News from Around:

Mary DeTurris Poust blogs at OSV’s Daily Take. She also served as a parent / chaperone travelling with her parish to NCYC.  Her post, Watching our Future Church in Action, is a great read and worth holding onto when promoting NCYC 2013.

This weekend I saw the future of the Catholic Church up close and personal, and I’m here to tell you that there is reason to hope — at least 23,000 reasons. As I sat on the 50-yard line of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, I watched teenagers from all over this country dance and sing and scream till their voices gave out in an effort to express their faith and celebrate their love of Jesus and the Church. It really was a sight to behold, and a goosebump-inducing sound.
The kids attending their National Catholic Youth Conference weren’t hung up on changes to the liturgy or surveys that say Mass attendance is down or any of the negative stuff we hear about our faith in the news. These kids were on fire for the Lord, clapping their hands and stomping their feet, wearing crazy hats and bright T-shirts emblazoned with everything from parish names and towns to the words, "And with your spirit." Read more here.

Meanwhile, from the Baltimore Catholic Review’s reporter, Matt Palmer…
> NCYC: Archdiocesan youths re-energized in Indianapolis

> Baltimore teens take center stage at National Catholic Youth Conference

> Archdiocesan youths take part in country’s biggest sendoff of Mass translation

News from ‘Round Here:

Last Monday, the long awaited and anticipated vacation started… after just a few hours of thank you e-mail writing and receipt filing. Home before lunch. A nap, some blogging, and some work on the blog’s banners. Oh, and bought two hardbacks to add to a paperback read for the week.

Tuesday (yea, I know I was on vacation, but…) I knocked out the bi-weekly office newsletter which was mostly a celebratory post-NCYC lap.  After that, nothing more special than cleaning and napping before a dinner out with the older daughters.

Wednesday involved a breakfast out with a dear friend that outlasted the lunch crowd. Thanksgiving morning I was up early pulling out the holiday decorations. The evening ended with a Ravens win in the Harbaugh Brothers Bowl.

The next morning was spent beating my mother to the punch.  During my visit with her in the next week, she will invariably ask me if I have had a recent physical. My answer will be Friday morning.

The first half of my vacation was very recuperative.  I feel well rested and as healthy as my initial health reports indicate. Most importantly, comparatively to other indications, I feel more human again.  And there is still a week to go on vacation!

UPDATED: I arrived Saturday lunchtime to my undisclosed destination. The sun was warm and I had overpacked swaetshirts. I napped as the ocean waves rolled in. Sunday, I struggled with others over “and with your spirit” and other “under my roof” but survived.  Then it was time to purchase shorts (which I hadn’t packed and more sun.