Well long-time blog readers, you know what time it is. Three years in a row as summer has approached, I’ve made a big announcement about my summer plans. The first summer, I drove cross country with my classmate, then went on my first international trip for a mission trip. The year after that, I led a tour of the southern half of our province for two friars who had never been to the south, followed by a two-month trip to Mexico to learn Spanish. Last summer, I joined two other friars on a massive road trip filming a (failed) documentary, and then spent a month in Italy for my solemn vow retreat.

Noticing a pattern? While I won’t need my passport this summer, it’s going to be my most ambitious one yet!

Starting the first week of June, I will be spending my entire summer traveling the country on a preaching mission. For three months (11 out of 13 weeks, actually) I will be spending a week at a different Franciscan parish in the country, preaching at all of the masses and offering a two-day mission during the week on the themes of discernment and discipleship.

You might have heard me talk about these themes before. Yes, well, they’re kind of central to my book Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God, and so there will be opportunities to talk about the book, answer questions, purchase a copy, and have yours signed.

As of now, all but the final stop (New York) have been confirmed, and so if you live near a Franciscan parish in that city, you can almost guarantee that it will be yours that I’m stopping at. Since Cincinnati has multiple parishes, I’ll clarify by saying that I’ll be at St. Monica-St. George, and it is likely that the New York stop will be a brief one-day event rather than a full mission.

More details to follow!