Saturday

  • Out the door at 7:30, heading for points south.
  • Spoke by phone with the Rector's Warden at St Andrew's, Edwardsville , laying out the broad strokes of the transition process and the calling of the next rector after Mother Bennett's retirement in June.
  • Spoke by phone at length with the Executive Director of the Living Church Foundation, on whose board I serve.
  • Arrived in Marion at 10:15, with my engine running on fumes because I hadn't been paying attention to the gauge. Not the first time that's happened, and I feel fortunate not to have paid a more severe penalty than just the cost of filling my tank, which I gratefully did.
  • Showed up at St James about twenty minutes ahead of our scheduled 11am meeting. We discussed near-term, mid-term, and long-term future scenarios, not only for them, but for the four Eucharistic Communities along the Highway 13 corridor (with a spur up to West Frankfort). 
  • About 12:20 I headed west on said Highway 13 corridor to St Andrew's, Carbondale for a 1pm meeting with the vestry. While many of the details were different, since they are in a position to call a rector, we covered much of the same territory that had traversed in Marion.
  • This meeting broke up around 2:30, at which time I drove to the apartment home of Fr Marcio and Camila Junglos. Marcio is a priest of the Diocese of Southwestern Brazil who is in Carbondale for the year doing some work toward his PhD in Philosophy at SIU. I took them out to Starbuck's for some coffee and conversation. They are a delightful couple.
  • Hit the road for home a little past 4pm. While en route, spole at length with a priest of the diocese of Belleville regarding some pastoral concerns, as well as with the Bishop-elect of Eau Claire, who is an old friend. While it will be a long-anticipated joy to conduct the ECW retreat next month, I am sad that I have to miss my friend's consecration as a result.
  • Pulled into the driveway at home exactly 12 hours after leaving it, a very worn-out introvert.

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