The Final Countdown

Yesterday was an incredible day.  There's nothing like the Holy Trinity to fight off a funk!  I had the great privilege of attending Fr. Richard Morrow's Mass of Thanksgiving for 60 years of ordained ministry, celebrated at Christ the King in Buckhead.   He is such a bastion of joy and hope, and a solid example of priestly fidelity and service.  Not many men live to see their 60th anniversary of anything, but there was a priest of Jesus Christ, celebrating the grace of God active in his life and through his ministry for 6 decades.

I also took the opportunity to get to confession.  Priests need confession, btw, just as much as any Christian.  God provided that Msgr. Lopez would process out of the Mass right in front of me, so I took that a sign that he was the one I should ask, and it was completely the right decision.

Fr. Lopez has a way of getting right to the heart of the matter in the confessional.  I imagine it's because of his 40+ years of priesthood.  He gets it, he knows the human soul and he knows both the ways that the enemy tries to trip us up and the ways that the Holy Spirit is calling us back to the Heart of the Savior and the love of the Father.  Thank you Lord for the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation!

Also got a good short ride in yesterday, and it was the first time I've ever used "clipless pedals," which, I feel I need to add, seem to be somewhat of a misnomer, even though I know the historical development foot-fastening functionality.  "Clipless pedals" actually have you "clip in" to a bracket on the pedal via a cleat on the bottom of special cycling shoes.  They are called "clipless" because, in the old days, there was actually a big clip that one's whole front of the foot would "clip" into.  Think of a cage that you slip your foot into and you'll get the idea.  Any pedal that lacks this cage clip thing is called "clipless"...even though all pro cyclists (and now novices like myself) "clip" into these newfangled brackets.  The benefit, so I'm learning, is that you can take advantage of various pedaling techniques, employing different muscles to make your efforts more efficient.

I think dad was impressed by how quickly I picked up the rather awkward movements of clipping in and unclipping.  So I think I'm going to keep taking smallish rides each day this week to stay loose and get all the more used to these things.  Practical wisdom advices that a cyclist not change anything drastic in the week leading up to a major event.  We'll see how this goes.

Broken

Last weekend Dad and I were going to attempt our longest ride yet...70+ miles on the "Tour of Faith" near Peachtree City.  48 miles in, I heard a sound I've grown to hate: it's a metallic pop from the rear wheel, the sound of a spoke breaking.

The wheel goes out of true immediately and the bike becomes unrideable.

The frustration of the moment was complex and therefore hard to capture all in words.  Indulge me while I try.

Not only had this incident meant that that particular ride was over, it also meant I'd have to either see if the spoke could be replaced or if I'd have to buy a new wheel.  This was also the THIRD TIME this has happened.  When I bought the bike, I was very transparent with the salesman, letting him know that I weigh more than I look like I weigh, but he said it shouldn't be a problem--these were high quality wheels.  True enough, as the front wheel has been a beast and given me no trouble.  But I busted spokes on the back wheel twice before I realized I needed something a little more...substantial.  More spokes, slightly wider base.  And it cost me a pretty penny.  Add to this that on the day of that ride, we were exactly two weeks out from THE ride, so any time that the bike would be in the shop meant less miles in training in these crucial last days.  Add to this that the likely reason my spokes keep breaking is that I'm simply too heavy...and I don't know anyone who likes sever and repeated reminders that he is overweight.  Add to this that I felt like I was letting dad down.  Add to this that I began to seriously wonder if we'd be able to complete the ride.

In a word, I was broken, perhaps even more so than the spoke.  Anger, frustration, self-pity, and doubt can wound a heart so much more than unequal distribution of body weight on a rotating rod of aluminum can untrue a bike wheel.

Getting it fixed proved to be much more difficult than I imagined it could be.  My local bike shop had so many repairs lined up before me that they said they wouldn't be able to get to mine until this weekend (May 30th).  Unacceptable.  So I found a shop in Buford that could get me in.  Long story short, they replaced the spoke and suggested that I "stand when I go over rough terrain" to keep the stress off the back wheel.

So anyway, the call of the moment is to release expectation and rejoice in the successes of the past and to hold on to eager hope for the future.  Please keep me and dad in your prayers!  Please pray especially for the patients at OLPH Cancer Home!  And you can try to cheer me up by making a donation!!!

O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on you, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.

Tour de Zombie

I felt like a zombie this morning...it has been an incredibly hectic past couple of weeks, and, in all honesty, I haven't been taking very good care of myself lately...binge eating, late nights, and very early mornings.  It's been emotionally draining as well, with the sadness of the recent deaths in the Pius family juxtaposed to the extreme excitement of both my brothers' graduations (William from high school and Patrick from law school) AND of the seniors from St. Pius... #allthefeels.

After a great "welcome to the block" party for Fr. Michael Revak, the new Parochial Vicar at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Johns Creek that went to the late hours of the evening, I came down to Peachtree City for the weekend to celebrate William's achievements.  As has become my custom when I visit my parents, after a little time of playing Call of Duty with my brother I fell asleep on the floor, and despite everyone's best efforts to get me upstairs, there I remained.

Dad woke me up with a plate of kiska and eggs and an invitation to ride.  Feeling stiff-necked (in many senses) and tired, I begrudgingly accepted.  But, as my mother would be very quick to point out, the things I complain the most about doing are generally the things through which there is the most to be gained.

We only did 18.35 miles, but it was a great 18.35 miles.  We took a newish route that brought us down to Senoia, which Walking Dead fans will recognize as the locus of much of the show's filming.  Downtown Senoia was used for the Governor's town of Woodbury, and just across the tracks is the walled town of Alexandria where there is active filming for the upcoming season.  Dozens of tourists were walking the streets of what used to be a very sleepy southern town.  We rode past Alexandria's entrance, which is guarded by a plain-clothed security dude, and then over to a row of fancy trailers, which I assumed are the actors' on-set residences.

You can see from the map at the left how close my parents live to zombie land.  They are at the stop sign and the Senoia set is right at mile marker 10.  It's very likely that if a real zombie apocalypse were to break out, my family would be among the first know.  I think they'd survive.  William, the recent high school grad, is an expert bb gun marksman and is also very handy with a pickax and tactical shovel.

We're going to do a big ride tomorrow.  I'm hoping for something in the 70s range. The ride is two weeks from tomorrow!

Make a donation if you haven't already!  CLICK HERE to do so!  I'm almost to $3000!

Ride on.

Up the creek without a pedal...

Last weekend, dad and I made history...we participated in (and freakin finished!!!) the 25th Annual "Up the Creek Without a Pedal" ride in Rome, GA.

For me, this was not only my first organized cycling event, it was also the first time I've ever ridden a bike with more than 3 other people!  We got to Rome with about 25 minutes to prep before the ride, pumped up our tires (btw--why do I need to pump my tires EVERY time I ride? I don't recall having to do that on my mountain bike...), got our swag, and joined the masses.  We're talking hundreds of cyclists, everything from imitation Under Armour-wearing noobs like me all the way to Lance Armstrong wannabes wearing more latex themselves than a whole Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies cast combined.  They call it "performance wear".

The ride starts in downtown Rome.  We had a police escort for the first three miles, which was pretty cool.  Always better to be chasing the police than the other way around.  Dad and I were in the back, probably 3/4 of the way back.  We set a nice pace and just kept going.

The event provided a 30, 53, 75, and 100 mile option.  We simply couldn't spoil things by going for the century just yet, and 75 miles of hills just kind of seemed a little too intense, and 30 miles was too whimpy (no disrespect to anyone reading this who chose the 30 mile ride), so 53 it was.  53 gorgeous miles, made even more glorious by awesome sag stops -- PB&J, beef jerky, bananas, and the final stop had...wait for it...homemade strawberry ice cream.  It makes it so much easier to ride when you know there's some tasty calories and refreshingly cold beverages waiting for you just a few more miles down the road.

Now, dad and I aren't very speedy...we generally average 10 mph.  While this was our best long-distance average at 12.4 mph, we still got passed by all those Euro-Pro "Performance" guys (and a few ladies).  There was one guy in a Cookie Monster jersey who, though he took really long breaks enjoying the goodies at the sag stops, always seemed to catch up to us and let us know he was passing...again.  It became a source of motivation for me, to stay ahead of Cookie Monster for as long as we could.  I'm fairly certain he passed one final time about 2 miles out, but we made it all the way, up some gruelling hills of "the Pocket" (a nestled valley that follows Johns Creek (not the Alpharetta one, a different one), hence the name of the ride, and across the finish line back in downtown Rome. Out there, there were stunning views and powerful perfumes of honeysuckles.  It's not quite my vision of Heaven, but it's pretty close.  I don't think there will be bike seats in Heaven.

Last week, my heart was heavy over the loss of that man who passed after complications from his bone marrow transplant.  This time, as we cruised past the Richard B. Russell municipal airport and an ultralight came in for a landing right on top of us, my heart went out to the families who lost their loved ones in that tragic plane crash on Atlanta's I-285 the day before.  As it turned out, one of the victims and I are connected: the young woman who died is the sister of a man whose wedding I celebrated a few years back.  Again, the theme of cherishing each moment with those around us became abundantly clear to me.  We will all experience the loss of loved ones.  Sometimes it will be foreseen and expected.  Other times it will be sudden and tragic.  It wont always seem fair and it often doesn't make sense.  We will question why God allowed this to happen, and we probably won't get any answers.  All we have is the reality of the loss.  That, and the Lord's promise that He will be with us always, and that He is victor over sin and death.

God doesn't promise that those who love Him will be free of sorrow.  The Cross has always lead me to believe that Christians will necessarily suffer more than those around us, because we have been called to love.  Love hurts.  When you pour yourself out for someone, and then that someone is suddenly gone, it truly is like part of your own existence is gone, like part of you dies with them.  When the beloved hurts, the lover hurts.  Loving guarantees that we will suffer.

But herein lies the "mystery of faith," that Jesus Christ, eternal Son of the Father, entered into death for us, that He took on our death, that God himself went to the lengths of God-forsakenness for us, to show that He is with us, close to us and not far from us, in suffering.  It may not take away the sting, the ache, the deep and never-ending sense of loss we feel when someone we love dies, but, at the very least, hopefully helps us to see we're not up the creek without a paddle, hopelessly being dragged down stream; rather, we're in a boat captained by the Savior, who leads us through the storm.

Smashed

My old record, that is!!

On May 3, Dad and I rode the Silver Comet Trail from the trailhead all the way out to Coots Lake near Rockmart, then turned around and came home.  All told, it was a 66.55 mile ride, shattering my previous record for longest ride ever by more than 20 miles.  In fact, had we not turned back and done all 66 miles heading west, we would have crossed over the state line into Alabama!

The trail is mostly flat, which you'd think gives the rider an easier ride than road riding...but that's not exactly true.  Because it's so flat, you really never stop pedaling.  Add to that the fact that there are some longish uphill climbs, and you've got yourself a decent training ride.

I'm really proud of what Dad and I are accomplishing.  We push, we sweat, we rest, and we just keep going.  For me the best part of all this is getting to spend time with my dad.  66 miles took just over 6 hours to complete.  I can't remember ever in my life having 6 hours to spend with alone with my dad.  We talk about stuff...faith, politics, education, life, family.  I told him about a man I had visited in the hospital the day before our ride who, very tragically and sadly, lost his battle to cancer.  He was in the process of recovering from his bone marrow transplant just two or three doors down the hall from where dad himself recovered from his back in 2010.  As a priest, I was there to intercede for the deceased and to be there for the family; as a man, my heart broke for this family whose hopes for their dad's healing were unfulfilled.  I have no answers for why some people win their battle with cancer and some people lose.  I'll leave that to the doctors and to the Lord who knows the day and hour we will go home to meet Him.  But it made me appreciate the fact that the people who are here in our lives now should be loved now, cherished now, not later.  Every moment really is a gift.

These are the kinds of things we get to talk about...when we're not gasping for breath on those long, gradual inclines.

New Record!

40.06 MILES BABY!!!!

That's the longest bike ride I've ever made in my life!

I had three Masses up at St. Benedict's in Duluth, GA, this Sunday and got down to Peachtree City where my folks live right at about 3PM.  We grabbed a quick bite and then suited up for what we knew was going to be an endurance ride.  Four hours later, we had pounded out just a smidge over 40 miles!

It's hard being on a bike seat that long.  I invested in some quality cycling shorts that have a seat-shaped gel cushion sewn into them.  It helps, but after 4 hours, let's just say you're really ready to be out of the saddle.

This was the first ride I've done where donations were on the line.  I've currently only got two pledges, but I kept thinking to myself, "If you hit 40 miles, that's $20 that the Cancer Home gets!" and I keep pedaling away.

Besides the "saddle sore," I wasn't too exhausted post-ride.  If dad would have wanted to go another 10, I probably would have groaned and pushed on.  But I need to be able to that 40 mile ride TWICE, plus some.  I've got a lot of work to do!

If you'd like to help me train harder click this link to go to my donations page!  Even if you pledge a penny for every mile I train, it will encourage me to push harder!

A little easier

Praise the Lord for Google Forms!

You can now fill out this online form to make donating to my century ride for OLPH Cancer Home all the easier.  No need to email me, just fill out the form.

Click HERE to register your donation!

Your donation goes to support the efforts of the Dominican Sisters who run a cancer home for the terminally ill.  They rely on God's providence to support them as most of their patients cannot afford insurance or quality medical care, and I am certain the Lord put them on my heart as worthy recipients of these fundraising efforts.  

Thanks for supporting the patients, the Sisters, and me and my dad!!!  Every mile counts.  Every dollar counts.

Peace in Christ,
FrM

Ride on!

24.22 miles this morning!  It was a nice ride, with a short stop at my former employer, the flight school at Falcon Field airport. I served as fleet crew chief there, basiclly charged with keeping the flight school's planes clean inside and out. Cleaned lots of bug guts off leading edges!  

Please visit my previous post (www.atlcatholic.blogspot.com/2015/04/lets-get-it-started.html) to find out how you can support Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home!!!

Let's Get It Started!

Greetings friends!

After 3 months of basic training, with around 200 miles under my belt, it's finally time to start soliciting your support for the ride.  I shared the idea of offering any donations received in support of a century bike ride with Sr. Damien of the Hawthorne Dominicans who staff Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home, and she was enthused and grateful in advance for anything contributed by this little endeavor.

After a family meeting, it was decided that logistically we can't do Tahoe, so my dad and I are going to ride in the Fletcher Flyer Century in the beautiful hills around Asheville, NC.  Same date, Sunday June 7.

Here's the backstory to the whole ordeal.  Do give it a read if you've got the chance!

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home in the shadow of Turner Field, Atlanta.

If you would like to support the Cancer Home with my dad and me, here's how you do it!  You've got 3 options.  Read through the options then click the link to the Google Form at the end!

1)  Straight-up donation

Very straight forward...send in a one-time, tax deductible donation to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home.

Make a check out to OLPH Cancer Home and mail it to me* at:

Fr. Michael Silloway
Catholic Center at GA Tech
172 4th St. NW
Atlanta, GA  30313

You can register your donation on the Google Form.

2) Donation per training mile

This is best option, in my humble opinion: make a pledge to give a donation based on how many training miles I pound out from today, April 19, to the ride on June 7.  I estimate 300-400 more miles of training, but it may be more.  You can pledge anything, $0.10/mile, $0.25 per mile, $1.00/mile, whatever you'd like.  You will be kept up-to-date with the training progress through this blog and an email reminder the final week before the century.  This will challenge and motivate me to push hard and train with intentionality.  Each mile is more money for the patients and Sisters at OLPH, and is tax-deductible.

You can register your pledge amount on the Google Form.

3) Sponsor me and my dad

There are a few significant expenses associated with doing a century that would normally be covered by the organization one rides with (or discounted because of participation with a major organization).

Sponsorships include:

a) Registration for the Fletcher Flyer Century Ride for Fr. Michael Silloway $45.00
b) Registration for the Fletcher Flyer Century Ride for Lyndon Silloway $45.00
          These expenses generously provided by KENT & JEN POLZIN!!  THANK YOU!!!
c) Lodging in Brevard, NC, 2 rooms for 2 nights $200

Please send a check made out to me and mail it to:

Fr. Michael Silloway
Catholic Center at GA Tech
172 4th St. NW
Atlanta, GA  30313

Sponsorships are not tax-deductible.  This would be a gift from you to me.

You can register your donation on the Google Form.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for your participation in this endeavor!  Whether or not you can give financially, please offer a prayer for the cancer patients in the care of the Dominican Sisters at OLPH, for the Sisters themselves, and for my dad and me!

Here's the link one more time to access the OLPH Century Donations Google Form!

*Donations to OLPH are mailed to me so that I can account for all of them.  Each week, I will make a visit to the Sisters to leave the donations.  There will be a running tally here on the blog of fundraising progress.

An Invitation

I just wrote this up for the St. Pius X Catholic High School community, but thought it might be good to post elsewhere.  Nothing huge, just a brief explication (oooh...big words!) on the Triduum.

Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ!  I just wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the very special nature of these last days of Lent: so special, in fact, that we even close down the school and start Spring Break early.  Many of you will be traveling, so I would like to highly encourage you to visit www.masstimes.org to find the parish closest to your vacation destination.

Have you ever participated in your parish’s Triduum services?  Please consider the following my strongest recommendation, highest encouragement, and most sincere invitation!

The liturgical celebrations of the final three days before Easter Sunday are known as the Sacred Paschal Triduum (from the Latin tria  “three” and dies “day”), wherein each of the three days follows precisely what was occurring in Our Lord’s life some 2,000 years ago.  The Triduum is one act of worship spread out over the three days of Our Lord’s Passion.

On the evening of the first Holy Thursday, Our Lord met with His apostles in the upper room to celebrate the Passover.  He gave them His greatest commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34) and washed their feet as a sign of the type of leadership they were to exercise in His name.  Then He gave the greatest gift of all, Himself as the Eucharist, as He took the unleavened Passover bread and the chalice of wine for blessing and said, “This is my body which is given for you…This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20).  He was then betrayed, arrested, and imprisoned overnight, so the surplus Eucharist consecrated for Good Friday will be taken out of the main body of the Church and placed at an “altar of repose” where people will gather to keep vigil with Him before his Passion. There is no final blessing at the end of Mass…just a procession to the altar of repose.

Then on the first Good Friday, the Lord was brought to His trial and punished with death by crucifixion.  The liturgy that day begins without the sign of the cross as Mass normally does, to signify that we’re still in the midst of the same prayer we began the day before.  The whole Passion narrative from the Gospel of St. John is recited, and, after the homily, everyone is invited to venerate the cross.  What a profound moment to show our gratitude to Jesus for sacrifice of love He made for us!  It’s perhaps a little awkward to walk up and kiss the cross, but what the cross of Our Lord shows us is that humility is the true way of love!  Then the Eucharist consecrated the day before is brought into the Church for the faithful to receive.  This was why He died, that we might have life.  The Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion ends without a final blessing…Jesus has died, but the event isn’t over yet…

During the day on Holy Saturday, nothing happens in the Church.  In fact, the altar itself is stripped bare.  No Sacraments at all are celebrated, for Our Lord is in the tomb and we are meant to spiritually go there with Him.  Holy Saturday should be a quiet day and a day of preparation.  As the evening draws near, a fire is lit outside each parish, the “paschal fire” from which the Easter Candle is lit.  This candle, representing the Christ, the Light of the World, is processed in to the darkened sanctuary of the Church, and the flame is shared from it to each person in the Church.  And the Easter Vigil begins.

This epic conclusion to the Triduum is unmatched in beauty, power, and grace.  It is the liturgy above all liturgies, the Mass above all Masses!  Special (and more numerous) readings that highlight the most significant points of Salvation History…Creation, the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing of the Red Sea, Ezekiel’s “I will give you a new heart,” just to name a few will be proclaimed.  Then the alleluia, which we’ve omitted all of Lent, comes back in force as we hear of the empty tomb and Christ appearing in the flesh and alive.  This Vigil is the main Mass in which new Catholics are made, as people make a profession of faith and join in full communion with the Church around the altar of the Lord.  Some, who were never baptized, receive that great Sacrament alongside those adults being Confirmed and those receiving their First Holy Communion.  The Church celebrates the “new birth” of these her newest members.  As the Mass draws to a close, we receive for the first time in three days the concluding blessing, and we’re sent to proclaim Christ risen from the dead to every corner of the world.

Friends, these next few days are the most important in our entire year.  I invite you to go to these celebrations if at all possible.  The Lord died and rose not only for the world in general, but also for you in particular, and through these holy celebrations, I’m quite certain He has graces to give you.  So please enjoy your Spring Break, and put the Lord smack in the middle of it!

Training Week 2

Training is beginning in earnest.

Two weeks ago I participated in an indoor training event where you attach your bike to a device fittingly called a "trainer," which essentially turns your pavement shredding machine into a stationary bike.

So there, inside the basement gathering space of an historic Atlanta church, we pounded out not miles, but certainly tons of sweat and calories.

Having missed an opportunity to do a group ride on Saturday because I was simply exhausted after the March for Life, I went yesterday to the area the group rode and kind of made up my own route.

Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

That's right!  This fat boy tore up Brookhaven's neighborhoods and logged 15 hard-fought miles on this Atlanta suburb's hilly roads.  Peachtree-Dunwoody Rd was particularly obnoxious to ride up, but I made it.  I tell myself as my legs burn and my heartrate hits 180 "Don't get off this bike!  Don't you dare get off this bike!"  It works for now...

The ride took, as you can see on the screenshot, almost an hour and a quarter.  Come June, I will need to be able to pull off 6 and 2/3 of those 15-milers to reach a century...also taking into account the ascents around Lake Tahoe and the altitude, most of the ride being well above a mile high, where the air is a good bit thinner and the heart has to work harder to oxygenate the muscles.

Since I haven't made much progress in the organization of the new team, I don't yet have names of the cancer patients or the sisters who care for them, so I offered the pain and the 4 mph uphills for the intention of the Lord leading the way, that he would, as this plan unfolds, upon up the doors we will need opened, and give us strength to persevere.

As I think about all that needs to be done, I realize how big an undertaking it will be to make this training and the realization of the event happen.

At this point in the game, though, my biggest worry is how anyone, no matter how great their endurance, can sit on a bike seat for that long.  The heart will calm down, there will be a coming decent to relax the legs, but that seat, that piece of marble covered in thick plastic, is always there...uphill or downhill, coasting or peddling, it's right there ready to bruise and wound and to mock you.

Pray for this endeavor!  Pray for the people of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home!  Pray for the Sisters that love and care for them!  And, if you can spare a prayer, pray for my bottom!

I'm off to log some more miles today.  Till next time,

Peace in Christ,
FrM

HUGE

Friends, earlier today I found myself in a HUGE dilemma.

After seeing and being inspired by my dad's fight with cancer through faith, family, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team in Training, I decided to join him and the Team to train for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride...a century (100 mile) ride around Lake Tahoe in June.

Click here for the more on the context and reasons for participating.

I recently set up my fundraising page and earlier today sent out the link on Facebook.  Within 2 minutes I had donations coming in!  I was getting really excited.

Then a friend sent me a private message saying that LLS doesn't have the best track record with human life issues.  So I did a little research.

It didn't take long to find LLS's connection with (thankfully failed) legislation to promote more funding to embryonic stem cell research (story here).  Then a Facebook friend lead me to this quote:

"LLS recognizes that medical research must balance risks and benefits. Based on the leading scientific and bioethical advice available, and our mission, The LLS Board of Directors adopted a Policy on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in June of 2005. LLS updated the statement of our position in November of 2010. LLS supports the use of human ES cells for research and the development of therapies whenever the proposed research is judged meritorious by appropriately constituted scientific review committees and the Board of Directors of LLS."

This unattributed piece of information was then confirmed by a quote from the CEO of the LLS in an email to the American Life League, using the exact same language as above:

"LLS supports the use of human ES cells for research and the development of therapies whenever the proposed research is judged meritorious by appropriately constituted scientific review committees and the board of directors of LLS."

(Citation from ALL)

So, that was that.  (If you want information on why Christians should be against embryonic stem cell research, check out the USCCB website where there is a plethora of resources and information).

I was put on the spot, I had the information and I had to make a decision.  Part of me knew that I couldn't support LLS and ask others to do the same.  But, in total honesty, another part of me wanted to just ignore the information I had found and say, "well it's not like all the money raised goes to killing embryonic humans...maybe the money I raise won't go to that stuff."  

Rationalization.  That's all it was and I knew it.  I was trying to justify my participation and to avoid the difficulty of having to back out of the Team and of having to tell my dad who has benefited so much from the camaraderie and possibly even the results of some of the good things that LLS funds.  I'll do a post sometime soon about the ADULT stem cell success my dad has had in his cancer treatments.

Then came the fact that I had to contact the two people who had already donated! My Facebook friends have such great hearts!  So eager to help, so ready to give and support.  I sent them messages and they completely understood why I was backing out and taking the donation page offline.  

Then I had to call my dad.  I sent him an email first, perhaps, as I thought, to soften the blow of telling him that I wouldn't be training with him and the Team.  He responded and told me to call.  Oh boy.  Here we go.  How was he going to take it?  He has been through no fewer than 10 century rides with this team...that's 1,000 miles of ride events and many thousands of miles in training with them.  The best I expected to hear was, "Michael, I understand, and you are free to do what you need to do."

That's not what happened.

As I bumbled over my words and tried to present my backing out of the Team as gently as possible, not wanting to offend but at the same time wanting to present my position firmly, at one point my dad interjected, "And I'm with you."

I choked back tears.  

And I pitched my idea...

What if we formed a team for life?  A team that exists to train for the ride and to raise funds, not for research per se, but for actual cancer patients here in the Atlanta area.  Money going STRAIGHT to people suffering, without passing through a massive organization with intimate ties to the destruction of embryonic life?  What if we could form a team to support Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home here in Atlanta?

Read through their website and you my friend will be the one choking back tears.  The Hawthorne Dominicans who run the place are dedicated to giving hospice care to cancer patients of any creed, race, or nationality who can no longer afford treatment.  

I've celebrated Masses there and visited their residence.  The sisters there are simple, holy, joyful women of Christ.  Caring for the terminally ill poor is no easy task, yet they do it with such a love as if each patient were Our Lord himself.

So what if we still did the ride, still trained our butts off, all the while asking for support for this beautiful mission of the Church?  What if we formed a team of cancer survivors and supporters of cancer patients to ride and raise funds for the sisters' mission??

I feel the Lord moving here.  Deeply.  He's up to something HUGE in this heart.  

But before I go any further, I should probably contact Mother Superior and the priest chaplain there...

The TNT Post

In 2003, my dad was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  At the same time, I was just transitioning out of the University of Georgia and into seminary as I had strongly felt the Lord calling me to be a priest.

     As I went up to Franciscan University of Steubenville and later to Rome, Italy, dad went into round after round after round of chemo, radiation, and biopsies.  Ports were put in, lumps were taken out, chemicals flooded his body, he lost his hair and his appetite.  Being so far away from home was particularly hard.  Mom would call and give me updates, and over the breaks from school I'd get to come home and try my best to love my dad back into health and, as my seminary experience progressed, even got to begin to minister our Lord's grace through prayer and the Sacraments of the Church.  Even with Faith, it's hard to see your dad suffer and, as I would find out, how hard the trial is on the whole family.

     There were a few things that kept my dad going.  He always first credits the Lord especially through the inspiration of Pope St. John Paul II who showed the world how to suffer with dignity and Mary, Jesus' mom, who takes all her Son's disciples as her own and loves them from Heaven.  In a very close second, he always thanks his wife, my mom, for being absolutely everything for him in his sickness and treatment; she was the mediator between doctor and patient, she was the chauffeur, she was the primary attending nurse, she was the nutritionist, she was the emotional support, she offered all of her strength--physical, spiritual, mental--to ensure that dad made it through.  Then there was my brother who literally shed his blood that our dad might have life...he donated some of his bone marrow to transplant into our dad, a procedure that seems to have the cancer in remission for the foreseeable future.

     

     When he found out about TNT and the rides they do to raise funds for cancer treatment and research, it gave my dad yet another reason to fight, something to do and a mission to fight for during those long years of treatment.  Despite his severely compromised immune system, he was on a stationary bike spinning it out even before he was cleared to be around crowds.  He told me how he did it not so much for himself, but for the people sitting in those lazy-boy recliners holding on to a hope that their chemical drip therapy would kill their cancer.  He told me how he had in mind his father-in-law, his brother, and a seemingly countless number of family members, coworkers, and friends who have been stricken with cancers of all types.  He offered the pain of the training for their health and comfort...that the cross he took on voluntarily through TNT might become a means of support for those on whom the heavy cross of cancer was placed involuntarily.

     So he started training.

     He made new friends, got in great shape, and, over the past 12 years, has raised thousands of dollars for leukemia and lymphoma research.  Each summer since his diagnoses, he has done a 100-mile ride with Team in Training, building a community of family, friends, and benefactors to help kick cancer in the face.  He has been and is a source of such inspiration in our family, and I feel the call to join him in this year's event, to become part of the Team in Training.

     Friends, in honesty, I have a long way to go.  I'm overweight and I haven't taken good care of my body since getting out college.  But I know that with the same means of support my dad has, I can do this.  Faith, family, purpose.  It's going to hurt, it's going to be very uncomfortable, and it's going to require some significant changes to my lifestyle, yet I firmly believe that with the Lord all things are possible.

     Will you help me on this epic journey?  Will you help me to raise funds to get treatments out to those who need them?  Will you say a quick prayer for the perseverance of those who, even at this moment, are being pricked and prodded, ported and dosed, especially those who are loosing hope?  Cancer is a battle no one should have to fight on his or her own.  Let's do this as a Team.

     Thank you!

Fr. Michael Silloway