The Upside of the Hilltop

This week Holy Cross religious from across the United States who are involved in ministry to Hispanic Catholics gathered here in Portland for a series of meetings dubbed "The Hilltop" (don't ask me why they're called that, I haven't a clue). 

Now I was not, and never have been involved in these meetings - so I can't say this for certain . . . but we've all been at things of the sort . . . and when you throw aging religious into the mix, I'm fairly confident that these meetings were something akin to Chinese water torture.

As I say, I got to avoid the meetings in the first place - but there was, none the less, a definite upside of the meetings being here in Portland: newly ordained Fr. Drew Gawrych, CSC was asked to attend the meetings and so he spent the week with us here in Portland.

You'll remember I was in South Bend in March for Fr. Drew's ordination and I enjoyed this chance to spend time catching up with Drew, hearing stories of his first month as a priest, and showing him around the Rose City.

As you can see, we had lovely weather on Friday and Fr. Drew and I enjoyed a walk down along the Willamette River. We also sated ourselves on giant Twilight Room burgers . . . Mmmmm. Hopefully, we were able to provide an upside to "The Hilltop" even for Fr. Drew. 

Thanks for visiting Fr. Drew, and come again soon!