More about the Trip to Dodoma

What excited me about the trip to Dodoma and the chance to meet with Sossy and Orobator about OLQP was Orobator's obvious excitement. He embodies the Ignatian value of magis, desire for more, discontent with mediocrity. His challenge to us -- in particular as we envisage the post-secondary education phases -- is to think big. What will distinguish the teachers college? he wants to know -- distinguish us not only nationally but also regionally and globally.

The visit to Dodoma gave me a chance to meet the newest member of the parish community, Fr. Joseph Kiarie, SJ, who was recently ordained after finishing his theological studies in Manila. I look forward to his companionship.

The trip was not without some excitement: we had a tire blow out on Bart Murphy's car en route. I felt like a worthless fool as I stood around and a 70+-year-old man and a provincial superior changed the tire. I offered them some water to wash their hands, so wasn't totally useless -- only mostly.

(This reminds me of an incident about 18 or so months ago. I was visiting Cleveland and Toledo some days after my friend Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, had been named the provincial superior of the Detroit Province. I was in Toledo and a horrible snow storm came through. A few hours after it passed, I decided to head to Cleveland. Everything was perfect regarding my timing -- the plows were always ahead of me. Until I exited the freeway -- I got stuck in a huge drift a block away from St. Ignatius High School. Tim and a then-candidate (now novice), Bryan Norton, dug me out as I stood there, helpless. I told Tim, "This is a perfect tableau to capture how a provincial spends much of his timing -- digging people out of the messes they get themselves into!)

Here's a picture of Sossy (left) and the provincial at the construction site.

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