It's been over a week, and I am overdue to post on this blog. Much happened. Here are some snapshots:
We hosted a doubleheader of soccer games on Saturday against Willamette University and Sunday against Reed College. I haven't written much about the soccer team yet, in part because we only played one game prior to this weekend, and in part because I was still forming thoughts on the experience. We play other small colleges in the area, with Oregon State being the exception. OSU has a full-fledged club team, but we get their "B" team and apparently get slaughtered every time. Our opponents have significant competitive advantages: Larger pools of players for choosing a team (we have about 200 seminarians compared to a couple thousand students at other schools), more time and commitment from players, superior facilities (we spent hours filling in the holes on our field with dirt Friday), and coaches or players with strong soccer backgrounds. As you might guess, we don't win many games. I'm writing an article about sports at Mount Angel for the Portland Archdiocesan newspaper, and my teammates suggested I title it something related to "sacrificial lambs" or "exercises in humility."
That made our win on Sunday very sweet. No one could recall the last time our team recorded a victory. Granted, Reed was down a player, so we didn't face a full squad, but we dominated the match, winning 3-0, missing a penalty kick, and hitting the post. It was a solid performance for the Guardians of Mount Angel. One of my seminarian brothers, a 20-year-old college student who looks like Bishop Mike minus 50 years, took a large Vatican flag to our field and celebrated each goal by waving it on the run and shouting for joy. The Reed players probably thought us obnoxious, but when victories are rare, we savor them.
I tried out for choir on the hilltop but didn't make the cut. The last time I recall not making the team was my freshman and sophomore years of high school in soccer. It hurt then. I tried to pretend it didn't hurt now, but it did, just a little.
I've not been in a choir since fifth grade, and the only formal training I've had was two quarters of voice lessons in college, so I don't feel too bad. But the competitive side of me keeps looking at the members of the choir wondering, "Am I really not as good as any of them?"
I know it's ridiculous of me to be so petty. Actually, I probably would not have accepted the invitation to choir had I made it because I wanted to invest my time in other activities. Still, I wanted the invitation.
Rather than continue moping and seething, I decided to join the one choir on campus that doesn't require a tryout: Spanish Schola. We sing for the Spanish Mass on Wednesday mornings. Our choir director is extremely Canadian, doan cha know, and doesn't speak "a lick" of Spanish (her words). There are three white guys and an Asian, quite a few Mexicans who embrace the mariachi sounds, two guitars, a piano, one jembe, and a good beat. It's a nice place to sing, work on singing better, and make use of the competitive feelings I can't seem to wipe away.
Seeing Teens.
I miss the teens from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I keep in touch with some of them, but it's not the same as being part of their lives each week. Luckily, my pastoral assignment gives me an hour each week with some teens, though the setting is quite different. Almost all the seminarians have a once-a-week pastoral assignment working at assisted living centers, area churches, food banks, and charitable organizations. My assignment is with one of the Benedictine monks, Br. Nicolaus. We drive 45 minutes every Thursday afternoon to Oregon City and the Klackamas County Juvenile Center, where we facilitate a discussion group for teens that have gotten into trouble for minor offenses like smoking marijuana, breaking curfew, or expressing too much anger toward a teacher. The discussion group focuses on decision-making skills and how to be a healthier, more mature individual.
To this point, we have observed and contributed to the discussion, but we have yet to facilitate. That should start next week. We have five or six teens each week on a rotating basis as they complete the course and new ones enter in. I'm really looking forward to seeing the growth of these teens, though as I discovered in youth ministry, planting seeds doesn't always yield visible fruit. Hopefully Br. Nicolaus and I have the skills (or can develop them) to draw out of the teens more self-awareness and confidence to be healthy, contributing individuals in their schools, neighborhoods, and homes.
My first non-dental oral exam went well. I had to nail down the talking points of five philosophers and explain them to my professor concisely for Philosophic Anthropology. It's a fancy name for the study of the human person. We cover one philosopher's approach to the human person each week. So far, we've talked Plato, Kant, Marx, Freud, and Sartre. If you've taken philosophy, you know these guys can be depressing. Marx: We're all alienated by the capitalistic economic and social conditions that form our being, and the proletariat will rise up. Freud: We have no free will, only subconscious drives that were established from our oddly sexualized first five years of childhood. Sartre: We are condemned to be free, and the only ethical guide we have is to do whatever we want with that freedom. Yikes.
Not all philosophers are devoid of hope, but I will be glad to see glimmers of goodness about humanity as we move to new thinkers. The point here is that the test went well. I described the philosophers like I knew their viewpoint, walked out with an 18 out of 20, and got set for a free weekend. Three more midterms are upcoming, but they are spaced out -- one this week, another two the next.
Today opens the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI. Each year a theme is given by the Vatican as a point of reflection for the faithful. In the past we celebrated a year of St. Paul and a year for priests. The Year of Faith marks the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council commencing and the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church's publication, quite a cause for reflection and renewal. Catholics are called to celebrate this special time by rededicating ourselves to spiritual acts of faith in our Lord. I am looking for a new and invigorating spiritual practice this year but haven't found one yet. Have you? How are you celebrating the Year of Faith? I'd love to hear ideas if you have them. Know that wherever you read this, we can join together as a Church family, as one body, as Christ's hands and feet following in faith. To borrow loosely from the old text of the Mass, let us lift our hearts and minds together as with one voice, we acclaim the mystery of our faith!
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