Last week a man died whom I considered one of my great mentors. He never knew me. We never spoke. He simply inspired me. I have some of his books. When I was a student in Rome I sneaked into some of his classes for the sheer pleasure of listening to an intellectual giant, even though I did not belong there. I was not a post-doctorate student. He inculcated in me a passion for the Bible, Old and New Testament. It was he who introduced me to the works of Abraham Joshua Heschel whose writings I grew to love. I would have wanted him to become Pope some day, but he was a Jesuit. Jesuits don’t become Popes. I think most people are intimidated by them.

Carlo Martini died last week outside Milan. He was 85 years of age. When I studied in Rome at a Jesuit university, he was the Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Insitute. He later became a cardinal and the Archbishop of Milan. I have never known anybody who could make the wonderful stories of the Bible alive, exciting and relevant. He influenced my thinking hugely. I will always be grateful to him.

I am attaching this article on Cardinal Martini from the New York Times.

A website is more than just data. It can involve a lot of people doing good things for others. About a month ago I got a call out of the blue from a mother from Mexico City, who had found us through our website. She has a daughter in her early twenties who nine years ago suffered kidney failure and later, due to a blood transfusion, she contracted hepatitis B and has suffered ever since. Her daughter sleeps every night attached to a dialysis machine for nine hours. She now is at a point where she can get a kidney transplant. Nevertheless, the doctors in the hospital in Mexico strongly suggested that, in order to avoid any chance of her hepatitis becoming reactive, she should receive injections of Hepatitis B Immunoglobulins.

I explained to her mother that Novens does not register product, but that I would be happy to contact some of my colleagues from a major fractionator whose headquarters is in Barcelona, Spain.  The company is Grifols, S.A.

And then the wonderful chain of good people helping good people took over. I spoke with my long-time friend David Sorrell at Grifols U.S. plant in North Carolina. He put me in touch with his colleague, Angel Almodovar, head of International Sales, who, in turn, contacted his Sales Manager in Mexico, Veronica Lopez, who is in the process of shipping the product from Barcelona.

In the next few weeks the young lady will have the product and will be able to undergo surgery to receive a new kidney. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her mother. Our gratitude to all the people at Grifols.