A Nice Sunday Morning on the North Coast of the United States

First thing is to drive to the Lourdes Shrine in Euclid, Ohio--where Rt. 6 (Chardon Road) meets Rt. 20 (Euclid Avenue). We have done this for years in the summer, attending the outside mass by the Grotto. We regard it as a holy place. On a good Sunday morning, 200-300 people might come there for mass, which is usually presided over by a professor from Borromeo/St. Mary's Seminary.

The Grotto, where mass is held

Rosie Kohl's father was the architect for this chapel at the Lourdes Shrine

After mass, we drive north up Nottingham Road to East 185th Street--to Buettner's Bakery, for coffee and sweet rolls. This is an inexpensive, old-fashioned bakery--and we love it.

And then to Lake Erie, to Wildwood Park, near Neff Road. My mother grew up a block from the park, and I often fished there as a kid. The park had been a state park until recently and it was horribly mismanaged. Now it is part of the Cleveland MetroParks, and things are improving! They recently build a footbridge over Euclid Creek, connecting Wildwood to the old Villa Angela site and to Euclid Beach. Here are some photos from this park:

Linda on the new bridge.

Wildwood Park

Wildwood Marina

The bridge over Euclid Creek

What Happened to the Catholics who Ate Meat on Fridays?

Some time around 1964, Gary Czyzynski and I drove over from St. Joe's High School to the new McDonald's across from Villa Angela Academy--right on Lakeshore Boulevard near Euclid Beach in Cleveland. I ordered a fish fillet sandwich, and Gary ordered a cheeseburger. I was astonished. I couldn't believe that my Catholic friend ate a hamburger on a Friday. It was the first time that I ever saw a Catholic eat meat on Friday. I wondered about this sin, about how Gary would pay for it.

Of course the prohibition on eating meat on Friday simply faded away in the mid to late 1960s. And we who had been brought up with an intense sense of sin wondered what God would do with the fallen Catholics roasting in hell because they violated the Friday meat ban.

I had a friend years ago, Chuck Matthei, who fasted totally on Fridays. Chuck was not a Catholic and I never quite understood the roots of his fasting. He did tell me once that he fasted to be in solidarity with the poor and hungry of the world.

Chuck was such an amazing guy that I have no doubt he was telling me the truth. Chuck lived his rather short life in solidarity with the poor, with the oppressed, and those suffering from violence and war. His motivations for fasting were certainly better than mine back in 1964.

As for Gary Czyzynski, I don't know what happened to him. I don't think he will roast in hell for his "sin" of eating meat on a Friday.