Thursday (St Thomas Aquinas)

I chanced upon the Bishops of Northern Indiana and Missouri for breakfast in the Marriott O'Hare restaurant before the whole group of Province V bishops convened at 8:30. Discussion of a range of concerns (including the Primates' Meeting, goings-on at 815, sacramental practice, policies around confirmation, general church structure, and ecumenical relations) was substantive, but we completed our agenda in a little over two hours, and brought our meeting to a close. I retraced my steps from yesterday, catching the Blue Line train just a few yards from the hotel. Having a little time to kill, I scouted out one of my favorite Chicago eateries (a sort of pub called the Elephant & Castle, an iteration of an actual pub by that name in London), and enjoyed a "boar burger" for lunch. This was on Wabash just north of Lake, so it was a bit of a hike to Union Station, where I arrived in plenty of time for my 1:45 departure on Amtrak's "Texas Eagle," which goes all the way to Los Angeles via San Antonio, and is probably somewhere in Arkansas at this hour. I was glad to join it for only a short portion of its journey. We pulled into Springfield about 20 minutes after our 5:15 scheduled arrival, and I was glad to get home.

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