A lucky son indeed

Son Benjamin ("Jamie") of Ad Limina Apostolorum is a very lucky son indeed. He works for the Bishops Conference in Washington, DC, and is currently on assignment in Europe with an American team in connection with the World Youth Day in Cologne. Together with a priest with whom he works, he traveled first to Vienna and toured the major Catholic sites, before going on to Cologne. He begins with a post (August 13, 2005) blogged from Vienna Imperial Hotel, where put up because of a delayed flight, continues with a post (August 15, 2005) describing his impression of the Cathedral of St. Stephen and the Church of St. Peter. He continues (August 16, 2005) with a discussion of "Day 1" in Cologne, mostly about beer etiquette and tavern customs. Then, a hike with a number of US bishops, some from the same hotel -- Skylstad (Spokane), Sheridan (Colorado Springs), and Zurek (San Antonio auxiliary) -- down to a small church called St. Mary Major and into the dark crypt for midday Mass. For these and more observations about the unfolding events and bishops' views in Cologne, check out Jamie's posts HERE.

In an email today, Jamie writes that youth with the Juventutem contingent (see my post of August 11, 2005) are "everywhere," and are "very good." He says: "I mean, look at the Cardinals and bishops they have coming. They speak for themselves."

Jamie's brother, Chris (Against the Grain), offers a detailed round up of the opening days of the World Youth Day in Cologne, including the following:

For the traditionalist-minded of my readers, here is some liturgical eye-candy from the Juventutem website -- first photographs from World Youth Day 2005. As Brian from the new blog The New Liturgical Movement says: "Look at the traditionalist
pilgrims' Cologne schedule [.pdf format] . . . and then tell me you're not just a touch jealous." (Read more from Chris here.)

Jamie is also part of a team at the Catholic Conference organizing the Apostolic Visitations of all major seminaries and religious houses in the U.S. planned to begin this Fall. This could be interesting, and is certainly something to be kept in our prayers.