[Magdalen] Calvary, Pittsburgh

[Scott Knitter]

On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 8:19 AM, anthony clavier
<anthonyfmclavier at gmail.com> wrote:
> She lives around 92 Street in the city. She's given up on coffee hours as a
> means to meet new friends. She said that everyone has a circle and a range
> of conversations that exclude anyone new. She's thinking of going to
> Compline, held at river side, in the hope that it may afford a friendlier
> atmosphere.

The coffee-hour moments I need to take advantage of are those where
the usual chat circles have already formed when I arrive (after taking
off my tunicle etc.) and I'm standing there alone like a visitor.
That's when I could find a real visitor and greet them. Before I get
ambushed by a particular curmudgeon who likes to corner me and spew
gossip at me. He manages to derail any adult education session he
attends...not with useful challenging, but with "OK, here's the right
answer to everything, from my extensive notes I took at a much better
adult-education session in another church somewhere." Then he gossips
to me later about how the rector told him he's not welcome (which I
happen to know is not what the rector told him). And then I get the
whole story of his being thrown out of a monastery that I know well
from many retellings. I admit that the prospect of being cornered by
this guy has kept me from attending many a coffee hour. Mea culpa.


-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA