Today was largely spent in the classroom studying scripture in the morning and Christian and Jewish relations over history in the afternoon. I am really enjoying and getting a lot out of the study we are doing over here but sharing too much about what I have been learning is probably not for this forum.
So let me talk about some other things relating to the down times of today.
Fr Frank Hanley is from Charlston, South Carolina. He is a very knowledgable character who I spent some time with on Sunday at church and the museum. Lovely fella.
Father Mike Delaney .... I seem to be surrounded by priests on this course but it is mere coincidence that I have shown thes three... They just happen to be with me in the coffee lounge tonight. Mike is a parish priest in Tasmania and has been whiz on the iPad and the spreader of the secret about chewing gum in class... ( it stops you going to sleep)
The other Peter, is showing off a packet of rice cakes that were bought in the market this morning. The same type as we would have at home. Not looking too happy here but I guess rice cakes are not everybody's thing.
The classroom where we have most of lectures is a comfortable place where people tend to sit in the same place every time ... Other people that is ... I like to mix it up a bit and through people out of their comfort zone. Tony Brennan here has developed something of a silly walk as he re- enters the room after a break.
For the second time this week it was raining in Jerusalem today ... It was so nice to smell the rain again.
It's night time now and I had few photos to show for the day so I thought I would take a few photos and share a bit about some of the people I'm doing the course with.
These two wanted me to call them "the two old ladies" but I don't see them that way. It's Bernadette Fleming, an ex teacher from Brisbane and her niece, Carmel Street ... Sister Carmel , a Josephine nun, as I found out a little later. She lives in Townsville and worked in pastoral Care throughout the North.
Edward Linton , or more formally, Father John Thomas Linton, a Benedictine priest from Kentucky ... He shaved off his white moustache ... But who does amazing work in Chicago right now ... I can hear myself using an American accent just saying Chicago right now ... We've spent some fun times and together and we have even had some lively discussions at times. Overall though he has been pretty inspiring for me.
Here's Gerry. Sister Gerry Boylan, sgs. She lives and works in outback Western Australia with a largely aboriginal community. She is a real scream, has an infectious laugh and has been a delight to get to know.
Mark Garnsey, a primary school teacher from Penguin, Tasmania, a movie maker and a bearer of much wisdom. He is always the one looking after the back end of the group and he is very easy to talk and listen to.
Sister Carmel Solon, a fiery and friendly, Irish nun, who works in England and Father Tony Cullins a jolly Irish priest, who works in a small village on the West Coast of Ireland. Amazing story of how these two met at Heathrow airport, never having met before , sat down next to each other in the gate lounge and started chatting... Discovered the were going to the same place to do the same course. They then got on the plane and found they were sitting next to each other as well.
So if you got this far today, you must be a real dedicated reader of my blogs. So I'd now like to talk about something a little more serious. On Saturday we were in Hebron and visited the mosque where Abraham et al were buried. We needed to go through a checkpoint to get in there ... It think I mentioned it. Well we found out yesterday that there was some unrest and a sniper killing of an Israeli soldier there the day after we were there. This article tells more.
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I'm not sure you can read it. Today too there was some unrest outside the Damascus Gate here in Jerusalem as a Christian group were marching and some Palestinian people were throwing things at the buses ... Not fully clear about this yet as it only happened late this afternoon. Sr Bernadette did some investigating but even though she said we were perfectly safe, she suggested we stay in tonight. All this has caused slight concern among the pilgrims I think... certainly everyone has gone to bed early. There have been some noises around that have sounded like gunfire but we have been told they are just firing some sort of noisy fireworks that help disperse the crowds. This made us is sit up a little more attentively in class this afternoon but it wasn't something people who live here showed concern about. I guess we will find out more tomorrow and we won't be allowed out tomorrow if it is not completely safe.
Tomorrow we are invited to spend time in a sukkah ... You know ... The Jewish equivalent to a bush tent and more about Jewish Christian relations with our Brazilian lecturer ... Who is a little hard to understand it must be said.
Only 2273@9:50 today. Couldn't be helped.
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