Convents, Guest Houses and Schmotels

Travel on the Cheap in the Summer is generally my mission. Past experience reflections have me nostalgic.

   I love generally convents and their guest houses.  A convent room you can expect the most rudimentary clean metal cot, ikea style wardrobe vintage 1950 and a shower with the nozzle on a bended pipe dancing around the tiled square they call a shower.  My favorite is in Assisi where the Sisters of Saint Brigitta run a guest house with a decent dining room and pride themselves on being tuscan gourmet cooks. When I was last there is was about 25 Euros a night and if you wanted dinner another 7. Diner was a classic italian sit down four course deal- so 7 Euros was a bargain and a half. The sisters were happy friendly courteous and there was one who spoke english and five who suffered my rather pathetic  pidgeon italian efforts. I miss them. Google San Brigitta in Assisi.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

   I also love the Easter retreat I did at the Casa Maria in the Brookland -Catholic U section- where they showed a video of Santiago de Compostello walking pilgrimages. They have a house in walking distance to the National Shrine in Washington if you are interested in a praytreat (prayer retreat) - but generally only take women under 35 if traveling single- they host groups of choirs and other class groups. Sister Lena is generally a delight and will be happy to be tipped in a bottles of wine--for her heart of course.

    Also in Washington, the Franciscan sisters of the Atonement run a lovely guest house good for groups right next door to the JPII Center in 'little italy' on Catholic -U line- and they have a thrift store in the basement with an annual sidewalk sale. So donate your good condition slightly used clothing there.

  In Paris you can sing with the Benedictine Sisters and do 24 hour Adoration at the Sacre Coeur which I did for two intense days. Metal cot, shower down the hall, and enough room to put a suitcase next to your bed and trip over it on the way out. But it was in the heart of Monmartre attached to the famous 'wedding cake' Basillica of the Sacred Heart-Sacre Coeur. At night they lock the outside of the church at 10:00 pm and open the doors from the convent to the altar so you have free reign through the whole complex at night to sit and do evening Adoration, or pray in the church then go back and forth to your room. The sisters are also great cooks and the dining room is pleasant- (I think its impossible to have a bad meal in Paris) I translated for a few Americans from Florida visiting. They also host lecture discussions by clergy which you are welcome to attend by staying there. They sell some of the hauntingly beautiful music at the Sacre Coeur
convent, french liturgical chants and some of the most beautiful church music you ever heard (which you can also hear sung in the church most days).  I picked up a few CDs and even some sheet music.

    At the Leo House in New York, one of my worst experiences in terms of hospitality,  the cardboard on the carpet on the 8th floor looked like it must be covering a stained or moldy rug, the furniture  looked Salvation Army thrift shop retro model, not the Euro chic boho ascetic hair cloth shirt prayer closet variety and the tub was long enough for an elbow --at least they had a tub.  There was no visiting priest so no Mass while there was a Chapel and they advertised in the elevator to call the front desk for Mass times. The garden, a square the size of a large dining room table had weeds poking through the slate and had me wondering- how much work would it take to weed this tiny square of manhattan.  It should be the most spectacular garden in Chelsea. And then there was the incessant clunking vacuuming outside my door all morning. So much for my PrayTreat.

    Instead at the Hotel I checked into afterward I watched the American women spank the French women at Basketball in the Olympics. And am proud to be an American.

    God has his plan in spite of our inconveniences I discovered as it became clear to me why I landed in Chelsea after seeing the French church I had been reading about subject to closure by Dolan because they can't make the bills, the congregation is dwindling, and they didn't even repair the roof.

   This church is in the heart of a vibrant shopping area Chelsea, across and down the street a bit from the famous Chelsea Hotel where famous creativity flowed and people like Leonard Cohen, Arthur Miller and other famous artists, poets, writers and singers lived in the 50s and 60s. It has a white stone but badly dirty exterior with pale blue doors that need a paint  job. Seven or eight homeless looking wino guys were sitting on the steps on Saturday afternoon waiting for Mass which didn't happen because there is no noon Mass on Saturday. This church should be opened on Saturday- tons of street traffic. It should have candles where people put in money and tourists will come light a candle and pray all day Saturday lugging shopping bags from Best Buy and all the boutiques in the area. It should have a cafe section where people can pay a penny less than starbucks with wireless and it will raise revenue at a coffee shop where people can buy spiritual literature and sit and chat. It should be repaired, stone washed, and doors painted. And the two dirty squares should be planted with Geraniums which in this heat will grow as tall as bushes with bright red, pink and white flowers. It should be a cultural center, where French arts can be featured in tandem with the Alliance Francais and the French Embassy in Washington as a New York cultural center. Think the Catholic Information Center in the heart of Chelsea. Get Creative

     Then I thought I should have a meeting with Dolan where I would pledge not to start a Boycott of the Leo House if he pledged to renovate and rejuvenate the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul in Chelsea.