A fairy typical sunset - the kind of view I might get riding along the lagoon on the way home. See why I might miss this place?
Here we go again. Father John is on the move. The company here has informed me they are not going to renew my contract when it expires in November. Their privilege, although a bunch of folk here are upset. They refuse to give a reason why - when pressed, the only response has been, "We feel it is time for a change." No consultation with the Catholic community or my religious superiors, and certainly no contact with me.
But Jesuits go where we're sent - even if it is only being sent away. So here's the immediate schedule
November 18th - last contract day. (For those with calendars, that means I no longer work after that day - and the next day is Sunday. I'll celebrate Mass on Saturday and sleep late.)
November 21 - leave Kwaj. Spend the night in Honolulu (which is the 20th) and off to New York on the 21st, arriving on the 22nd - yes, the day before Turkey Day. As all of New York will be heading out, I, in my usual unorthodox fashion, will be heading in.
December will be vacation - doctors and dentists and visiting friends and family. And my 60th birthday. After that - a sabbatical, although for how long and in what form I can't say. I have been assigned to someone from the Provincial's office, and I have some suggestions - we'll see what happens.
If you have an email address for me that ends in army.mil you should change it to
johnsheehan_13@Yahoo.com
or
johnrsheehan@Yahoo.com
I will be based in New York at our community on 83rd Street, so mail should go c/o 53 E 83rd Street, New NY 10028. If I disappear from your radar ever, mail sent c.o 39 E. 83rd will always find me. And if you call that community (212) 774-5500, they should be able to tell you where I am. Hopefully not necessarily what doing but where I am. I will rent a cell phone for December, so I can be reached, and when I get that number I will email it to people. (Even I am not so naive as to post it on a blog.)
So there I am, packing again. Last week I had a stupendous, humongous once in a lifetime yard sale - both for financial and packing reasons - and the company has been very generous about granting me extra weight for moving out. It has been a great time to be at this place. Much of what I said in my Christmas letter unfortunately still applies, and once I have a chance to sit and reflect, this year's Christmas letter will talk some more about all this. My friends who came from England last year are coming back just before I leave, so in the guise of showing them around and making sure they have a good time, I will be able to do the "last time I will do this" tour.
The wandering priest is on the road again. All invitations welcome.
As a friend of mine here is wont to say, "It's all good."
