Jan 16 Fursey, addendum, brother Foillan

Jack and Thom
Good Morning, I love you

101204, 1016. Already we’re into Christmas season – I love the number of people wearing their red Santa hats. We’re also on the cusp of the second Sunday of advent. T-minus 21 days and counting down. I’m done my shopping, probably for the rest of my life. Come browse, pick up what you prefer. Or wait and be somewhat surprised what I pull out of the piles for you.

There’s an editorial in today’s WSJ by Joel Klein. In Wednesday’s Times there was an article about one of Klein’s disciples who’s been superintendent of the Baltimore City Schools for three plus years. These men are at the spearhead of a paradigm shift for education systems in our country. Learn what they’re doing. They have much to teach us about leading, influencing, any public sector organization. Principles that also apply to any organization with multiple and conflicting constituencies.

It just so happens that I’ve been arguing their positions since at least 1972 when I started grad school (the first time) and had the good fortune of having Paul Weisberg for a professor; Mrs. (Roberta) Weisberg was a leader in the Tuscaloosa School System – looks like about 40 years ahead of her time. [yep, almost 40 years since I started grad school.]

I submitted my Viewpoints for the Charlotte Diocese News Herald January 2011 editions. I’ll hold off posting them until the first one runs – unless they decide not to run any; always a possibility. Jack’s ‘embryonic stem cell’ controversy continues to rear its ugly head. My insight on the topic, if God’s given us the ability to discover stem cells and use them and He forbids us to kill people, then there must be a way to extract stem cells without killing people.

I’ve been writing like crazy – actually I’d call it crazy writing – since September. Fictional biography. It’s addicting, the writing process. If only I would discover how to make a living writing. Find my voice. Find my audience. Get them to pay to ‘listen’ to me. Such simple formula. Ora pro me.


Foillan. Fursey’s and Ultan’s brother.

I think I started a blog on Foillan and now can’t find the initial musings. You’ll have to do with what I can muster in the middle of starbucks, having finished a large white mocha, after a night of the usual four hours sleep – but my circadian cycle is totally whacked. I’m waking up between 2300 and 0200 and am up, period: until I fall asleep at eightish – when that’s permissible. [I found the blog that I started Tuesday or Wednesday – the days are blurring. They are all too much the same.]

Today, being first Saturday, I was up and out at 0740 to get to SPX for Mass. Saturday morning is the only time St Paul’s doesn’t have a Mass. OLG is the usual site for my Saturday Morning Mass. I like the church the best in GSO – it’s the only traditional Catholic Church that reminds me of my childhood churches. St Bernard’s is the original first church in the city. St Paul’s reminds me of the Ryman. The new St Pius is a marvelous mixture of modern open and traditional accoutrements. The short story is – I’m beyond tired and sleepy. Excuse me if I ramble and make less sense than usual.

Plus, it feels like snow today. It’s being predicted for tonight. But, it feels and smells like it’s gonna snow any minute now. Happy December.


[started Tues or Wed] Where can we go to find silence? Ambient noise gets drowned out by muzak. It used to be quiet before Mass at church. Not at any of the churches I’ve attended in a long time – except often, OLG, which happens to be my favorite church building in GSO. [Fursey found silence off in the desert. No thanks, not for me. I’m hardly one to tramp around Battleground Park never mind live on locusts in the dry barren scorching desert. Now, a calybe, on the edge of an estate, I could go for that; beg for my food, fast would be more appropriate; pray; be alone – some things never change.]

Brothers. Fursey, Foillan, Ultan. Ken, Bill, (Jimmy). Thom, Jack. Fursey and his brothers stuck together for their lifetime. Depended on each other. Shared responsibilities for their ministries. … Ken and I are just four years apart and grew up in different worlds. We were in the same school only for one year. Our vocations took up to worlds apart. We settled states apart. And yet, he is the world’s best brother. We would do anything within our power for the other. I pray that y’all do even better as the world’s best brothers.

Foillan, Fursey’s brother; both brothers to Ultan, but I haven’t found separate info on him.

Foillan was born in Ireland early in the seventh century and was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursey. It is an honor to be known as “the brother of”. I hope that each of you live in a way that people will be proud to declare you the ‘brother of’. Foillan achieved some of that residual acclaim by being Fursey’s reliable sidekick. That’s one way to do it. Another is to be yourself an outstanding person in your own right so that we will all say of the other, his is your brother.

Foillan, probably in company with Ultan, fled with his brother Fursey the devastating invasions of Ireland. They skipped across barren islands to West Angle with Fursey at the lead. Fursey proselytized to the Anglos and built a monastery: with his brothers at his side. The ole ‘through thick and thin’. If you can do this with one another, you will do it better with your parents; and you will be more likely to do this for your wife or, if your vocation is priestly, for your parish.

Fursey had what I could only call a crisis in vocation. He went off into solitude. Maybe he could do that only because his brother Foillan stepped up to head the monastic community that Fursey founded – and the members of the community supported them both in this switch. We are each responsible for supporting our brother’s vocation.

Foillan had the happiness of once more seeing his brother Fursey, who, having since gone to the kingdom of the Franks, came to visit him about 650. Not unlike, I suppose the missed opportunity Ken and I had last week. He was driving through GSO – y’all got to visit with your Maryland Cuz – and he and I were not in the same place at the same time. It’s important to plan ahead. Go out of your way to be with one another. And, as time flies by, the habit of getting together will be ingrained – like we were doing with routine trips to Chicago for you to see your only living Grandparent (who, by the way, is still eager for your calls, letters, and visits). This is a familial responsibility that lasts forever: father for sons then sons for father.

Soon after 650 a disastrous war broke out resulting in the flight from their monastery. The monastery fell into the hand of the enemies. It was pillaged, and its superior, Foillan, barely escaped death. Shit happens! And when it does, you have one another to turn to. You have your family to turn to. You have your church to turn to. For everything there is a season, turn, turn, turn….

Foillan ransomed the captive monks, recovered the relics, put the holy books and objects of veneration on board ship, and departed for the country of the Franks, where his brother Fursey was buried. Fursey, however, had left a legacy for Foillan. We each have a duty to create a safety net for one another. It’s impossible to know who will need the added support of family and community. Or when. So it is our duty to continuously build up the resources necessary for self, family, extended family, church, and community for times of crisis, for times of need. The poor will always be with us. So will our family. Be prepared to provide the help we’ll need.

Foillan and his companions were well received at Fursey’s last home town. But soon, Foillan and his companions went to Nivelles, a monastery founded by St. Ita and St. Gertrude, wife and daughter of Duke Pepin I. We all have our followers, people who rely on us, people who need us to be successful so that they can survive and thrive. Fursey got the ball rolling back there in Angle-land. Foillan picked up the ball, and the monks and other monastery residents. They fled to Gaul received by the legacy of Fursey and then welcomed into the monastery founded by the great Irish woman missionary, Ita. See, family extends far and wide. Don’t hesitate to call upon any of us at any time. The door is always open.

Foillan was likely, as abbot, also invested with Episcopal rank. It’s kinda like the certifications and licenses in your profession. Get them early, all of them, as many as you can. And keep them current. You never know when they will come in handy. Life is a circle; what goes around comes around; you never know what you’ll want to do in forty years; I suggest it may be what you’re doing now.

Foillan was of great assistance in the organization of worship. The holy books and relics which he brought were great treasures for St. Ita and St. Gertrude. As the monastery of Nivelles was under Irish discipline, the companions of Foillan were well received and lived side by side with the holy women, occupying themselves with the details of worship under the general direction of the abbess.

With luck you too will wind up in an environment lead by the Itas of the world – an Irishwoman of holiness and leadership. And one like Ita who will give you the opportunity to share and to learn and then to open your wings and fly on your own.

[101204, 1056] Ita allowed Foillan to build a monastery at Fosses, not far from hers at Nivelles. Notice that we don’t have Catholic churches across the street from one another? Or Catholic schools or Catholic universities or monasteries? There’s a logic to that. But faith trumps logic. No doubt Ita believed that Foillan’s efforts would not detract from hers/her monastery’s. also, there’s a wisdom in creating a critical mass for vocations, for Catholic community, for protecting yourself from the ravages of pagans who want your head. [Do you think the science teacher in your private high school would have assigned an ethics paper then forbade you to reference your faith/religion in the paper if your school had more Catholics?]

After Ita died in 652, Foillan offered Mass at Nivelles. When he resumed his journey, the saint and his companions fell into a trap set by bandits. They were slain, stripped, and their bodies concealed. But they were recovered by St. Gertrude. No good deed goes unpunished. Or so my medical director and friend at VCAPH would constantly remind us. That has not stopped us from the good deeds that are a part of our faith and family. E.g., going to weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and wakes. If we get a priestly/religious vocation in the mass of Nolans, we’ll get to go to an ordination. The sacraments are our way of celebrating the circle of Life as well as bring us together. Be there or be square.

Foillan helped evangelize Belgium in the seventh century. He helped plant the seeds of the liturgy and sacred vessels in this region. He founded prosperous monasteries (including one right down the street from Ita’s). Go where your vocation calls you. Plant a seed today and there’s no telling what’ll sprout soon enough. Maybe not “in your time” but “in God’s”. We might be talking about you in 1,400 years. Why not?

Foillan was well connected. He knew Pepin’s family and the Mayor of the Palace. It does matter who you know as well as what; moreso who. You can never have enough friends nor too few enemies. And the best way to have friends is to be a friend. Don’t hesitate to reach out, pass it forward, hand out some random kindness.

The Irish are everywhere. Including here in GSO. Erin go braugh!

I love you,
Dad
1113