Dear Friends,
Our Spaghetti Dinner is this weekend! Please come and join us for some great food or come to the
takeout side and take some home with you to share with your family. The proceeds from the dinner help
us to pay our share of the costs to operate All Saints School. So, you get double bene?ts by joining us for
the dinner – good food for your tummy and a good cause for your spirit. Plus, it is a lot of fun. No way to
go wrong with this choice. See you there!
On Monday morning, I leave for a pilgrimage to Sicily and Rome with 38 other folks from the Omaha
area. Much of the time will be spent in Sicily with one special afternoon in the town of Carlentini where
many of our long-time parish families have family connections. On Saturday October 22nd we will be celebrating
Mass there at 4:30 (Italy time). We will certainly keep all of you in our prayers during the trip but
most especially while we are praying in this place with so many connections to St. Frances Cabrini.
We will be at a papal audience with Pope Francis on October 26th along with tens of thousands of
other Catholics. You can watch the audience live on several websites – maybe you will see us, but without
any children in our group it is unlikely the popemobile will stop where we are sitting. I am sure he
will not want to kiss me!
The plan is to return to Omaha late on the evening of the 29th of October. I may see you at Mass on
the 30th but I have asked Fr. O’Kane to do the Masses that morning just in case our ?ight is delayed for
some reason. I will post photos on the parish Facebook page when I am able so you will be able to see
the beauty of Sicily along with the group. I am looking forward to seeing in person the view that is portrayed
in the painting on the south wall of the Sons of Italy Hall. A small village (Carlentini or Lintini?)
with Mt. Etna in the background. With that view, how did they ever leave?
With the mess of the presidential election getting worse every day, it was with delight I read that Bob
Dylan had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I am, obviously, a child of the late sixties and seventies. The
poetry and music of Bob Dylan helped to shape my cultured spirit with the likes of Blowing in the Wind
and Mr. Tambourine Man. I know I was not alone in letting his inner voice touch mine, but now the whole
world acknowledges it. As we join together for a spaghetti dinner and as I head off to Italy a few words
from Bob…you will have to add the music yourself:
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
—Bob Dylan, 1973
Peace,
Fr. Damian