Feast of St. Michael the Archangel

CONGRATULATIONS to the Maryknoll Brothers on this, the feast day of their patron saint. Highlight of the day will be a community Mass at 4:15 in the main chapel, followed by preprandials in the Third Floor rec room and beer & wine at supper.

Out-going regional, Fr. Clyde Philips will be the celebrant with Br. John Blazo and Fr. Mike Duggan doing the readings.

Officially known as the Auxiliary Brothers of St. Michael, the Maryknoll Brothers' charisms are community and hospitality, and luckily not leading the heavenly hosts in cosmic combat against the forces of evil, a.k.a Birthers, Teabaggers and other Rightwing Wingnuts of the G.O.P. But I digress.

Adding suspense is whether the fabled relic of St. Michael will once again make an appearance as in days of old when a new guy was asked to bear it in solemn procession. According to Br. Kevin Dargan, who single-handedly restored this feast's solemnity to its former glory and successfully fended off a funeral and electric maintenance to keep the celebration on track, three curmudgeons vehemently objected to bringing back the relic last year. If I can get him to name names, they will appear in a future update.

When worlds avert collision

So, first the funeral for Fr. McKiernan was moved up one day to allow for the special celebration of the feast of St. Michael, patron of the Maryknoll Brothers, tomorrow at a 4:15 Mass and happy hour.

Then Physical Plant had to reschedule a contracted electrical shutdown from tomorrow to today at 5 p.m. lest half our membership get stranded in the Third Floor rec room or stumble along darkened stairwells following Michaelmas.

Now it remains to be seen how many members, especially Brothers, will show up.

This once again underscores the chronic need for a campus-wide online calendar that everyone can access to post activities and check out availability and avoid scheduling conflicts. Department heads have such a calendar, but us simple peons need this too. This whole brouhaha with the Brothers' feast day, the funeral and the scheduled electrical shutdown could have been prevented.

Also coming up this week: Fr. Miguel D'Escoto will speak to the community at a special gathering on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. in the Founders Room about his last year serving as the president of the U.N. General Assembly.

When worlds collide, Part 2

Just when you thought it was safe to celebrate the feast of St. Michael, patron of the Maryknoll Brothers, next Tuesday with a Mass at 4:15 followed by a special happy hour in the 3rd Floor Rec Room and meal in the dining room BAM! Physical Plant announces via email today that once again all elevators will be shut off—you guessed it—from 5:00 p.m. to 5:25 to ensure no one gets stuck when all electricity is turned off from 5:15 to 5:20.

The Mass would just be letting out when, normally, guys would be migrating to the 3rd Floor for preperandials just as the elevators will go off line. How many of the guys do you think will (or can) climb two flights of stairs—in the dark?

I left a message on Br. Kevin's voicemail, who was out of his room, so there's no immediate reaction from him yet, but I don't foresee anything pleasant. I spoke with Pastoral Coordinator, Fr. Ernie Lukaschek, who had not been consulted by Physical Plant prior to their decision but since all have gone for the day, there's nothing to be done till tomorrow.

When worlds collide

NEXT TUESDAY is the great and glorious feast of St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael. Archangels all. St. Michael being the patron of the Maryknoll Brothers, for the past three years Br. Kevin Dargan has gone to considerable troubles and expense to make this a truly festive occasion for Society members here, with a special Mass at 4:15 followed by hors d'ouevres at the Hour of Happiness and a nice meal.

Then Father McKiernan upped and died. R.I.P. Apparently those responsible for posting the monthly schedule failed to make note of the feast day and Kevin failed to notice the failure and Father Dave Sullivan over at St. T's, in communicating with the family, failed to include Fr. Lukaschek in the discussion until Monday was chosen for the wake and Tuesday for the funeral. We're lucky to get guys to attend one Mass; forget two in the same day.

Kevin was not pleased. You do not want to see Kevin when he is not pleased. Ernie was not pleased that Kevin was not pleased. So the whole thing unraveled. Ernie called Dave and Dave called the family, so now we have Fr. McKiernan's wake rescheduled for Sunday evening at 7:30 (the family has already been warned that there are fewer Maryknollers here on the weekend) with the funeral on Monday at 11 a.m.

That opens up Tuesday nicely for the Brothers' feast day festivities. (Although I heard from more than one source that not many Brothers attended last year, so we shall have to wait and see if all this ágita was worth it and a great and glorious fun time is had by all.)