Statistics and character traits

So here I am, back in Rome… for another semester. I arrived on Saturday, the 25th… and the jet lag continues, which is why I am awake so early today, showered, dressed and at my keyboard before the rest of the house comes to life.

Roman dawn

As I have done in previous years, I am living at the Salesian University, where I will be teaching during the Autumn Semester that will begin next week. Actually, ours is a pontifical university, but we are off the beaten track from historic, imperial, medieval, renaissance, risorgimental, and art deco Rome. We are in the northern sector, in district 4, which is totally blue collar (or proletarian, as it is said here). The advantage is that we are situated among the real folks, the immigrants, the workers, families with children, the workshops. Our university is open to the people of our district and the three that surround ours, in the sense that they can access our university library and make use of services that we offer.

Our student body is over 70% laity (which is by far the largest ratio of any of the pontifical universities and academies), and 95% of these are Romans (who are among the most pragmatic, blunt, down-to-earth, no-nonsense, life-loving people on the planet). The 30% religious come from 83 different nations, from every continent (oh yes! Italians count the continents as five: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Oceania), and from at least 100 different religious communities.

There are some here who are aware of the politics (ecclesial and civil). In fact, one of the professors here has just been named bishop (and he's not the first of our faculty). Yet, most of the people that I know here follow the lead of the true Romans who are never too impressed by a show of power or brilliance. "What do you expect?" one Roman friend likes to tell me. "We've seen it all: Hannibal and his elephants, the Caesars, the lions, the barbarians, the Normans and the Saracens, the French and the Austrians, the Nazis and the Americans, the popes and the pagans. They all came, they all left, and we go onward."

The bulk of our students and instructors take care of cultivating relationships while working hard in the business of studies, out of the limelight but building for the future. And I must say that I appreciate this approach more than any other.

The sun is up and I need to get moving if I'm to join the community for morning prayers and mass.