Remember!

Remember! That was blessed King and Martyr Charles' last word, whose feast day today is. I wish I could say I went to Mass, but as I was walking up Park Avenue to St. Bart's I encountered a posse of CSM litigators I used to work with about 10 years ago and started remembering that wonderful year up in White Plains with the rental car and all that leisurely time on IBM's endless litigation matters. That threw me into a kind of alternate universe and I began wondering what I'd be doing today if I had become JN's secretary as I almost did when she became partner. That led me to thank my lucky stars I moved over to DPW, which is a much saner place and I am happily ensconced in a wonderful room with a view of the Chrysler Building and lots of quiet space, most days anyway. Suddenly I realized I had gone past the church, but it was such a glorious rare warm day in January that I decided to praise God and blessed Charles outside in the wonderful sunshine instead. I hope they will understand.

It's been a busy month at the shrine church and I am happy to report that our boiler has finally gotten reprogrammed so that's a big item to check off my list. Preparations for the annual meeting took up some time also as I had to write a year-end report and it's been a very busy year. We got through the meeting without any blood being spilled and we actually had a good discussion of ways we can improve our operations. The three newly elected vestry members all are high churchmen, so things are looking up. The choir got fully funded for the year and Doug is now scheming ways to make money with them so I predict the suggestion of cutting the music will be a non-issue soon.

I am now mostly focused on our next building project which is most likely going to be working on the roof drainage system and improving the flashing in the several areas where water is still getting in. I've been absorbed with leaders, gutters and flashing, which someone said sounds like the latest thing in adult entertainment. But it's fascinating stuff and critically important to get right. We have been plagued for decades by moisture damage from inadequate rain gutters and insufficient flashing. I hope I live to see the day when we can finally get the inside walls cleaned of all the efflorescence and stains from the years of water damage. But before that can happen we must make sure the envelope is sealed. This year I hope we can correct many of the problem areas with larger capacity drains and copper flashing under the eaves. Then we must raise about a million to do the interior cleaning. So angels, start your engines!

Last week I went up on the roof with our architects to survey some of the problem areas and I was grateful for AR's teaching me how to roofwalk that last summer. Years of walking the barrio rooftops had made him like a gazelle up there. I had no intention of following him but he insisted on showing me how to do it as he assured me that roofs are made for walking. And he's right, at least with this type of roof. You can walk pretty securely with the right kind of shoes and something to hold onto once in awhile. I didn't go all the way to the other side as he did, up and over the nave roof, but I did go up by the bell tower which is quite exhilarating especially on a cold January morning. JD took alot of pictures of the gutters and eaves and I took my binocs to see for myself. Over the narthex we were surprised to see no flashing at all between our building and the Boulevard, which would account for the waterfall we observed a couple of weeks ago when we had that hurricane.

But I've wandered far from blessed Charles, so I'll leave you with this glimpse of his reign:

The Holy Communion was once again seen as the principal action of the Church rather than the sermon. The doctrine of the Real Presence at the Communion was once again taught in the universities. Vestments began to be worn again. Candles were lit once more and a greater emphasis was placed on the externals of worship including the use of music. In particular altars were restored in church buildings, replacing the communion tables which had in turn taken the place of the old stone altars during the iconoclasm of the protestant reformation.

(from SKCM history)

And we think we have battles today...