NAC Fraternity Weekend

The weekend of the 30th and 31st of November drew the 200+ seminarians, deacons and priests here at the North American College together in one of the most anticipated weekends of the academic year. A weekend which, by virtue of its timing and necessary collaboration, is primarily focused on the New Men and their formal inauguration into the NAC community. It is on this weekend where their creativity is allowed to shine for about an hour on-stage before the entire house. This New Man Show, in its anticipation, is the topic of much speculative conversation and, in its wake, is cited for weeks amongst the entire house. Their thespianism and cinematographic talents ought not go unchallenged thus we, The Old Men, have our very own show as well. So as to accommodate palatable nomenclature along with the spirit of consistency we call it...The Old Man Show!

My buddies Sean and Jon were leading the Old Men in their creative designs and formed a fantastically hilarious show which embellished the routine of our community life, honored our faculty with much comedic attention and displayed our creativity through our very own skills in cinematography. I was running things behind the scene as the backstage manager, a position which I enjoyed two years ago in our very own New Man Show in 2006. We were able to resurrect some old sets which had gone the way of the buffalo and were not shy to take advantage of our auditorium's theatric potential.


These shows are the talk of the house as new talents shone before spotlights along with impressions of the faculty and the famous made known to us all. It is fun to see the personality, creativity and skill of our New Men unfold in front of the college. This is not the only area where the talents of the house were shining one weekend ago. For this we must move from our auditorium out onto our new NAC Sports Field. (click on pic for hi-res)


We gathered for our Annual Spaghetti Bowl. Another competition wherein the New and the Old face off in fraternal competitiveness by way of our American football tradition. The teams had been practicing for weeks before game-day. The coaches of each team were sizing up their players and coordinating their talents and abilities for optimal playmanship. It is common for the Old Men to walk away with a victory for we have almost 150 men at our disposal as compared to the New Men's 60. One may be tempted to consider this a sort of athletic initiation...and in a lot of ways it is. We have our very own pep band along with our color commentators with some play-by-play coverage from 'the booth'.

All this being said, the New/Old Man Weekend is one of the hallmark events here at the College as it so directly pertains to and benefits the community life of our house of priestly formation. Priestly formation has been highlighted as highly important and necessary, especially in the diocesan priesthood, which we are all pursuing. We anticipate having many close friends among the Catholic faithful but there comes a limit to the ability of these good friend to aid in the challenges of priestly life and ministry; this is where your priest friends can be of the greatest assistance.

The seeds of priestly friendship were planted last weekend in the lives of many and among those who were good friends, these seeds were nourished. We anticipate these events bearing fruit through our friendships in the future as we forgo much of what the secular world offers to make the truth of Christ known in our many dioceses across the nation!

Know of our prayers for you and forget not to remember your priests - past, present and future - in prayer that they may serve well...for many years...and with great joy, always!

Back on the Horse!

Nope...I have not taken up any equestrian activities in the past several months. I am commenting on my fidelity to frequent blogging. I simply do not know how some people do it! Alright, hold on...because I have about three months to make up for, not to mention any of my summer activities. No worries, I'll take this one step at a time.

This past summer was very enjoyable in the sense that i had an entirely positive experience in my summer assignment at St. Mary's in Woodstock. It seemed as if every facet of parish life had a lesson for me to file away for future ministry in the Diocese. I was able to see how the pastor of a large parish is to be simultaneously wearing the two hats of Spiritual Father and Parish Administrator. Both of which are worn for the benefit of the individual members of the faithful as well as the faith community as a whole. I was very inspired in my vocation to pursue Christ in His priesthood! Having the opportunity to invest myself into the life of a faith community for a few months was uplifting and motivational. Furthermore, it also taught me the fantastic necessity of frequent personal prayer time in the daily life of a priest. The heart of the priest for his parishioners is so filled with the desire to give them the fullness of Christ that it seems to be an injustice to only be able to spend a few moments a week with each member of the faithful, thus we petition the Holy Spirit to move us in ways that inspire the People of God to pursue Christ in all things for it would be injuresome to learn of our human weaknesses contributing to anyone's infidelity to Our Lord who gave His life for us and those whom we love.

Wow! that got pretty deep fairly quickly. I guess that would be a testament to how the Lord is moving in me during this important year of seminary where the faculty submits their approval to the bishop of Rockford for my suitability to proceed in receiving Holy Orders, namely ordination to the deaconate (in 11 months) and to the priesthood (in 18 months)!

Keep me in your prayers as I attempt to keep you updated on the many events of seminary life here in Rome!

In Christ's Peace!
Jeremy T

All work...accompanied by a bit of play!

It is kinda funny but I am just as busy on these, my days off, as I would be if I were in class and doing homework. Sure, I’m doing those things now which I prefer so the long days are a bit easier, not to say I do not enjoy theology, but when it comes down to it, class is still class and its always more enjoyable to not go!

Today was another day of respectable progress. Having all of my lumber lined up and ready to roll I was able to proceed with my next step which involved notching all of the vertical boards of my shelving unit so that the shelves will be amply supported.

that's a pretty good notch if you ask me
there's plenty more where that came from!

*sidebar* - I built another large shelf unit for a friend earlier this year and one of my classmates whose father is a carpenter noticed the style by which I formed myself and he complemented me on the quality of my craftsmanship saying that the type of jointing that I used was more labor intensive and has a greater holding capacity than the typical peg-in-the-side-of-the-board mounting style. Something for an amateur to be proud of!

The notching process takes awhile, especially when one does not have a dado blade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dado_blade), so that consumed much of my time in the shop. This is a process which takes a bit of time BUT if you do it right then it will be smooth sailing from there on out!

buenos notches!!!

After this I was able to assemble the top portion of the shelves. Why the top first? Well, because it was just easier! And that’s what you do when you want to see some progress.

the fully assembled top part of my bookshelf...
soon to be filled with the stacks of books
which are piled up all over my room!

Well y’all, I’m off to recharge in lieu of another action packed day off!
remember to preach the gospel always…you can even use words if you want!

Time off rocks!!!

Well, well, well! Look at me... posting within the same week!!! That hardly ever happens! Since finals have reached their completion (flying colors, of course) I am now able to do these things which I have not been able to do since December (the beginning of paper-writing season). The big project which has been in my cross-hairs for the past few months is a large bookshelf with a built-in cabinet (mirrored and illumined).

I began construction today after laboring for 2 hours trying to find someone (a licensed and available faculty member) to drive me out to the lumber store (Eurolegno) to pick up the supplies before they closed for the day (daily store hours being 9a-1p and 3p-7p week-daily, not bad). In the last few days I have had plenty of time to jot down detailed plans for this project so I was able to fly once the materials were in hand!

yea, these are the plans
good plans, huh?

I never forget how powerful these tools are!
That is a tip dad taught me...once,
he said I'd never forget, and I haven't!

I spent 2 hours sawing through $300 worth of plywood (it’s a little more expensive in Europe, granted only €207 but that dang conversion rate gets ya every time!) and have successfully produced the key 18-piece stack of wood which will become one of the greatest bookshelves to hit a Pontifical North American College dormitory room!

I hope you are having as much fun as I am!
(stay tuned for the completion of this project)
Until next time, God Bless!!!

I Love Arguing!

Now I don’t speak of argumentation in the colloquial sense wherein two parties are combative in their position which borders on domestic violence. I speak rather of the Scholastic understanding where a person moves from known premises (facts) and arrives at an unknown conclusion. Not that the conclusion is unknown to human awareness but that it is unclear between the two parties engaged in discussion. This very event occurred this morning in the seminary after mass and brunch. We were gathered in our corridor kitchen, enjoying a cup of freshly ground coffee and a new discussion popped up regarding the effectiveness of prayer and how a prayer is answered. One of our brothers was getting very worked up and his position was awkwardly received due to his tangential approach to the issue. Now, this being a Sunday, the Sabbath, a day designated for familial union and focus on the community, the group present for this argument stuck around to work it out. One of the men slowed the cadence of the argument down to a manageable speed and we walked through the issue step by step. In the end we discovered that we were arguing the same point against one another from various perspectives. Now we all realized this after an intense hour of sorting out the pieces of our discussion.

I learned an important lesson today, attached to any argument are many elements which do not meet the eye: regional upbringing, religious education, pride, emotion and the like. Once one can eliminate the superfluous elements of the argument and hone in on the point at hand, then, and only then, can true progress be made. Today, this was done by incorporating appropriate silence and honest listening. Why do most people get worked up about their positions in life? Because they do not think that they are being understood. The knowledge that they possess is not understood by others. We, being social beings, long to be of one mind with those who are close to us. This is a lesson that, by the help of my sister and many others, I have been able to grow into. And how edifying it is to allow those who are close to us come to greater understanding as they express that which they are passionate about.

After having said all this the current political situation at home in the US comes to mind. There are many points of view and everyone has their own reason for defending that which they hold to be pertinent to our country’s future leadership. How mature and fruitful would political conversations be if there were more listening and thinking occurring as there was the expression one’s views, considering that which was unconsidered? This is how we broaden our minds, this is how we enrich our understanding, this is how we as social beings pull together and enliven the world in which we live.

This focus on the other (or not-self) is an element of wisdom which underlies the diversity of people. We know that each person is different which is seen in the diversity of gifts and abilities in each person. Our mature communication with others opens our minds and deepens our insights. It is said that if a memorable event were to occur that there would be as many different accounts of the story as there were people who witnessed it. This can be said because different facets of the same situation appeal to each individual differently. And this was the fun of this morning’s discussion regarding prayer. We all believe the same thing (the unchanging and ever-stable Truth, which is Christ), but how we understand this same thing is different according to our individuality; therefore, when we listened to what each had to say regarding prayer we all left with a few more insights than we had before embarking on the said discussion. Not only did we grow in knowledge, but we grew in unity as our minds were drawn up together in mature discussion.

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I hope the onset of this Lenten Season has not caught you off guard. Having its commencement so close to the Season of Christmas emphasizes the necessary multiplicity of focus in our faith, being mindful of the Joy which Christ brings to the world while remembering that He came into the world to die that we may live in Him. (bitter-sweet when one thinks about it) We who, if it were not for Him, would have no ability to live for we are ever sustained by God who had us in mind from the beginning of time. This Lenten Season Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged the Church to fast from the busyness of their lives as he appeals to the truth of God’s voice being heard in the silence of our hearts. May we be encouraged, by the Grace of God, to calm the waters of our daily lives so that His voice may resound within. Each of us quiets the waters within differently, may you turn to the Holy Spirit who dwells within each of our hearts that you may know how to be still in Him who is Peace!

Welcome back!

Greetings Ladies and Gents!

It really is not fair to update a blog created for Roman Adventures when one is living in the States...now is it?

IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK IN ROME!

I just wrapped up a phenomenal summer at home in the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois wherein I was engaged in a some parish work and had meetings regarding the administrative side of the business...needless to say I was more appreciative of my duties with the former versus the latter assignment. After my assignment I had approximately 2 weeks to see all the family and friend whom I have not seen in about 11 months time. I dubbed my adventures "My Whirl-wind Family and Friends Tour of the Midwest 2007" wherein I covered 4 states and 8 stops in a week and a half while only putting a few thousand miles on my little red car. These last trips put my mileage up to 170,000...rawk on!

As I was saying, it is good to be back! Time acts a little funnier as I have more trips under my belt. I say this because it seemed odd how extremely familiar I was with everything in Rome when I walked to dinner the other night...it was almost so bad that it had seemed like I had only left Rome for a few days rather than the reality of being away for 2 1/2 months! Now I know that I will get a smart remark or 2 about turning 25...getting older...and all that jazz, but ya know what? I'm okay with that!

I ran down to my University the other day to register for classes and amid my 27 minute jaunt I realized how much I took my week-daily commute for granted but I did not think of this until I saw a few young tourist couples meandering the quaint cobblestoned streets of Rome hand-in-hand and thinking to myself how much they gave to be here for what may only be a week for them in their entire lives. I was glad that the Lord blessed me with this moment of gratitude. And with that I'd like to say THANK YOU to the good tithing Catholics of the Rockford Diocese who make all this happen for a punk kid following the Lord from Capron, Illinois...population 1000!

It is good to be back with my brothers here at NAC (The Pontifical North American College)! We were just discussing this evening at dinner (some say supper, this comment is for you) about how we as seminarians at NAC are fortunate with an academic situation which is SO conducive to stronger friendships than most other seminary communities. Once we began discussing this it made tons of sense. We not only study with these 200 guys but we have 5 years worth of Christmases, Thanksgivings, Easters and most of us have our Birthday celebrations with eachother. Where most of our brothers back home (most, not all) have the gift of family during this time we have the gift of brothers...and how greatly will that aid us in our future as priests of the Unites States together, spanning the coasts and covering the midlands!

My adventures for my 2nd of 5 years are beginning so stay tuned and I'll keep you posted...quite literally!

God's Blessing on you and yours,

Jeremy!

The Slideshow Prelude

Just to prelude the slide show with some recent information that I had learned from a friend of mine. As you look upon these pictures you will see the participant wearing pointy hats which bear distasteful connotations due to our American History. These head coverings are called 'capirotes' and should lead no one to worry as these capirotes have been worn throughout Spanish history in their Easter processions. These hats along with their height and cone shape represent the place of our salvation: heaven. The different colors of these capirotes and the vestments of the nazarenos (those who process) denote the different brotherhoods (comprised of men women and children) who join in this cultural exercise of honoring Our Lord and Our Lady during the liturgical time of Holy Week. Enjoy the show...

My Easter Adventure in Seville, Spain!