Day 54, Oct. 3

Today is a day of tours. I started out getting a tour of the Franciscan work in the diocese. It is a great effort to help the poor. The focus is on education of poor children and the organization of women. They can do for boys exactly what the young men in Poolampatty wanted – technical education. Instead of doling out haphazardly ad hoc tuition payments, Love & Care can fund scholarships that will be organized and monitored. It looks to me like a great plan, if we have the will and the money. The briefings I was given were excellent. The Franciscans and their friends have their act together.
After that work I got a brief tour which consisted in climbing to the top of the Rock Fort which overlooks the city. I was warned it was tough and I probably couldn’t make it. It had to be done barefoot. Looking up at it, the steep brown rock looked awfully hot in the burning sun. I went anyway. When we paid to make the trip along with sores of others I found that there was a stairway hewn under the rock that takes you up to the top. It was a piece of cake. The view on top was as good as the top of the Eiffel Tower (only the city didn’t come close to Paris, Texas let alone France.) Inside the rock a temple had been built. Now, the city was using it as a place to feed the hungry. The food looked good, plentiful, healthy, and clean (better than some restaurants I’ve eaten at in India).
Speaking of eating, Fr. Deveraj took me to a hotel he knows that had a great buffet. It was a super way to say farewell to each other. Together with our driver we enjoyed a fine assortment of food and desserts as well as some Black Knight ‘very strong’ beer. Strong in India (I was informed) means the beer is brewed like German beer. With that meal, I said my good-byes, was left off at the Bishop’s House less than ½ a mile away.
A short time later, I had a car pick me up to take me to the Capuchin complex. Once again, I was treated like a visiting dignitary. They sat me down, gave me a royal reception including a regal shawl (my sixth, I guess), some good books, and a packaged gift. The four people doing the briefing outnumbered me. But, to my joy they were giving me solutions to recent problems. The three boys who wanted money to go to tech school created a problem. These folks gave me a solution. They had a school, a student dorm, and experience working with such students. Their price was about the same. They have a history of gaining good employment for their grads. And, they know how to choose those qualified to enter and possess a preference for the poor. Contracting with such folks as the Capuchin’s could be the way LCM can screen candidates and insure constant oversight without adding a penny to overhead. The additional but necessary services are already in place. I made the briefings a dialogue, messing up the group’s timing. They got me back on track and we seemed to develop a good relationship.
Just before the briefing they sat me down for coffee or tea as is the national custom. (I’ve consumed a lot more stimulants in India than I have in many years.) I really came there to participate in the Transitus of St. Francis. I was invited by a man who was 1,000 mils away and felt like an intruder crashing a party. Jokingly the Provincial offered me the opportunity to be the speaker for the occasion. I laughed it off. After the tour, as we strolled into the sacristy, I found out the Provincial was serious. I was docile enough to agree. I did have an idea. So, the first Transitus rite I attended, I became the main speaker. The audience was mostly made up of the nuns who served as the faculty at the Nursing School that was pat of the complex. My judgment was to say something serious and (cough) insightful. Since I picked up some of the latter up in Calcutta at Mother Teresa’s feast, I compared he 20th century self-understanding with the similar experiences of Francis. It sounded OK, not great but not a flop. Then, we finished the service and retired for supper at the convent. The sisters were really sharp. Virtually all of them had doctorates of some sort including MD’s. The letters after their names did not detract from their hospitality, their humility, or their sense of humor.
After looking at our watches and realizing how late it was, we all went home. I had a 9:30 appointment with the bishop (whose room was down the hall from mine). We both had full days. But, I wanted him to help put a few things together for me. He sounded very much in line with every bishop and chancery official with whom I spoke. He wanted oversight of whatever monies come into his diocese. The one curve I threw him was about having religious orders do the work and receive compensation for it. He said he had a good relationship with the Franciscans and the Montfort Brothers (more about them tomorrow). Earlier in the trip, I was warned by a diocesan priest not to involve religious orders. The bishop wanted an orderly, transparent, and legal process. He, too, would be willing to enter into an agreement with a US diocese. Many other dioceses had relationships; but thee was no coordination. Maybe we can do something.