Alison Berger was invited to be a guest speaker at the Norwich Diocese Catechetical Conference at St. Patrick's Church in Mystic on Thursday, September 29th.

Bill, Dan S, Kerry, Karen, Mary Carol, Rosanne and Carol will be at the "Here Comes Everybody": Celebrating Lifelong Catechesis with the Whole Community" event co-sponsored with Harcourt, in Randolph, MA on Thursday, September 29th. Karen and Kerry will be going up on the 28th to set up 23rd's booth.

Jeff McCall will be in between 12:00-1:00 today.

Jane Silva has just learned she is expecting a baby girl, due January 3. Way to go Jane!

Kathie Silva, Circulation Manager for 23rd, will visit us on October 3 and 4.


"It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope." -- Pope John XXIII

23rd and Catholic Digest people: I have a letter from a prison inmate in Indiana who is all alone in the world and asking for someone to correspond with him. Do you know anyone who wants to correspond? Please see Mary Lhowe if you are interested.

If anyone’s interested in learning or brushing up on their French, here are some area classes:

Advanced French – Stonington High School – Mondays 7-9 pm

French I and II – Fitch High School, Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively, 7-9 pm

Classes just started. You can register for Advanced French through Stonington, or for the others by calling Groton Parks and Recreation at 536-5680.

Julie

David Baxendale, Chairman of the Executive Board, is here today.

Brad is out sick today.

Please be courteous when taking food out of the refrigerator. If you know it's not yours, then leave it there, as it belongs to someone else. It might be a good idea to put your name on your food if possible. There are a few pens on the window sill.

Pat Kluepfel is coming home from the hospital today. Hooray!

Update on Pat Kluepfel

I called Pat this morning and she sounds great; her voice is husky as often happens after surgery but she was very interested in what's going on here. The surgeon got all the cancer as far as he knows and sent the cells off to be examined. If there are stray cancer cells, she will need some sort of treatment. If not, she's home free. She will be coming home tomorrow; needs to take it easy, and can probably drive in two weeks. All sounds good so far. She really appreciates the prayers. --Gwen

Mark Markuly of Loyola Institute for Ministry will be meeting with Bill and Alison today.

Jean-Pierre Prevost, editor of God's Word Today, will be here for a few days this week.

Louis Dominic Beaupre of Bayard Canada will be here for a few days for budget meetings.

Good morning! Gwen will be in around 10:00 this morning.

Please leave the plants in the kitchen on the window sills. This will allow more room at the tables for those eating lunch. We can put them on the tables for special occasions if we want to dress things up.

Catholic Digest’s planning meeting is complete. Those wanting a copy of the rough notes can request them from me and I will provide an email copy. God’s Word Today will hold its planning meeting next Monday. Jean-Pierre will be in New London Monday and Tuesday for the planning meeting and for staff consultation.

I will be in the New York office on Wednesday of next week and leave for St. Louis Oct 2 to attend the NCDC meeting and to present a $5,000 check to CD’s Love Your Neighbor winner for 2005, The National Council of Catholic Women.
Kathleen

Louis Dominic Beaupre will be here around noontime on Monday for budget meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully he will bring pictures of his newborn son, Alexander.

Bill Huebsch will be back in the office on Monday.

Please let Valerie know by email if you are uncomfortable with the temperature in your work area. In order to adjust the climate control further, it will be helpful to know specifically what areas need to be warmer or cooler.

Follow-up Report on Pat from Neil, Medical Reporter (MR)S

It's Thursday evening about 8:00 PM. A short while ago I received a call from the surgeon, Dr. Brard, who operated on Pat this afternoon. He tells me that the surgery went well and she is now in the recovery room. The cancer had spread beyond the uterus but he was able to remove it all. He tells me that Pat is "young internally" (and, being a Frenchman, he added quickly "as well as externally"). Dr. Brard seemed pleased with the outcome of the surgery and expects Pat to recover quite quickly. The cancerous tissue is being analyzed and the results of these tests, which will be known in about ten days, will determine if radiation will be needed. I'll be heading for the hospital about noon tomorrow. Over the weekend, probably Saturday, I'll give you another report. Pat would prefer not to have visitors. When I next email I'll give you the phone number, if you'd care to call. I'm guessing that she will be able to come home next Tuesday but will be limited in her activities for some weeks. Again, more on this when I next write. Thanks for your prayers and best wishes. Pat felt buoyed up by them prior to the operation. Neil

Dear Valued Volunteer,

Thank you for the overwhelming response I received yesterday for people to help with the sacred kitchen. It is greatly appreciated and a real community spirit surfaced. It worked out so that everyone only has two days a month. We have a Coffee Station Crew, along with Dishes Away! and Counter Clean! There are still a few spots open in case I missed you. Bayard will have the cleanest cafe in the working world!

Rosanne

The last of the Fall books went to the printer yesterday and we expect finished copies in mid-October.

Sales of the Advent booklets are looking good so far. Let's continue to keep the phone lines open.

Catholic Digest is having an all-day meeting today.

Just a reminder that the new mailboxes have been set up. They are to the left of the computer room door.

Bert will be on vacation September 21 thru 28. Have a wonderful time, Bert!

I'll be taking a vacation day tomorrow (Wed). We're going to the Big E (Eastern States Exposition) in West Springfield, Mass. It's always fun walking through the replicas of the state houses. And of course, those cream puffs can't be passed up.

Deborah Frey, Paul Gerardi, and Meg Estevez will be in tomorrow (Tuesday) for Catholic Digest meetings.

Good morning. Hope you had a great weekend and got to do something fun.

Bill is working at his home office in Minnesota today and tomorrow. He can be reached by email or cell phone. Alison is working at home today (and possibly tomorrow). Andrea is also out today.

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." -- Mother Teresa

Gwen will be in at 9:00 today.

CORRECTION: Cheryl is out for part of the morning and will try to return to the office. Bert and Matt are in Mystic today.

Our author, Sr. Melannie Svoboda, will be here this afternoon.

The new mailboxes are now operational. They are located just to the left of the computer room door. For now, we're using paper name tags until the magnetic ones arrive.

Wine & Cheese Tasting

Invitation to All Employees:

Please join Thames River Wine & Spirits/Brie & Bleu in welcoming Twenty-Third Publications to New London at a Meet the Author wine and cheese tasting on Friday, September 16, the kick-off night of New London's Boats, Books & Brushes Festival. New London author Marci Alborghetti will be signing her recent book, When Lightning Strikes Twice, from 6-9 p.m.

Thames River Wine & Spirits
84 Bank Street
New London CT

Please keep Pat Kluepfel in your thoughts and prayers as she is scheduled for surgery next week. Below is an update from Neil.
Her address is 926 Lantern Hill Road, Ledyard CT 06339

From: NeilNPatK@aol.com
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 17:30:22 EDT
To: gcostello@twentythirdpublications.com
Subject: Re: checking in

Thanks for your continuing support, Gwen, Nothing more to report. Our best guess is that the test results will be sent directly to Providence and we probably won't hear until next Wednesday when we meet the surgeon for final discussions before surgery, planned for Thursday. Pat is still in relatively good form i.e. optimistic and pain free with a reasonable appetite and good sleep patterns. Hope this holds until next Wednesday. All the best to both of you from both of us, Neil

Alison will be in around 9:00 today.

Good morning!

Bill will be out of the office for several days starting around 1:00 today. He will visit New York, Minnesota, and Shreveport and return to the office on Monday, Sept. 26.

Dan Smart is out for a few days and will return on Tuesday, Sept. 20

Louis-Dominic Beaupre will be here Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 26-27.

Sue

Bill and Nick are in Boston today.