Our Last Class in Rome

Wednesday January 28, 2015

By Deacon Alvaro Perez PES

Yes, today we finished our J-Term in Rome. Our day began with the Holy Mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica on the Altar of St. Peter the Apostle. Our brother deacon Peter Hughes encouraged us to sow the seed with generosity, patience and joy and then we had time for personal prayer.  After that, we took a detour from our regular 20-minute bus ride to visit the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This community was founded by an Irish Bishop in Nigeria in the 1930's.  I was struck by the joy that these sisters expressed, and by their love for Jesus Christ and for their apostolic work throughout the world.

In the afternoon, we had our 'final exam', which was a very simple conversation with Fr. Carl about our experience here in Rome. Some of us have already turned in our final papers and some are still writing, fueled by the famous Italian cappuccino. The due date is tomorrow. Some of us are running around doing our last-minute shopping. Others are squeezing in a last visit to one of the treasured places here in Rome.  Each of us is wrapping up our time here in a slightly different way, as we prepare for our Canonical retreat in Assisi, which will serve to prepare us for our priestly ordination in May and June.

How can we describe this experience?  There are many adjectives we could use:  awe-inspiring, exhausting, deeply spiritual, challenging, exciting and much more.  What is true for each us of us though, is that it has been a powerful experience of encounter with Peter, and so with Christ and His Church.   The Apostle Peter became the rock of the nascent Church, and died just two blocks from where are staying.  But he is not just a history lesson.  We believe that this Peter is still alive in the uninterrupted line of 266 Popes.  Interestingly, the new Peter lives just two blocks from where we are staying as well, and some of us have come so close even to touch him.  As our Holy Father, he has confirmed us in the faith so we can become those ministers of Christ for whom the first Peter gave up his life. Our prayer is that, as priests, our response to the difficulties, joys and rejections of life will be the response of Peter:  "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Complete trust.  Please pray for us while we are on retreat in Assisi!

St. Paul's and St. Peter's

Our morning at St, Paul's outside the Walls was very quiet but was not as low key as I expected. We had mass with Cardinal Harvey, who is in charge of the basilica, and was head of the Papal household for Pope Benedict and for the last seven years of Pope St. John Paul.  His homily was great.  But what really surprised me is that he invited us out for coffee and just spent an hour talking with us.  Cardinal Harvey is originally from Wisconsin and he knows all the guys at the NAC who are studying for the North Central region of the US (he probably knows more) and made the connection to us.  It really shows his great humility.

Always a good sign when the church is this empty.

The tomb of St Paul is behind the grill.

After that, we had a rather somber talk from Father Miranda of the Institute of the Incarnate Word,  He had spent two and a half years of the last three years in Aleppo as it was besieged by Syrian rebel forces. The siege is still ongoing but he had to leave out six months ago because the Institute had sisters there and someone had to escort them out. There are still priests there, and you could see the guilt he feels for not being there even as the situation continues to worsen.  He had a great heart for the people of God.  To be honest, it made me thankful to minister in an area where there has never been a conflict on that scale (yes we had the Dakota wars, but nothing like the situation in Syria).  The only thing I can contextualize the situation to is Sarajevo, and this looks worse (and there are martyrdoms going on in Aleppo).  And yet even in it, the faith endures.

On that bright note, in the early evening we visited our last institution of the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State.  There are two departments there: essentially those who prepare and translate stuff for the Pope and those who work in the diplomatic corps.  Our contact, Monsignor Gallagher,  works on the translator side (he helps prepare the official Latin texts of written documents), but we got to see the door to the Papal apartments where the Pope normally lives and where Francis keeps his office. For some reason we didn't get to tour there, but it was still a good visit.

The Secretariat also has the best view sans Pope.

-Deacon John Powers

The Joy of the Gospel is the Encounter with Christ

Monday January 26, 2015

by Deacon Gabriel Walz

Greetings and Happy Monday from Rome!  

We have experienced yet another day filled with adventures.

This morning we had a later start than usual.  We were free, as any other morning, to go to breakfast anytime between 7:15am and 9am.  At about 10:00am we walked over to visit Msgr. Commentz at the Apostolic Penitentiary.  This is the oldest congregation of the Roman Curia, dating back at least to the 12th century.  They are few in number—one cardinal, six priests, and several members of the lay-faithful—yet they receive inquiries from around the world on a regular basis and seek to respond to each one within either 24 or 48 hours (unless some circumstance prevents this from happening).  

Our meeting with Msgr. Commentz went a bit longer than we’d anticipated.  This meant a slight change in our schedule.  We journeyed back to our lodging—the Domus Romana Sacerdotalis (just down the road a few blocks from Saint Peter’s Basilica)—and ate lunch together at 1pm.  Then, at 3pm we attended our final classroom session of our time in Rome.  

During our final class session, we discussed sections of Pope Francis’ document The Joy of the Gospel.  In this document, Pope Francis cites Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter God is Love, where he says that: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”.  Pope Francis adds that: “Thanks solely to this encounter – or renewed encounter – with God’s love, which blossoms into an enriching friendship, we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption… how can we fail to share that love with others?” It seems that the role of evangelization, then, is to mediate the encounter with Jesus Christ.

After our class, we set out again to the cobblestone streets of Rome; this time we journeyed to visit the Jesuit Church called the Gesu (Jesus).  The Gesu is a beautiful Church where (among others) saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier are buried.  We arrived in time to see their “light show”—the church was dark except for the spotlights that drew our attention only to specific pieces of art while across the speakers a narrative (in Italian) wove together the story of what we beheld (all the while the narrative was intermingled with beautiful chant in the background); it was quite beautiful.

Finally, Fr. Joseph Carola, S.J. gave us a brief overview of the life of Saint Ignatius and we were privileged to visit the rooms he stayed in during his time in Rome.  Fr. Carola celebrated Mass for us in the room where Saint Ignatius died and Deacon Alvaro preached.  In his homily, Dcn. Alvaro reminded us of the role that St. Ignatius has played—even when we didn’t notice—in helping to form us for mission during our pilgrimage in Rome.  Like Ignatius, we are to make our lives into pilgrimages toward God.  The zeal of Ignatius and his order for God reminds us that we too are called to be missionaries: to 'move' out of ourselves – when we are able to constantly challenge ourselves to another quest – when we understand that we are not there yet. 

Afterwards, we went out for pizza; it was a great day!

Please keep us in prayer and be assured of our prayers as well.  

God bless!

 

Last Sunday in Rome

Sunday January 25, 2015

By Deacon John Powers

This morning we were free for mass on our own. I went to the church where St. Philip Neri is buried, and it was great because it's one of the few churches in the center of Rome to have what we would think of as active parish life (aka there were actually Italian families with kids there).

The view on the way was very nice.

This afternoon was a little more exciting, we went to vespers with the Pope at Saint Paul's outside the Walls.  It is the last of the four Constantine basilicas we needed to visit as a class.  We will be going back, but one of the really cool things about it is that it has mosaics of all the popes.

So now if we meet the criteria, we get an indulgence.

My one shot of the Pope. The mosaics of the most recent popes are in the upper right.

After vespers and dinner a bunch of us went out for gelato because today is the patronal feast of the Seminary.  Tomorrow we are going to visit one of the Vatican courts and the Jesuits.

Deacon Arthur Roraff expressing joy after a long day and a proper recompense

@ the Pope's Cathedral

Friday January 23, 2015 

By Deacon John Christianson

As we left the hotel this morning at 8 am to make our way to the Lateran Basilica, there was a overcast, but no rain fell. We entered the Basilica and as you would expect from all Basilicas in Rome, especially the Arch-basilica of Rome, the space inside was overwhelming. Most of the older Churches and Basilicas in Rome do not have pews so this extenuates the sense of their enormity. I will not include a description of the Basilica in all its parts or a history, but  I will share some of the features that caught the eye of my mind. Looking from the entrance, the balduccino seemed to be perfectly proportionate to the whole Church which also denotes the proportionality of the sanctuary to the rest of the Basilica. On top of the balduccino are two figures who have Golden heads. Inside the Golden heads are the skulls of Saints Peter and Paul. Having these two Saints and some of their remains above the altar where the Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection is celebrated, reminds us that as the Apostles were sent out by Christ, we too are called to evangelize the world in the context of the Eucharist. 

We celebrated Mass at the Altar of Pope John XXIII. Fr. Carl elected to celebrate the Mass as we would on November 9th (the Feast), but chose to have the readings from the day. This helped Deacon Grant Lacey, because he volunteered to preach the day before, preparing for the readings for the day versus for the feast. In his homily, Deacon Lacey related the unsureness of our futures in our given ministries to the apostles, who did not know what their ministries and lives would entail. These are very sobering words to a group of guys who are so excited to begin their ministries that the talk among us in Rome is about chalices and vestments that have been bought or will be bought in the coming months. 

We returned to the hotel at a quarter to noon to hear Fr. Terence Lino Idraku AJ speak about his order and its ministry in around the world. Unlike the USA, lunch or pranzo is not served until at least one o'clock in Italy. Yes, it takes a little while to get use to the late start time. There are always 3 to 4 seminarians in line waiting for the doors to open everyday. I guess that some of us have not acclimated to the Italian schedule yet. Fr. Lino, an Ugandan priest who belongs to the institute of the Apostles of Jesus, said that some people can become somewhat offended at their name, because they ask, are not all people called to be the apostles of Jesus? He told us that he responds with, of course all people are called to be the apostles of Jesus. We didn't choose this name to claim that we are the only ones called, we chose this name as an invitation for all to become like us, the apostles of Jesus . 

Still raining, Still Dreaming

Thursday January 22, 2015

By Deacon Grant Lacey

It's winter in Rome and it's still raining.
Not a summer rain that rages across the plains but a quiet rain that comes and goes as it pleases.
Not a rain that drives one indoors but a rain that causes contemplation.  You contemplate the lives of the great saints who walked these streets before you, you contemplate your own future life and ministry and you contemplate buying an umbrella from the gypsy standing on the sidewalk.
But you don't.
Because it isn't that kind of rain.

We has mass this morning at chapel in the Roman seminary dedicated to Mary under the title "Our Lady of Confidence." Msgr. Callighan our intrepid rector from SPS presided at this mass and during his homily he sketched out part of the long standing devotion to Our Lady of Confidence at that seminary.  The name comes from an image of the blessed mother holding the child Jesus that is set just above the tabernacle.  The image is quite small but the seminarians have prayed before it for years.

The story Msgr. related is of a group of seminarians that had been called up and were preparing to go fight in the Great War.  They prayed to Our Lady of Confidence for their safe return that they may serve as priests someday.  To the man they all returned home safely. One of the seminarians who was part of that episode was a young man named Roncalli, who later became St. Pope John XXIII.
It is fitting that Msgr Callighan brought this devotion and a copy of this image to SPS, we have work to do, and we trust Our Lady to intercede for us that we might bring it to fulfillment.

Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea.
My Mother, My Confidence.

Viva il Papa

Wednesday January 21, 2015

By Deacon Adam Laski

Why would you want to spend your morning with an old man in white?  Pope Francis has become the center of lots of media attention for the way that he captivates crowds and meets people with the heart of a pastor.  This morning the deacons had a chance to attend a Wednesday audience with the Pope.  The energy in the audience hall was building as many pilgrims from all around the world gathered to greet the pope, hear his words,and receive his blessing.  It strikes me now that I have a moment to reflect, that Pope Francis is not simply a charismatic personality but he represents the words of Christ to peter, “you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

This is not simply a triumphalisitic conclusion on the part of Christ.  Looking for the kingdom of God?  “Come join the perfectly constructed Church.” Instead this is the foundation of a Church which is all at the same time the mystical body of Christ and being perfected in all of her members. 

This is why audiences at the Vatican can be beautiful and crazy.! 

Beautiful because there is an image of the Church throughout the world in each of the groups of pilgrims and their unique languages.   There are Catholics from all different walks, backgrounds, and cultures who come to encounter the holy father, expressing an act of faith in Christ which is the faith of the Church.  People see in the pope a sign of the mystical body of Christ present in each of the local churches throughout the world. This isn’t because he is a “super-sacrament” but rather the father of our big family.  

 Crazy because many of those people want the same things: an amazing selfie with the pope, a great spot to shake his hand when he passes by, to make a phone call to tell their mom they’re about to meet the pope in person.

But, joking aside, they are there because they see the pope because the pope is, a father in the true sense of the term, one providing a mission for the family, a compassionate facing the needs of the church throughout the world, and doing his best to meet them with the compassion of Christ, while at the same time witnessing to, as he has reminded us, the joy of the Gospel.

So when we had a chance to line up and wait for the pope to pass by, hear him speak, and pray for a brief moment with him, it is to renew us in our identity as sons of the Church that Christ has established.  To express our desire to remain faithful to the reality that we are part of Christ’s body spread throughout the world.

Through the Immaculate Heart!

Tuesday January 20, 2015

By: Deacon Luis Mejia

“O María Ci Conciacriamo Al Tuo Cuore Immaculato” (O Mary we consecrate ourselves to your inmaculate heart).

Good evening brothers and sisters, today it was truly a very full day for our deacon class. We started the day by heading off to Propaganda Fidei (The sacred congregation for the propagation of faith). On the way there we stopped by the Santuario – Basilica “Madonna Del Miraculo” Fr. Carl explained to us that in this Church the Blessed Mother Mary appeared and converted a Jew. After the wonderful miracle he became a priest, and he was sent as a missionary to Palestine. 

Following that, we had a class session with Fr. Ted Nowak, OMI. In his presentation, he told us “The sacred congregation for the propagation of faith, was founded by Pope Gregory XV on 1620. The goal of Pope Gregory XV was to promote, coordinate, and assist the mission and missionaries in different countries.’’Then, he asked us "What do you need to establish a mission in another country?" Then, he gave the answer, "to establish a mission we need bread, wine, and oil." Bread and wine to celebrate the Mass, and oil to anoint the sick.

After this wonderful presentation we headed off to the Pontificium Councilium Pro Laicis (Pontifical council for laity). The presenters were Msgr. Delgado and Dr. Philip Milligan. They said that this congregation was founded by Pope Paul VI on 1967. The main goal of this congregation is to promote the participation of the faithful in the Church. Also to support the role of the laity in the evangelization.

After lunch we had one more class presentation. The presenter was Fr. Steve Doktorczyk who is a priest from the diocese of Orange. Currently he is working for the congregation for the doctrine of faith. In his presentation he told us that the role of CDF is to safeguard and protect the Catholic faith.

Finally we close our day by feeding our souls with the Holy Eucharist and feeding our bodies with a delicious Italian supper.

Ciao

From Firenze (Florence!)

Monday January 19, 2015

By: Deacon TJ McKenzie

I first want to wish my younger brother, Riley, a Happy 23rd Birthday!! He will need to wait until I get back to receive his birthday present from me. 

Today actually wraps up the long free weekend that was scheduled for us. I know a group of guys went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Padre Pio. Some guys travelled to different parts of Italy. I decided to go to Florence for three nights. We stayed with a group of Franciscan missionary sisters in their convent that was only a ten minute walk from the heart of downtown Florence. 

After dropping our bags off and grabbing a bite to eat for lunch, we went to the Uffizi, one of the grandest art collections in the world. The wealthy and powerful Medici family built a palace during the Renaissance in Florence and was a patron of the arts. This palace is now the site of the museum and much of the collection was once owned by this family. 

We ended our day by going to mass and spending time in adoration at the famous Duomo, the cathedral of Florence.

Saturday was just as busy. We began by making some visits to different churches. We then went to an old Dominican friary. Each cell where a Dominican would live had a small fresco painted by Blessed Fra Angelico. This were absolutely stunning pieces, not only because of their technical brilliance, but you could also see he was painting from a disposition of prayer. He was able to portray the reality of a Gospel scene in a way totally different from all the other masterpieces in Florence.

A trip to Florence would not be complete without a visit to the Accademia, the museum which holds Michelangelo's David which was originally meant to be placed on top of the cathedral's facade. Sadly, it never made it there, but I found it interesting that it was originally meant to be a religious statue. I think most of the people viewing the piece forget that David was a biblical figure. He's even holding the sling with which he killed Goliath!  Mass at the Duomo was in English on Saturday night, and there were many American college students there. 

Sunday was our last full day in Florence. We went to the High Mass in Latin at the Duomo and then went for a long leisurely walk up to the Piazza Michelangelo on the outskirts of the city. The view was stunning, and I'm glad we walked all that way. We had a perfect view of Florence from there, and it was a perfect place to enjoy and rest on a Sunday afternoon! 

The New Evangelization

The New Evang—“what is it?” the pastor asks,

A program, a pamphlet, a pithy parish-package?

A speaker, a series, a street-wise Scripture-smarty?

The New Evang—no, this is it…

A new mentality, a new modality, a means of mediation,

A subtle sense of seismic shift, so says the sociologist, 

The New Evang—“listen to me!” says the theologian,

It’s a be-ing, not a banner, it’s a boldness not a billboard!

“I’m so confused, really I am,” cries the daily-Mass goer,

So many words, so many books—so little clarity!

So let’s pause and consider where the reality lies…

It’s a Person it’s the Christ, it’s the only saving Truth

Applied, witnessed, and communicated, in new ways and in old,

To the times, to the traits, to the hunger for Him in all

Today was definitely one of my favorite days thus far (Thursday, Jan. 15^th). After partaking in the two necessities of being a Christian (prayer and coffee) we headed out to the office of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, or, the PCPNE (said no one ever).  The office, as it turns out, was in the view of St. Peter’s and right on the main drag.  Upon entering the not-so-majestic building; we were warmly greeted by a smiling and rather caffeinated priest named Fr. Geno Sylva.

After some semi-formal introductions (which pleased Deacon Kujawa immensely) we got right down to the business of finding out just what in the world the PCPNE does. Padre Geno has, in the words of my classmate Deacon Louis Mejia, el gifto de gabbo (the gift of gab). Here are a few take-a-way points from our conversation…

Arguably, the biggest challenge we face in the New Evangelization is, according to Fr. Geno is…indifference. “Trying to combat indifference,” said he said, “is like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.” We no longer have people like Friedrich Nietzsche in the world, i.e. those who challenge Christianity with intellectual argumentation. What we are facing now is a sort of boredom with the faith…we have 14-year olds suffering from depression and anxiety and wondering: what difference does Catholicism make?” Here is the kicker: what makes the New Evangelization “new” (at least in part) is that the Gospel must speak to the attitudes and their environments of people, which are changing at unprecedented levels. Loneliness is rampant, a sense of identity is often lacking and people are losing sight of the fact that their lives actually have meaning in the eyes of God.  In light of this, the response of the New Evangelization is not to be found in a “box” or program, but in communicating the love of Christ’s own heart. This necessitates joyful Christian witness, a listening ear and compassion. This all takes time—the mustard seed is an apt image, which captures the dynamic of growth.

Later that day we made our way over to the Emmanuel Community School of Mission. The Emmanuel Community itself is a global community based on three pillars: Eucharist (adoration), Evangelization and Compassion. Their School of Mission consists of 16 students who devote 9 months of their lives to community life, study of the Faith and the various apostolates of evangelization and compassion. We also found out that they were a charismatic group (much to the joy of Very Mr. Deacon Chris Gernetzke who kept raising his hands and shouting ‘Amen!’ at random times). We shared a lively meal that included testimonies from some of the students in the Emmanuel School of Mission and some SPS deacons. We ended, in typical Saint Paul Seminary fashion, by singing God Bless America and Lady of Knock.

All in all, it was a very anointed, Spirit-filled day!

Deacon Jake Anderson (Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul)

A community within the Community

14 January, 2015

Boungirono carissimi fratelli e sorelle!

(Good day dear brothers and sisters!) I am writing to you now from the refectory of a seminary in Montefiascone, about a 90 minute train ride from the Eternal City (Rome). I apologize, but I will be covering yesterday's events, as I only today found internet access.

We are here to visit a missionary community – the Institute of the Incarnate Word. They have a seminary here with roughly 50 men, all of whom are studying for the priesthood or have been ordained priests. Their community is one of many religious communities that exist to spread the Gospel in every part of the globe.

Yesterday we started by getting to Termini, the main train station in Rome. From there we took two trains to Montefiascone and then the brothers from the Institute took us up the mountainous city to the seminary. We had a tour of the grounds and then saw some of the old city which included a now defunct papal castle called the Rocca dei Papi (Rock of the Pope). This castle was a papal summer home in the Bolsegna region during the Avignon Papacy, and St. Ignatius came here to ask the Pope's blessing and approval for the nascent Jesuits. After this we went to the Cathedral, which was just down the hill, and saw a few of the boarded up escape tunnels from the castle. After returning to the seminary, we got an introduction to the work and mission of the Institute of the Word Incarnate, and heard from a few of the seminarians about their conversions and the Lord's call to join the seminary.

After lunch we had a few more presentations and enjoys some espresso, tea, jam and bread with the seminarians for the afternoon snack. Following this we resumed presentations and Q+A sessions, then went to the chapel for evening prayer and Mass. Dinner was at 9pm, so we all naturally went straight to our rooms at the end of the day.

While all of the presentations have been quite impressive, the witness of the community here, their joy, prayer, and spartan mode of living is inspiring, as well as absolutely necessary for all those who proclaim the gospel.

God bless, and let us keep each other in prayer!

- Deacon Chris Gernetzke
Diocese of Madison, WI

Tombs and Cardinals

12 January 2015

Today was a very full day for the deacon class.  We started the day with mass at the altar of St. Sebastian, which has the body of Pope St. John Paul II.  Following that, we had a classroom session, followed by a scavi tour.

The scavi are the ruins of the 1-3rd century graveyard that was filled in to make the Constantine basilica, which was then replaced by the current structure.  Unfortunately since there are still people buried there and very delicate frescos (in your best Italian accent) No Photo!

After the tour through the ruins, which includes the highlight of seeing the Tomb of St. Peter and a quick dash through the grottos where most of the people who have funeral monuments in the upper church are actually buried, we met with Cardinal Comastri, the archpriest of St. Peter's.  Following that we had a meeting with the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice, and Cardinal Turkson stopped in to say hello and gave us about 20 minutes of his time.

Tomorrow we are off for our one and only class field trip to Montefiascone, where we will be staying overnight with the Institute of the Incarnate Word.  We are unsure if we will have wi-fi, so tomorrow there may not be a new post.

-Deacon John Powers.

P.S. I cannot resist the urge to self-promote.  If you are interested in following my own blog for the Rome trip, the link is here.

The Levels of Christianity

Posted by: Deacon Bruno Nwachukwu

8 January 2015

We began the day with our usual Italian breakfast. Then, we hopped on the city bus twice heading down town to meet with our tour guide for the morning session. In the course of our tour, we saw and received detailed information on the ancient architectural buildings of the Church of San Clemente (St. Clement), the Coliseum, and the Roman Forum. It was very impressive to see all these buildings, especially the various levels of the church of San Clemente from the 1^st Century to the present.  

The Romans of the ancient period had a high respect for god. This was reflected even in their culture and even in their architecture. 

During our evening Mass, we were inspired by the homily given to us by Deacon John Powers, who encouraged us to always be good witnesses of God’s love. 

A few minutes after the Mass, we all trekked down to the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere where we visited and learned about the life and charism of the Lay Community of Sant’ Egidio. This community is a lay movement of men and women whose charism is based on a life of prayer, service/ love for the poor, and to work for peace. One of the things that stood out for me and I guess for my fellow deacons was that a good life of prayer enables one to serve the poor better. We ended the day by joining them in their Italian evening prayer, and then, walked to a nearby Italian restaurant to eat dinner.

It was indeed a full day of good experiences. God bless our two speakers and all that made our day a fruitful one. Please continue to pray for us while we do the same for you here in Rome. Long Live Rome, the Eternal City! Ciao.