We’re in Terre Haute, on our way to St. Louis. We have a complicated next few days, here’s what’s up:

I have a speaking gig in St. Louis Tuesday night. Michael was to fly from Indianpolis to Jacksonville for a conference on Thursday. So he dreamed this up:

1600 hours Monday: Michael leave OSV HQ in Huntington in vehicle #1

1600 hours Monday: Amy and children leave Fort Wayne in vehicle #2

About 1640, the two vehicles meet at exit 78 and caravan to Indianapolis, small children redistributed between vehicles if necessary.

At about 1800 hours, vehicle #2 is parked at Hotel X near the Indianapolis airport. Passengers from vehicle #2 pile into vehicle #1, which then proceeds to Terre Haute, then Tuesday morning, continues on to St. Louis, where party will stay until Wednesday late afternoon.

Early Wednesday evening, vehicle #1 will return to Hotel X. Amy and children re-enter vehicle #2 and proceed on to Fort Wayne. Michael checks into Hotel X, where he will spend the night before flying out of Indy early Thursday morning.

Pretty smart? You can tell he was in the army, can’t you?

So, we got here about 8:30, and since it ws still bright daylight out, and the children had taken late naps, I couldn’t see wrangling them in hotel rooms for a couple of hours. Off we went to St. Mary-of-the-Woods where some running could happen, at least.

We’d been there before several years ago, either on our way to or from St. Louis, of course. At the time, I was sort of appalled by the placement of Mother Guerin’s remains – in a kind of weird place in the church, under the floor which (at that time) was not marked off or protected at all – you could just walk over her. It was strange. I was interested to see if since in the years we’d first visited, her cause has made great progress, and she’ll be canonized on October 15, they had done any more with her, but it was not to be, for of course the church was locked.

But running around on the lovely grounds could still happen – we studied the statue of St. Michael, St. Joseph, the column with the Virgin atop, the stone marking the site at which Bishop Brute, whose cause has been opened, offered Mass, as well as the puzzling stone, in the middle of it all, which marked the spot where Mother Guerin and her sisters first touched the soil of what would be St. Mary-of-the-Woods. What? Did they fly? Well, we decided they must have been on horses or carts and wagons or something. But it still made you think, you know.

There was a Lourdes grotto, constructed after World War I (referred to as only the "World War" in the placque, for who could imagine that such a thing could ever happen again?) in fulfillment of a promise made by one of the sisters, and present there in the hopes that all who came would pray for peace.

We did.

Our tentative St. Louis schedule is:

Tuesday: Cathedral/Basilica, lunch at someplace interesting in the the Hill neighborhood, then moving a bit west to Forest Park where there will be more running, and perhaps one of the museums, if there’s time. Then to the hotel, I’ll get ready then be deposited at the site of my talk, and weather permitting, everyone else will go to the Cardinals’ game.

Wednesday: Up the Arch at 9am sharp, take in the museum there, the Old Cathedral, and then walk over to the City Museum, which sounds fantastic, and where the children and I will spend the rest of the day, while Michael meets one of his new authors, Fr. Joseph Classen, the author of this book.

Then back into vehicle #1…and you get the rest.

This isn’t a first visit to St. Louis for most of us, Katie and Michael the Baby being the exceptions. We ate on the Hill before (yes, had fried ravioli!), went to the Art Museum, and the Cathedral-Basilica, but I’m ready to go back for a more leisurely visit to the last point – the last time we were there was during a Eucharistic Congress in 2001 at which I was speaking (invited by now Bishop Finn of KC!), and there was a choir rehearsing there…and in turn being visited by Archbishop Rigali (who paid no attention to us, not that we asked him to) accompanied by Cardinal Schotte, (I think..although it might have been another one. I always get mixed up, and this post will probably be corrected tomorrow) who did notice us and very happily blessed little Joseph, then barely 2 months old. Joseph also met Fr. Frank Pavone and apparently screamed all the way through the meeting Michael had set up with him during my talk, and, he (Joseph) had the chance to meet someone else that day as well. The last person (Fr. Groeschel, if you don’t want to click), scolded Joseph’s parents because at that point, Joseph had not yet been baptized, a scolding that was undeterred by his parents’ attempts to explain that he was only 2 months old and that he was really and truly going to be baptized on the way home at St. Meinrad by the Archabbot.

Ah, well. Yes, Fr. Groeschel intimidates me.

But we didn’t go up the Arch, so that will be new, as well as the City Museum, and hopefully a new (to us) restaurant on the Hill. If you have any suggestions on that last point, email me – it’s the middle of the night, I know, but I’ll check this bright and early in the morning before we leave.

Don’t forget that according to some, St. Louis is the Rome of the West!