immersed with pilgrims from different countries.  Totally unexpected and unplanned.

As I wrote earlier, my trip from the US to Rome was in the company of a group of Polish pilgrims from Chicago.  It was great to see not only their excitement to be going to Rome for the Beatification Mass, but also their devotion to Pope John Paul II as one of their countrymen.

Once I arrived in Rome, I spent the next several days with Fr. Roderick and the Dutch radio personnel and other pilgrims that were in and around the Friezen Church.   We all know that the state of the Church in The Netherlands and other parts of Europe is dire, but seeing and talking to these people, I still sensed a spark of faith in them.

The photo above is a group of French bloggers and journalists that Fr. Roderick and I had lunch with on the Monday following the beatification Mass.  We met them quite by accident when one of them recognized Fr. Roderick and invited us to tour Vatican Radio with them.  We had already been there, but that didn’t stop us from going again, or joining them for lunch at Pope Benedict’s favorite German restaurant!  They were very nice to speak English when they could, realizing that I don’t speak French.  It was very much appreciated!

At other times during the week, I spent time with my American colleagues and friends, conversed with nuns from a variety of orders and places, was introduced to a South African seminarian just days before his ordination as a transitional deacon, and met a New Zealander (or was he Australian?) working in young adult ministry in New York.

These random encounters with different nationalities continued even as I was leaving Italy to return home.  On the “Leonardo Express” train which took me from Rome’s Termini Station to Fiumicino Airport, I found a seat in a compartment of Spanish pilgrims.    As I spent my last minutes in Italy, I overheard them discuss the Beatification Mass, what it meant to them, and their desire to share their inspiration with the youth at home.   They were under no illusions about the enormity of their task, but yet they were willing to try.

And, how could I forget the Chinese-American women seated across the aisle from me?  During our flight home, she prayed a couple of rosaries and reflected on a set of prayer cards that she had with her.

I suppose one of the things that I’m trying to convey here is encouragement.  Going to Rome always inspires me.  Seeing people from around the world is encouraging and reminds me that in spite of all the problems that we face, both in the Church and in the world, there is reason to have hope.

If you’ve never been on a pilgrimage outside your own country, my encouragement to you is to go and open your mind to a new understanding of the universality of the Church.

Afterall, the word “catholic” means “universal” and we should embrace that!

A Silent Vigil

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Friday evening, after dinner with my friend Msgr. Mueggenborg, who works at the Pontifical North American College here in Rome, I had some time to kill before meeting up with Fr. Roderick.

I made my way back over to St. Peter’s Square and enjoyed some quiet time strolling on the piazza.  A large video screen at the entrance to the square has been displaying commemorative videos about Pope John Paul II’s pontificate and they were still showing although it was now almost 10 pm.

It’s a mesmerizing video, projected without sound, which recounts JPII’s important history of traveling the world.  Although I had seen parts of the video earlier, this night it drew me in and I was captivated by the memories that it brought back.

Slowly, as the video played, more and more people in the piazza were also drawn in and a crowd gathered in complete silence, a vigil of remembrance for Pope John Paul II.

As each year of his pontificate passed in turn, we saw the joy of the people he visited and remembered the messages that he delivered in all parts of the world.  In a short time, we also saw him age and the heartbreaking advance of his illness and infirmities.

The video ends with his death and funeral.  With a few tears and a collective sigh from our little group gathered in vigil, a quiet applause came as the crowd dispersed, deep in thought.

This was one of those unplanned moments, a shared experience among strangers.  But also one that those present will not soon forget.

Trading Days

/ esteban

Yesterday, Fr. Roderick and I were walking in one of the districts just outside of the Vatican when I saw this graffiti on an alley wall.

It immediately struck me as profoundly full of despair.  Would I ever want to trade all my tomorrows for one yesterday?  I hope I never feel that way.  I know that there will be bad days in the future, but I certainly have hope for wondrous days to come as well.  The Beatification of Pope John Paul II is hopefully one of those wondrous days.

The Catholic sentiment is absolutely the antithesis of this graffiti.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation you can trade all your yesterdays for the best of all tomorrows.

I hope the soul, who expressed the sad plea above, finds a better path.

The Journey to Rome

/ esteban

I made it safely to Rome yesterday and met up with Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, CEO of SQPN. Not too much to report other than a well deserved nap, some good pasta at a nearby restaurant, and a nightcap of some excellent tiramisu.

Usually, the journey to Europe is extremely tedious and something to be endured as part of the price to be paid to visit a wonderful city such as Rome.

This trip was not like that and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

The flight from Washington, DC to Rome included about 25 Polish Catholics from Chicago, traveling like me to the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.  They were a joyous group and fun to watch.

I sat next to a Polish couple, now living in Denver, who are just old enough to remember the Communist years in Kracow, but still young enough to appreciate the spirit of renewal that JPII brought to his country.

The young woman in the couple told me that she had never taken advantage of the opportunities she had to see or meet Karol Woytila, when he was Archbishop of Kracow.  Her journey to Rome for the beatification is in a sense to correct that and to honor his memory.

I was so glad, and lucky, to have the chance to sit and talk with them as we whiled away the time over the Atlantic.  Polish Catholics have always impressed me with their devotion to the Church.  I know that their society is increasingly under the pressure of secularization, so I take hope when seeing groups like these.

We are just beginning our time in Rome, so hopefully we will have more opportunities to share the experiences of other pilgrims here for this wonderful event.

There’s a forecast for rain this weekend, but I would be surprised if it dampens any of the spirit of those coming.

Pilgrimage to Rome

/ esteban

I am enormously privileged to be going to Rome this week and witnessing the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.

I’ve been to Rome several times before and saw Pope John Paul II on three occasions.

I took this photo standing alongside his popemobile route through St. Peter’s Square on May 18, 2000.   This was a special Mass commemorating his 80th birthday.   What a joyous occasion and we couldn’t  believe how close we were allowed to get.  I could have touched him (with a little help, perhaps).

I was there with about 25 students from the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa on the first of our yearly pilgrimages to Europe.

We returned to Rome four years later (May 2004) with another group of students and were even more blessed with chances to see JPII.

Somehow, I’m still not sure how this worked out, but we had the awesome privilege of attending the Mass for the canonization of six new saints  Luigi Orione, Hannibal Mary Di Francia, José Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, Gianna Beretta Molla.

You can get a sense of the joyful atmosphere and see the portraits of the new saints on the fascade of St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a bit like attending a football game with groups chanting and singing and sharing information about their favorite saint.  I had never heard of St. Gianna Beretta Molla before this day but was very moved to see her husband and daughter present the saint’s relics to the Holy Father.  Can you imagine what it must have been like for your wife or mother to be canonized as a saint!?  She has since become a favorite of mine and a true testament to the sanctity of life.

Even more astounding, a few days later we attended the pope’s weekly audience and had tickets to sit on the platform next to the altar.  Our bishop, Most Reverend Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, was in Rome for his ad limina visit and secured these seats for our group.  What an honor and privilege to be so close to the Holy Father while he spoke.   It was difficult to get good photos from there and not cause a disruption, but here’s one that suffices.

It was a very sad day when he died, about a year after this trip.  What a tremendous library of writings and speeches he left us; and such a testimony and Christian witness during his final months.  Who doesn’t remember where they were during Holy Week of 2005 and the following weeks of his final decline, death, and funeral, followed by the Conclave of cardinals and the election of Pope Benedict?

It is enormously significant to me to be able to witness Pope John Paul II’s Mass of Beatification and to see Pope Benedict in person.  I can hardly believe that I’ll be there in a few days.

I will do my best to share my experiences as much as I can while in Rome.  I hope you’ll join me.

100 Words

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I hope this post doesn’t come across as too weird or you think I’m finally off my rocker.

I often think that something totally random can also be poetic.  Take, for example, the list of the 100 most commonly used words in the English language, as determined by the Oxford English Dictionary.  (See this BBC article for more information.)

It occurred to me that if you take the words, in order of use, and add a little punctuation for emphasis, it turns out rather poetic.  Since I enjoy words in general, as does one particular reader of this blog, I thought I would share the resulting poem which I call “The Be To”

The Be To

Of, and a in, that have I
It, for not on, with he as you do.

At this, but his, by from they,
We say her.

She or an will, my one all
Would there their?

What so up out, if about?
Who get which, go me?

When make can, like time.
No, just him know.

Take people into year, your good.
Some could them see other than then.

Now, look only.

Come, its over.

Think also back after use.
Two how our work first well.

Way, even new want because.

Any these give day most us.

If you decide to call the guys in the white coats, be sure and let me know so I can have head start.

Catholic Media Promotion Day!

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Today is the day that Catholic podcasters, bloggers, Facebookers, Tweeters, TV/radio hosts, webmasters, authors, publishers, … well everyone involved in Catholic media is helping to get the word out about what they do!

The Catholic Church is a very large entity in our world and there are many, many people who serve the call of the “new evangelization” by creating different forms of media related to their lives of faith.

You can find everything – people who are seeking answers, people who teach, people who preach, people who inform, and just plain ordinary people who share the examples of their lives with the outside world.

In honor of this first Catholic Media Promotion Day, here are esteban’s personal picks!

esteban’s three favorite blogs

Here are three Catholic blogs that seem to always catch my attention when there are new posts.  In no particular order …

  • St. Joseph Monastery Blog – written by the sisters of the St. Joseph Benedictine Monastery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I know several of these sisters and feel a kinship with them.  They operate the Monte Cassino middle school, which my mother attended in the late ’40s when it was also a high school.
  • another cup of coffee – written by my good friend Maria.  What can I say? She tells it like it is and shares from the deep recesses of her soul.  I wish I knew how to be as open as she is.
  • Snoring Scholar – written by Sarah Reinhard.  What I really appreciate about Sarah’s blog is that she seems to always remind me about the things I should be thinking about, like Lent.  Always the place to go when I need a reality check.

esteban’s three favorite Catholic websites

Here are three websites that I find myself returning to often.

  • SQPN – I know this is an obvious choice, since I work for SQPN, but since the latest revision to the site, I have learned a great deal more about Catholic media and Catholic communicators.  As the site continues to expand, I’m sure that I will spend even more time there.
  • Church of St. Mary – About a year ago, the Church of St. Mary in Tulsa, where I attend Mass, hired a communication director.  Great idea!  Since that time, the parish website has been expanded with all kinds of new information, blogs and relevant up-to-date information about the parish and its activities.  It has been a really useful tool.  It may not be the best parish website in the world, but it is a great improvement and I would encourage all parish webmasters to visit this site and steal … er, borrow … some of their ideas.
  • Missions – I have deep respect for the work of Catholic missions.  I’ve beenassociated with three different missions so far, two in Guatemala and one in Haiti.  Here are two mission websites that I visit often so I can keep abreast of the work they do.  San Lucas Mission in Guatemala, and the SOLT Kobonal Mission in Haiti.

esteban’s three favorite Catholic podcasts

Oh, wow.  I’m not sure I can pick just three podcasts.  There are so many great ones to choose from, but here are three of many:

  • SaintCast by Paul Camarata – I’ve been listening to Dr. Paul almost from the beginning.  His shows are almost like short audiobooks, complete stories of saints in small morsels.  His episodes are timeless and can be listened to over and over.  I think I’ll go do that right now!
  • iPilgrimPodcast – this is a brand new podcast, by my friend Deborah Schaben.  If you have any desire to walk the pilgrimage route along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain, you should listen to this show for all kinds of practical information.  (Disclaimer:  I’ve been a podsquatter on several of the latest episodes, so I guess I’m tooting my own horn a bit)
  • Busted Halo Cast – Fr. Dave Dwyer and his co-hosts have a great show directed towards young adults.  As a former campus minister, I have a heart for this age group and I find myself nodding along frequently with the advice he gives his listeners.  Recommend this to your college age and twenty-something friends.  I’ll also throw in a plug for In Between Sundays, a show for young adults by young adults.

esteban’s three favorite “other” Catholic media

I’m not exactly sure what I should put in this list, so this may seem quite random.

  • Anything written by Pat Gohn – I had the privilege of getting to know Pat last year and working with her on the 2010 Catholic New Media Celebration.  Pat has shown me what good writing is truly about.  I only thought I knew how to put words down.   Her writing is masterful, artful (if I was a good writer, I would know if that is redundant or not), and with a deep texture that draws you deep into what she is saying.  Find her A Word in Season column in the Catholic portal at patheos.com.  Go. now.
  • Nine Days That Changed The World – this is a documentary film about (almost Blessed) Pope John Paul II’s trip to Poland in June 1979.  This is a great filmabout those days and is a fascinating retrospective on the changes that followed and brought about the fall of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe.  The film is produced and narrated by Newt and Callista Gingrinch, so despite any political feelings you have about them, you should still see this film. Follow the link and watch the trailer.
  • iBreviary Pro Terra Sancta App – I have to be honest and say that I prefer the hardcopy four-volume books for praying the Divine Office / Liturgy of the Hours.  I guess I’m old school.  However, those books can be a bit hard to travel with and I always seem to forget to bring it when I’m away.  The iBreviary app for the iPhone and iPad are great alternatives.  I haven’t been brave enough to bring it to church yet as I’m afraid it might be distracting to others or be perceived as somehow scandalous.

esteban’s three “random” Catholic things

Some other random Catholic things that I like:

  • Visual Rosary – My friend Anthony Barber created a flash app for praying the rosary.  It has a visual representation of a rosary and as you click on a button, it will guide you through the praying of a rosary, along with meditations for the particular set of Mysteries you have selected.   I don’t use it myself for praying the rosary but it’s a good way to explain and teach about it to someone unfamiliar.  You can find it on the website of the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa.  Anthony is now involved with the Catholic Young Adult organization in the Diocese of Tulsa.  They have recently launched a new ministry call LivingLent.org.  It will help you stay committed to your lenten observances.
  • Fr. Stanley Rother – an Oklahoma diocesan priest who served many years as the pastor of the Oklahoma Mission in Santiago Atitlan Guatemala.  A cause for canonization for Fr. Rother was opened a couple of years ago.  Fr. Rother was murdered in his rectory by paramilitary agents of the then Guatemalan military regime.  I have a deep connection to Fr. Rother and his cause because of my relationship with the Catholic missions there and because his is Oklahoman.    Here are a few links where you can learn about Fr. Rother.
  • Catholic Volunteer Network – as a campus minister, I had several opportunities to work with graduating students looking to do domestic and international volunteering.  CNVS is a very helpful organization that helps match volunteer organizations with interested people.  If you know anyone who might want to do mission work, have them fill out a profile on cnvs.org and start discerning.

esteban’s other projects

As we come to the end of this long post, let me briefly tell you about the projects that I’m involved with.  In addition to all the good things going on over at sqpn.com …

  • everythingesteban.com – I write this blog whenever something appeals to me.  It might be directly related to Catholicism, or life in Oklahoma, or mission work, or …   When this particular post is released, I will be spending a week working at the SOLT Kobonal Mission in Haiti.  I intend to post articles, podcasts, photos and video about the trip.  So check back here is you’re interested.
  • tulsacatholic.com – this is a website that I maintain on a weekly basis with news and events of interest to the Catholics in the Diocese of Tulsa.  I subscribe electronically to the bulletins from our largest parishes and collate the information that may be interesting to a wider diocesan audience.
  • OntheU.com – this is the website of my “it’s not completely dead, it’s only mostly dead” podcast about Catholic college life.   There’s some good stuff there in the archives and I hope to someday revive it more fully.
  • Podsquatter – You can find me as a guest from time to time on other podcasts, such as iPilgrim Podcast, Catholic Weekend, and the Secrets of Star Trek.

Thank you for checking out my contribution to Catholic Media Promotion Day!  To reach the posts of other Catholic Communicators participating in this effort, jump on over to the  Facebook page for this.

Once Upon Our Lives (1955-1960)

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I’ve had a chance to delve further into my dad’s box of slides.  It is such a treat to transport myself back into time and see my family when we were all young.

The set of photos shown above are some of the better or more meaningful shots taken between 1955 and 1960.    During these years, my brothers Mark and Kevin are born and begin growing up with our eldest sister Christine.

I especially appreciate the shots with my grandfathers.  I never met my mother’s father, he passed away in 1959, I believe, not too long after the photo of him sitting in a lawn chair with Christine.

My other grandfather, my dad’s father, we called Pappy.  I got to know him very well and I miss him every day.   You’ll see him with glasses and a big smile.  He had a great way of interacting with everyone and treated even the smallest kids with personal attention, never dismissive.  I count him as one of the most influential people in my life and a great mentor.

Enjoy these shots, taken in Midland,Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Monument, New Mexico.

Have a look at the previous post in this series:
One Upon Our Lives (1951-1954)