Monday (St Thomas Aquinas)

Caught the 6:32 Amtrak departure from Springfield (it actually arrived early) to Chicago for a short meeting of the bishops from Province V. Despite the lack of a wi-fi connection (a decal on my window said "Your seat is a Hot Spot") I got a pretty fair amount of work done on my laptop. Time efficiently spent, and much less expensive than driving.

After negotiating the CTA Blue Line from Union Station to a hotel near O'Hare without incident, I was able to check in to my room and process some emails. Then it was the rest of the afternoon with my bishop colleagues. Our agenda for these things is always rather informal. We discussed administrative changes in the national church office, the situation in South Carolina, and some ecumenical concerns.

We had a splendid dinner at Carlucci's, the restaurant attached to the Marriott.

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