Where to begin? The sunny albeit humid weather belies the monster storm barreling down (or up) the east coast even as I blog. Scheduled to unleash nature's fury in the form of a Catagory 2 hurricane, Irene threatens to make this weekend memorable.
The Haitian Day will go on as planned starting tomorrow, but the question remains whether the scattered, preliminary thunderstorms scheduled for tomorrow morning will discourage any of the 550 people from leaving their homes to board buses Maryknoll-bound.
The full brunt of the storm will not be felt until Saturday night. So, Maryknoll Fr. Romane St. Vil, who hosts this annual event, has already curtailed their schedule, now ending at 2:30 rather than 5:00 p.m. to allow guests to get safely home. The tent company is sending out an emergency crew to dismantle the tents and take away the tables and chairs and thus deprive Irene of some potentially lethal projectiles.
I am also in communication with my Korean Sunday school teachers who are also intending to participate in a workshop here tomorrow into Sunday. Again, getting home with flooded roads and downed trees may cause them to scuttle their plans.
Gov. Cuomo just ordered the closing of all mass transit beginning 12:00 p.m. tomorrow. This effectively cancels plans for Fr. Ed Dougherty, superior general, to fill in for me at the 9:30 Mass at St. Paul's in Flushing in Sunday. He had planned to take the Number 7 And since I can't get there, they may be without an English-speaking priest. Then again, I doubt even Koreans, famous for their strong piety even in the midst of hardship, will brave the floods and tempest to attend Sunday Mass.
I will post Gathering Storms Parts Two and One anon.
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