CALIFORNIA GIRL, TANNED BUT NOT BLONDE

I received a call this evening from the California girl who is presently attending the Lay Summit in Atlanta Georgia.  Last night she was the lonely person who was there unaccompanied.  Today she is the center of attraction as the only California person in the room.  Not only is she an attraction from the fact that she is from California, but also because she is not blonde. 
She is so happy to be among so many people who are living the LaSalette spirituality.  They are there in Georgia from all parts of the USA.  They hail from Vermont, New Hampshire, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Conecticutt, and of course, California.  Besides there are people from Angola and India.  It is a powerful experience to be exposed to this diversity of people who are all being moved by the same message delivered to two uneducated cowherds 165 years ago.
She is also being sought out by brothers of the vowed community who remember the family name "Dion" from a certain time in the past when such a name was in the official "elenchus" of the Missionary Community.  It is a memorable encounter when she can announce that indeed she is the spouse of "that Dion" and that she and her husband are still as LaSalette as ever.  It is a consoling moment when she can assure the questioner that indeed, her husband is married, and that, indeed, and in fact, they are both missionaries of LaSalette in another church sanctioned dimension, exercising the LaSalette ministry in a LaSalette mission parish.  This is a vivid testimony of LaSalette hospitality and true reconciliation in real life.

Since I am not present at the "Summit", I must constrain myself to reporting on what I get over the telephone and making some benign comments between the lines.  The communications director of the Community is present at the proceedings and is filing reports and pictures on the official website www.lasalette.org