Thursday, October 13, 2011

All apologies for the slowdown, gang -- for starters, there's a mountain of mail still to be plowed through on the work side...

...yet above all right now, just above the Home Office we're in the midst of a difficult family situation, so hopefully you'll understand that the priority on this scribe's time and energy lies elsewhere these days.

See, if I'm not doing my best for my domestic church, there ain't a thing I can do for the rest of you lot.

More once the dust settles. In the meanwhile, having already communicated with the donors about the shape of things, a word of thanks to them for their ever-unbelievable goodness, closeness and support, especially given the current backdrop. Along those lines, if there's anyone who should've gotten that word, but ended up lost in the shuffle of compiling a couple hundred e.mail addresses, please send a shout so the note can get your way.

For what it's worth, it's a blessing that this October's making for a fairly quiet cycle as the blips go. The "real action" of this fall lies after All Saints' Day as the long-awaited ad limina visit of the Stateside bench to Rome (their first of B16's reign) gets underway, the ever-newsy November Meeting of the US bishops in Baltimore returns at mid-month... and, of course, everyone's favorite 800lb gorilla emerges in full bloom with the implementation of the new Roman Missal on these shores and in Canada as part of the text's full-book rollout across the English-speaking world (at least, minus South Africa).

Even before those, though, for a fuller view of the State of the Beat, this scribe recently gave the readers of the esteemed GetReligion.org an "Around the Church" look at Big Things Catholic, with an eye to the moments, moves and forces that'll take the lead in shaping the road ahead.

All that said, it'll take some time for things to shake out on the homefront, and it's not something I'm in a position to put a deadline on. Ergo, for now, your patience and prayers would mean the world... and, where it applies, not being pounced on in the mail about everything under the sun has its ways of making life easier, to boot.

God love you and yours forever... and, well, hope everything's less wild on your end.

-30-