In Chicago.

I'm composing this post at a desk at Loyola University Chicago, where I'm staying while I attend the annual Jesuit gathering colloquially known as 'province days,' which might better be termed 'bi-province days' in the present instance since it embraces both the Chicago and Detroit Provinces of the Society. The two major events at province days are a Mass honoring Jesuit jubiliarians (those celebrating significant anniversaries in Jesuit life, such as fifty or sixty years since their entrance into the novitiate or their ordination to the priesthood) and the ordination of new priests. This year, the Chicago Province welcomes four new priests - Glen Chun, Bill Murphy, Peter Nguyen, and Charlie Rodrigues - who will all be ordained tomorrow morning. I ask you to join me in praying for them as they prepare for priestly ministry. Please pray also for vocations, asking that many more men will answer God's call.

Though I return to New York tomorrow night, I'll be on the road for the rest of June. Sunday night I leave for Amsterdam en route to Jerusalem, where I'll make my eight-day retreat with other Jesuits from the Chicago Province. Before and after the retreat, I'll be spending a few days in the Netherlands visiting family and friends. I'm grateful to the Society and its benefactors for giving me this opportunity, and I'm very much looking forward to the next few weeks. I don't know whether and to what extent I'll be able to update this blog while I'm abroad, so this may or may not be the last post for a few weeks. One way or another, I'll be sure to post a report on my travels at some point. Until then, I ask your prayers for me and my Jesuit companions as we travel and as we make our retreat. AMDG.