Stay Tuned

It was fourteen years ago that I published the first post to this blog. It was, at that time, meant to help memorialize and process the many first experiences of priesthood and to include others in that process. It served that purpose well for five years, and then it became more difficult. I was assigned to a small town. Too many people would be familiar with the details I disclosed to write honestly. And I was busy, getting busier. Now, at the end of fifteen years of priesthood, without a parochial assignment, in possession of a sharp tongue and a dim wit, I find myself headed to our nations capital in August to commence the study of canon law. I am not so much intimidated by the thought of returning to school, but I am repulsed by the thought of life in a metropolis after my bucolic existence in Bennett County.

I fear that I will be arrested for hate speech, and I am likely to be cancelled for my inability to keep my antediluvian opinions to myself. I find people behaving badly in public both repugnant and enrapturing. I doubt I’ll be able to refrain from recording the crazies on the metro and the truly deranged blatherskites who blockage from the steps of the capitol. I am certain I will need and outlet, or perhaps more appropriately, an audience to let the madness out of my head.

And, I need something to help fill the hole left by my hiatus from parish life. I hope to write more now. And I hope people will read. It will help me stay grounded and connected. It will help me remember what it is to be a parish priest in Western South Dakota.

So, if you enjoy blistering rebukes of East Coast pretension, deliberate hick exhibitionism, delightful displays of Great Plains folksy commentary, and the pining of a priest who is homesick before leaving, check back often. I suspect, at least in the short term, I’ll have much to say.

Stay tuned…