Ireland, England and Wales

Howdy! Well, I am just back from a great, ten-day trip to Ireland, England and Wales!

I started my trip with an appointment with Prof. Linda Hogan at the Irish School of Ecumenics, and I have to say I am quite impressed with the work they are doing at the ISE! I just got Prof. Hogan's latest book "Confronting the Truth: Conscience in the Catholic Tradition," [New York, Paulist Press (2000) ], which is right on point with my research interests (Catholic Social Teaching and Human Rights Law).

I stayed at the University College of Dublin (UCD), and I walked up to the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) from the dorms at UCD (about 2 kilometers), on a dry, warm day in Dublin on 3 July 2006.

We had a great conversation. Her expertise is in human rights in Christian social ethics, so we had a lot to talk about; in fact, she was quite helpful, and I am truly glad I met with her.

Following our visit, I can say that the ISE has the resources I would need to pursue my research, and just as importantly, that I would definately enjoy studying at the ISE; now we will have to wait and see about admission, finances, accommodation, and the one thousand other details; for now, I am concentrating on finishing the LL.M. degree at Cardiff University.

Which is why I pushed on to Wales for classes. I recently posted some photos of Cardiff at my Facebook page.

My classes went very well, and as always, there was a lot of talk about current events in the Anglican Communion. We had an entire class devoted to the proposed "Covenant" plan, and we discussed a number of other issues related to the interaction of ecclasiastical law and canon law.

I also had a talk with the folks at Cardiff University about the doctoral program there, which remains a viable option along with Trinity College (TCD).

On my way, I did spend one night in London, having dinner with an old friend, Dominic Janes. We followed dinner by seeing Anthony & Cleopatra at the Globe Shakespeare Theatre - very fun!

Well, back to the grindstone, but it is hard to stop thinking about the future...