Compleanno....

Thanks to all who offered birthday wishes. Friday evening was first filled with classes which ended around 7PM and then the night quickly turned 180 degrees with dinner with priest friends at Ristorante Orazio. On Sunday I traveled out to the Holy Cross Generalate with a Notre Dame undergrad, Karlo Leonor, who this Fall will formally enter the Old College program during his senior year at Notre Dame. It was good to see the other Holy Cross priests and brothers and was surprised to see Fr. Rob Moss, CSC who having wrapped up the year as rector of Fisher Hall is visiting his friend and Superior General, Fr. Hugh Cleary, CSC.

But Pentecost did not end quietly. The last evening of the Easter Season was spent at the Villa Stritch, home to American priests who work in various curial offices of the Vatican. We were all joined by Prof. John O'Callaghan who is a visiting lecturer at Santa Croce University here in Rome for the month of May and by Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J. who teaches philosophy at the Gregorian University.

My birthday itself involved a lazy morning, some good work in the library during the afternoon and then a fun dinner near the house. Here's a photo to serve as evidence of a birthday well celebrated.And so this week marks the end of coursework for the semester followed by two weeks of exams. Now is the harried time here in Rome with exams, defenses, packing and departures - some for the summer, others permanently. Summer lingers, still out of our grasp. Soon, though. Soon.