This past week there were over 20 Priests that came to New Staff Training for Chaplains week. We are so thankful for all our Priests and let's keep praying for them and for an increase in vocations! (Picture by Mario Martinez)
Friday, June 22, 2012
Chaplains Week
This past week there were over 20 Priests that came to New Staff Training for Chaplains week. We are so thankful for all our Priests and let's keep praying for them and for an increase in vocations! (Picture by Mario Martinez)
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Team 2012-2013
We are really excited to introduce to you four new members for our team for this upcoming year at Loras!
Courtney (back left) is a campus intern, which means she will be a senior at Loras and graduate in December. So she is with us for the first semester and then will be sent to another campus in the Spring. We are so excited to have her on our team. She is really involved in theater and music so it'll be awesome to have her reach out to the students in those groups.
Maria and Craig (back center) are the new married couple on our team! They both graduated from Ball State a few years ago and have been working in Indianapolis since then. Craig will be full time and Maria will be an Affiliate Missionary (which is what I am, where we are on the team and fully supportive and involved on campus, but not on staff.)
Stacey (front left) is returning with us to Loras. This will be her second year with FOCUS and cool fact...she also graduated from Ball State and was already friends with Maria and Craig!
And finally, Alexandra (front center) is a first year Varsity Catholic missionary and will be joining Tyler in the work of reaching out to athletes. We are so excited to have her on our team and she graduated from IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) which means there are four people on our team from Indiana!
Courtney (back left) is a campus intern, which means she will be a senior at Loras and graduate in December. So she is with us for the first semester and then will be sent to another campus in the Spring. We are so excited to have her on our team. She is really involved in theater and music so it'll be awesome to have her reach out to the students in those groups.Maria and Craig (back center) are the new married couple on our team! They both graduated from Ball State a few years ago and have been working in Indianapolis since then. Craig will be full time and Maria will be an Affiliate Missionary (which is what I am, where we are on the team and fully supportive and involved on campus, but not on staff.)
Stacey (front left) is returning with us to Loras. This will be her second year with FOCUS and cool fact...she also graduated from Ball State and was already friends with Maria and Craig!
And finally, Alexandra (front center) is a first year Varsity Catholic missionary and will be joining Tyler in the work of reaching out to athletes. We are so excited to have her on our team and she graduated from IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) which means there are four people on our team from Indiana!
Our motto for the year is "all in for HIM" and we are trying to change things up at Loras by calling ourselves "duhawk focus" (our mascot is a duhawk...dubuque, hawk...get it?)
"Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord." Romans 12:11
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
New Staff Training
Here are all the missionaries at New Staff Training! Good luck finding the Rossers...I'll give you a hint, we're at the top!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Men's and Women's Rec
Needless to say, the Married Men's team were the soccer champions last year. So...they have high hopes for this season! On Wednesday nights the men play soccer and the women have a different activity (this week it was volleyball) and of course, this is Tyler's favorite part of training.
Here he is going to the game, walking down the hall yelling "CHAMPIONS!"
It's awesome to watch the guys play. Most of the guys wouldn't pick to play soccer if they had a choice, but it's inspiring to see how they give it their all and come together as teams.
The married men's team tied 0-0. But Tyler quickly reminded me that is how they started their season last year.
The married women's team had around 11 players for volleyball, so instead of taking turns they all played at once against another women's college with only 7 or 8 players. It was a little advantage for us, but it might have made it a little more chaotic as well!
The volleyball courts are next to the soccer fields so a few of the wives and I skipped out and watched our husbands play.
It's beautiful because we all get together afterwards to pray and then call out the name of our college, which is after a patron saint. I am in the college of Blessed Zelie Martin, who was the mother of Therese of Lisieux.
Summer Training: Week 1
The other night Tyler and I were talking about our life (we love our life, by the way!) and since we've been married (almost two years, how crazy is that?!) we have lived in many states (Nebraska, Florida, Alabama, and Iowa) and have made our "home" in many different places.
Currently, our "home" is two dorm rooms connected by a bathroom. Even though I enjoy the simplicity of living without a ton of stuff for most of the summer, I can't tell you how nice it is to know we have a home in Dubuque that we will be returning to!
We are really excited to go back to Loras and to be second year missionaries here at New Staff Training. It is a world of difference from last year coming in and not knowing much about what it is to be a FOCUS missionary, especially in regards to fundraising our salary and being on a team with other missionaries!
We love the Newman Center here at the University of Champaign. Check out our blog post last year, Catholic Disney World, to see pics of the gorgeous chapel!
FOCUS hired 160 new missionaries this year, which means there are overal 300 missionaries here this summer. It's awesome to see us all walk from the classes in the Union back to the Newman Center.
Seeing this gives me chills. We are all here together, praying and preparing ourselves so we are eqiupped to go onto our campus in the Fall!
The classes are amazing. Unlike Tyler who went to Ave Maria and had plenty of classes in theology and philosophy, the stuff we are learning here is mostly new to me.
For example, we learned the difference between "magnanimity" and "pusillanimity" in a character formation class. I had heard the first word before, but wouldn't have been able to define it.
Magnanimity is greatness of soul and aspires us to nobility; urging us on to our final goal of Heaven.
Pusillanimnity is smallness of soul and aiming too low; we might recognize the greatness in something but since it's hard, we fall short and settle for ease and comfort.
My favorite class this past week was taught by a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Brian Dunkle. We received 9 hours of information about Ignatian Prayer and Discernment of Spirits. You should check out the book, Discernment of Spirits, by Fr. Gallagher. The classes explained lots of information that I had previously read in this book.
Fr. Dunkle outlined five parts to Ignatian Prayer:
1. Enter into God's presence
2. The three "preludes"
a. Recall the subject matter (a part of Scripture or other work that you read earlier)
b. Composition of place (use the imagination to picture the scene and place yourself in it)
c. Desire (ask God for the grace for a specific thing related to scripture, such as if going to pray on the Passion, ask for sorrow, tears, and anguish with Christ in anguish)
3.Body of Prayer
a. Meditation (memory, understanding, and will)
b. Contemplation (see, listen, watch)
4. Colloguy (conversation with Christ)
5. Mission (object of Ignatian prayer is apostolic)
Those are just the basics so if you are interested in learning more about this check out the book Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Praying with Scripture by Fr. Gallagher.
One last thought about the week: eating in the cafeteria is always an adventure!
There are so many choices, and Tyler and I have been trying to choose the healthy options (Tyler is doing a better job than I am) but my favorite thing is yogurt in the morning!
Look at all the choices of yogurt and fruit! So far it hasn't gotten old, but we are only on week one so we'll see how long my craving for it lasts!
Currently, our "home" is two dorm rooms connected by a bathroom. Even though I enjoy the simplicity of living without a ton of stuff for most of the summer, I can't tell you how nice it is to know we have a home in Dubuque that we will be returning to!
We are really excited to go back to Loras and to be second year missionaries here at New Staff Training. It is a world of difference from last year coming in and not knowing much about what it is to be a FOCUS missionary, especially in regards to fundraising our salary and being on a team with other missionaries!
We love the Newman Center here at the University of Champaign. Check out our blog post last year, Catholic Disney World, to see pics of the gorgeous chapel!
FOCUS hired 160 new missionaries this year, which means there are overal 300 missionaries here this summer. It's awesome to see us all walk from the classes in the Union back to the Newman Center.
Seeing this gives me chills. We are all here together, praying and preparing ourselves so we are eqiupped to go onto our campus in the Fall!
The classes are amazing. Unlike Tyler who went to Ave Maria and had plenty of classes in theology and philosophy, the stuff we are learning here is mostly new to me.
For example, we learned the difference between "magnanimity" and "pusillanimity" in a character formation class. I had heard the first word before, but wouldn't have been able to define it.
Magnanimity is greatness of soul and aspires us to nobility; urging us on to our final goal of Heaven.
Pusillanimnity is smallness of soul and aiming too low; we might recognize the greatness in something but since it's hard, we fall short and settle for ease and comfort.
My favorite class this past week was taught by a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Brian Dunkle. We received 9 hours of information about Ignatian Prayer and Discernment of Spirits. You should check out the book, Discernment of Spirits, by Fr. Gallagher. The classes explained lots of information that I had previously read in this book.
Fr. Dunkle outlined five parts to Ignatian Prayer:
1. Enter into God's presence
2. The three "preludes"
a. Recall the subject matter (a part of Scripture or other work that you read earlier)
b. Composition of place (use the imagination to picture the scene and place yourself in it)
c. Desire (ask God for the grace for a specific thing related to scripture, such as if going to pray on the Passion, ask for sorrow, tears, and anguish with Christ in anguish)
3.Body of Prayer
a. Meditation (memory, understanding, and will)
b. Contemplation (see, listen, watch)
4. Colloguy (conversation with Christ)
5. Mission (object of Ignatian prayer is apostolic)
Those are just the basics so if you are interested in learning more about this check out the book Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Praying with Scripture by Fr. Gallagher.
One last thought about the week: eating in the cafeteria is always an adventure!
There are so many choices, and Tyler and I have been trying to choose the healthy options (Tyler is doing a better job than I am) but my favorite thing is yogurt in the morning!
Look at all the choices of yogurt and fruit! So far it hasn't gotten old, but we are only on week one so we'll see how long my craving for it lasts!
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