Marathon

The postulants and pre-novices of the men and women all left this morning between 9:00 and 10:00. Then Joe Nguyen arrived from Watsonville to work on his MA project. I joined him in the library, and we worked steadily from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, with only a brief break for dinner, which we had at Ristorante Raphael on Center Street.

The project is mainly finished. There are a lot of things that need fine-tuning, but if Joe can get hand it in before the end of next week, he stands a chance of having the work approved and of graduating in May.

Actually, I like what he's coming up with, complicated as it is… but I have to admit that I've been very close to the process, and I don't see the errors any more. I'm hoping that the other two professors will be constructive in that area. On the other hand, I've learned so much about the Vietnamese culture, especially the religious culture, by working with him through this. When he finishes I would like to see his work distributed among the Salesians of the province so that they can come to understand the reality that the Vietnamese immigrants and their children face in terms of their faith development.

But at this point there are still some hurdles to jump for Joe and his MA Project. I keep my fingers crossed for him.