Tuesday

  • Back to the onslaught of normal: Weekly task organizing at home. Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Got the news early in the morning via text message that Bishop Donald Parsons, retired Sixth Bishop of Quincy, and lately assisting in the Diocese of Springfield, succumbed to COPD last night after a very long and slow decline. He was a saintly man and a godly bishop, and those of us this side of eternity are the poorer for his passing. Since it had been pre-arranged that I would preside at his funeral, a good bit of my day was consumed by phone calls and emails as the planning and preparation process for his requiem unfolds.
  • Attended to some planning details for a gathering that will take place at the diocesan office on Friday.
  • Dealt, by phone call and email, with a handful of details pertaining to those in various stages of the ordination process.
  • Refined and printed a working script of my homily for this Sunday, to be delivered at Trinity, Lincoln.
  • Lunch from HyVee (pulled pork), eaten at home.
  • Reviewed, edited, and posted a Pastoral Letter to the diocese entitled Receiving the Gift of Divine Life. You can see it here. 
  • Focused on understanding and then beginning to act on my responsibility to lead the Nashotah House Board of Directors in an annual evaluation of the Dean. I think we're on a glide path toward getting this done--I might add, for the first time in recent memory.
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.

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