Surprise!

For those of you who still check in here from time to time, I thought that I'd post something.

I just read a remarkable blog. It is written by a former atheist who converted to the Catholic faith. She writes about many different things, although I confess that I've read only one of her posts so far. It's her reflections on abortion and her movement from being "pro-choice" to being pro-life. It's rather long, but quite interesting and worth the time. Here's the link http://www.conversiondiary.com/2008/01/how-i-became-pro-life.html

I've been extremely busy since returning from Rome, which is why I haven't been posting anything. I do plan on continuing this blog, but it will probably be another month or so before I have the time. Sorry!

Sorry!!!!

I'm back. Sorry for the lack of posts for the last few weeks. I was having a terrible time in Rome trying to post anything the last week and a half I was there because the internet was so slow. Then when I arrived home I was so busy, plus I caught a cold that I haven't gotten around to posting anything until now. Sorry, sorry, sorry!!!!!

Anyways, I meant to download some pictures of the trip I took to Assisi while I was in Italy, so here they are now. Better late than never. One of the bad things about waiting so long to post them is that I forgot what the names of some of the churches are! So if you want to know their names you'll have to go to Assisi yourself or ask someone who knows. Here's the first.
The friars don't allow pictures to be taken inside any of their churches, so I could only get the outside (sort of, as you'll see later). Along side this church however are different things to see of which this statue of St. Francis is one. That is a real dove inside the basket!
The Franciscans "invented" the manger scenes that we all associate with Christmas. Here is one that is located within a model of Bethlehem. It is difficult to see but Jesus, Mary and Joseph are a little to the left of the center of the building.
A couple more of the model.
This is a picture of Fr. Mike in front of one of the doors to the Church. Each of the doors had a carving of various saints. They're really beautiful.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the friars don't allow pictures to be taken inside the churches. But I couldn't resist taking one of this. Do you know what it is?
The top part is triangular and spins around. This was used many years ago in monastery churches or chapels before books were common. The monks would be seated around it and the community prayers would be posted on the sides on large sheets of paper. As they made their way through the prayers, it would be spun so that they could continue along.

This next church contains the crucifix that spoke to St. Francis.
A close up shot of the entrance to the lower church.
Stairs to the upper church located just to the right of the above doors.
A number of years ago religious leaders of all the various religions of the world gathered here in Assisi for a conference to promote peace. This lawn is directly outside of the entrance to the upper church.
Here are some of the streets and buildings of Assisi.
Because there was so much to see and only a few hours that we were there, we had to rush from place to place. It's really a beautiful city and I'd like to return there someday.

Stay With Don Bosco

I've added the link to a new blog that was started by one of our novices- Sean. It's called "Stay With Don Bosco". Sean has been in the novitiate for seven and a half months. He will profess his first vows on August 16th of this year. Check it out and learn more about life in a Salesian novitiate. Little by little, Salesians are beginning to fill up the blogoshere!

Back to the Grind

Today we returned to the same type of work that we were doing before the elections of last week. We began the morning in the general assembly where the Juridical Commission presented various interventions that they have been dealing with. Nothing is worth mentioning here however. The rest of the morning and early afternoon we were in our commissions discussing the second draft of the themes four and five- Evangelical Poverty and New Frontiers. Both looked pretty good, so we only had minor changes. The last session of the day was back in the general assembly looking at more Juridical commission matters. All in all it was rather uneventful.

This Saturday we are all going to the Catacombs of St. Callistus to celebrate a mass for all of the deceased Rector Majors. On Sunday, there is a trip planned to go to Assisi. I have never been there so I'm looking forward to it.

Visit With Pope

This morning all of the members of the Chapter boarded charter buses to go to the Vatican to have a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. Our buses were allowed to park in St. Peter's Square, which usually isn't allowed. After disembarking, we were escorted directly into St. Peter's Basilica through the center doors, bypassing security.

When we entered there were barriers down the center of the Basilica which kept the crowds back while we walked up the center, stopping first at the statue of Don Bosco and then in front of the tomb of Peter. At the statue of Don Bosco, we said a prayer together. At the tomb of St. Peter we recited the Profession of Faith (Nicene Creed). After this we were allowed to go down the steps to the tomb. Here is a picture looking down at the tomb followed by one of the tomb.
From here we were led back out the center of the Basilica through the center doors where they were now blocking the way of all other visitors as we walked by and into the Vatican. We had to walk up several flights of stairs through a courtyard and then a couple more flights to reach the Clementine Hall where we would be meeting the Pope. Here are a bunch of pictures I took along the way.
The above photo and the one below is the waiting area just outside of Clementine Hall.
Above is a statue of St. Joan of Arc. Below are stained glass windows of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Here's on of the Swiss Guard guarding the main entrance door. Usually you only get pictures from the outside looking in. Here's from the inside looking out!
Here's a couple of the paintings in Clementine Hall.
Finally, the Pope came in. Unfortunately, I was towards the back and wasn't able to get any close up pictures. However, he was much closer than these pictures appear. I would say that I was about 50 feet away. He was initially greeted by the Rector Major, and then he spoke to us for about 20 minutes. After that he shook hands with both the present and past General Council members and had his picture taken with them. After that he left. Cardinal Bertone was there also and shook hands with us as we left.
Before boarding the bus to go back to the Pisana, we took this photo. Left to Right- Fr. Rich, Me, Fr. Jim, Fr. Mazzali, Fr. Mel, Fr. Mike, and Fr. Dave.

The Elections Are Finished

This afternoon we finished all of the voting for Regionals which brought the elections to a close. First, Fr. Stefan Turansky was elected to be the Regional of Northern Europe. Fr. Stefan was the current Provincial of Slovakia. He is 51 yrs. old and speaks Slovak, Italian, Croat, and Serb. He also understands Spanish, Polish, and French.

Fr. Jose Miguel Nuñez, who was the current Provincial of Seville, Spain was elected to be Regional of Western Europe. Fr. Jose speaks Spanish, Italian, and French, and understands English. He is 44 yrs. old.

Fr. Esteban Ortiz was re-elected as Regional for Interamerica. Fr. Esteban speaks Castellano and Italian, and understands English and Portuguese. He will turn 62 yrs. old on April 6th.

Finally, Fr. Pier Fausto Frisoli was re-elected as Regional for Italy/Middle East. Fr. Pier speaks Italian and understands English. He is 52 yrs. old. In a surprise showing, Fr. Jim Heuser received one vote to be Regional for Italy/Middle East. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him to win the election. Better luck next time Fr. Jim!

Fr. Stefan Turansky and Fr. Jim
Fr. Jose Miguel Nunez and Fr. Jim
Fr. Jim, Fr. Esteban Ortiz, and me.
Fr. Jim concedes the election to Fr. Pier Fausto Frisoli.

The First United States Citizen Ever Elected to the Council!

Late this morning the Chapter elected two more Regionals. The first was Fr. Maria Arokiam Kanaga to be the Regional of South Asia. Fr. Maria is 51 yrs. old and was the current Provincial of the Madras, India province. He speaks Tamil, English, and Italian. He can also understand German.

The second election saw Fr. Guilherme Basañes elected to be the Regional for the African Region. Fr. Guilherme is 42 yrs. old and speaks Spanish and English. He was the current Provincial of Angola. The interesting thing about Fr. Guilherme is that he was born in Washington which makes him the first United States citizen to ever be elected to the General Council. It looks like he will be the youngest member of the Council.

We still have four more elections this afternoon including the one for our Regional.

Left to Right: Fr. Frank Maloney, Fr. Natale Vitali- New Regional of the South American Cone, and Fr. Damasio Medeiros.
Fr. Maria Arokiam Kanaga- the new Regional for South Asia, me, and Fr. Michael Peedikayil
Fr. Guilherm Basañas- The new Regional for Africa.