Ending three semesters

Today the course on ecclesiology came to an end at DSPT. That is to say that we finished the sessions, did the wrap-up, had a chance for evaluation… A lot of things happened during this course and I think in some ways this influenced the mood.

What happened?

For one, two of the students had their laptops stolen and one suffered a major setback when the motherboard burned. In fact, one of the students suffered the theft yesterday, so you can imagine that we took 10 minutes to process the feelings at the start of today's class. Not very conducive to concentrating on content.

One of the students participated in the RCIA program and made the profession of faith as a Catholic during the Easter Vigil.

One of the students moved toward solemn profession as a Dominican, with all the stress such discernment entails.

And there were techincal difficulties. I was never sure whether the media connections in the Smart Classroom would work, and so had to be prepared for other stategies to get across the materials.

Still, all of these elements helped to create a very human environment. In all my classes I found I was giving more input here, but the exchange among the students was also continuous and profound. They read, they worked, they shared their findings. I suppose that is what it is all about in the end. Through all of this we spoke of our very different experiences of Church, and therefore of our very different expectations for Church. We used Avery Dulles' book, Models of the Church, as the basis for a lot of our study, and the student assignments brought in other works as well, both scholary and popular. The discussions were rich, thoughtful and thought-provoking.

With all of this, in spite of the stolen and burnt iBooks, I come away from this ecclesiology course quietly satisfied with what we were able to accomplish.

On another front – in a land far, far away, my nephew Salvatore Boenzi graduates from the University of Arizona School of Music. I thought that the date is 16 May… but the invitation says 14 May… so today? Well a three-day graduation is not something totally unusual. He has had a very strenuous course of studies (education and music) and has done student teaching this last semester. Needless to say I am very happy for him and proud of his accomplishments.

Sal has said that he wants to spend a year or so abroad, perhaps in Italy. He would go to deepen his knowledge and capacities in music (as well as his cultural parameters). Certainly, I wish him all the best in this project and hope he finds the means to pull it off. I have known many students who have done something similar. There is much to gain if one finds the right program, enough funding, and the support of family and true friends.

But let him get through his graduation first. Good luck, Salvatore!