Snow in Rome

The winter has been more rigid than usual and I am aware that my California clothing does not work in this cold weather… but today we had the big surprise: snow!

The Salesian Pontifical University dons a winter coat.

When the flakes got big, many could not resist going out to take a photo or two. Here I am with César from Venezuela. He is one of my students.

Argentine Mario Llanos, professor of education, was more snow covered than this photo indicates.

Snow is so rare in Rome that for many of our students this was the first snowfall they had ever seen.

Even was we posed for photos, I noticed that the garden at the entry of the campus was starting to get a thin white layer of snow. The flakes were bigger and a slight breeze picked up.

From the front of the university I could see through the windows and noticed that the snow was beginning to cover the internal courtyards and roadways of the campus.

The central courtyard covered with snow. In my own student days at the UPS, this courtyard was usually vacant, and in the afternoons many of the students and professors used to walk up and down, catching up on news and getting some exercise. Nowadays it has become a parking lot and remains full most of the day until late at night. But today is the last day of classes before the Christmas break, so many students were already gone by mid morning. That is a lucky thing. I can just imagine the skidding if they all tried to leave in the sudden snowfall.

Franciscan Sisters from Mexico were excited to see the snow and posed for a photo. Of course, before the shutter clicked, Salesian Benny Joseph from Hyderabad ran in to add his support as back-up.

Soon enough, the entrance to the university library began to cover with snow.

The central tower of the University under the white skies and snow clouds.

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.

Symposium on the Filotea

This morning at the UPS we celebrated the 400th Anniversary of the publishing of the Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales (summer 1609) with a symposium.

Speakers at today's seminar: Eunan McDonnell, Valentín Viguera, Anne-Marie Baud, Joseph Boenzi, Eugenio Albuquerque, Moran Wirth, Aldo Giraudo

 It is almost two years ago that Aldo Giraudo and I began to speak of this and to plan for it. Originally my suggestion was for a scholars seminar, similar to what takes place in Stella Niagara every second year. Aldo and I contacted Salesians who study Francis de Sales and invited them to take part. We got a good response.

When the word reached the Formation Department at the Salesian General Headquarters, the formation councilor, don Francesco Cereda, invited all the formation houses of the Salesian family in Rome to attend. Thus, instead of a three day scholars' seminar, we were slated to give a one-day formation workshop with the scholars making their contributions.

And then… to complicate things a bit, the outgoing rector of the Salesian Pontifical University, don Mario Toso, was appointed secretary of the Vatican Commission on Justice and Peace, and named Archbishop. This afternoon is his ordination at St Peter's. This meant that we had to cut the seminar down to the morning.

Eight interventions in four hours? We did it, with over 300 people in attendance. It was all received very well, but of course we are all reeling from the intensity of it. At this point, most are hurrying off to St Peter's for an episcopal ordination. Aldo and I have just caucused to discuss publishing the Acts of this seminar… but we also intend just to bring some of the speakers into Rome this evening for a little tourist relaxation and a thank you supper in the old city.

Since it is all about the Introduction to the Devout Life, we will have to order something that is made with honey.

Rain and pre-registration

Well, good old St Martin did not hold off the rain. It came again last night and continued through the night in Rome. In fact, this morning we were greeted with more thunder and lightening as we sipped our latte in the staff dinning room at the UPS. This morning as I walked to my office I kept to the porticoes as the rain continued. Now there seems to be a little bit of a break, but more rain is forecast for the final days of this week.

Yesterday evening I did a lot of e-mailing with my students from DSPT regarding the pre-registration now underway for Spring Semester 2009. One of the responsibilities of every instructor at DSPT is to help a group of students in a personalized way as academic advisor. I have 22 advisees this semester at DSPT… and the trick is to keep up the advising process even when I am away from Berkeley to teach in Rome for 12 weeks.

I am so happy that God created e-mail.

The real time for registration is during the last week of January 2009. This pre-registration process is just a convenience offered to the students, especially those who are looking to get into courses with limited enrollments (and for some reason, there are many professors at the GTU who love to limit the enrollment to their courses). It becomes troublesome to many students who cannot meet their requirements because they cannot get a timely response from professors to enroll in courses that are required.

But for others, particularly those in the Master of Divinity program (MDV), there is less need to worry about this. Their courses are offered on cycles with an agreement among the various school to schedule classes in the same core areas so as not to conflict. I am speaking of the three Catholic schools here because, understandably, the Catholic MDV programs have many more requirements that those of the schools of Protestant denominations at GTU. Why should that be? Because the Catholic schools must follow the indications of the Holy See and the Bishops Conference in the area of priestly formation.

The greater concern for the moment is for the members of the Institute of Salesian Studies (ISS). Most come from other countries and find the system a bit difficult to understand. Last August I was able to walk most of the ISS students through all of this, and they all seemed to fit in more easily to the DSPT and GTU as we started the term. Now I have been in contact with each of them to make sure that they are working through the registration process with ease. Internet and e-mail has been the great help in this.

All of which leads me to reflect that, with the internet, one can really live in two worlds at the same time… or even more worlds. What does that do to the psyche? Ah… good question.

(Photos. Above: autumn rain at UPS; below: portico at DSPT)

Sunday - feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Today we celebrate the very interesting feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This is the first church ever to be publicly blessed and dedicated. The gift of Constantine to the Christian community began with the Lateran palace given to Pope Melchiades in 312, which became the residence of the popes until Pope Clement V moved the papacy to Avignon in 1309 -- nearly 1000 years, therefore. In 320, Constantine built a church on the model of the Roman basilica (court). The church dedicated to the Most Holy Savior was blessed on 9 November 324 by Pope Sylvester.

The Lateran basilica became the cathedral church of the bishop of Rome, but it also has another significance. It is the first church that was expressly built as a center for worship in Rome, in the West, and in the whole world actually (in urbe et in orbe). It is therefore the mother of all churches (in terms of buildings) and the symbol of unity (in western Catholicism).

Many reflections for this day… starting with yesterday evening when we had a special presentation during evening prayer, and continuing with mass and other prayer services today. For the mass I attended at Don Rua Community Chapel. Fr Aimable Musoni was principal celebrant and preacher. He gave a brilliant homily, stressing the Church as living body of Christ.

One little piece of news about the Lateran Basilica that I had previously failed to grasp is this. The church is built, we say, in cruciform — in the shape of the cross. This is not accurate. It is really built in the shape of the crucified, that is, in the shape of Christ crucified. In other words, the basilica is built in the shape of the Body of Christ so that the church structure can help to shape the Church as people into the Mystical Body of Christ.

How is this so? How is it like the human body and not the cross? Well, the apse of the church, where the sanctuary is, at the very "top" of the floor plan, is rounded, like the human head. Then the two "arms" of the basilica reach out, in cross form, but also to speak of invitation, of embrace. Yes, of course. Romans are expressive with their gestures. Their buildings are just as expressive in human terms. This means, then, that the basilica, used for major celebrations, invites the Church to truly unite with Christ and to let Christ form himself in her — in us.

Amazing element. It has given me much to consider, for here is unspoken language that built understanding for centuries before there were books and print media... but language that built a theology of Church. It is very exciting to think about this, even at 7.30 in the morning.

After mass I joined the Don Rua community again for breakfast and had a chance to speak with Fr Peter Gonsalves again. He explained his course on "Communications for Peace". It is quite fascinating. I would like to see him offer this course in Berkeley.

Feast of Mary Immaculate amid sunshine and rain

Rome is enjoying rainy weather these days, but every so often the wind blows the clouds out to sea and this gives the Eternal City a couple of hours of respite.

That was the story this morning. I awoke to a brilliantly blue sky, but clouds were moving in to cover the heavens as I moved to the university church for the 11.45 feast-day liturgy… and by the time we came out of the services at 13.00, it was raining.

All the communities at the UPS, of Salesians and the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, came together to celebrate. Even those from the infirmary joined in the one Eucharist. Presiding at the concelebrated mass was Fr José Luis Placencia, director of the deacon's community San Tommaso. His homily linked the scriptures with the concerns of youth today in a way that invited me to reflect more deeply on contemporary situations and their significance. Fr Mario Llanos directed the music and singing - there was good participation throughout.

After the mass there was a reception for all the communities in the hallways leading to the dining facilities. The fare was simple but nicely presented, and the whole point of this was to get the Salesians of the different communities to mingle and chat a bit. The festive dinner came next, with each community celebrating in its own dining room as usual. Almost everyone dressed up for the occasion, and the meal went slowly allowing for good conversation. All told, there was a family feel to this feast of Mary Immaculate.

We home

The jet from Munich touched down at 18.40 hours at San Francisco (SFO). The trip through immigration was quick, although the agent kept turning over my card and thumbing through my passport looking at all the stamps of arrivals and departures. Funny, the agent in Munich did the same thing. This must be the day for checking all the past trips. In the end the immigration agent asked me: "How long have you been away?"

"Three weeks," say I.

"And where you in Italy the whole time?" he asks.

"Yes," say I, "I was in Rome the whole time."

Then he smiles and says. "It must have been beautiful," and he gives me my passport.

Tired as I am from this long and cramped flight, I laugh and say, "Oh yes, Italy is always beautiful!"

It took another 40 minutes before I could get my luggage, and when I came out of immigration and customs, John Rasor was there to meet me and to bring me back to Berkeley. I came straight up to my room, took a quick shower, and checked my messages. There were only two, and the latest was from my brother Sal, who phoned this morning to say "Welcome home!" Nice gesture. I just made a quick phone call to my mom in Bellflower… and now, I'm crazily adding this memory as my body is telling me: "get some sleep".

Okay, so I will. Another portion of my Roman adventures seem to be closing, but there is more to come: and that's the truth.

More rain and rain again

The class went well, but the time dedicated to classes here is too short… not to mention that it takes ten minutes for the students to trail into the room. That means that, out of 45 minutes of class time, you have basically 30 minutes of instruction time. Still, I managed to do a couple of things to get them thinking, including showing part of a video clip of Joan of Arcadia, the television show that aired in the USA for two seasons: 2003-2005. I had to show them the piece in English, but I put subtitles. Half the group understood everything, laughed at the jokes… they all seemed to get the message in spite of the language barrier. Of course, that's what I spent the first 20 minutes trying to prepare them to understand.

After lunch I met with the dean, Giorgio Zevini, regarding my future status at the UPS. We came to an agreement (which I will outline later). Then I had to see my student Virgilio Da Silva to go over his thesis draft, after which I met with José Luis Moral to straighten out the books, Marco Bay to find some method to get my North American Area 1 DVDs to play on Area 2 European computers (and vice versa, so as to continue to use these video presentations in the classes), Tarcisio Simonelli and the delegation from Tuscany (to try out some cured salami and Tuscan wines), Gregorio Wieczorek at the library (to go over the procedures to put my Youth Spirituality books on a reserve shelf), and Aldo Giraudo (who leaves tomorrow for Torino for a series of lectures).

And through all of this we have had the heaviest rains I have seen all this month. The water has been coming down in sheets, and the thunder and lightning has continued since this morning. It goes hard and heavy for a half hour, then we have ten minutes of sunshine, then more rain and thunder and lightning for the next half hour. Amazing, this Nature, but it means that we have to concentrate on what we have to do.

Lots of Water: Laundry and Fountains

Did laundry in the morning -- and this extended into the afternoon since I could not make large loads. The Sals have a lot of clothes.

Afternoon trip to Rome: Piazza Navona, San Luigi dei Francesi, Giolitti for gelato, Monte Citorio, Trevie Fountain. I told them the story of how, if you throw a coin in the Fontana di Trevie, you will return to Rome. I'd heard the story when I was a kid from a Salesian who had been a student in Rome, Fr Ralph Simeoni. Then the story was told in the movie "Roman Holiday", and that made the practice famous. However, I have since learned that the legend is not from Hollywood but indeed Roman and a very old tradition that goes back at least a couple of centuries.

Well, there were so many people around the fountain that it was impossible to get too close without being attacked by Indian vendors insisting on our buying trinkets. Their pushiness did not matter; being at the fontana is always magic for me, and I saw it was for my engineer of a brother and sometimes-skeptical nephew. But we did not throw in any coins. Sal simply said, "I've already decided to come back to Rome; I don't need to throw in any coins for that."