Before my sabbatical from my blog, I had said that we would discuss the trifold role of the Catholic priest to his people. I want to discuss this topic in-depth but I will be leaving next Saturday for Europe and will be there until October 5th. So, I have decided that we will discuss the topic on the role of the priest when I return.

However, that does not mean I won't be making another post until October. The cruise ship I will be on has shipwide Wi-Fi so it is my intention to post a few blog entries while on the cruise. I obviously will not be able to make an entry each day but I would like to make a half dozen entries during the trip.

I'll give you a few details of the trip and what I will try to blog about. We leave on Sept. 20 for Rome. We arrive in Rome on Sept. 21st in the morning. We are staying in Rome for 2 days prior to the ship setting sail. I am hoping to visit the Vatican museum so I may post an entry about that. Also, I have gotten permission to celebrate Mass in one of the chapels at St. Peter's Basilica so I will almost certainly blog about that experience.

We set sail on the evening of Sept. 23rd and arrive in Naples on Sept. 24th. We are going to Pompeii and Sorrento that day. Then we are at sea for a day so this will be a chance for me to blog. We arrive in Dubrovnik, Croatia on Sept. 26th. We arrive in Venice on the afternoon of Sept.27th. This is a Saturday and St. Mark's Cathedral has their Sunday Vigil Mass in English at 6:45pm. I have gotten permisison to concelebrate the 6:45pm Mass. We are in Venice overnight so I will amost certainly post a blog entry. We set sail on the evening of the 28th and are at sea on the 29th. We arrive in Messina, Sicily on the 30th. I am spending the day at the beach so there's really nothing to blog about there. We are at sea again on Oct. 1st so I may blog then. We arrive in Barcelona, Spain on Oct. 2nd and will see many of the works of art there including the black statue of the Mary at Montserret. On Oct. 3rd we arrive in Canne, France where the International Film Festival is held each year. We're going to Nice and Eze instead. On Oct. 4th we arrive in Liverno, Italy and will be going to Florence, which is nearby. I will try to make an entry that evening when we return to the ship. Lastly, we return to Rome and fly out that that morning arriving in Kansas City that evening.

So, that is the trip and I am really looking forward to it. I will try to make one or two more blog entries between now and the 20th to give you a few details of some of the actual sites we are going to see in these cities. Until next time...God bless.