Pizza induced musing

Finally, after months of saying we'd do it, I went for Pizza with Mario Llanos and José Luis Plascencia. We had worked together during the long summer of 1999 when we all served on the international commission for the updating of the formation plan for the Salesian Society.

One of the issues we talked about over mushrooms and mozzarella was that there are folks who are trying to close ranks around our young adults in initial formation -- that is, if I can express it -- give them a fullproof, protective, closed environment. This refers to their living arrangements, but also to their course work. Solid, foundational theology courses are being diminished as courses in so-called "Salesian topics" are being increased. Instead of the traditional four-year course of theology, they are being put through a three-year program. Of course the plan is that they continue for a two-year licentiate, but the fact is that many provincials withdraw their students from the university (and the formation house) when they are deacons or when they are newly ordained priests, insisting that they attend courses but live and work in active communities. The arrangement works for about a month. In the end, these newly ordained are so taken by the "apostolate" that they never complete their theology studies beyond the first cycle "STB" (Bachelor in Sacred Theology).

Last week while I was at the Crocetta I heard the same conversation taking place. My old friend and ex-preside of the Crocetta Sabino Frigato told me that, at the Crocetta, they have had to cut part of their programs because the provincials don't want to let the newly ordained finish their theology studies. There too program has been changed from five years to three-plus-two years, with diaconate at the end of the third year, and priesthood at the end of the fourth… and then provincials are bringing the newly ordained back to the provinces so that they never get their licentiate.

Bishops are doing the same thing. We've got a group of newly ordained who commute to the UPS once a month and try to finish their course work and theses… but it takes them five years instead of one, if they do it at all. Great foresight on the part of the provincials and bishops!

The result is that the UPS faculty now wants to cram more courses into the three years, because they know that otherwise the clerics-to-deacons-to-priests will not have completed all their theology requirements otherwise. The Crocetta faculty is more cautious, but the result is that their students do not finish either, and three-years is too little.

Are we facing the dumbing down of the congregation and of the Church?

Letter to a young pastor

The young pastor of Corpus Christi parish in San Francisco wrote to ask my opinion on placing the people in lines for the reception of Communion. It seems that he and the older associate pastor had a disagreement on the point.

Here is how I have responded.

Rome, 22 March 2006

Monza carissimo:

thanks for your note; I'm glad to know that "Boschetto's Dream" has been well used. Sr Kathleen Gibson was able to get some more information from the author's husband that the book's price is greatly reduced, from $15 that it was orginally to $6 now. So if there are groups that are interested, Sr Kathleen will know where to get more copies.

I'm afraid that I would be the wrong person to ask about any notion of the "orderly reception of communion". I agree with Don Bosco that enforced lines and directives from ushers are to be totally avoided at that time of the liturgy. If people naturally put themselves into line, that is great; they should not be placed into lines by others, in Don Bosco's thinking.

Note that this is not a cultural issue, Monza. Don Bosco was in fact very counter-cultural when it came to this point because he operated from a pastoral concern. And his concern, as Fr Pestun has said, was that every person, especially the young, be free to approach the sacrament or be free to NOT approach it. In fact, in Turin as in much of Europe people received communion in a very orderly fashion, and everyone could see who went to communion and who didn't. In parishes there were let out by rows… in monasteries of sisters or in convents of friars, the superior received first, and then every sister or confere by rank in office and order of profession.

Don Bosco absolutely wanted to avoid any formality at this point, and so he invited the boys to come up spontaneously but respectfully. To "cover the noise" of the shuffle and also to invite a type of spiritual recollectedness, he instituted the custom of singing a hymn during Communion, and not waiting, as was the custom, for the Post-Communion for a choral piece from the choir. The Communion songs were rehearsed before mass so that everyone could learn the simple refrain and join very easily in the singing. It was the most participated song during the 11:00 High Mass, and was always sung during the 8:00 Low Mass when the boys otherwise prayed the rosary together.

This practice at the Oratory of Valdocco became Salesian practice in all of our houses, and in all the houses of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. It was a Salesian practice, and we were looked down upon for not insisting on orderliness during Communion time in our schools, oratories, and in our parishes (when we took up this ministry rather late in our history). However, the Salesians always insisted on this practice and for pastoral reasons. No one, young or old, should be forced to feel inadequate because he or she is not ready to approach the Sacrament of the Eucharist. No child should feel that his or her parents are unworthy or sinful if they do not approach the Sacrament (and there are many cases where divorced and remarried parents, struggling to right their situation, give up on church rather than face the embarrassment of not being able to join the Communion Line).

Is the practice out-dated? I don't think so. I have never felt comfortable with ushers directing people; I feel even less comfortable with the directives of Cardinal Mahoney for the communion lines… and while I have voiced my concerns, I have not been attached to parishes and so I have never pushed these considerations unless asked. And since you asked, Monza, I say that Don Bosco did not disregard lines for cultural reasons but our of pastoral considerations; he stressed prayer and insisted that Salesians follow the liturgical norms (and rubrics are really are addressed to the priest/celebrant and not to the people), he cultivated artists and musicians who could render prayer times and liturgies more beautiful and participated, and he continually invited people to frequent the sacraments, making himself available as a confessor and a preacher. He was criticized for this too: people complained that Don Bosco's boys prayed the rosary too often (daily); local priests complained that Don Bosco had too many kids in the choir (but the people loved to hear the young people sing with devotion, and many vocations came from those choirs in the singers and the listeners). And he asked that lines not be regimented by authorities, but that the people be free to approach the Sacraments as they felt ready.

Rather than simply pastoral, then, Don Bosco's teaching on this point is charismatic and moral. No one should ever be forced or conditioned to practice the faith out of fear or human respect. He never forced kids into prayer times at the Oratory; he never wanted anyone to be forced to receive the sacraments out of fear that someone would have motive to judge them badly if they did otherwise. In fact, from this point of view, to force young people or adults to go Communion by strongly conditioning them through administrative tactics is an abuse of the person.

The way to move toward a more reverent reception of Communion, it would seem, would grow out of "preaching the beauty of virtue" and instructing the people of the loving presence of Christ who invites and who is merciful, and in making the other sacrament, reconciliation, readily available… but that is another discourse. In any case, Monza, I'm sure you and Fr Pestun and the others will continue to search for a solution in keeping with Don Bosco's pastoral compassion and by being true to his charism.

Yours,
Joe

The country and raising kids

As a contrast, I spent the day with one of my past pupils in Turin yesterday. He was a kid at the Oratory when I was a theology student and "assistant". He has two sons. The oldest was born when they had a small condominium-apartment in the city of Chieri. The second one is growing up in the country since they bought a home in the area of Moncucco (where John Bosco was a cow-hand at the ages of 11 to 13).

The son from Chieri is 14, and when he comes home from school he goes up to the boys' bedroom, to his desk, does his homework. He walks directly to and from places, and seems to draw an invisible boundary around himself so that he doesn't venture past it. The second son from Moncucco, age 5, runs and jumps through the fields, has a hundred questions for the farmers, climbs trees and rocks, has built a "fort" in the forest, and never watches TV or plays electronic games. Here is the story of the City Cousin and the Country Cousin, except they are brothers. I wonder if in southern California we have built our perfect homes in perfect communities where kids can no longer roam or explore -- and these homes are so expensive that we can't afford not to work 10 hours a day to pay for them… and our kids have become timid, unnoticed, confined.

Need for pastoral formation

If there is something that I notice among most of the young Salesians who are students here at the UPS, it is that they long for practicality and pastoral rootedness. I am not sure that they find it here. Let me explain what I'm picking up in my conversations and in observing the student priests in the communities of Don Rua and Don Bosco.

While it sounds like the plan to centralize is well thought-out, I continue to wonder if it comes out of a lopsided cultural-awareness. I do not see the Salesians from new environments (Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, Africa) having an easy time of adapting to European-based studies. Many find it very difficult to learn the Italian Language, and by the time they are able to communicate, their two year licentiate course is over. There are many of these same students who tell me that they find the studies here generally very abstract or very idealistic or both. Instead, if given the choice, they would opt for something that is more concrete – something that allows them to explore their Salesian vocation and heritage while helping them examine the real world of the youngsters and people among whom they have or will work.

Numbers game: Rome vs Berkeley

Jacques Schepens told me that he notes a trend to centralize all formation: large studentates with all the teaching of first cycle theology (STB or MDV) under Rome’s direct control. By extension, the teaching of Salesian Studies (education, spirituality, history) is also thought to need centralized control, since those who study these sciences will work in initial formation … in the large studentates… supervised tightly by Rome.

In hearing this, my thought has been that it is increasingly difficult to dialogue with anyone with regard to formation in the provinces because they have all memorized the refrain “all roads lead to Rome” – beginning with Francesco Cereda. In other words, whereas the third edition the Ratio was put together between 1999-2001 with the idea of decentralization and of ensuring that throughout the congregation formation took place on the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral level, the thinking today has shifted. There are forces in the congregation that are endorsing the large group and studentate once again.

Why the centralized studentate? The reasons are based on demographics. While there are upward of 500 novices in the congregation this year (similar to vocation numbers before the 1950s), these new recruits come from many far-flung provinces, many of which are mission territories or Eastern European foundations where Catholic and Salesian traditions are very limited. A second consideration is that these 500 young-adult novices, divided among 90 provinces and 130 countries, often are found in small units, as opposed to the large numbers of teenaged novices of the 1940s that came half of the 40 provinces in existence in that era. In other words, while we have the same number of novices as in the building years of the 1930s and 1940s, we in fact have a much smaller number with respect to the huge number of provinces and apostolic presences now in existence. Outside of a few countries, therefore, the numbers of novices average between 2 and 6 per nation.

Follow this group of novices through the years of vocational journey and, by attrition, the number of theology students is smaller and much more scattered. In practice, this means that, if left in their own national environments, many theology students would remain isolated. Instead, the general councilor for formation reasons, it would be better if these young Salesians were formed in peer groups where they can receive good instruction, careful accompaniment, and consistent experiences in Salesian-style apostolic, human, spiritual and intellectual formation. Centralized, international, interprovinical studentates would respond to the needs of the isolated young Salesian in formation at this stage of his vocational itinerary.

As I say, there is something of a "numbers game" at play here that results from the new Salesian demographics. The fact that the congregation is large but spread very thin means that many provinces do not have enough personnel to carry out formation work – work that demands intense dedication even if there are only a few novices and young confreres on the local scene. It also means that formation has been seen as meager until now, especially in those areas of the world where the congregation is growing rapidly (India, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, Timor-Indonesia, Africa). The concern, therefore, is to train young Salesians in Salesianity (which includes spirituality, but also other studies). With limited trained personnel across the provinces, and indeed very few trained in Salesian sciences, education and spirituality, the thought is to bring all the experts together to one center – Rome – and offer a quality training to all those whom the provinces will send.

As a theory, this would make a lot of sense to me. I question whether this is what happens in practice. Had the leaders of formation in the several regions been called to consider the problems and find solutions together, the distribution of theology students and formators might have conformed more closely to local needs and realities. Instead it seems to me that the dicastery alone is surveying the situation and coming up with its own assessment and unilateral solutions. The result is that many young confreres come to the studentates and find themselves on a great adventure in a foreign country, but risk losing a sense of their own local realities.

As if to bear this out, the student priests from Santo Domingo who are here at the UPS have told me that their theology students are in three or four large centers, and a high percentage reach ordination, but when they get back to their province they fall into three categories. Those who studied in Tlaquepaque are activists; those who studied in the Holy Land are hermits; those who studied in Rome are “men about town” (borghesi). All of them have difficulty readjusting to the realities of Santo Domingo.

Of course, the big problem is that many of the clerics have a hard time learning the new language, and spend half of their three-years of MDV/STB work just trying to understand Italian (or in Jerusalem now, English). Since native speakers are rare in either place, no one really learns the idiom well. And after the first semester, where 10 out 22 people in my course did not understand Italian, I just wonder what anyone is really learning. They will return to their countries with half-an-idea, and will be considered experts because they studied in Rome. Many of the professors here are recognizing the same problem, but when I tried to bring this to the attention of Cereda, he brushed it aside. Evidently, he has no problem with languages, so he doesn’t quite see that anyone else might have a problem.

Our formation for theology students at Don Bosco Hall must sustain an added weight. Constant complaints by other provinces about Berkeley – too worldly, or too secular, and therefore a place of good information but not of good formation – has worked to our disadvantage. Juan José Bartolomé’s hunch is that once the current group of our three clerics finish at Berkeley, no one else will be allowed to do their first cycle (MDV) studies there, unless we can get a group of at least 20 clerics.

More on Francesca Romana

Yesterday was the feastday in Rome of Francesca Romana, and many Romans made their way to visit her tomb in the church of Santa Maria Nova, which overlooks the forum. The church is also know as the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana.

Why the two names?

Here is the story.

When Francesca Romana died, her body was brough to the church of Santa Maria Nova, which overlooks the forum. She used to go to that church regularly; it was attached to a monastery of Olivetan Benedictines, who were a stricter branch and very new at the time. They wear white habits instead, and have a strong contemplative tradition. Francesca's community felt that it would be difficult to have mourners come to view the body in the convent chapel of the Oblates, and everyone in Rome knew that Francesca was part of the parish of Santa Maria Nova.

Well, to make a long story short, instead of burying her the next day, they had to postpone burial because so many people came in a constant procession to see her body and pay their last respects. The lines continued day and night for seven days (not even that many people came to see John XXIII or John Paul II). In the end, it was decided to bury her in the church of Santa Maria Nova. People continued to come to the church to pray near the tomb, and to leave flowers.…… I say "near the tomb" because she was buried in the floor of the nave of the church before the altar, but the floor was not marked so people weren't really sure where the tomb was. But the impact was there. The people of Rome forget the original name of the church and started to call it "Francesca's church".

While everyone in Rome considered her a saint, she was not canonized until 1608. Several years after the canonization the Olivetan Benedictine monks needed to repair the foundations of the church (it has been built in the 1200s). In so doing, they discovered the remains of Francesca. After 200 years her remains were intact. The sanctuary of the church was revamped, and her tomb was placed below the altar, so that it was visible from the church, and so that people could walk beneath the altar and see her remains close up. The remains have since deteriorated, so that all that is left is her skeleton, which is clothed in her widow's garments and her white mantle. The first time I saw her was 30 years ago, and I was very surprised… but I have since been to visit her tomb many times. It is a serious but joyful experience.

Debate: University or Studentate

There is a huge discussion going on here at the UPS, and particularly among the professors of the School of Theology, over directives that Pascual Chavez gave last Spring. At that time the rector major asked the UPS to give up the notions of being a major studentate and to give itself completely to recognize its identity as a university. This means that while the UPS attends to intellectual formation and scientific research (as do all universities), religious formation will need to be carried out in formation communities. The university must concentrate on academic excellence, not only in the areas of education and communications, but also in the areas of philosophy, canon law, and theology.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but the significance of the remark is that the university has to become competitive. Salesians who enroll in university programs must seriously do the work of intellectual formation, and become truly competent in their fields. As for the other concerns of formation (human, spiritual and pastoral), the local and smaller formation communities need to be proactive in resourcing to the young Salesian in these sectors.

The house of Francesca Romana

Before it slips out of my memory, I want to record something about a little expedition that a number of us SDBs and FMAs took on Sunday, March 5th.

It was a simple thing, really: after dinner (Romans have their main meal at mid-day), a small group of us caught the bus to downtown Rome and met a group of FMA at the Tomb of the Unknowns (L'altare della patria) in Piazza Venezia. From there we rounded the corner, moving to the right of the monuments of the unknowns (20th Century), past the Ara Coeli (a church of the 4th Century built on the remains of a temple dedicated by Caesar Augustus 15 years before the birth of Christ), past the Capidoglio (the municipal center of Rome, designed by Michelangelo in the 16th Century), to a monastery built at "Tor de' Specchi" by a widow named Francesca de' Leoni Ponziani in 1425.

This widow is known to the Romans as "Ceccolela", but to the rest of the world as Francesca Romana (or in English: "St Frances of Rome"). I found this painting (at right) of her by Gentileschi (painted in 1615). Although she lived to a ripe old age, she is always depicted as a young woman.

Ceccolela gathered a group of women at the time of the plagues and organized relief for the poor and sick of the city of Rome when civic and church leadership was too inept to do anything. She also created a community of women that included widows and mothers of families who acted as a support group to one another and to their families in the years of chaos that was the 15th Century. The group of laywomen prayed the liturgy together, and eventually became a semi-religious community, but with the freedom of the women (who were all called "mothers" and not "sisters") to care for their families whenever needed. St Frances of Rome's feastday, by the way, is tomorrow: 9 March.

But why did we go to see the house of Ceccolela? Because in 1878-1879, when Don Bosco was visiting Rome to try to complete the regulations and gain approval for the Salesian Cooperators, he found lodging in a house owned by the "mothers" of St Frances of Rome, right across the street from the monastery of the "Oblates", as they are also called. He went there because the Oblates of Frances of Rome had heard about his work among the street kids of Turin as early at 1850, and they had been instrumental in getting support for him from many parts of Italy. So, on the feast of St Francis de Sales, in January 1879, the first ever meeting of the Salesian Cooperators took place -- and it took place in the chapel of the monastery built by St Frances of Rome, in the presence also of her community.

From that experience, Don Bosco not only launched the Cooperators in their organizational structure, he also launched the Cooperators on the national scene in Italy, and on the international scene, since a number of ambassadors to the Holy See and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome also participated in that first "Conference of St Francis de Sales".

The house where don Bosco stayed later became the first residence of the Salesians, who came to Rome permanently two years later. That same house, by the way, was also the place where St Francis de Sales and his brother stayed on their first visit to Rome in 1599. Unfortunately, the house no longer exists. Mussolini tore it down to beautify Rome and liberate area around the Roman Forum so that archeologists could do their work. The only thing that remains of the house is the front steps, which were incorporated into a stair that climbs the Palotine Hill. But the monastery of "Tor de' Specchi" remains…

Okay -- too long a post, but tomorrow is the feast of St Frances of Rome. In Rome it is very festive in spite of Lent. On this day it will be good to remember that the Cooperator Salesians got their start in the house of his mighty widow and mother and mystic who not only gave herself to save the poor, but organized a great force of laywomen to make a social and religious impact on their ancient city that was falling into ruin. It seems to me that her family concerns and lay activisim inspired Francis de Sales and Don Bosco both in their own missions; and in their admiration for her, they make her a model of Salesian laity and family people.

Christmas Novena

I started this blog on the day when the Christmas Novena began… and a Visitandine friend of mine, Grace MacCormack, asked me about the Christmas novena and the Salesians. In preparing some notes for her (she is a musician and a liturgist), I thought I'd post my little essay here too. Why not? Lent has started, but I'm thinking of Advent.

Here goes…

CHRISTMAS NOVENA: The Christmas Novena grew out of the devotion to the Incarnation fostered by the Vincentians (Priests of the Mission) in Torino in the early 1700s. The Marchesa Gabriella Marolles delle Lanze, Verrua Savoia and Caluso, came to live in Torino when her husband died. (Verra Savoia was the fortress from which Principe Eugenio di Savoia was able to ward off the French attacks in 1704-1705, expelling them from Savoy and Piedmont in 1706).

The Marchesa settled in a house close to the convent of the Vincentians (now the chancery for the archdiocese), and worshiped regularly in their external oratory, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

Because of her contact with the Vincentians, the Marchesa Gabriella Marolles delle Lanze nurture the devotion to the Incarnation, and suggested that the feast of the Incarnation be solemnized with a novena. The learned and pious Fr Antonio Vacchetta CM, formation director for the CM theology students, composed a new novena, incorporating antiphons from the Roman breviary, verses from the prophets and passages from the psalms that refered to the Messiah. The novena was celebrated for the first time in December 1720, in the church of the Immaculate Conception.

As the Torinese Vincentians preached missions throughout Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria, they brought the novena with them, and this is how the novena spread throughout different parts of Italy. It became the music of Advent in many places; most wonderful are the "O" antiphons for the magnificat.

SALESIAN CONNECTION WITH THE CHRISTMAS NOVENA: Of course, as a Society we have our roots in Torino. One of Don Bosco's spiritual guides was Fr Marcantonio Durando, provincial of the CMs and rector of the House of the Visitation (where Don Bosco made his retreat before ordination). Don Bosco was ordained in the church of the Immaculate Conception on 5 June 1841. He introduced the boys to the Christmas Novena at his Youth Hostel and Oratory in the Valdocco district of Torino, and published popular editions for the people. And Salesians missionaries brought the novena with them wherever they went -- in an age where worship was in Latin, there was no problem. Thus, the Salesians have always celebrated this Novena, and after 1960, translated it from Latin into many different languages.

I myself first took part in the novena by when I was 14, and by the end of the 9 days I knew all the chants (except the magnificat antiphons) by heart. This year in Rome we sang it in Italian, and although we have Salesians from 20 different countries and all five continents in the community, everyone knew the melodies: it was a matter of fitting the Italian words to the service that they all knew in their own languages. But of course, none of them know that it is Vincentian in origin, nor that the Marchesa sponsored the writing and the first celebration. They just know that this is the novena that Don Bosco and his boys always prayed and sang to prepare for Christmas at Valdocco.

Status of Berkeley Formation Project

UPS is starting to apply greater pressure on me, urging me to stay and become part of the faculty full-time. Almost by instinct Dave Purdy wrote me a letter today telling me that I must not stay. Oh yes! It is fun to be wanted, but I am not sure if I'm really more than a warm body at this point.

Looks to me that Berkeley has no support from the Formation office at the Pisana, or from anywhere else for that matter. We are no longer able to attract folks for the renewal course, and provincials have been told that the only place to do degree programs in Salesian spirituality is the UPS (even though our accredited courses allow us to offer a degree program in Spiritual Theology with an emphasis in Salesian Tradition at the GTU in English).

A committee has been meeting monthly in San Francisco to examine the problems and come up with a plan. I've not been made aware of these discussions, so I don't know where it is going. My own feeling is that the "Berkeley On Wheels" proposal of Michael Winstanley, made at the last team visit in Lysterfield in 1993, has really undone us more than helped. It has allowed us to offer mini-experiences, but not to do the kind of deep study and producing of resources that comes from research and scholarship.

So here we are, a decade after the dissolution of the Anglophone region, dissolving into thin air.

Meetings, meetings

During this week I have attended a couple of faculty department meetings -- and another one later today. My personal resolution was to simply keep my mouth shut, but I find that I have less patience now than I used to, and so as the discussion became involved, I would blurt out my own opinons (also because there does not seem to be a way to orderly invoke the faculty's contributions as the chair tends to dominate).

So have I become impatient at this time of my life? I have begun to think so, but this may not be true. When I reflect back, I realize that I never had patience. Perhaps I was more timid in the past. Now I just speak up and don't really care what the others think. Truth needs to be spoken and heard. If no one acts on it, that doesn't bother me so much any more: at least they have heard it.

Crazy little March

There is a saying in Italian that goes like this "Marzo pazzarello: esci con sole, ma porti l'ombrello" -- "Crazy little month of March: go out and enjoy the sun, but carry your umbrella". Here is is the second day of March, and we have had every manner of weather so far: sun, freezing cold, rain, clouds, wind and sun…

I've had to vacate my office. One of the rooms is being refurbished, and between the detergents, the plastering and the paint, the fumes have given me a massive headache. I've asked for a study room in the university library, and fr Juan Picca has been kind enough to provide me with one. I've looked up books for my Francis de Sales work, and they will be delivered to my study room there… and I've tried to answer some of the e-mail that is stacking up.

Time is passing quickly on this little Roman adventure.

Trip to "Pio Undecimo"

The rainy weather has continued though most of the month. Yesterday it poured for 15 hours -- and I had to travel to the south of Rome to give a conference at one of our technical schools, Pio XI. It took me two hours to get there because the buses had problems navigating with all that water (and perhaps because they were coming out of a three hour strike that lasted through the morning). We were stuck in the Metro aboard the A train, stopped between stations for nearly 15 minutes, and when I say stuck, I mean that the cars were already over-crowded, so it was very uncomfortable to be in such close quarters without knowing what was happening. The men on board were beginning to get restless; the women were peaceful. Poor folks; things would have been better if someone had just made an announcement on the intercom speakers to explain the cause for the delay.

By the time I got to Pio XI (between the Via Appia Antica and the Via Tusculana) I was pretty soaked, but so was everyone else at the evening event. In spite of the rain, there was a good turnout of folks. Well it has rained so much this year that if people stopped because of the rain, they'd never get anything done.

Today we had a absolutely clear sky, but the temperature went down by 10 degrees. It is the last day of "Carnevale", so everyone is cheery no matter what the temperature.

Roman tourism

After wrapping up a two-day workshop with the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, on the south side of the city, Sr Beth (one of my spirituality students) gave me a lift to the Metro Station. I traveled to the Colosseum where I met Fr Luke Buckles, a Dominican from Berkeley who arrived in Rome last week. He is now a permanent faculty member at the Angelicum (Pontifical University of St Thomas). We had a nice visit, first at the Dominican school, and then as we walked to visit different monuments. No cars were allowed in Rome from noon until 6:00 pm, and everyone was in the streets for this Sunday of Carnival -- the children in the costumes, teenagers in bands of friends, as you would expect on a day of promenade. And there were many tourists in Rome as well. We met a few people as we walked from place to place, and Luke asked me some questions about how I saw the Roman and Italian people. I was surprised to learn that, even though he did his doctorate in Rome at the Angelicum between 1981 and 1985, he had never really learned Italian. But the Angelicum offers a full program for philosophy and theology in English (and has done so since the 1950s). In any case he's decided to work on his Italian now that he'll be here permanently.

My next move is to invite him over to the UPS.

But I just want to say how much I enjoyed seeing all the monuments that I've seen before, but it was fun seeing them with a fellow Californian who, like me, was not in a rush. We just walked and talked, and looked into places along our way.

Status of Berkeley Formation Project

With Tom I have tried to reflect what is happening at the generalate in the dicastery for formation that is having an impact, I believe, on all the programs of ongoing and initial formation, particularly in the area of Salesianity. Francesco Cereda is leaving the ratio behind, as far as I and a few of my contacts can make out. He is moving to centralize. Of this, I believe, we need to be aware. Per sé, I don't have any doubts that the ISS programme is viable; what perturbs me is that the general council, taking their lead from Cereda in matters of formation, are telling provincials that the only place to study Salesian spirituality is the UPS. Furthermore, the UPS has created two four-month sabbatical programs: one for missionaries and one for formation personnel. The missionary course drew 40 participants; the formation course, now in session, has drawn 98. It is a big money-maker. As for the process, I have severe doubts because everything is done in Italian, and it is not clear to me how many of the formators understand the language. Everyone that I've met has spoken to me in Spanish or Portuguese (and among the missionaries, half spoke English and had no clue in Italian!).

Viability? I think our progam is more balanced in terms of content and pace, and I think that we give a better experience of community. Cereda himself tells me that everyone that he has spoken to raves about the quality of their experience in Berkeley. But if the general councils are pushing the provinces to send people only to Rome? Well, who will new provincials listen to? Not even the leadership New Rochelle or Sherbrooke are willing to send someone for a 9 month course. They love SES and intersession, but don't go for the longer program.

Viability? Are we viable if all we can offer is intersessions and short courses? Will that mean ISS and DBH only caters to Americans for here on in? Will Salesians from other countries come all the way to the end of the earth (California) for intersessions and short course? Maybe. I don't know. The committee will have to sort that out. What I'm saying is that, whereas we used to be able to count on Martin McPake, Luke Van Looy, and Pascual Chavez promoting our center and our programs, we can no longer count on the support of the general council to promote ISS. We are off the radar screen.

Standards

Being in Rome has been good, but it is by no means a vacation: I expect that my return to Berkeley will be the vacation. I'm a visiting professor here at the UPS, and have classes to teach and seminars to conduct. In the faculty meetings I'm discovering that the "tightening up of standards" is not just a U.S.A. thing. All of Europe is moving toward higher, uniform standards, thanks to the so-called Bologna Accords. So, just like at DSPT, I'm sitting in on curriculum revisions, evaluations, and all that. The consoling fact is that we are not alone in Berkeley -- the whole Western World is moving in this direction, with the goal of finally mutually recognizing degrees among all the countries of the West and with Latin America, and the ecclesiatical degrees as well.

My area here at the UPS has been that of Salesian Spirituality. Part of the problem is that the new curriculum of "Spiritual Theology: Salesian Route" was just put into place this year, and the dean and director of the institute are still trying to work out all the kinks. Fr Francesco Cereda, councilor general for formation of the Salesian Society, wanted the Salesian spirituality curriculum to constitute a full program, but the teachers in the material are fewer than when I did my licentiate fifteen years ago. Of the profs that I had in 1990, two are dead, one has become a contemplative at Big Sur, five are over the age of 75 and therefore are not allowed to teach. This means that the few professors that there are have double loads, and juggle the courses into time slots as best they can.

Harry Potter and John Bosco

Yesterday I had my first class of the new semester, which is a three-hour weekly seminar. No, not spiritual matrices, but a comparative study on the theme of storytelling and spiritual formation. Terms of the comparison? Don Bosco and Harry Potter. Okay, okay, I know -- this is crazy, but I've been fascinated by the parallels in the storytelling process and content… and with all the work I'm doing on this sabbatical, I wanted a little fun too.

The class is small: 8 students which include two Africans, two Latin Americans, two Europeans, one Asian and one North American. Broken into languages, three are French-speaking, two are Spanish-speaking, two are English-speaking, and one is Italian. I've got copies of source material in all four languages so as to assist the students in getting into it.

Slovak pride

Two Salesians from Slovakia arrived last week to begin a four-month course on Formation as part of an international group here. I've enjoyed visiting with them -- and they have been very happy because the Slovak hockey team has defeated Russia and the USA, and is doing well in the Olympics. They apologized to me after Team USA's defeat, but I told them that I normally root for Italy during the Olympics, and have not been following the American medals. It is great to see their excitement, and to hear how the Salesians have continued to grow in their country.

New semester

Yesterday the exam period ended at the Salesian Pontifical University, and the good news is that I finished grading all the reports and examinations ten minutes ago. I'll submit my grades to the registrar's office tomorrow, God willing.

There was no semester break this year at the UPS, and most of the students and professors are feeling it! Was this a glitch in the scheduling? In any case, today was the first day of lessons in the new semester.

As far as first days go, there was a great deal of confusion this morning because there are some overlaps in the timetable and a few classrooms are being renovated. Instead of waiting until summer, the financial administrator of the theology department, José Luis Moral, decided to do this work in January while there is money in the account. Last year other departments overspent and so the work that had been planned during the summer months had to be suspended. I guess it is okay to inconvenience students rather than wait to have the shortfall block work for another year. Yet, to be very frank, I did not think the classrooms in question really needed any work.

This semester it was planned that I share my office with another teacher. His name is Aimable Musoni, and he is a young and gentle professor from Rwanda who has taken over the chair of Ecumenical Studies. However, as I was only one of two professors who have used our offices every day during the first semester, the Dean (Giorgio Zevini) has put off the twinning, and will look for other accommodations for the young Prof. Musoni. But it is anyone's guess when that will be settled, because the Dean is currently in Brazil.

Valentine's Day

Even though we had a big mass in honor of Sts Cyril and Methodius, patrons of Europe, it is also Valentine's Day. There were no pink hearts or chocolates around the UPS, because this is a serious environment… but I know that people around here are celebrating, because the stores have carried chocolate samples all week.

All's well. The Fall Semester finally ends today with the last of the examinations. The new semester starts tomorrow. I'll teach only one seminar class, comparing the boyhood stories of John Bosco with the saga of Harry Potter. There are a lot of young people who are showing interest, even if the professors think that I've lost my mind.

But on Valentine's Day I remember well that in Book Five, Harry Potter finds a little sweetheart in the person of Cho Chang, and the two goes off to Hogsmead on their first date on Valentine's Day. The date becomes a disaster before it begins, however, and Harry quickly darts over to meet with Hermione and Hagrid at the Three Broomsticks Cafe.

I can't find any reference to Valentine's day in John Bosco's youth, except he did write a book called "Valentino: the Story of a Lost Vocation".

Hmm… lots of broken hearts out there.

Reviewing Harry Potter

Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale, translated by Marina Astrologo; illustrations by Serena Riglietti; edited by Serena Daniele (Milano: Salani Editore, 1998).

First of all, let me say that I am happy to see that Amazon is now making the Italian version of the Harry Potter saga available in Italian for folks in North America. I first read this version in the year 2000, but I had to find a way to order from books sellers in Italy and have this volume and its first three sequels arrive by international post. The cost of shipping, the exchange rate between the Euro and the Dollar, and the long wait made it a “gulp!-do-I-want-to-do-this” kind of experience. But reading about Harry and his “compagni” in the language of Dante made it worth it. Now, Amazon is making the acquisition of this and other Italian works less difficult, so I hope others will take a look at Harry Potter in the language where all "H's" are silent.

As to the translation and presentation of J.K. Rowling's first book, I have two observations. The first is that I think the translator of this first volume (Marina Astrologo) and the publisher (Adriano Salani) took this book to be too much of a child's tale. Although Harry and his cousin and classmates are supposed to be 11 years old, this version almost treats them as if they were 8 or 9 years old. This comes out in word choices as well as in the illustrations (by Serena Riglietti).

For example: chapter one in English is called "The Boy who Lived". This could have been translated into Italian as "Il ragazzo sopravvissuto". Instead, the chapter is entitled "Il bambino sopravvissuto". What's the difference? Bambino means "little boy" and ragazzo means "boy". And granted that Harry is really only an infant at the time of Voldemort's attack, by the time we get to chapter two, Harry is no longer a little boy.

The illustrations many and well done, as is typical of many children's books. What is interesting is that the UK originals are not illustrated (except for the covers), and the USA editions have chapter illustrations only. The Italian version, instead, has drawings throughout the book, cutting across the pages or inserted within the text. Most are very comical -- including the drawing of Professor Quirrel (called "Raptor" in Italian) and Voldemort in front of the Mirror of Erised (p. 279). Why a comical drawing here? Does this mean that the Italian editors saw the book as a comedy? This may well me; ghost stories and mysteries are not really part of the Italian tradition.

Linked to this is a problem (I think it is a problem) that the other reviewers have brought out. The Italian edition translates the names of many of the characters. This fact as irritated some of the Italian readership, it would seem, for in the later volumes (as well as in reprints of book one) the general editor (Serena Daniele) writes a Forward in which she explains the reasoning behind the translation of names of persons and places.

Fine, I agree with the signorina Daniele that translation is always a very delicate process (I have had to deal with this in works that I have translated), but my question for the signorina is: why have you translated some names and why have you kept other names in the original? Translating names was something that we did 400 years ago, but do we still translate names? For instance, the English and Americans call certain Italians by English names (Christopher Columbus, John Cabot), while Italians call certain English historical figures by Italian names (Tommaso Moro, Francesco Bacone). During the Fascist period, all names in Italy had to be given in the Italian language, and up to as recently as the 1960s, all actors in the USA were given English-sounding stage names which hid their ethnic origins.

With this in mind, I would certainly understand translating difficult English names for Italian children who were expected to read this book, apart from the fact that my experience in working with kids in Italy over the years has convinced me that they never had problems with foreign names. But why are the names partly translated then? For instance, Albus Dumbledore becomes “Albus Silente” (meaning “quiet”). Why not translate the whole name: “Albino Silente” would have made more sense. Italianize the entire name! Or Severus Snape becomes Severus Piton (python)! Why not “Severino Piton”? It is the inconsistency that makes me question the criteria (in spite of Serena Daniele’s assurances). Oliver Wood becomes Oliver Baston (which means “bat” or “club”), and Neville Longbottom becomes Neville Paciock (pacioccone means plump and easy-going, which may underestimate the real Neville, after all).

This is not about trying to second-guess the translators. I bring out my objection here because I believe that the translators run into difficulties in the later books. Perhaps they believed that Harry Potter was only a little collection of fun, school-boy stories directed at little children (“bambini”). They did not suspect that Harry, and his friends Ron and Hermione and all the other “bambini” at Hogwarts would grow and show themselves to be strong, young adults in the final volume.

There are some correctives taken by way of a preface to the Italian version in this and later volumes. This is good. My hope is that, eventually, a new translation of this first volume of the Harry Potter saga will be undertaken: a translation that will make the series more credible in Italian circles.

In any case, Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale is a great book, as is the original, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

What a switch!

As I work through the research papers of my students this term, I notice that the Europeans play with font size and margins just like the American students do… with this little change.

My students here have chosen to decrease the font size, and they have made the margins closer to a half-inch than to 1.25 inches. Also, instead of doublespacing, as I had asked, they have all chosen 1.5 line spacing. The result is that they have all produced longer papers, although they have managed to fit them within the uppermost limits that I prescribed.

What a switch!

Of course, I will not penalize this little deception. Most are not used to doing papers, and are more used to doing an oral exam at the end of the term that makes up 100% of their grade. Knowing this, and seeing the fear in their eyes at the beginning of term when I said that I expected a written paper, I kept the number of prescribed pages in a low range so as not to burden them on their first attempt. Now I find that every student has done more than expected.

Oh yes, there is an one American in the class. When I gave the assignment at the start of the Fall Term, he came to me and asked if he could write a longer paper, since the amount of pages seemed a little to short for him according to his experience. His paper is the only one with the correct margins, the correct doublespacing (you can see he is an old hand at this), and his paper too is double the length I prescribed.

What can I say? I'm very impressed.

St John Bosco

We had a very busy feast of Don Bosco yesterday, the 31st of January. The highlight was the dedication of the university library, which is at the center now of the campus: an amazing center. There were little receptions as well all day, making the day very nice and personable. Today the order of the day is "return to semester exams"!

Abundant harvest but few laborers

This morning I spent nearly three hours at the parish, and in addition to confessions, spoke to a lot of people of all ages. The more I get to know the people of this neighborhood, the more I realize how isolated everyone feels. Most are working class, and they came to Rome for work. They have their families, but do not really know their neighbors. They live in high rises, in tiny condominiums, surrounded by people and cut off from those they love. The pressure on families is incredible.

Many come to the parish looking for companionship, social interaction, friends with whom to share, but the parish activities are not really adequate for this, in my opinion. There is an oratory and a youth center, but the quarters are tight and few kids participate. Yes there are prayer groups, the Charismatic Movement, and the Padre Pio groups, but these only isolate lonely people the more (again, in my opinion as I listen to folks). The parish needs a greater outreach, on the human level, into the neighborhood, to state it simply.

But then, the priests are overworked and tired. The young pastoral vicar walks stooped over from a virus that he contracted as a young missionary in Madagascar; the older curate can only take an hour or two in ministry, and then must withdraw because he is exhausted (old age and bad health). The parish priest is taken with administration (there's a lot of it) and fears that he is losing his pastoral touch. It all sounds so familiar, like many parishes back home.

More priests from the University could become involved, both the student priests and the professors, but the parish priest will have to make up his mind in this area. Will he do so? I wonder if he recognizes the problems of the people or sees the needs…

In any case, this too is an area that makes me think that all the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few (Luke 10:2). The solution comes if we let the verse continue.

St Thomas

Celebrating the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas today in a very intellectual way by correcting examinations in the area of theology. Okay, that's not completely true. We had a nice community liturgy this morning, and I was struck by the prayers in Italian as Thomas was described for as someone who always sought the truth while giving himself deeply to the love of God and the love of neighbor. I also heard a little report on Vatican Radio that told of Thomas giving himself to popular preaching throughout Italy (that, in other words, he did not simply remain in the professor's chair in Paris all his life). That was refreshing to hear.

For all of that, I did manage to send off greetings to the faculty members at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT) back in Berkeley.

Yesterday, while researching in the library on a different topic, I found a quotation from Francis de Sales regarding Thomas: "St Thomas is the great star of theology and a model of humility" (Treatise, book 10, chap. 16). Now that is really wonderful imagery!

The exams begin

Today the examination session begins at the Salesian Pontifical University for the conclusion of the Fall Term. It goes forward for the next two weeks, mainly with oral examinations.

In the corridor outside my office there are about 30 MDV students busily reviewing as they wait their turns for oral exams in Christology (with a prof from Guadalajara whose office is next to mine) and Wisdom Literature (with a prof from Naples whose office is across from mine). The hallway is vibrating with young voices, almost like a scene out of Harry Potter. Everytime someone comes out, the gang of waiting students descends on him or her with questions: "how was it? whadde ask? howdya do on it?" Then, silence and nerves… and frequent runs to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Ah, the happy memories of exam periods (I my student days I used to lose 10 pounds during that period every year for the fear).

My own students have already completed their requirements with weekly group work and a reflection paper at the end of term. Most are happy with that, but two Italians want to come and give an oral exam as well, because they have never done a written paper as an exam before. Amazing.

Feast of Francis de Sales

Today, the 24th of January, is the feast of Francis de Sales. We had a festive mass this morning in community, and now all the students of the UPS are getting in one last day of cramming before exams start tomorrow. I presided at our community liturgy and invoked the memory of Francis' student years in Padua: "I studied law to please my father, and theology to please myself". Since we have people studying canon law, education and theology in our house, I figured that covered everyone. Hopefully, they are embracing today what Francis called the Eighth Sacrament: study!

The offer

Well this morning it came: the offer. I was working on preparing the list for the semester exams when the dean called me in his office "for a moment". He asked me to seriously consider joining the faculty of the UPS on a full-time basis. He told me that the general council really is looking toward India for the next center of Salesian spirituality, and therefore that Berkeley will get scant support. On the other hand, the provinces outside of India would continue to send people to Rome and to the UPS. In terms of people who are fully trained and fluent in Salesian Spirituality, there are only two, the dean said, who are "working age": Aldo Giraudo and myself.

Will my California province have a plan to sustain the center for Salesian studies ad Don Bosco Hall in as part of the GTU in Berkeley? Or is the dean of the theology school here correct when he says that our center is finished in terms of being able to offer programs to Salesian Religious? "Let Berkeley develop programs for laity: the future is there," he said, "but your future is here".

Hmm… I knew this was coming, but I'm a little surprised by it all the same.

Rain again -- and ideas for my research

I overslept -- and this made me think that there had been a change in the barometric pressure… and sure enough, when I woke up at 6:40, I went to the window, lifted the shutters, and saw that it had rained slightly in the night. I rushed and made it for morning prayers at 7.00 (well, I got there at 7.07).

After mass and breakfast, I made my way to the theology building and my office, stopping first for a bit of research in the library. By 10.00 it was raining again. However, I used much of the morning to confer with other professors: Giuseppe Costa of "Social Communications", Aldo Giraudo of "Centro Studi don Bosco", Morand Wirth on the topic of the Francis de Sales Retreat that will be held in Annecy next April, and Mario Cimosa of "Bible and Liturgy" on the use of PowerPoint in my next class.

In other words, I have not accomplished anything this morning, but I've learned a lot in these conversations, all of which makes me consider how I'm going to approach my research and book project in the next couple of months.

Embassy event

Mario Toso, who is rector magnificus of the Salesian University (and a schoolmate of mine from my undergrad theology days in Torino) asked me to represent him and the University at a conference and reception sponsored and hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. He asked me ten days ago (which explains why my stomach has been upset for the last week). Well, the event was this afternoon.

The lecture and rection was meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of «Dignitatis Humanae», the declaration on religious liberty issued by the Second Vatican Council and promulgated on 7 December 1965. The speakers were Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (archbishop of Washington), the Honorable James Towey (director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives), and Dr Scott Appleby (director of the Joan B Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame). The distinguished panel was introduced by Ambassador Francis Rooney.

The Ambassador is a rookie: he's only been on the job since 15 November. He's got a double law degree from Georgetown, and has all the enthusiasm of a southern Catholic.

I was nervous about going. I mean, the dignitaries of the US State Department are not my crowd. When I got to the «Centro Studi Americani» where the event was hosted, I became even more nervous. The place was filled with black-suited American clergy. Yes, I had on my best suit and clericals, but I felt so out of place in that crowd, that my stomach began to weaken again… so I smiled, said hello to the embassy officials, and the few padres who looked my way, and then took the program and notes and found a place in the audience. I read all the materials in the ten minutes before the program got underway.

The lectures went overtime (so, it is not only an Italian thing, eh?), and afterwards I went to greet the Ambassador on behalf of Mario Toso (the Ambassador had a blank look when I said Salesian, so it just shows you how important this representation was), and then spoke with Cardinal McCarrick. Yes, he brightened up when I said Don Bosco. He's very happy with the progress made by Steve Schenk and the Salesians in DC. His words at the end to me made the night worth it.

I had to walk 8 blocks to get to the bus stop, and as I waited for the 60, I saw the Augustinian Sisters arrive -- the junior sisters who take classes in the city. I recognized them immediately after the 11 days I spent celebrating mass for them during Christmas time. We had a nice chat as we waited for the bus, and for the first five stops… This too made the lecture much more enjoyable for me. And then I got off the 60, caught the 90, and got back to the UPS before the sidewalks were completely rolled up.

Oh? and the content of the lecture? I expect someone will publish it soon. If they do, I'll put in links.

Archival dust

In between getting Italian text for my next class on Francis de Sales, I've been hunting facts on early editions of the "Spiritual Conferences" after receiving an e-mail from a collector of rare books over the weekend. This led me to talk with Aldo Giraudo, a scholar from Torino, who happens to have some rare books in his possession, including a 1669 edition of the "opere complete" of Francis de Sales published in Venice. He gave me some leads with regard to the early Salesians and their knowledge of the saint's writings, but also told me that the Salesians at the motherhouse have sealed off the original library so that it is impossible, at the present moment, to have any access. Just what we need: sealed archives!

But the leads are good, and I'll pick up on them after the semester ends and I've got some time. Meanwhile, my students started to hand in their work today. It is time to read and correct and enter grades!

Finally Friday

Seemed like a long week, but we are finally at the end of the first week back after Christmas holidays. There are just a few more days of lessons, and then the examination period begins… but not before a whole series of faculty meetings! The language has changed for me this year, but the routine has not.

Epiphany and the cousins

Last Saturday the Nuzzo Cousins (that is, all the family on my mother's side) got together to celebrate the end of the Christmas festivities with an Epiphany Party. It was my cousin Paula Nuzzo Radosevich who started this yearly Cousins' gathering in 2002 as sort of a substitute for the Christmas Eve gatherings that were celebrated either at our grandparents' home or at our (Boenzi) house. But, after the death of our grandfather, Salvatore Nuzzo, in 1990, which coincided with the beginning of my father's decline in health, the Christmas Eve celebrations were taken over in local units.

Okay, well to cut to the quick, the cousins and the children of the cousins, and of course the aunties too, all got together at Paula and Ken's home in Temecula. Between yesterday and today my cousins have been sending me photos by e-mail because, as it turns out, I was one of the few not to be able to be present.

So here is a photo of my two nieces, Teresa and Angela Boenzi. And from the e-mail messages coming in from all the enthused cousins, plans are already being made for Epiphany 2007. It must have been quite a happy party! It all points to the irreplaceable value of family and , thank God, our family is extended and crazy and close -- very close. Viva la famiglia!

At the University Press

For the better part of the morning I worked on a manuscript that Fr Lenti sent from Berkeley, and then went to the LAS (the University Press of the UPS), and met with the editor, don Niccolò Sufi. With the corrections, they'll be able to prepare Fr Lenti's work for publishing, possibly in March. That would be great.

Now I need to find a publisher for my book proposal… «Francis de Sales: Story and Spirit». My manuscript is complete in the first draft. I'll let it set for a week, and then try to take it to a conclusion. If I can do this, then my time in Rome will not have been wasted.

Back to school

Well, here we are, Monday… and almost everyone has returned to the Don Rua community, and to the university for the resumption of class and work. Most folks are pretty upbeat, and it is good to see the place teaming with students and teachers again. When I walked from the library to the bookstore, I passed a lot of groups of young women, all of whom spoke loudly as they held their cigarettes in their hands… the topic was, invariably, il mio ragazzo -- their boyfriends. The groups of guys spoke less loudly, but by their gestures they seemed to be talking about great adventures, trips, sports (and not la mia ragazza).

Most of the morning I spent between my office and the library as I prepared the last set of notes for my classes this semester. I've brought them to the copy shop, and Signor Bertello told me that the notes should be ready by the end of the day. I also went to the libreria (the book shop) and picked up my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter e il Principe Mezzosangue. It just became available on 6 January, day of the Befana… but of course the shops have been closed since Thursday for the Epiphany weekend. But I was not so desparate, since I've read the book in the original version. It will feature as part of the course I teach second semester.

Ah -- school days.

Shadow

The morning after the Epiphany: the sun is brilliant! and it is +1° Celsius.

With this bright sunshine, I was struck by a little story that I heard today on early morning Vatican Radio. The story, the announcer said, comes from Germany…

Once there was a young man who became very irritated by his shadow. Everywhere he went, his shadow followed him. Finally, he became so agitated that he decided he was going to run away from his shadow. Without warning, then, he took off at a sprint! but his shadow followed him. In fact, the faster he ran, the faster his shadow followed! He became obsessed: he stopped eating; he stopped talking; he stopped drinking… he only ran and ran and ran, but his shadowed followed and followed and followed. Finally, exhausted by so much running, the young man collapsed and died.

Poor boy! If only he had just gone and sat in the shade of the huge tree that grew in his garden, he would have lost his shadow, but he never thought of it.

Work and activity do not let us lose our shadows: they follow us everywhere we go, the announcer on Vatican Radio explained this morning. The only way to deal with our shadows is through a contemplative life.

L'Epifania tutte le feste spazza via

Epiphany dawned clear and slightly warmer in Rome. The blue sky boosted everyone's spirits. I spent a good part of the morning in the parish church of Maria della Speranza, helping with the sacramental ministry. It really feels like Sunday… but of course, in Italy "le feste" or the "holy days" are always "holidays" too.

Through the course of the morning I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of different folks of all ages at church. Many are Romans, but most are transplants from the south of Italy. In any case, Epiphany seems to be a feast day that is felt strongly here, even more than New Year's, and secondly only to Christmas.

At all the masses in Italy today a prayer-announcement is added after the Gospel. We don't really do this in California, but I remember it from other years of living in Italy. With the Epiphany the Church calls the faithful to note the important celebrations of the Liturgical Year ahead based on the date of Easter. This is how the Announcement is worded:

Announcement of the Day of Easter

Dearest brothers and sisters, the joy of the Lord is made manifest and will always manifest itself in our midst until the day of his return. In the rhythm and events of time we remember and we live the mysteries of salvation. The center of the entire liturgical year is the Triduum of the Lord crucified, buried and risen, that will culminate on Easter Sunday, on 16 April. On every Suday, the Easter of the week, the holy Church makes this great event present as Christ has conquered sin and death. All the other holy days spring from Easter: Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, on 1 March; the Ascension of the Lord, on 28 May; Pentecost, on 4 June; the first Sunday of Advent, on 3 December. Even the feasts of the holy Mother of God, of the Apostles, of the saints and in the commemoration of the faithful departed, the pilgrim Church on earth proclaims the Passover of the Lord. To Christ who was, who is, and who is coming, Lord of time and history, be everlasting praise forever and ever.
All: Amen.

Break from the rain

The rain has finally stopped -- or maybe a little. There is a bit of a sky at the horizon, though there are storm clouds overhead. A group of teenagers and university kids have just taken to the sports field on campus. After 20 days of heavy downpours, the chance to get out and play a game of football (soccer) must be wonderful for these "giovanissimi". In the distance, beyond the football pitch, I can see the snowcapped mountains, and the breeze is very cold, but thankly dry. And the sight of nature's beauty and the young at play gives this old researcher a boost as well!

Quiet beginnings

Last night I joined a group of Latin Americans from my «Don Rua Community» for pizza and fellowship to bid farewell to 2005 and welcome 2006. The only problem was that the pizzeria put out a special menu for New Year's Eve with all Rome's traditional plates for the "Cenone di San Silvestro" -- St Sylvester's Supper, as they call the "big feed" on New Year's Eve. So instead of spending 4 euros each, we spent 41 euros… Oh well, that means a few less parties in January…

On the way back to the University it began to drizzle. Interestingly enough, there were no buses. This is the opposite practice of what is done in San Francisco where all the buses and trains are operational and are free to avoid putting people at risk of drunk-drivers of New Year's Eve. Our only option, then, was to walk. The streets were vacant, and our half-hour hike was punctuated by the sounds of fire crackers. Children were on the balconies of the apartments waiting anxiously for the new year -- and invariably they would call out to us and wave, shouting "Buon Anno". We greeted them back. Jorge (from Uruguay) made the comment that the children Rome are still friendly and human (he must be having a rough time with Romans).

We were back at the University at 11:45, and joined a group from the «Don Bosco Community» in the foyer of our two communities. We contributed a bottle of champagne and at midnight we toasted, embraced, said our greetings in Italian, Spanish, English… and Polish… and then sipped our champagne in the doorway as we watched the neighbors shoot off flares and fireworks from their balcony. Before the air could fill with smoke, there was another downpour which continued all the way until morning.

Morning… ah, very mellow, with lots of little conversations, visitings, catching up. After the explosions of fireworks (and probably firearms) all night, the year got off to a quiet beginning… in the rain.

Buona fine e buon principio

It is New Year's Eve, and the kids of the neighborhood have been setting off firecrackers since 3:00 in the afternoon … If anyone hesitates in celebrating at midnight, they will not be able to sleep anyway for all the explosions.

Today I had lunch with Peter, who is a Californian from Fresno and a student of Latin and Greek at our University. He shares an apartment with a young man named Pietro, who is from Verona and who studies Communications. Peter cooked pasta and turkey, and did a nice job. The visit was fun… and it makes me think that there are many opportunities for other students from California at the UPS. The university has to do a little bit of advertising in the right places…

But these are thoughts for next year (I mean 2006). Right now it is time to close down 2005!

Thomas Beckett

Feast of St Thomas Becket and I presided at Eucharist in the Don Rua community this morning. Yesterday it rained all day again, and this morning we had flurries. No matter. I spent a good deal of time in the University library trying to trace some group that are mentioned in the biographies of Francis de Sales and John Bosco. I was successful, but only after several hours. I was like pulling wires, gently trying to find the source without ripping out the one I had in my hand.

Now how will any of this fit in the book I'm preparing? Maybe I'll be able to add a footnote.

In any case, I continue with the reading and research today as I tune into Vatican Radio, which is playing a wonderful selection of Christmas carols. That's what's nice about Catholic tradition. Christmas goes until the 6th of January.

The other nice things about the Tradition is that it is not afraid to integrate new expressions as it reflects on Gospel. Handing on (traditio) goes in both directions, after all. And so this morning Vatican Radio broadcast a reflection on Thomas Becket and then ended with a meditative prayer. While the radio announce read the prayer, the station played soft music in the background. Nothing strange, except as the prayer spoke to God of "Your great mercy and love," the background melody was "White Christmas".

I suppose to Italian ears the melody conjured images of gratitude to God. I could have thought of it as a conflict of sacred and profane… and yet? I guess White Christmas is as prayerful as any other melody if one's heart is centered on God. And doesn't the Incarnation mean that God takes on our flesh? Can anything human really be automatically profane any more?

As the prayer moment was ready to sign off, the music switched to an instrumental of "Let it Snow…" And so those prayers were answered too: it is snowing lightly.

On the via Nomentana

This morning I had mass again with the Augustinian Sisters at their general headquarters on the Via Nomentana. It was the eleventh and last day of my substitution there as chaplain. It has only been 50 minutes every morning: Eucharist and a little homily for the Christmas Octave and then the feast -- sort of like a little morning retreat. What's amazing is that, in so short a time, we had become quite friendly. I hated to say goodbye, but their real chaplain returns this evening.

Well, it comes just in time. Once I returned from the convent, it started raining and it has been pouring all day. The forecast is for more and heavier rain in the rest of the week. I'll avoid all that and stay at the university. Besides, I have enough work to do in terms of my research…

Still, I'm going to miss the Sisters of St Augustine…

On the feast of Stephen…

Well, it isn't snowing in Rome, but it feels almost cold enough to start, and it is raining. The city was sleeping-in today. I was waiting for the 90 Express Bus at 7:14 … but of course, it did not arrive because (as I found out) today the city is observing the orario festivo (Sunday/Holiday Schedule) means the buses come only every 30 minutes.

While I was waiting at Piazza Vimercati, which leads off Piazza dell'Ateneo Salesiano, I saw a man crossing the street with two empty soft-drink bottles. He went to the little fountain at the edge of the two piazzas and filled them both. Yes, that fountain has been giving good drinking water and has flowed continuously for decades … and before the neighborhood was developed in the 1960s, I'm told that there was a fountain in the same spot. So, let's be conservative and say that people have been coming to this fountain for a century. When I was a grad student, I used to stop for a drink there on hot afternoons when I'd get off the bus to return to university and the water was always refreshing and good. So why was I surpised this morning to see this man filling up his bottles of drinking water and bringing them back to his car? Maybe I've been conditioned to think that "bottled water" is something you have to buy.

And I thought: how wonderful that the water is still fresh and healthy in Rome in the middle of the winter, and the people, after centuries and millennia, can still fill their jugs and bottles for free. There is no reason to worry about commercialization as long as the water is accessible and free.

It was such a happy realization on this feast of Stephen, and I was humming "Good King Wenceslaus" when the 90 Express Bus finally arrived.

Christmas universal

Christmas in Rome: many of the student priests went down to St Peter's last night and this morning, and are helping with communion at the pope's masses. I have preferred to stay home at our community house on campus at the UPS. Actually, I'm getting out my Christmas greetings, and it takes me a long time because every card (real or virtual) brings up memories of friends and loved ones.

On campus there is a Buddhist Monk from Japan and he is celebrating Christmas with us. I was a little surprised to see him every night at the novena services, and asked what this meant for him.

"All these other feasts of light are national or ethnic celebrations," he told me in his halting Italian. "Christmas instead is about the Divinity become small and entering our world as a defenseless child among the outcast and the poor, far from the powerful and the controllers of the world. It is to be light in the depth of darkness, to be compassion in the midst of our poverty that Jesus comes. So Christmas has meaning for us in a way that no other feast does."

Maybe my Japanese Buddhist friend was being kind to me as an Italian Catholic… but it makes me think that Christmas is more than a religious observance. If this young Buddhist monk is correct, Christmas is universal and it belongs to everyone on the planet. Well, I know that Christ belongs to everyone, whether they know it or not, but so does Christmas.

So, without feeling un-PC, I can say "Happy Christmas" to everyone. "Buon Natale a tutti!"

Christmas Eve

This morning I had to walk down through Piazza dell'Ateneo -- and I saw a huge crowd of people in front of one of the shops as I made my way down the hill. While still 20 meters away from them I began to smell the attraction: fresh fish!

Ah yes. It is the Christmas Eve (la vigilia di Natale) and the tradition in Southern Italy is for a completely meatless supper. In fact, twelve plates of vegetables and seafood. This is why the Fruit Vendor's shop was also crowded.

The elders were discussing in animated fashion, and the children were on the curb talking excitedly that there would be all kinds of cousins at their houses tonight for Christmas Eve. And it sounded like my house when I was growing up. The language was different, but the tradition was the same. Cousins seem to make Christmas important and wonderful for little kids. Even Jesus' first Christmas had a Cousin close by: John the Baptist, who has figured in the Gospel stories of these days. Come to think of it, his diet was rather meatless too.

So why are people so worried about materialistic Christmases? With strong family traditions like this, the meaning will come through.

Ah… but when there is no family, then the problem arises.

The eve of Christmas Eve

This morning there were only a few people on the bus (looks like a lot of folks have left town for the holidays) and the traffic was minimal, so that the bus arrived at Piazza Sempione ten minutes early. I didn't want to ring the bell at the Sisters' convent too early, so I walked up and down the Via Nomentana for ten minutes.

It was a good thing for me: early morning exercise in zero-degree weather. I noticed the shops have a little bit more Christmas decorations than they did at the start of the week. There is a small coffee shop that I pass every morning, and I saw that the propriator and his wife were both wearing Santa Claus hats as they prepared coffees and put the baked goods in the glass counter. They are both in their 70s, I would guess.

Now, I thought, this is a scene that you'd never have seen 30 years ago. At that time the Italians never had "Babbo Natale" (Father Christmas - Santa Claus), and no one had a Christmas tree. Even 15 years ago nobody knew anything about the Advent Wreath: I used one for a prayer service in Advent 1990 at the University and had to write an explanation of the symbol and the custom because it was so foreign to the Italians. Instead, in December 2005, most parishes have the Advent Wreath, you see Christmas trees everywhere (even if they are tiny). And even the oldtimers sport Santa hats.

As I walked I thought about all the folks complaining about the "consumer-oriented" Christmas. This is something that the Vatican is decrying nearly every day during Advent… but then I thought, it is the Vatican itself that brought this on. John Paul II brought the Christmas Tree to Italy from Poland. Yes, wonderful symbol, but foreign. To the Italians who had only see Christmas Trees in American movies, what did this say about Christmas? Maybe, unwittingly, it was the Vatican with a non-Italian pope which introduced these non-Italian symbols into Catholic Italy…

But as I thought this, I was starting to get numb in the zero-degree darkness. I checked my watch, it was 6:34… good enough. I rushed to the convent door and pressed the door bell. "Buon Giorno!" Five minutes later I was vested and we started the liturgy, but I made no comments about commercialized Christmas.

Longest night and shortest day

Last night was the longest night of the year. When I left the university this morning at 6:00 to go to the Augustinian Sisters for mass, it seemed like the middle of the night. It was also the coldest day yet, for there was frost on everything, and some of the roads were iced over. When I finished mass and made my way back to the bus stop at 7:10, it was still dark. By the time the bus arrived at 7:15, there was a beautiful sunrise starting to break through. I watched the sky from the bus window as we traveled back to the UPS.

It never seemed to warm up all day, but the university communities are emptying out as the student priests go to parishes to help with the sacraments. There is a lot of excitement in the air: it is good to see their youthful enthusiasm.

Christmas break starting

Today is the last day of lessons at the Salesian Pontifical University before Christmas. Oh, did I neglect to say that I have been busy here in Rome?

Yes, my motive for coming was that I had qualified for a Research Sabbatical after 12 full semesters at DSPT in Berkeley. I'd made up my proposal, and so came to the UPS as a Visiting Scholar. Instead of "scholar", however, the Theology School here understood "professor". So, here I am as a Visiting Professor, teaching a double course this semseter, and conducting a seminar course in the Spring Semester.

This isn't how I planned it, but because I'm teaching, the UPS pays my living expenses and my health insurance. What a deal! It would have cost me upward of €30 a day (well, not me: the Salesians in California). Instead, they are making money off me (because my salary from DSPT goes to the Salesian province).

The teaching is a lot of fun -- in Italian with students from all over the world. The course is entitled "Francesco di Sales: Storia e Spirito" [Francis de Sales: Story and Spirit]. It is the same material that I've taught at DSPT and GTU in Berkely for ten years, but putting the course together in another language makes it a bit exciting. The big job is translating my class-handouts from English to Italian. It takes me all week to produce 24 pages in clean-copy Italian. But the students are Advanced Level on their post-graduate specializations (according to the new European academic system); they are very interested and I'm enjoying the interaction. Interaction with the other teachers is very good as well.

And the research? Well I should be nervous about that, but just going back to sources in French and Italian to prepare the course in another language has given me a lot of material, so that I think I can complete my first book proposal (on Francis de Sales) during the month of January when teaching yields to exams.

Best part: I've got a great title for the book: "Francis de Sales: Story and Spirit". Okay, I'll cite the UPS in my acknowledgements page.

So anyway… today the lessons come to a halt. The students are heading off today and tomorrow and quiet will descend upon the UPS. A researcher's delight (I guess).

... ...

Commercialized Christmas

In the lead-up to my first Christmas in Italy, 30 years ago (mamma mia!), I was confused at hearing people rant against the commercialism of the holidays. Of course, coming from California, I came from a culture that had commercialized everything, so I wasn't even aware of just how consumer oriented my own surroundings had been.

Now, Advent 2005, I'm hearing the same complaints from many Italian friends. Even the pope has been talking about being careful to search the real meaning of Christmas.

But as a Californian, I find there is much less commercialism here, even if the Italians are becoming very vocal in their opposition. True, the stores are decorated now (whereas in the 1970s the stores did not decorate until after the 24th). Yet, the decore is modest really, and nearly every store also has a nativity scene in the window or in a prominent place in the shop. What is interesting to me is to see the kids looking in the shop windows. They are not looking at the merchandise, but at the stable and nativity scene figures (il presepio).

In most places the baby Jesus is not yet been set in the crib. I remember that when I was 12 I had set up the nativity scene at our house by the tree. My grandparents came over early on the 24th to oversee the preparation of the traditional Neopolitan Christmas eve supper. When my grandfather saw the baby Jesus in the stable, he pulled me aside and told me that I needed to hide the baby until midnight! So I did. Then, at midnight, my grandfather had me get the figure and slip in into the manger scene. The little cousins thought it was a miracle, since they hadn't seen me retrieve the figure. At 12 I was proud to do this little act of faith and keep the Christmas spirit alive for my family. It was really a magic moment, when I think of it now.

Well, commercialized or not, the Roman shopkeeprs seem to know the same tradition that my grandfather taught me. And while I know they are eager to make their sales during this month, they still affirm the faith of all the people who stop to look in at the nativity display in their store windows. And I see the children's eyes are bright, expentant, and even pious as they await the child. Not a few of them make the sign of the cross when then leave the window.

Well, that doesn't happen in California, does it? I tend not to worry that Christmas will be too commercial for these hopeful little ones.

Not really a tourist

By accident, almost, I've seen Pope Benedict XVI twice already -- at a distance. The first time I needed to take care of some immigration details at the Questura (police department), and when I came out, I walked a block to St Peter's to buy stamps, actually. I'd forgotten that it was Wednesday, and the pope gives his weekly general audience that day. I would have expected him to be in Aula Paolo VI (the audience hall) inside Vatican City, since this took place on 16 November, but there were so many pilgrims still arriving in Rome that Benedict was continuing to address huge crowds (about 100,000 people) in Piazza San Pietro.

The sound system is fabulous, and there are big screens now in the square so you can see the closeups -- but I could see him in the distance across the square as well. It helps that he wears white because he stands out in the crowd of darker autumn colors!

His talk was quite simple in content and encouraging in tone. He was commenting on Psalm 136 and the Exodus, which has that great refrain: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, and his mercy endures forever."

The pope spoke about how God become humble because he is merciful and compassionate. This is why, he said, we need to trust God and dwell on the good things that can transform our lives. Then he said something that really struck me: "Our danger is that the memory of evil, of those evils suffered, may often be stronger than the memory of good … The psalms tells us to wake up to the memory of Good, and especially of all the good that the Lord has done and is doing for us."

E' vero -- the pope concluded. "It's true, then: God's mercy is forever, and is present day after day" -- giorno per giorno.

Consoling and powerful words from pope Ratzinger - Benedict XVI.

Mouth of Truth or what?

Time is passing quickly! It is nearly three months since I came to Rome, and I've been very busy with teaching the course on Francis de Sales. Now we are into the Christmas break (and I am so grateful). Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on some things and prepare notes for the last three weeks of instruction.

And today we are in the Octave before Christmas, with the "O Antiphons" and the special prayers. I love this part of Advent for the liturgy.

Many of the student priests have begun to leave for Christmas ministry in the parishes. Since I am staying here, I've been asked to substitute a Latin American confrere who is chaplain to the Augustinian Sisters near Piazza Sempione, on the Via Nomentana. I went there to the convent of the Madonna di Buon Consiglio this morning, early, and recognized the group. They are mainly Maltese Sisters, and I came to do some chaplaincy here in the summer of 1994, again substituting a Latin American confrere. I'll spend the week before Christmas and some days afterwards doing the morning liturgy there. It will be nice to be allied to a community, really.

30 years ago - my first trip to Rome

My first visit to Rome took place 30 years ago today, when I was 26. I arrived with a group of friends and other young people who attached themselves to us as in our 2nd class train cabin from Torino Porta Nuova to Roma Termini. It rained most of the way, and the streets were wet when we got into the eternal city. I barely remember how we got from the train station to the UPS, but I know that Carmine Vairo and Louie Liberati met us at the station. It was dark, and we got into dark little rooms in the university: scratchy white sheets and heavy army blankets and the smell of moth balls. But we were in Rome!

I'd heard stories of this city since childhood, and to go there -- well, it made me feel like a little kid on a big adventure. The chance of a lifetime! We had come to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception with our Salesian friends, and to my delight, Carmine had arranged for us to go to St Peter's in the morning to participate in "a special mass for seminarians with the pope." Well he got it wrong. The mass was with students and personnel of the pontifical universities… and the most prominent among these were the sisters. Altro che seminaristi!!! Paul VI came in on the sedia gestatoria, and it was so exciting.

The mass was celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the 10th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II. The pope invited us to imitate Mary most Holy in meditating the Word of God and living that Word. This was the path to holiness; it was the fitting way, the pope told us, to commemorate the great event of Vatican II.

Oh, yes! Chance of a life-time: to go to Rome. But then, I later returned many times, alone or with friends and family. Then I actually took up residence in Rome for nearly 5 years. Now, after a six-year lag, I'm back again. Certainly, the "Eternal City" strikes me differently today. This is why I am recording my observations in this blog.