A Seminarians' Oktoberfest

"Ties, be our light...!" "Boooooooo!!!" [Sound of a necktie being tossed into a fire] And so progressed one of the more interesting evenings I've ever had in my whole life, with each each Deacon, or soon-to-be-Deacon, making his own little speech before tossing a necktie into the Oktoberfest flames.

The Oktoberfest is an annual tradition here at Mundelein Seminary. It's a great fall celebration complete with Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Beer (yes, my German friends, we even had Späten), and the quintessential element of any truly masculine right of passage: open flames. The excitement and the angst were palpable. In each man, one could see plainly the happiness of achievement and arrival while at the same time the normal concern for just how everything was going to work out in the end.

As I watched this ritual going on, I was struck most by the men who had already been ordained right after the end of the previous spring quarter or at some point during the summer. They burned their ties too, but the difference between them and the others was noticeable. For them, it was clear that this even was more about sharing in the tradition with the classmates than anything else. I felt myself becoming somewhat disappointed that I to will experience the tie-burning Oktoberfest rituals only after I will have been ordained. Yet at the same time, I felt a little relieved. It funny how these emotions, seemingly contrary, exist side by side--not only in the participants, but also in an onlooker. I suppose that's how life is, though.

Obviously, this post is more than 'late.' So, unfortunately, that's all I'm going to be able to write on this topic for now. However, I'm home for a little while on Christmas break, and I promise I'll get at least two or three new posts up. New Year's resolution: blog bi-weekly!

~J

A Visit to the East

After mid-term week, it was time to decompress. So, with fellow seminarians Robert, Guthrie, and Mark, I went on a little off-campus excursion to Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois. (I highly suggest checking out their website which has some pictures of the church, albeit a bit dated--they have since added some icons-- http://www.byzantinecatholic.com/index.htm).

Now, those of you who have known me for a while are quite familiar with my love of Byzantine Christian spirituality, theology, and liturgy. I must say that in the five years or so that I've been studying the East and frequenting their parishes, this parish had--by far--the most beautiful liturgy I've seen yet. First of all, their choir is phenomenal. (You can listen to extensive recordings of their choir on the parish website.) Second, they're not afraid to by Byzantine; that means the church is packed full of icons and their liturgy definitely runs on Cheiros time, not Kronos time. To be honest, I'm not really sure when it started or when it ended... I left praying for the rest of the day.

The homily focused on Respect Life Sunday. The priest identified abortion and euthanasia, especially abortion, as the "sacraments of the Culture of Death," without which this culture would unravel, just as the sacraments of the Church are the sacraments of the Culture of Life without which our culture would collapse. I find it to be a very poignant analogy.

We in the Latin traditions of Christianity have so much of our heritage to rediscover in the Christian East. I value the philosophical precisions of our theology, I think that they satisfy very natural human desires which are only thwarted at great peril. However, the poetic expression of truth more common to the East does a better job at preserving the sense of mystery that one must have when beholding all things divine. Also, the East has preserved, I think, a clearer presentation of the Eucharistic liturgy as a foretaste of the divine liturgy in which we all hope to partake in the Kingdom. And while I think Latin church organization and administration tends to be far more organized and efficient, these are not the primary aims of orthodox ecclesiology which has as its focus the preservation of the Apostolic Tradition and the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. That being said...

As beautiful as this particular liturgy was, as much as I love the eastern churches... I belong right where I am. There really is no doubt about that. Why does God call whom he calls and why does he call them to where he calls them when he calls them??? The answers to to these questions are not for us to know in this life. All we can do is hear the voice of our Good Shepherd and follow where he will lead knowing that he himself is the path to salvation. On that note, I leave you with this image of the one who knows what fruits trust in God has to bear.

Settling In

Well, here I am at the head of my second week of classes. The first week was intense, but, none the worse for wear, I'm here to hit things hard again this week. I'm already behind in the reading, but "behind" here at Mundelein is a very relative term. It is generally understood, and accepted I might add, that it is impossible to keep up with all of the reading assignments. So long as you can keep up with a general understanding of what's going on, are able to give the central themes and arguments an author makes... you're meeting the expectations. Repeatedly, our professors have been telling us, "Don't panic, there's never a reason to panic." Of course, hearing that too often does tend to make me wonder, "Hmm... is there something I could be panicking about?" Oh well. Suffice it to say, I am enjoying my classes, I'm enjoying the reading, and I'm disappointed, not anxious, that I can't engage it more deeply because I do find it so interesting.

As for the rest of life here, the past weekend we had the Cam retreat for 3-Boulevard. Here at Mundelein, the wings of the residences hall are named based on their orientation to the layout of the larger campus. My building faces East, and is shaped like the letter "E." I live on what would be the 'back' of the "E," this is called the "Boulevard" wing. The top 'rung' of the "E" is the "North" wing, the middle the "Center" wing, and the bottom the "South" wing. Then, there are three floors to the building, and each group of guys who live on the same floor of a wing make up a "Cam." So, since I live on the third floor of the Boulevard wing, my Cam is 3-Blvd. I know, I know, exceptionally creative and inventive in their naming here at Mundelein.... Basically, the Cam serves as the basic unit of community life here at the seminary. On Mondays, we pray Evening Prayer together and sit together in the refectory (cafeteria). On Wednesdays, we get together for prayer, someone takes the responsibility for giving a reflection on the coming Sunday's gospel reading, and then we take about an hour or so for some social activity. So now that I've told you everything you ever wanted to know about Cam life but were afraid to ask--well, not really, but saying that makes me laugh--we kicked off the year with an overnight retreat at the Cenacle Retreat House in Warrenville, IL.

I did take a picture of the place the day we left. I did transfer the photo from my camera to my computer. I cannot, however, for the life of me, figure out where the folder went that I saved it to. Alas, if you want to see some pictures, you'll have to go to their website, http://www.cenacle.org/homenew.aspx.

It was a very nice facility, much larger on the inside than what meets the eye. The food was quite good, and the meeting spaces pretty comfortable. We had a nice time there and, I think, we new seminarians began bonding a little with our 'senior' confreres.

When I can, I'll post some pictures of the guys on my Cam and, cross your fingers that I can figure out how to do it, some videos of our activities. For now, since I feel bad that otherwise you wouldn't have anything pretty to look at, check out this video of the Main Chapel here at Mundelein. (There's no sound to it, so, no, there is no problem with your speakers or media player.)

Until next time, God Bless!
~J

Hello, Goodbye, Good Luck, God Bless!

It seems that my time at St. John the Baptist Parish in Valatie, NY was just a blink of an eye! Now, I know that it has been a while since my last post... OK, more than a while... but, seriously, it feels as if only last week I was being introduced to the parish staff, and already I'm here at my desk in my room at Mundelein writing this post. I just can't believe how quickly the time passed. I suppose that says a lot about the people of St. John's parish; after all, time does fly when you're having fun, and I did enjoy my time there immensely. But alas, as with all good things, they must come to an end. August 15th was my last day at St. John's. Then, it was time to say, "Goodbye, Good Luck, and God Bless!" to all my new friends there. After that, it was a frantic dash to get all of my stuff packed and moved out of the Isaac Jogues House, get it home, and get it re-packed for the trek out here to Mundelein. Oh, and by the way, during that last week of my summer assignment, on August 12th to be exact, Michael Taylor and I received candidacy.


I am well aware of the fact, even as I write it, that my first paragraph exemplifies lousy style, poor logical flow, and it would probably make it up on any elementary teacher's board of 'Ways not to write a paragraph.' However, as such, it does give an accurate sense of what the last month of my life has been like. I'll try to unpack it all as I go on, but it was quite a blur to be perfectly honest.


I guess it will make the most sense to start with the most important event first: the Rite of Candidacy. In the Albany Diocese, seminarians receive candidacy before going off to major seminary to study their theology. Some dioceses also have it this way, others wait as late as the second year of major seminary before conferring candidacy on a seminarian. Essentially, the reception of candidacy is to preparation for the priesthood what engagement is to the preparation for marriage. In the Rite of Candidacy, a seminarian promises to enter fully into his formation in pursuit of ordination to the diaconate and presbyterate; in return, his bishop promises to support him fully in this endeavor.


In my diocese though, there really is no practical difference between seminarians who have received candidacy and those who have not. In some dioceses, there are financial differences, for example, perhaps a seminarian would not receive diocesan health insurance or a stipend until after receiving candidacy. In other places, seminarians who have received candidacy are expected to dress in clerics at all times, so there is a very deep sense of a transformation of identity that goes along with it. In Albany, though, seminarians really do get the full support of our bishop and the diocese from day one of our acceptance, and while there is a certain sense of a change in identity with the rite, seminarians, as a general rule, do not wear clerics until after their ordination to the deaconate. So for us, I would say that the Rite of Candidacy comes right down to a promise to take a certain direction in life. I have promised to pursue the ordained priesthood with all that I have--I have said my 'yes' to the Church. The next four years of seminary formation are about the Church's taking time to accept that 'yes.' To extend the earlier analogy to engagement, it is understood that during this time, I might discern that my call is not in fact to the priesthood, or the Church could discern that, in which case my time as a seminarian would come to an end. However, should this happen (and I hope that it doesn't and don't foresee any reason why it would) it would be comparable in severity to the breaking of an engagement. That is, it can be done... and it's not the end of the world if it happens (far better than following through on a bad decision)... but it's really something you would much, much rather avoid.


Alright, enough about candidacy. I wish I had pictures of the event, but alas. However, the Evangelist, our diocesan newspaper, had some really nice photos. You might be able to find some from them.

Now, on to the the trip out here! It was quite the trip: a solid 16 hours in the back seat of David Hammond's Blazer, securely packed in with all of the "essentials" that he, Michael, and I would need for this coming year at Mundelein. Yep, that's right, all three of us along with all of our stuff for the rest of the year made the trip from New York to Mundelein in one car. Gotta love the Gospel simplicity! Actually, it really wasn't all that bad. We packed our music for the trip, snuggled in like sardines with all of our stuff and hit the road bright and early (6:30 AM) on Sunday Aug. 19th. We drove from David's house in Central New York to Columbus, OH where both Michael and I have family.

It's worth making a little aside here: when you're a seminarian, you might not have very much money, but the Lord makes up for it by blessing you with the generosity of his people. We stayed overnight with my great aunt and uncle in Columbus, and as I expected, we got more food than we could shake a stick at. (Incidentally, this was not unlike our experience at David Hammond's house the night before we left where the Hammonds showered us with hospitality and really did a lot to make sure we got off to a good start.) I have to say that if you're not a person who likes food, if eating is a chore for you, then the life of a diocesan seminarian is not for you! If, however, you've ever considered some kind of job, I don't know, maybe like a restaurant critic, where you would get to eat and eat and eat... contact Fr. Jim Walsh, Diocese of Albany: Vocations Director. Like I said, we're not swimming in money as seminarians, but if you're OK with having your work compensated through the culinary artistry of just about every ethnic group out there, you just might have a vocation to the priesthood! Of course, I say this all tongue in cheek, yet with a tinge of seriousness.

On Monday morning, it was time to get back on the road to finish our trip up to Mundelein. With David, our Energizer-bunny driver, behind the wheel once more, we were here by suppertime. Deacon Dan from the Diocese of Covington, KY helped us haul our stuff into our rooms. We had about a day to breathe, then it was time to dive head-first into the most intense orientation experience I have ever experienced...

St. Benedict

Well, things got a bit busy, and I never did get around to posting the reflection I did at Mass last week on St. Thomas the Apostle. Basically, I talked about how St. Thomas is such a good role model for us because his example of struggle and then perseverance is so appropriate for our own struggles in following Jesus today. It went over well... still working on making my style more 'conversational.'

Trying to stay more on the ball with things, I've got my reflection for this week ready to post. Lucky you! Today, we celebrated the memorial of St. Benedict. (Who just so happens to be my patron saint.) What follows is the reflection I prepared ahead of time... not so much what I actually said. When we walked into the church this morning, there was a crowd of about thirty people (there is usually about seven), and most of them were young! One of the families in the parish was having a reunion and they all have a Mass said for the mom who passed away some time ago and they all go to the Mass as part of the family reunion. So... needless to say that faced with a totally different crowd, I had to "adapt" things a bit. Anyhow, this will give you a rough idea. The readings for today were Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; and Matthew 10:1-7.

I think an underlying theme we can take from today's readings is that we have a responsibility to look after others, no matter how they have treated us; we are always obliged to care.

I think that the life of St. Benedict speaks powerfully as an example of how this can actually be done. As I was thinking about his life and today's readings, I remembered two bits of wisdom that different priest have passed along to me. The first was about getting to heaven. Speaking of what our goal ought to be in our journey to heaven, a priest once said to me, “Getting to Heaven is not about saying, ‘Look, Lord, here I am!’ but being able to say, ‘Look, Lord, here I am, and see who else I’ve brought with me!’”

On various other occasions, my spiritual director has stressed to me that it is not very often in life that we are faced with choices between good and bad. Rather, nearly every day, we are forced to choose between what is good, what's better, and what's best.

I see these two truths as something that St. Benedict lived excellently. From what we know about him, St. Benedict was a man who always strove to do what was best for others; he sought to put his life at their service, not only in good ways, but in the best ways. There’s a story about St. Benedict that shortly after he had decided to live as a hermit, he kept thinking about this girl he had known while he was a student in Rome. Thoughts of going back to marry her became so torturous that he threw himself into a thorn-bush and rolled around until any thought of doing anything other than staying put and following what he knew God’s will for his life to be was dispelled from his mind. Was this a choice between good and bad? No. Rather, it was a choice to live the life that would allow him to serve God, and others, best.
St. Benedict maintained this focus throughout his life, even when he was betrayed, almost murdered, by the people he sought to serve, his own fellow monks. Yet, even after that, when he writes his rule, he emphasizes that monks must be tolerant of one another’s shortcomings, respect one another, and love one another.

So today, let’s ask for St. Benedict’s intercession that we, too, will be given the grace and strength to always desire what is best for others and to put ourselves at their service, regardless of how they treat us, so that when we stand before God we will be able to say, “Look, here I am, and see who I’ve brought with me!”

I have a lot of pictures to post from "various and sundry activities," as Fr. Jack would say, I just got around to touching them up today. Hopefully I'll get them posted some time this weekend. Until then, be well.

Love & Blessings,
~J

My 'Preaching Debut'

One of the purposes of the various parish assignments we're given as seminarians is to expose us to the needs, tastes, and different styles of several parish communities. I very important element of that exposure includes getting feedback on our preaching. Yesterday, I preached my first reflection here at St. John's at the daily Mass.

All in all, it went smoothly and was well received. Most people told me that they liked what I had to say, that I said it clearly, and that the reflection was easy to understand and my point came across. The consensus was that I need to work a bit on my style; they said I talked a bit too slow and needed to be more 'conversational' in my delivery. Also, the length of my reflection was more appropriate for a Sunday Mass than a weekday Mass (close to five minutes). Fr. Jack suggested that I shoot for a two-and-a-half minute, tops, "pious puff." I can't wait to try again next week! It really means a lot to me to be able to get that kind of feedback because I know that the people here are honest.

I thought that some of you might be interested in what I said, so I'm posting that as well. I decided to focus on the Gospel reading for the day which was Matt. 7:6, 12-14. (The other readings for the day were from Genesis 13:2, 5-18 and Ps. 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5 in case you're curious.) Here's what I said:

I think it is particularly important to make sure we consider what the first line of today’s gospel might mean. “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matt. 7:6). Just what does this mean on a practical level? Who are we supposed to understand by ‘dogs’ and ‘swine,’ and just what is it that we’re being told to do or not to do? I think what we see here is some of the wisest advice on spreading the good news of Jesus Christ that we get in all of the New Testament.

I’m sure all of us here today, when we get right down to it, are here because we have seen first-hand the value and necessity of our Christian faith in dealing with all of the struggles life brings our way. I highly doubt that any of us here is a stranger to tragedy or hardship in some way, but one other thing we have in common is an ability to look back and say, “God has done some wonderful things for me.” Maybe it is on account of great blessings we have received undeservedly, or perhaps it is because of the strength that God’s grace has imparted to us during a particularly rough time that we can say this. Either way, I think it is impossible to come away from these experiences of God’s love and care for us without thinking, “Everyone needs to know this in their lives; everyone needs to hear just how reliable and wonderful a relationship with God is, how comforting a relationship with his church is.”

Unfortunately, I’m sure we all have also had the experience of having our faith and feelings dismissed, sometimes even by someone we are close to and care about deeply. This can feel like an absolute slap in the face; one of my closest friends is an atheist who thinks of religion as little more than something ‘nice’ that basically amounts to some kind of security blanket for adults, and I often wonder, then, what he must think about what I’m doing with my life.

The advice we get in this first line of today’s gospel is telling us, very frankly, how to handle such people in our lives. We must recognize who is ready to hear what we have to say, who isn’t ready, and we must accept the fact that it will cause us nothing but needless pain and anxiety if we try to share the message of God’s love with someone who is not ready to listen. However, this does not mean that we sit back and do nothing. Rather, we must heed the words we hear in the rest of this gospel reading along with the words of today’s psalm: we must act with justice, be faithful to the truth, avoid harming anybody, make our living by honest means, treat others the way we wish to be treated, and live this way daily, even when no one else is and we feel alone and are without any support and it is just so hard to keep going on like this… Because, throughout it all, we are being watched, and it is
by watching us persevere in our faith in Jesus Christ that hearts will be softened and made open to the peace and comfort we have to bring, and ears be made ready to listen to the words of salvation we have to speak.

Feel free to comment too, if you'd like! Until next time...

Love & Blessings,

~J

St. John the Baptist Parish Picnic

This past Sunday afternoon, I experienced the first major social event at my summer assignment: the first (in a long time and now possibly annual) St. John's Parish Picnic. It was a fun afternoon with burgers, dogs, and quite the spread of all the necessary picnic accessories. We had chips, dips, salads, sides, and more! All of them delicious! Though I must say that Dirt Pudding was conspicuously absent from the dessert spread... hmm... perhaps I will have to introduce the people of St. John's to this delicacy....

Even without the Dirt Pudding, we still had a very good turn out. About seventy people signed up to bring food, and I would say we had just about one hundred people drop by over the course of three hours. I got to meet many of the families in the parish, and I hope that I will get to meet all the people I never had a chance to chat with at the picnic very soon. There was just such a nice atmosphere at the picnic, the kind of atmosphere that only arises when you bring good people together; I want to get to know them all, even if only a little bit.

That's really all I have to say about the picnic, except that I'm hoping to post at least a few more pictures soon. I want to ask for people's permission though, first, especially before I put any kids' pictures up. There were a lot of kids at the picnic, getting their faces painted and chowing down on snow cones and cotton candy. That was a big part of what made the atmosphere so pleasant, I think. The happiness of children is contagious.

Love and Blessings,
~J

Seminarians' Summer Gathering

This past week, we (all of the seminarians in my diocese not on C.P.E., plus one guy doing his chaplaincy training for the Navy) had a wonderful experience of at Christ the King Spirituality Center in Greenwich, NY. It was a great opportunity to step back from the academic work of the year and really shift gears for the work of our summer assignments. One part retreat (preached by Fr. Eric from the diocese of Little Rock) and one part social gathering, the Seminarians' Summer Gathering is an annual event last about four days and three nights. Its purpose is to give all of us seminarians a chance to pray together and form some stronger social bonds that will translate into a priestly base of friendship and support after ordination and to provide a forum in which to address some important spiritual and human formation issues.

The theme of this year's gathering focused on the priest as the one who 'stands in the gap' between the mundane and the sacred. Fr. Eric's talks were centered around the necessity of the priest being able to point the way to heaven for his people and the various practical ways in which the priest must structure his life in order to be able to do this effectively. The specific topics of the conferences ranged from appropriate boundaries between pastor and parishioner to the prayer life of the priest, but all looked to emphasizing the necessity of not getting bogged down in the administrative drudgery that can sometimes clog the daily schedule of a parish priest. All in all, Fr. Eric was a good presenter and he touched on some very practical topics that I'm sure we will all find valuable throughout the rest of our formation and after ordination. Thanks, Fr. Eric!

Now, I want to say a few words the Christ the King Spirituality Center. First of all, THIS PLACE IS ENORMOUS!!! Below is a shot from one of the high points on the property with the Great Hall and Welcome Center in the background, just before the last row of trees. I would estimate that this shot only takes in about 7% of the property associated with CTK.



There is a lot I wish I could have captured with my camera, but unfortunately, I forgot that I had even brought it with me until the last two days of the gathering! Oops! Oh well, what I'm including here are some shots mostly from a walk up to a gazebo above St. Mary's Convent some of us took at dusk on our last night at CTK Spirituality Center. The vistas are absolutely gorgeous from up there, well worth the little hike up the hill from the convent. In the picture below, you can see that I'm looking just a bit to the left of the above shot so you can still see the Great Hall in the background and now also St. Mary's convent in the foreground.

The views to the East were the prettiest; one can see miles of farmland interspersed between the rows of hills.

All of our meetings took place in the library... there was a piano... Matt found it... 'nuff said.

I'll leave you with this parting shot... a group of well-rested and rejuvenated seminarians (who had all slept on some of the best beds ever to be found in a retreat center).

The Wonders of Medical Science

So, my friend Jessica is really smart. A biochemistry major at Le Moyne, she now does cancer research in Chicago. One of my experiences during this trip was to visit Jess's lab. While I had seen part of her lab during my visit last year, I hadn't gotten to see the most important area for her work: the mouse room. The most important part of Jess's job is to keep track of which mice families carry the genes crucial to her lab's research. She must take DNA samples from every mouse, test it, and if it shows the necessary genes, she must then breed it, if not... well... that's the nasty part of her job. Mice not having the right genes must not be allowed to breed and therefore have to be euthanized.

The room where the mice are kept is quite secure for many good reasons. The pictures to the left show Jess, Kavita, Chris, Jess's family, and me doning sterile gowns, hair nets, booties, the whole nine yards, well outside the mouse room just so that we can't infect the mice with any microbes. (The building itself has many card-swipe-access-only areas so that only employees of the lab may enter. This is to prevent, I'm quite sure, animal rights groups from coming in and trashing the labs or releasing the animals, and probably to keep out anyone who might try to pirate the research data as well.) It was in interesting experience having to put on all of that gear. I've never had to look at myself as a health-threat before. I mean, I can remember when my cousins were babies and I was a little kid that there were concerns over how close I might get to them, whether or not it would be safe for me to hold them, did I wash my hands and so on, but this was a whole different ball game.

Because of the security, I was unable to take any pictures of the mice themselves, or of any of the other equipment around, though I must tell you that I was impressed with the sheer complexity of the equipment required to sustain this ongoing experiment. The mouse room holds a veritable maze of air filtration systems, water treatment systems, and waste disposal lines; the level of engineering sophistication required to do the biological research accurately, safely, and as humanely as possible is truly amazing.

The room itself did smell like an understaffed pet-shop... you can use your imagination on that one... and the lighting was strange. (During the time we visited, the light settings were mimicking night-time.) But beyond that, or perhaps because of this strangeness, I began to think about how much of our modern lives depend upon this very kind of environment. I don't want to launch into a diatribe about the ethics of animal testing or in any way, shape, form or manner, to lend credibility to the practices of organizations like PETA, but nearly every pill we take and every cosmetic product we use has come out of animal testing. In Jess's lab, the mice are deliberately given various kinds of tumors so that new drugs can be tested on them. It was sad to see some of these mice suffering through that kind of ordeal. To those who will read this and say, "Who gives a ****, it's only a mouse?!" I reply, "That mouse might very well loose its life so that your loved one can reap the benefit of some new miracle drug ten years from now; that point ought to give you some pause. The role that seemingly insignificant mouse plays in this world might very well save your life too." The late philosopher Emmanuel Levinas made the point that everyone's existence is contingent upon the death of the Other; our very lives are lethal. I couldn't help but think just how far down the line that metaphysical/ethical point bears truth as I stood there inhaling that nasty smell of mouse droppings, wood chips, and sanitizer watching hundreds of catalogued mice scurry around their cages, trying to go about their natural mousy business.

All in all, I must say that the visit to the lab was a positive experience. Tthought-provoking to be sure, but also on the personal level I consider it to be of great value to have a deeper understanding of what it is that my friend Jess faces on an average work-day. The work I do now as a seminarian, in most respects, is far easier than what she must deal with. I, as a general rule, don't have to be concerned that those to whom I minister will ever bite me unless I grab them firmly by the tail and lift them off the ground! (Thank God!) My work is also far less heady, and I'm not excluding the ad nauseam attendance of philosophy classes when I say that! Her work is certain to have far reaching and long-term positive consequences, and so will mine... but only God willing. Perhaps in some ways Jess's work is more exciting than mine, but I wouldn't classify it as being more interesting or more challenging all things considered. I don't think she would either. There is stress in both of our work-lives over what is at stake: she must take great care not to infect her mice with harmful bacteria and viruses thus jeopardizing years of painstaking research; I must take great care not to infect the people I encounter with cinicism, anger, greed, jealousy, or any other spiritual contagions thus endangering their relationship with God. Ultimately, the end goal of the work Jess does is to bring healing into the world. This could be said of what I do as a seminarian, namely, the ways I talk to people in social situations, the talks I give, the work I do in soup kitchens and Sunday School classrooms... though, it is a very different kind of healing I'm hoping to bring... and I wouldn't trade that healing for all the disposable sterile gowns in the world!

God Bless,
~J

Chicago Italian Beef & Hot Dog Experience

Ok, so when I went to Chicago last year, I made my friends take me to get deep dish pizza. That's all I knew about what was special in Chicago cuisine. How wrong I was! So since he'd had a year to get used to things, my friend Chris treated me to the Chicago Italian Beef & Hot Dog experience... MMM! Picture the beginnings of a Philly cheese steak... the shaved marinated beef on a long roll... except instead of adding the cheese, add 'jardiniere'. Jardiniere is this oh so wonderful tasting vegetable relish made from carrots, celery, and I'm not really sure what else is there, but with the beef it tastes great. Alright, so after you add the jardiniere you take the whole sandwich and dip it in this spicy, greasy, I don't really know how to describe it, "sauce." (Well, the dipping is optional, Chris got mine for me on the side.) Here's a picture:

Ok, I'll come clean, this wasn't actually my sandwich, I was too hungry to remember to take a picture of the darn thing before I dove in. Anyhow, I wasn't really crazy over the dip, but the sandwich in and of itself was really good.

Chris had wanted to take me to Al's, that's the big-name place in Chicago to get the Italian beef. It would have meant kind of a convoluted drive, though, so he took me to Torre's in his neighborhood. It was a neat looking place, sort of old fashioned, but very clean!

Since we were both really hungry, we also got a Chicago dog. I must say it was the best tasting hot dog I've ever had. However, it was a bit overloaded for my tastes. The traditional Chicago dog has mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, and a dill pickle spear. Frankly, I would have been happy with just the mustard, relish, and onions, and that's how I got the rest of my hot dogs over the next few days. (Like I said, the dog itself just tasted so good, once I had tried one... I had to try more!) Here's a picture... again, not of my own hot dog... I was hungry, what do you want?!

The next few years are going to be interesting... I think I'll have Chris set up a tour of the Vienna Beef factory. Actually, on second thought, I think I'll take Bismark's advice and just go to the factory's lunch counter and forego the "How Hot Dogs Are Made" tour. Yeah...

Until next time!

God Bless,

~J

Mundelein Visit

Well, for those of you who might not get out to see Mundelein for a while, or maybe even ever... here is a link to a virtual tour of the campus:
http://www.seminary.kjgallery.com/
And to get a sense of just how gigantic the campus is, check out the satellite picture on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1000+E.+Maple+Ave.,+Mundelein,+IL&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.357014,81.738281&ie=UTF8&ll=42.281024,-87.997527&spn=0.008065,0.019956&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1
If the link doesn't take you directly to the shot of the campus, try inputting the address into the search window. The address of the seminary is 1000 E. Maple Ave., Mundelein, IL. Scroll the map to the northwest following University Dr. to the heart of the campus.

I had a good visit to Mundelein. My boards went well, at least I think they did; they consisted of three half-hour meetings with Administrators, Formation Faculty, and Academic Faculty. (At Mundelein, they have separated the responsibilities of spiritual direction, planning formation seminars, etc., and teaching unlike most seminaries where there is one faculty that takes on both types of responsibilities.) I will say this about my impressions from the interviews: I think it's going to be a tough four years there... and that gives me a sense of peace. It came across loud and clear that the education and formation offered at Mundelein Seminary will search out all of the areas where I need to grow and will provide me with the tools and support to work on whatever I need to work on. There is no contentment with the status quo. I like that.

Among the more interesting aspects of my visit was the fact that I met and conversed with more Africans in my 24 hours there than I had in my whole life up to that point. I met several Kenyans and Tanzanians; some were students at the seminary, some were visitors who had come to attend the ordination of some of the students from their countries. Very friendly people, all of them, I must say. I look forward to the chance to get to know them all more.

I also took some videos of the campus, and if I can figure out how to post them, I will, but let's just say I still have a lot to learn about that whole process from filming, to editing, to saving in some kind of format that people can actually access! In other words, don't hold your breath on this one!

That's it for now. I'll post some entries on the rest of my trip to the greater Chicago metropolitan area soon.

God Bless,
~J