Summer vacation has arrived and I\u2019ve got loads to do. After tidying up from the loose ends at school, I\u2019m heading for El Salvador on Saturday for a week. I\u2019m leading a school mission trip to help at the CIDECO community. CIDECO is a village built with help from the papal foundation. The poorest of the poor are given a place to live, a school, a clinic, a church and a community that helps them break the cycle of poverty. We hope to build permanent relationship between CIDECO and St Joseph\u2019s Catholic School.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got a long list of article that have been commissioned for This Rock, National Catholic Register, Crisis Magazine, St Austin Review and Touchstone. <\/em>Joseph Pearce also wants me to write an essay on Jane Austen and the Clergy. I also need to finish The Gargoyle Code <\/em>so it can be released for Lent next year. I hope to work on my conversion story too. The working title is There and Back Again.<\/em>\u2026I thought of competing with Scott Hahn\u2019s punny title Rome Sweet Home <\/em>by calling my conversion story Done Roamin\u2019, <\/em>but I think I had better leave the puns to Scott. He\u2019s sort of cornered the market on that one.<\/p>\n Add to that are the usual summer activities for the family. No family vacation as such, but summer camp, music lessons, the pool, a visit to the beach and maybe a theme park. I admit to a weakness for theme parks. I love the carnival atmosphere. It\u2019s like my love of the circus. There\u2019s something about cotton candy, junk food and shameless entertainment that appeals to me. There\u2019s a child like abandon that I enjoy. There is a more subtle and shameful appreciation to these things too. I like the fact that my enthusing about them annoys my more tasteful friends. There\u2019s something shocking about the circus for middle class ladies (and I am referring to middle class ladies of all ages and both genders\u2026)<\/p>\n I almost forgot: I\u2019m going to be a camp chaplain for a week as well. Camp Kahdalea in North Carolina is run by a splendid Catholic family called the Trufaunts. Should be fun\u2026\u201dAlmighty God, bless this kayak, and all who sail in her\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summer vacation has arrived and I\u2019ve got loads to do. After tidying up from the loose ends at school, I\u2019m heading for El Salvador on Saturday for a week. I\u2019m leading a school mission trip to help at the CIDECO community. CIDECO is a village built with help from the papal foundation. The poorest of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n