PathToHoliness

This past weekend I got to go on an annual pheasant hunt in central South Dakota.

On the way a couple of us stopped for the night in Sioux City, IA. That gave me a chance to attend a weekday Mass at Sacred Heart Church.

After Mass they had Exposition. It is always nice to spend a little extra time in prayer with our Lord this way!

From there we proceeded to a farm near Highmore, SD.

Here’s a picture of our group after a lot of walking to find pheasants. We all got our limits and it was a great time for fellowship and fun.

On Sunday morning I took five of us to Mass at St. John’s in Harrold, SD. It’s a nice little country church. They had a 9am Mass which allowed us to get started on a day of walking the fields just shortly after starting time. I hope to get to do it again.

You can find photos from our hunt here.

My wife Cindy and I have been attending Mass this week at St. Dennis church in Madison, WI. I wish I could tell you what the sculpture in the picture is but you pass it on the way into the church. The trees are in full fall color so it was a pretty setting.

We’re attending the World Dairy Expo which is the largest dairy show in the United States. It’s an annual event and you can find our stories and photos on our dairy news website, World Dairy Diary.

I’ve been meaning to post this photo for a while. When I was in Guelph, Ontario I visited the Church of Our Lady Immaculate. This church sits high on a hill and it’s my understanding that no other building in town is allowed to be built higher.

The Church of Our Lady Immaculate has been a place of worship and reflection for over 120 years. The church is constructed of local limestone in the Gothic Revival style. It towers over the Guelph community as a constant reminder of God’s love and a community’s resilience. Designated a National Historic Site, it is the most visited tourist destination in the city of Guelph.

I did not get to attend Mass but stopped in for a visit while out on a walk one afternoon.

Hello from Canada. I’m participating in an agricultural communicators conference this week. We’re starting out in Guelph, Ontario and will be touring later in the week and winding up in Niagra Falls before heading home.

I was very blessed to attend Mass this weekend at St. John the Baptist Church in Guelph. Here’s a photo prior to Mass. We heard from a Comboni Missionaries priest. Very fascinating work that he’s involved in with people in Africa.

This is a picture inside the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, TN. It is one of the places I was last week. This summer has been one of the busiest in terms of travel that I can remember.

This week Cindy and I will be on the road together at the annual Farm Progress Show. It’s going to mean long days out at the show since you have to get in before the crowd and the lines start.

This week you get a picture of a church I did not attend. Instead, this is St. Therese Church, Wrightsville Beach, NC, where my wife Cindy went to Mass. She sent me the photo.

I was in Sturgis, SD, staying in an RV at the Buffalo Chip Campground for a couple days work at the annual motorcycle rally. It really is not a pleasant place to be in a lot of ways. But if you’re a motorcycle fan then you’ll never see more of them all at once in a small area.

Summer travel for work has been at a hot pace lately and so has the weather. One of the places I’ve been to in the last couple weeks was New Orleans. This is the Cathedral-Basilica St. Louis King of France New Orleans. That’s a long name!

Few cities in the world are so identified by a building as is New Orleans. The city is instantly recognized by our cathedral and its position overlooking Jackson Square. The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States. As the caretakers of the Historic place of worship, we constantly battle the elements and the aging of the Cathedral with ongoing conservation and restoration.

The church sits right on the edge of the famous french quarter where there is a lot of partying. For those of us who have to visit for work it offers a kind of retreat from the activity that’s going on at a frantic pace every day and night.

I’m doing a lot of summer highway miles. Last week that included staying in Pontiac, IL for a couple nights for a farm tour I was working on. We visited farms that are taking part in a project to manage nutrients on their crops in order to make sure they are doing all they can to take care of the environment.

While I was in Pontiac I got to attend weekday Mass at St. Mary’s. The church is downtown and easy to find and had early morning Mass on Thursday and Friday which was perfect for my schedule. I’ll be in Nebraska and back to Illinois this week. It’s always an adventure to see where my faith takes me!

Happy Memorial Day Holiday. Many churches have a holiday Mass schedule. Hopefully you checked yours. This morning I attended an early Mass at Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City, MO. Normally I would go to the Cathedral but the Mass there isn’t until 9am this morning.

Today we honor, remember and pray for the souls of our deceased men and women who have died in service to our country. At 3pm today you may want to take a moment to say a prayer and remember these heroes.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

Last week my wife and I visited Pensacola, FL and Perdido Key in particular. Why? Because we love the area. We took some time to get to know the area and attended weekday Mass at different churches. I particularly liked this church, St. Anne’s.

The church has a Swiss design and is actually not as old as it first looked. It has a really nice outside Way of the Cross and lots of other property that includes a pecan grove that has provided financial support to the parish. We also attended Mass at Little Flower and Holy Spirit.

So here’s one nice part of traveling. You sure get to see a variety in Catholic churches!

I’ve done a little road work the past week or so. Week before last I was in Arlington, VA and was able to attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More. I’ve been there before but not since when I worked for the Vitae Foundation. That’s been over seven years ago. It’s hard to believe my company is now over seven years old.

This past week I was in Des Moines, IA and attempted to go to a morning Mass downtown before an 8am mtg. I tried St. Ambrose Cathedral first but there is only a noon Mass. Next I tried St. John’s Basilica. Same schedule. I don’t know why I find that hard to believe. A Cathedral and a Basilica and neither one has a morning Mass on a weekday? I wound up saying my morning prayers outside the Basilica in front of this little grotto with Mary.

I also traveled to Albany, NY at the end of the week and attended Mass at Christ Our Light in Loudonville. It used to be St. Francis de Sales. I didn’t bother taking a photo. It was the first Mass I’ve ever been to where at least half the people walked directly out from receiving communion. I was attending a 4pm Saturday Mass. People just left in droves. But if you had been there and seen the scarcity of reverence for the church and loose interpretation of the norms you might understand.

Getting behind on my posting again. Of course that’s usually the result of lots of traveling for work. Which means work is good.

This is Immaculate Conception Church in Perry, FL. I attended Mass there on Palm Sunday while taking a day off to visit with a friend who has a house near Keaton Beach. The Pastor asked visitors to tell everyone where we were from at the end of Mass. I did so and he said I was the first person he’d seen using my phone to follow the readings. I was using the iMissal App on my iPhone!

I have done some serious road time the last two months. I think I just figured out that it has been 28 out of the last 41 days!

But as usual that means the opportunity to visit new churches. In Tampa, FL my wife Cindy and I were able to attend Mass at Sacred Heart in the downtown area. The parish was originally called St. Louis and is now being taken care of by the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province.

After leaving Tampa Cindy traveled to Reno, NV while I went to Austin, TX. While I was there I went to Ash Wednesday morning Mass at St. Peter the Apostle church.

The church was founded in 1962 and it sounds like it has grown significantly since then.

I’ll be on the road to Washington, DC this week for National Agriculture Day activities and hope to attend Mass there on Tuesday morning.

It has been a rough last two weeks. I came down with the worst flu bug I can remember and then we had a blizzard with 20 inches of snow in mid Missouri. Cindy and I had to fly to Denver for a convention and then I had to fly to another one in Phoenix. Let’s just say that flying, below zero to 70 degree temps and dry hotel and convention centers are not good for your sinuses! But I survived!

The photo is the altar in St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix. It’s conveniently located right across the street from the convention center and has a noon weekday Mass.

Last week I attended Mass one day at the Cathedral of Christ The King in northern Atlanta. I thought I had been to this church before but am pretty sure this was my first visit. Normally, I attend Mass at the Sacred Heart Basilica in downtown Atlanta. You can find the history of the Cathedral on their website.

While there the priest was willing to hear confession! With all this traveling, it makes it difficult to keep up with my devotions but there are some things that just have to be adhered to and frequent confession is one of them.