Pope Quote of the Day:

I would like to do a quick "man-on-the-street" survey: True or False, the Catholic Church is always oppressive to women, and ignores their unique and neccesary contribution to understanding the Christian mysteries?

Our Lady of Humility, Prayer for Us!

Most people I think would say, "absolutely true." I think how ever they would be wrong. Let's look at this following quote from our currently reigning Pontiff:
It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity. Through Mary, and the other holy women, the feminine element stand at the heart of the Christian religion.

Father Josef Ratzinger on his ordination day

FACT: The Church by worshipping Christ, a man born of a woman, the Church has always seen women as centrally important in the human project. The first Saint is a woman, Holy Mother Mary, and this has continued through the present day. From Mary through Catherine of Siena through Therese of the Infant Jesus (the Little Flower) and Edith Stein, among many more.

The Myth of being "non-biased"

(Part I: Yes I am biased, because it is impossible to be otherwise and still remain human)

In a recent note I have been accused of being biased. To the person that accused me of such I have one thing to say -- "Thank you."

What does this mean?Does it mean that I discriminate based on race, gender, ethnic group, political affiliation, etc.? NO.

Does it mean that I do not examine issues and causes before forming a conviction of my conscience? NO.

What it does mean is that I have come to examine the factors that have contributed to my current make-up. What are the psychological, sociological political, social, environmental, and cultural experiences that shapes the paradigm through which I see the world and assess it? I must recognize that all of these factors, and many more, contribute to the rich tapestry of who I am. Each person also possesses his own rich tapestry of "person-hood." In asking how these factors serve as the lens through which I see the world, I am also recognizing that I see the world from a particular point of view, namely mine. This is my bias. Guess what -- we all have a bias.

It seems like one of the "ultimate values" of the current cultural-social matrix of the west since political-cultural-social revolutions of the twentieth century has been above all things to be unbiased. Where does this come from? Much ink has spilt over this. Some ground it in the scientific revolution, some in the enlightenment, some in the great massacre of all values and morals during the two world wars. It is not my objective to spill more ink on this. So know we stand at a point that the only voice that "can be trusted" in the public square is the voice of the "non-biased person." At first look is very attractive. The society that all of us live in is very diverse. It is not just a plurality, but a number of systems of belief and values existing side -by-side, some of them incompatible among each other. In the true and good intention then to not infringe upon anyone system of beliefs, it is thought best to always make decisions concerning the public square from a non-biased point of view.

Yes -- this is a good and holy desire. It follows from the true dignity of each human person that a majority ought not snuff out the belief of the minority. The problem though is obtaining this non-biased point of view. Can a person really be removed from all the rich tapestry that forms them, so that he can stand separate from them and make a non-biased decision? I think this is very difficult, if not outright impossible. There simply is not such thing as "a view from no-where." This is affirmed in the modern philosophy of science, and holds true from this physical level onto the metaphysical level.

My religious, cultural, social, familial background neccesarily contributes to who I am. Human dignity and the values that modern democracy stands on says that who I am, and what I say has value, that it matters. This is true of myself, but also true of ever person. In the determination to be "non-biased," there is a strong demand to neutralize how my religious, spiritual, cultural, social and familial background colors my decisions, opinions, and values. It is a demand to deny myself -- my own humanity, and as much as there is a strong push for every person to be "non-biased," this demand is for every person to deny his own humanity. Not only "non-biased" view point an impossible objective to reach, it is inhumane, since it necessarily follows that in order to be non-biased a person has to deny the very fabric of his own humanity.
I typed in "a view from nowhere" into Google image search, and this is the first item that came up. It is confused and hazy, just like the current public moral reasoning. It just needs the right lens and everything will be pulled into focus.

Pro-choice or Pro-abortion?

This is from a blog called: The thoughts of a Regular Guy, and I have bolded what seemed most relavent.
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A veritable regiment of Catholic liberals have been campaigning on-line for Catholic pro-lifers to understand their position that just because they are "pro-choice," or oppose a government ban on abortion, doesn't make them "pro-abortion."They tell us that they believe that abortion cannot be ended by outlawing it. That instead, they believe that we must win "hearts and minds," that abortion must be fought by keeping it legal and dissuading those in the position of seeking abortions.

If this describes you, I've good news for you: I understand your position.You're lying.

It's possible that you're lying to yourselves. But you are certainly lying to the rest of us. You would never consider being "pro-choice" on torture. You would not tolerate someone who was "pro-choice" on racial discrimination. You do not honor those (like Stephen Douglas) who were "pro-choice" on slavery. You do not repect those who are "pro-choice" about unjsut war. You don't believe in allowing states to be "pro-choice" on capital punishment.You're certainly not "pro-choice" regarding rape, murder, kidnapping, wife-beating, carjacking, lynching of blacks or gays, political graft, corporate corruption, or bank robbery.

None of those things are tolerable in a free society, and you support and agree with the laws that forbid them. If I were to advocate the legalization of any of those things, you would rightly think me a supporter of them.

But abortion? You're comfortable with abortion. You're quite content that abortion is championed by your political heroes. It gives you not even the slightest pause. You've spent the last six months arguing whether Hillary Clinton was better than Barack Obama or vice versa, without the slightest consideration that they are the two most prominent and ardent supporters of the killing of innocents in the world today. You don't give a shit about that.

Nearly 50 million innocents have been lost to abortion in the U.S., and your primary effort as Catholics is to do your utmost to distract Catholics from their efforts to fight abortion. You don't pray rosaries at abortion clinics, you don't write about the evils of abortion in your columns, blogs and websites, and you certainly don't trouble yourself to vote against candidates who support abortion rights. No, you tell people that they cannot oppose abortion in their way, but only in your way. And what's your way of opposing abortion? Doing nothing other than telling pro-lifers not to fight abortion, as though nothing can be done at all unless everyone adopts your ineffectual methods.

As Archbishop Naumann recently wrote, if every Catholic Democrat in America objected to the pro-abortion plank in the Democratic Party platform, it would change tomorrow. But there is no credible effort in the Democratic Party to eliminate the pro-abortion plank. You pretend to care about something called "reducing the number of abortions", but you intentionally pretend that abortion is caused by poverty (as though rich people don't seek abortions), or a lack of sex education (as though contraceptive use prevents abortion). And you ignore the fact that the unborn human life is a human, with human dignity, with human rights, and that to be content to only "reduce the number" of instances in which their lives are cruelly snuffed out is to ignore and even deny their personhood. That you would not take such a tack with any other evil, betrays your willful support for abortion -- for the burning with acid, for the chopping up and removal of fetuses piecemeal, for suctioning brains out of skulls of almost-born babies, and even for withholding medical care for the survivors of abortion.

There is no proportionate reason to support the pro-abortion candidates put forth by the Democratic Party. You have swallowed abortion whole, digested it, and made it part of your being. Perhaps you say that you don't support Obama because of his position on abortion, but in spite of it. And that makes it OK. Bullshit. Obama's position on abortion would repel anyone who was taught by the Church about human dignity, who had not made themselves a willing participant in the culture of death.

And then you lie to the world that you are a good and faithful Catholic. You may even believe your lies yourself. But I do not. And I cannot imagine that Our Lord will be fooled come the day of your judgment.I pray you repent before it's too late for you.

More Incense, Less Nonsense!

Watch the video:
Creative Minority Report: More Incense, Less Nonsense! - A Catholic Blog: Religion, Politics, Current Events, Humor, and more.

No other religion would dare to have something so awesome! Well we also have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass -- as far as awesome goes.

When Colbert is on, he is on...

Creative Minority Report: Colbert On the Anglican Schism - A Catholic Blog: Religion, Politics, Current Events, Humor, and more.

A short update for the home-parish bulletin:

Dear Folks,


First of all I have to write this with my tail between my legs, since it has been so long since I have updated you all my great experience of being in Rome. It is one of my goals to be much more consistent with this during my second and following years. Next I am very grateful for all the generosity that a number of you have shown, especially in your prayers. You have no idea how much this helps me on a daily basis.


The year has flown buy and it has been filled with many great experiences, and also a number of opportunities to continue to grown in conformity to Christ as a priest. I have discovered again and again the beauty and joy of this vocation; and as this year end I look forward to the experiences that another year brings. One of the largest high lights of the year was the very unexpected opportunity to meet the Holy Father, and serve for one of his Masses. You perhaps tasted this to some extent when he visited the United States this past April. I have had the chance to see him on a routine basis, for large masses and for the weekly public blessing, and my affection for him as grown greatly. The Church is very fortunate to have him as her universal pastor.


There have also been sacrifices with being over here. I have two young nieces and one young nephew, and they are growing and I cannot be there to share in those experiences. It has also been difficult to learn the Italian language. I enjoy the language greatly, but it seems like ever bit of progress I make, there is much more to learn. I value this experience greatly though, since I think it helps me to understand the large number of immigrants we have in the area and their struggles to adjust to the local culture and language.


There have also been changes at the parish while I have been gone. A number of you have written me about missing the presence of a priest at the parish. This is understandable. The Eucharist is the "source and summit of the Catholic Faith" (from Saint Pope Pius X and repeated in the documents of the Second Vatican Council), and without a priest there is not daily Eucharist. All the other ministries of the Church flow from this "font of water and blood," so even if you are not a daily Mass goer, the change is very noticeable. I pray that this is time teaching all of us to have a greater appreciation for the Eucharist. Not that it was lacking before, but it is a mystery so profound that we can always dive deeper into it. I have heard many good things about the Deacon that the parish has been entrusted to. This is a new thing, and it sound like it is working very well.


This summer I will be at a seminar in Poland. The name of the seminar is: The Tertio Millennio Seminar on Faith and Free Society. The discussion topic is based on the social teachings of John Paul II, and focuses on one questions: In a free society should religious organizations have a voice, and how does it exercise this voice? This should be very interesting since half of the seminar participants will be from Easter Europe, which has only recently become a free society. As the Second Vatican Council re-affirms, in continuation with Church teaching, religious bodies always have a voice in society. It is a public entity, so it by its very nature it should influence the public life. This is what it means for the Church to be a prophetic sign in the World. This has recently been a debate in the United States with a variety of issues, including the definition of marriage, and also the presidential election. But it also has bearing on each of you, since it means that a Catholic cannot be a private Catholic, but public. The Church is only a sign in the midst of the world in so far as her members, all of you, carry her message into the world. Think about how much God trusts us, loves us, and has faith in us to trust His Message to us? It really should inspire awe.


After that I will be on parish internship in Lancaster experience. It should be an interesting experience to see how the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith is lived out and expressed in a different culture. What can they teach us about our life as Catholics? What experiences can I bring back to the diocese of Green Bay? What gifts from my own experiences can I bring them? These will be my reflection questions during those weeks.


I will continue to keep the parish in prayer, and ask that you prayers continue for me. Together each of us are members of the one Body of Christ, and this made very real in the Mass, but also our prayers for one another. If any of you have any questions you would like to ask me, or will be in Rome, I welcome you emails at roman.seminarian.gbdioc@gmail.com.


I hope that your summer is filled with many blessings,
Bill Brunner, Jr.,
Seminarian for the Diocese of Green Bay

Benedicamus Dominus! Deo Gratias

His Holiness, Benedict XVI, has appointed the 12th bishop of the See of Green Bay,

Most Reverend David Ricken

Every family needs a father. Each particular church is in many ways a family of faith. For almost a year, the Church of Green Bay has not had a father, since Bishop Zubik was called to his home see of Pittsburg. This past Tuesday, July 9, 2008, Holy Mother Church has provided another father for the Church of Green Bay in the person of Most Rev. David L. Ricken. He comes to us from the diocese of Cheyenne. He was worked hard there especially in promoting the faith through education. This has included even co-founding a new Catholic college in the classical liberal arts traditions. We welcome him to our diocese. Please keep him, and the diocese of Green Bay in your prayers -- as the installation date approaches on the feast of Saint Augustine, August 28, 2008. Also keep the diocese of Cheyenne in prayers, as for now their shepherd is Christ (from the Letters of Saint Ignatius).

I hope to come home for the installation, and even have permission to. I need to finance it myself though, so please also keep this intention in prayers.

Benedicamus Dominus,

Deo Gratias!

Saint Isidore Farm Club

May 19th Feast of Saint Isidore the Farmer

Rome is a beautiful city, and for this I am very thankful. I can enjoy over twenty-five hundred years of history, beautiful architecture, and all the amenities of living in a large city afford. It is beautiful and I am very grateful for the opportunity. But the fact remains – it is still a city. I am a country boy. A country boy will always be a little uncomfortable in a city. There is an allure about the open space, the nature, and just the attitude of the country that stays in a country boys heart. So alas I enjoy the city of Rome, but still long for the country. But really there is always a little bit of country in the city. The North American College even has its own “little farm” up on the hill over looking the college. Really it is just a small vegetable plot, but it serves my green thumb just fine. There is also the fraternity among country boys. Much to my surprise a few weeks ago I came into the refectory (dining hall) for pranzo (lunch) and four table where put together decorated with flowers, toy John Deere tractors -- It was Saint Isidore day. Saint Isidore is a Spanish saint, and the patron of farmers. He was so devoted to praying at the local church that his field work was getting neglected. Worried about this he prayed to God. Much to his surprise upon returning to his farm he say what was left unplowed, was now plowed; and what was left unplanted, was now planted. It was a miracle. So Saint Isidore continued his prayers each day, and each day his work was finished. Soon he began to wonder about these miracles. So leaving church early one day he snuck back to his farm to discover angles guiding the plows and picking the fruits of the vine and tree. The lesson that Medieval preachers often took from this bit of hagiography (holy writings, usually about a saint) is the same lesson that is contained in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you.This is a very important lesson in today’s world. It seems like everyone is traveling faster than a mile a minute with no time to prayer and rest – no time to rejoice in gifts given, no time to talk with Our Father in heaven who wishes to bless us in all things. I know that I need to remind myself of this lesson often in seminary – it can get very busy, so busy that I can forget to seek first his kingdom – really there is nothing more important. Papers need to get written, books need to get read, and jobs need to be completed, but perhaps spending a few extra minutes in prayer God will send a little angel to help in all these things.

Poland Day Two: Did you see the schwtzjkij at the twjykljef?

The main square of Krakow is called the Market Square -- this is the most of us standing in it. It is hard to believe but Poland used to be the most powerful country in Europe, and Krakow was the capital at that time. So the whole rise and fall of Eastern Europe was determined from this square.
Catholic-Christianity came to Poland over one thousand years ago. The first person to preach Christianity was Saint Adalbert. The white church to the right is built over the spot where he preached, and through his preaching converted the kingdom of Poland. The church in the background is the Basilka of Saint Mary. It is the largest church in Krakow. It is famous for its trumpeter, who keeps the time of the town by playing each hour on the hour -- 24/365. He is a real man, not a machine. Even in the wee hours, even on the freezing cold days. This is done in remembrance of the trumpet player who saved the town from a Tartan attack in the 1300's. He climbed the tower to play his song -- warning the whole town. Through his heroic efforts he saved the town, but lost his life as a Tartar managed to shout him through the throat before he even finished playing his song.
Just an inside view of the Basilka of Saint Mary.
And this was the seat of power for all of Krakow, all of Poland, and all of Eastern Europe -- WAWEL CASTLE and CATHEDRAL. This is the Cathedral where John Paul II was Archbishop before he was the Pope. It was very beautiful, but smaller than I thought it would be.
This is in the bell tower -- it is only rung on very special occasions -- for the sake to these people's ears I hope there is not a special occasion soon!

Thursday after Ash Wednesday: San Giorgio al Velabro

Velabro is swamp -- This very old church was built in the swampy area between the Tiber River, and the Aventine and Palatine Hills. What is striking are its simplicity and it is also very noticable that the building is not square. The front side is much wider than the apse end, causing the whole body of the church to narrow towards the altar. This focuses all attention on the altar -- but this is not why the church was built this way. It is built on at the foot of a hill, which means they could not build it square, but rather had to match the contour of the hill. Since it is with his own hands that God formed the hill the way it is, and since he is all knowing (thus would have known a church to his honor would be built here), it can be said that the way this irregularly built church is built to God's plan, and not to the plans of men -- who probably would have demolished the hill side to build the church square. This lead to a question: How do I do things: prayer, life, work, leisure, what ever? Do I do them the way God wants them, or the way I want them? Which is better for me? Is my prayer simple? Or do I even make my prayer complicated like my life? During LENT how does God want me to simplify my prayer with him and my life?

Ash Wednesday: Santa Sabina

Starting almost fifteen hundred years ago Popes have been coming to this church for Ash Wednesday, to start the season of Lent. This church is the oldest church building in the city of Rome. It is simple and classic. In the hours of the morning when the rays of the sun were still more horizontial, rather than vertical, we treked down the venerable Janiculum Hill, crossed the river, and trekked up the Aventine Hill. We are in Rome proper -- the Rome of the ancients. It is at the bottom of this hill that the city recieved her shipments of grain. It was a poorer section of the city -- and since OUR LORD favors the poor, perhaps this is why some of the first Christians gathered in this area to worship him.

The season of Lent is a time to grow closer to the LORD. The path to the LORD is old and ancient, and it was trodded by these early Christians -- they were the first ones to walk it -- so it was a rough path -- there were many snarls like the persecutions and martyrdom -- but they charted that path to Christ for us. By going to where they first worshipped, we join them on this path growing closer to the LORD.

Reflection Questions:
Who has lead me to the grow closer to Christ? Friends? Relative? Strangers? SAINTS (which saints)?

Have I thanked God for putting these people in my life so that I could come to know Him better? Have I thanked them?

What are my snares -- the things that keep me from growing closer to the LORD? How is He helping me to be free from these snares?

Lenten Reflections Based on the Stational Churches

What are the station churches?

After the end of the persecutions the number of Christian-Catholics in the city of Rome swelled. The Pope, who always desired to be a Father to those lambs entrusted to his care, desired to remain close to his lambs, even though the crowds were so large they could never fit into one church. So he started the practice of visiting the various parishes of Rome, so on a regular basis all the Christians of the city would meet their Holy Father. This is the start of the stational churches. Simple. As the liturgies developed, eventually the churches that the Holy Father would visit each day were set, especially during the privileged seasons of Lent and Advent. This was a continual practice in the Roman Church until the Popes moved to Avignon in France.

Since the great renewal of the Church after the Second Vatican Council, this tradition has been re-born with the Lenten Stational Liturgies. This is the primary way that the Pontifical North American College remembers the season of Lent. Each morning of Lent seminarians get up extra-early, and still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes start the procession down the Janiculum Hill toward that days stational church. In this way each day becomes a pilgrimage. Each seminarian becomes a pilgrim.

Theology in Ancient Stone

Many of the station churches are the oldest churches in Rome, and in the whole world. Christian men and women have gathered in many of these sacred spaces for close to two thousand years. These are the first parishes of Rome; these are the chapels built on top of the tombs of the holy martyrs; these are the houses were persecuted Christians gathered for prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist. This is where the Tradition of the Church is encountered and experienced in stone, by encountered those who on earth have worshiped Christ there before, and from heaven continue to worship with us now.

Perogi e snow -- Poland Day One of Eight

I'm leaving on a jet-plane...

It is the day after Christmas, and I need to get out of the city. Thank God for Poland. Christmas was great -- but you know it is just not the same without snow. Poland holds the promise of snow. So hope a plane at Leonardo Da'Vinci International Airport, and of we go -- all seven of us.



This will be my last view of Italy for the next eight days. It looks beautiful and majestic.

We have a little lay-over in Munich. By far the nicest airport I have ever been in. A little lunch at a German fast-food resturant, and we are good to go for our last leg of the journey (caption starting with me and going clockwise: Me, Aaron Johanneck, Matt Libra, Bill Ruelle, and Phillip Zubrod).

First surprise in Poland: Hotel Atlantis is not a hotel at all, instead it is Hostel Atlantis. I have always been told that it is a good experience to stay in a hostel, but when you don't expect it, it surprises you at first. It was actually a decent place to stay, plus it was close to the historic heart of Krakow.

Some of the guys though had the benefit of a nice priory guesthouse. This truly served as our homebase. This is a picture of their lower church underneath their refractory (dining room). Catholics have been worshipping in this room for just over eight-hundred years.

Well it is still the Christmas Season...

The Holy Father preparing to give the "Obi et Urbi" blessing on Christmas.

A view of where I was sitting for the midnight Mass with the Holy Father. Overall a good seat.
First Vespers (evening prayer) with the Holy Father. We came in very late, but were ushered right up to the front (no there is nothing special about us, the ushers just know that it is good to make the Basilica to look full for the Holy Father).
The Creche in the main chapel at PNAC.

Wow my first Christmas away from home! I did not know what to expect, but overall it went much better than I thought it would. The PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE has been helping young aspiring priest with the holiday season for the last 149 years, and they did a good job at helping me through it. I think it was more difficult on my friends and family back in the United States than it was for me.

There are three main things that helped with the season: 1) over here we are all in the same boat for the most part, (2) Rome and the Vatican do Christmas very well, and (3) just trying to keep my eye on the prize, priesthood, and what this means for my life.

NAC treats us very well around the holidays, and the whole season starts out with a college-wide Christmas party in the refractory. It sets the mood quiet well. There are the traditional foods and drinks, caroling, a newly elected Bishop Callahan to read T'was the Night Before Christmas, a big tree. You know the usual things, for the most part. There is also a lot of support from through the strong fraternal bonds that we develop here.

While I would love to be home for the holidays, there is just something about a Roman holiday. You spend it with the Holy Father to start with. It is also much less commercial so the true signficance of it really stands out. I started out the whole Advent season by attending Solemn Evening Prayer at Saint Peter with the Holy Father, and was gifted two tickets for the reparto speciale for Midnight Mass with the Holy Father. This means I enjoyed some really good seats. See the picture that shows how close I was. The next morning I slept in late, and got ready just in time to head down to the square (which square? there is only one square, Saint Peter's of course!) for the Ubi et Orbi blessing from the Holy Father. This is when he blesses the city of Rome and the whole world besides in about 40 different languages.

Lastly, as Servant of God, Archbishop Sheen always said, a priest is not his own. It is great to spend time with ones family during the holiday season, but a priest does not do that. He has his parish family, and really taking Christ as a model, he spends his holidays with those who have no family to visit them. Being here in Rome prepares me for this, and we all have no family here, so we held each other up in prayer and with affirming words.

It is a small sacrifice, but the secret of the saints is that holiness is found very often in these everyday-ordinary sacrifices. I think this is something that I can learn from new-parents. They make many sacrifices to be good parents, and a priest must make many little sacrifices of his will (and body, and mind, and heart) to be a good Spiritual Father. All these experiences in Rome are preparing me for this.

Thank you to all for holding me up in prayer during this time, it has helped greatly. God bless and blessed Christmas season to each of you.

God in Light and Shadows

It is a busy time here in Rome. Dan Weiske, a good and close friend from last year at Mundelein, is in the middle of his visit. The weather is finally starting to cool down, and it is raining more often. It is not too cold in the city yet, usually I only need to wear a sweater or a light jacket around town. With the cool weather the atmosphere has cleared up, and I can clearly see snow falling on the mountains that surround Rome. My Italian teacher in August said that she thought that it would be cold winter. I do not know how she knows this, but Italians really take "old-wives tales" very seriously, and she was saying something about caterpillars and dogs that I didn't understand. So who knows?

Last night I went to Vespers with the Monastic Community of Jerusalem at Santismma Trinta' dei Monti, the church at the top of the Spanish steps. The specific charism of this community is "to promote the spirit of the monastic desert in the heart of cities." (See their website [in French] at http://jerusalem.cef.fr/). They are allowed their own monastic psalter, so their vespers service does not correspond to our breviary. It is very beautiful and prayerful though. It starts with a ceremony centering around Christ as our light, which includes an incensing of the altar and lighting a row of candles. It then goes into a number of psalms and readings in French interspersed with periods of silence for meditation, and concludes with the Magnificat and Te Deum in Italian. Since it is first vespers for Sunday, they see this service as the beginning of Sunday and as an invitation to enter into the day of prayer, so it is not ended with a formal dismissal or blessing. It is actually very simple and prayerful. Since I do not know French (or Italian all that well) nor the chant modes, I guess some people would say that this liturgy is not open to "active participation," but this is simply not true. Our Holy Father, in line with the Council Fathers, sees the primary aspect of active participation as a participation on the "altar of the heart," and these Vespers through the interplay of light and darkness, sound and silence, common gestures draw me into the spiritual reality that no matter what the language there is a sacramental aspect to prayer, especially the liturgy of the hours.

As far as the Italian is going and the Italian exam, let's just say that the Gregorian University is inviting me, along with two-thirds of my class-mates, to study Italian for sixty more hours. It is funny since I really do have understand most of the lectures. I can read fairly well in Italian. But that is the way things are, and it will not hurt me to study Italian a little more. Classes in general are going great. It is a lot of self-learning, since I need to do a lot of reading on my own, but I enjoy this. I can understand all of my professors, except for one. This is Father Tanner, S.J., who teaches Ancient and Medieval Church History, and he is an authority on this subject. He is brilliant, and yet no one can understand him. Like most of the professors at the Gregorian he is not a native Italian (he is British in origin), so Italian is not his first language (with him it might be his eighth). He speaks an odd hybrid between Italian and academic Oxford-style English. I usually find this to be a good time to write letters home. To be honest.

In other aspects I am doing well. It is time to start visiting apostolate sights, so that is what is what I have been doing. It has been interesting. I have been visiting hospitals and soup kitchens in Rome with some of the "old men." This past Friday I visited a soup kitchen which is run by a Catholic lay movement of Sant'Egidio. (See their website at http://www.santegidio.net/en/index.html). What is very different from my previous experiences working in soup kitchens was that this environment was much more pleasant than I have previously worked in. Instead of having the clients go through a soup line we serve them as waiters. They are given choices on what to they want to eat, and in general in this one little soup kitchen at the bottom of the back side of the Janiculum hill their dignity is respected. It was very nice. I hope I get an assignment in this area, since it is the area that I have the least experience with, and I also very much feel drawn to it. When I walk the streets of Rome and see people asking for money, I feel drawn to them. I do not know how to handle them, since I am told it is foolish to give them money. I can't help it sometimes though. I will also take oranges from the college and give them away. At the very least I look at them, and try to offer them a kindness of the heart. If I had to be materially poor, I think I would much rather be so in the United States, since we seem to have a better tolerance for them. In Italy they are getting fed-up with them, and this is getting expressed in official policy such as a few weeks ago when the city of Rome bulldozed some of the squatters' camp on the outskirts of the city.