Thursday

This was a spiritual and professional self-care day, with a little productivity around the edges. I drove to LaPorte, Indiana to check in with my friend and mentor, Father Tony Clavier (whom some of you may remember as the preacher at my consecration; please do continue to hold him in your prayers, as he shortly faces a cancer therapy with a high likelihood for a very positive outcome, but with with a long and harrowing recovery regimen). We enjoyed a nice lunch at a local restaurant, after which he was kind enough to hear my confession (it's enough of a challenge for a priest to find a confessor, and even more so for a bishop), and to talk with me through some issues of mission strategy for the diocese. Fr Tony used to do the work I'm doing now for a very long time in one of the para-Anglican jurisdictions before being received as a priest into the Episcopal Church several years ago. He is a treasure trove of experience and wisdom. It was a lot of driving for three hours of "being there," but well worth it, I think. In the meantime, I had a couple of substantive phone conversations while en route, one administrative, one pastoral.