Going places!

That would be me.

Part ONE

During August, the sisters of the choir got together to do our initial preparation and sketch our our routines for our annual Christmas Concert series (coast to coast!). We worked with Randy Cox for the recording session (six new songs!) so that we can offer a limited release album at concert time. (Randy had heard one of our albums playing in the gift shop of Gethsemane Abbey and contacted us a year ago about collaborating in our mission.) Just this week I heard the (not yet finalized) tracks for the songs and was blown away. The arranger, Phillip Keveren, had listened to all of our albums before creating arrangements that were tailored to our voices. Literally written for us. No wonder the songs were so easy and enjoyable to sing! (No wonder the recording went so quickly!)

Here's a quick sample (but wait until you hear it with all the instruments!); hope you can make it to one of the actual concerts! (Please share the concert link with your friends on social media! Pauline.org/concerts)



But wait! There's more!

Part TWO

Come October I am scheduled to participate in the ACYC 2018, a Catholic Young Adult Conference for the diaspora Catholics of Arabia. Yep. As in, you know, Arabia. The ACYC will be held over a weekend (Friday-Saturday; this is Arabia) in Ras-Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. I will be in the country for about a week, visiting and giving talks in some of the parishes. It should be quite an adventure! All the sisters are asking me how this invitation came about and all I can say is, "They found me on the Internet."

The Catholic Church in these nations (UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc.) is an immigrant community, and those nations depend on immigrants for 85% of their workforce. Most of the immigrants are from India, Pakistan and the Philippines, so the Catholic young adults I will encounter at the big weekend event are primarily Indian and Filipino.

I have offered a screening of the documentary on Blessed James Alberione and a talk on media and evangelization; a presentation on Theology of the Body (Pope John Paul's Secret of Happiness--if only it had been taken to heart when he was preaching it in 1979-1984!!!); and I offered to speak on Eucharistic spirituality and lead an Hour of Eucharistic Adoration using the approach Blessed James Alberione taught.

I have one month to get all that in shape, so I am counting on your prayers both for my preparedness (and health!) and for all the people I will encounter in faith in that new land.