ROME: Deaconate Ordination

Thursday, October 6 (Feast of St. Bruno) was the Deaconate Ordination. This was very special because it was the main reason why we were all there!

Tyler was put in charge of his dad's video camera. He had a lot of fun standing in line with it...

Listen to how special this was: we were in St. Peter’s Basilica, sitting by the main altar (where Peter is buried underneath) and celebrated Mass there with at least 100 bishops, priests and deacons. It lasted for 2 hours and 45 minutes and was beautiful: incense, organ, trumpets, men's choir.


Here's a picture of where we were sitting. We were in the very back (the next picture shows where the front of the Mass was) but we loved sitting where we did and taking the whole Mass in. It was very special to be there, and neither Tyler nor I had ever been to any ordination before. 

Here are Deacon Victor and Deacon Pat as they were processing out.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Notice the Holy Spirit Dove above the altar.

Then we walked up the hill to the North American Seminary. All the seminarians were there to greet us, serve us wine, and they were very friendly. It is a lot larger than I had pictured, and there was a beautiful courtyard where they had tables set up with little finger foods. Victor and Pat, now Deacon Victor and Deacon Pat, were very happy and it was special to be there with them and their families.

Tyler and I saw Father Boone from Loras College. There is a seminarian from the Archdiocese of Dubuque who was ordained a Deacon so Fr. Boone came and concelebrated Mass. It was really cool to know a priest who was in the Mass...actually I was surprised at how many people we saw that we knew. Tyler saw a lot of people who graduated from Ave Maria in Rome, probably for the ordination.

ROME: Wednesday

I am a little slow, but still continuing the posts about Rome! 

After the papal audience we went to the Vatican Museum. A few words to sum it up: very crowded. We learned that on Wednesdays the cruise ships come into town so there were thousands of people for that, as well as for the papal audience. It was the wrong day to go to really take your time and enjoy it, although we are thankful we were able to go at all. 

I had no idea what to expect and obviously pictured the various museums I have been in throughout my life. Well, this was very different. It was huge! The museum takes you through tons of rooms and goes in one direction so you have to go the way they tell you (we tried to bypass some rooms but it didn't work.)

The museum ends in the Sistine Chapel, and since we wanted to see that, we had to go through every other room first. The Sistine Chapel is called the “heart and soul of the Vatican” and it was beautiful (even though it was packed, noisy, and dark.)

After that we had time to grab a quick pick-me-up. I had chocolate gelato, Tyler had cappuccino, Jeff had a beer, and Barb had an espresso. 

It worked, because 20 minutes later we had enough energy to go on a 30 minute walk to another Church for a prayer service for the family and friends of the seminarians preparing for ordination. It was beautiful. There was adoration and confessions and it was a very blessed time. Here's the group outside the church.

Then we ate againJ We went to a fun restaurant and had pizza. They served a delicious appetizer of bruschetta and then everyone got a single pizza of their choice, the size of a large plate. It wasn’t as much food as we have had the other nights, but still plenty! 

Again we got gelato on the way back to the hotel! It was delicious. I had chocolate and a creamy berry sorbet. Tyler had chocolate and banana.

Semester Highlights

Hey y'all! Thanks so much for all your prayers for us at Loras College. God has really been working in us and the students and we wanted to share with you some of the exciting things that are happening!

• Three bible studies are beginning with members of four different varsity teams on campus
• I have developed friendships with student-athletes by being present at football and soccer practices, as well as spending time with them off the field throughout the week
• I was invited by Coach Schultz to give brief meditations before cross-country meets
• Three student-athletes will attend FOCUS Leadership Summit, Illuminate, in Baltimore during the weekend of January 20-23. They will also have the opportunity to attend the March for Life in Washington D.C. More information on the Summit can be found at http://www.focussummit.org
• Varsity Catholic is hosting a soccer mission trip in St. Lucia at the end of late May. Several student-athletes have already shown interest in the trip.
• Former Anaheim Angel and convert to Catholicism is coming to speak at Loras with the athletes the evening of Wednesday, March 7th about his journey to the faith and the importance of living one's life for Christ on and off the field.
• I have had the privilege of serving the men's and women's soccer teams by selling scarves at several home games and helping out with their fundraiser for the Louverture-Cleary school in Haiti.