Wednesday 20 May 2009

The Ascent of K[irchentag Day] 1

A smooth and easy journey across Europe, including a curried sausage in Köln! It's amazing how train connections in Northern Europe snap together to the minute over hundreds of miles, in a way they don't always in the UK. It’s also good to see the back of the Mrs Thatcher memorial slow patch on Eurostar.
I am deeply moved by the hospitality of ordinary people who open their homes to complete strangers for Kirchentag
. My delightful and engaging host is a Roman Catholic, originally from the South, with a passionate interest in art and Thomas Merton. It’s really moving to be treated with a Benedictine warmth, hospitality and generosity. I’d like to think we’d do the same. I hope so.

I’m trying to develop my desperately bad German a bit, and this is certainly one way to do it. The main headline events are available in English, but how far my language skills are up to some of the more interesting but abstruse events here remains to be seen. This morning we meet in the International Centre to plan the campaign. The clever bit will be grabbing internet access and time to blog in a complex and fast-moving scene; so if nothing more is heard this week, that’s why.

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