The Warming House in Olean, New York is the nation’s oldest student run soup kitchen. It provides meals six days a week to the neediest in the Olean area who find their way to our tables. It serves more than 12,000 meals annually. Each day volunteers from St. Bonaventure University and the local community assemble … Read more
Life reduced to its simplest equation is about relationships. Implicit in these relationships is contract. Most of the time the contracts are implied and at other times in they are complex legal agreements governing business transactions. Implicit in these transactions is an element of fear. Rarely discussed and even more rarely placated it is there … Read more
Just yesterday, my friend Br. Kevin showed me a flyer detailing an event occurring soon on the campus of St. Bonaventure University. Fr. Daniel Horan, OFM will be speaking at 4:30 pm on November 7, 2013 at the University Chapel, Doyle Hall. His topic is “A Franciscan in Blue Jeans: How Thomas Merton Became and … Read more
Today following breakfast I walked from my home into the village and along North Main Street past Franklinville Central School. I intended to stop at Maple Haven Restaraunt on the north side of the village to purchase some oatmeal raisin cookies that they sell there. I stopped to visit a former co-worker who hailed me … Read more
I’ve been volunteering lately at the Warming House, a unique soup kitchen sponsored by St. Bonaventure University Ministries in downtown Olean, New York. I’m not a chef or anything close to it. I am a good dishwasher and errand boy who can respond to the needs of the more talented chefs who come from the … Read more
Today, like most Sundays I made my way from home to Mt. Irenaeus in West Clarksville, New York. Today was a beautiful day for the ride even though the air was a crisp 45 degrees. It’s beginning to feel a lot like fall in Western New York. After stopping in Cuba, New York for something … Read more
Lately I’ve been brimming with gratitude for a new beginning in my life. Grateful for the opportunity to begin another chapter in the book of life. “Sit finis Libris, non finis quaerendi.” That quote is found at the end of “Seven Storey Mountain,” which has been central to my life. August 31 was the end … Read more
In the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself volunteering at The Warming House. It’s a soup kitchen in downtown Olean, New York run by University Ministries of St. Bonaventure University. As a recently retired person I’ve found ample opportunity and time to help brothers and sisters who come to dinner each day. Some I … Read more
Friday marked the end of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University for everyone this summer. This was my first time as a student at the Institute, but I don’t believe it will be my last. What I encountered was beyond good. I was surrounded by scholarly yet un-pretentious friars, nuns and secular Franciscans and … Read more
This poem has hung above my desk at work and lay germinating in my conscious and subconscious mind. It’s funny how the spirit moves within us. Thanks to its author, John O’Donohue, a man I will never meet but whose words brought new birth and direction for my life. The title is “Blessing for a … Read more
