Returning to the Eternal City

Left Berkeley this morning. Gael Sullivan brought me to SFO by 7:00, and I cleared Security by 7:50 only to find that my 8:50 flight on United Airlines has been delayed by two hours. This gives me a moment to register some thought or other while in the United Red Carpet lounge before take off.

The last few months have gone by quickly -- so quickly that I feel that I am further behind on things than when I started. Now I start another semester at UPS before finishing the semester at DSPT. This may all be too hectic for me now... but I'll pick up my musings in the blog again and try to uncover my feelings for myself and for you.

Before any of this happens, I have the weekend with my mom in beautiful Bellflower, California!

Double birthday celebration

Sunday - and we celebrated two birthdays today, with a wonderful inhouse celebration. Marylou Cordoba did the cooking, and the brothers with Duoc Le decorated the house. And who were the "festeggiati"?

Marc Rougeau (5 October 1947)

John Rasor (7 October 1944)

It was a very wonderful celebration. For Marc, it is great because he his so enjoying being part of this community of Don Bosco Hall in Berkeley. For John, because his bout with cancer has been frightening for all of us, but it seems that he is responding well to the treatments and is regaining strength, appetite, and endurance.

Happy Birthday, my brothers!

Weary

It has been non-stop for me since June of 2006 and the word "weary" sort of says it - or maybe burnout… Got back Monday night from Minneapolis - St Paul, and the whole trip back I just listened to music or chatted and did not even try to read - and then we just had meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Just got out of the last meeting 15 minutes ago… but happily we covered everything and there is no need to meet tomorrow - nothing until August 23rd…

So that sounds like an invitation to do sweet nothing for a few days and just allow myself to regroup. I am cheering and jumping for joy!

Meetings, meetings and more meetings

Summer has not finished (and I have been so busy that it seems like it has not started) but we are already having meetings for the new academic year. Our team met this morning at 9.00 and stayed hard at it until past noon.

Perhaps I have not blogged it, but there is a great novelty at Don Bosco Hall (DBH) and the Institute of Salesian Spirituality (ISS) at Berkeley: a new director and new team for Hall and Institute!

Gael Sullivan is director; Marc Rougeau takes finances and plant manager; John Roche is on the teaching team. The great thing is that all three of them are enthusiastic about joining the community at Berkeley. This is certainly encouraging to Mary Greenan, John Rasor, Arthur Lenti and me, who remain from the old and ancient DBH team.

This is not to say that we do not face some real issues of viability for the ISS, for theology in Berkeley for Salesians, and for the work of ongoing formation for the province. The challenges are tremendous.There will be very few doing the ISS this year, and Thien Nguyen will be our only theology student after Tho Bui leaves following his ordination on 29 December.

New approaches need to be developed for DBH. Gael, Marc and John have good ideas and much enthusiasm, so it is a hope-filled time for those at 1831 Arch Street.

John Roche defends his thesis

This afternoon John Roche successfully defended his thesis. The theme he chose was Spiritual Accompaniment. The Salesian Pontifical University has awarded John with the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) and is now qualified to teach theology. He will join the teaching team at the Institute of Salesian Studies at Don Bosco Hall in Berkeley.

Accompaniment? Is that about music? What is spiritual accompaniment?

Ah… you will have to read John’s thesis to find out! (j/k). It is a way of considering spiritual direction in the style and spirit of St Francis de Sales and the praxis of St John Bosco. Instead of sitting impartial in the role of spiritual guru, the Salesian guides those seeking spiritual direction by walking with them, journeying alongside them… and in the process, experiences everything of the same journey.

John entitled his thesis: The Salesian Youth Spirituality of Accompaniment: Fr. Juan Vecchi’s Vision of Youth Spirituality for a New Moment. However, in the course of the writing, John opened up three areas of investigation. I thought that he could have reduced all this to one, because he has the topics of three different theses really. Throughout the writing and correcting, he attempted to narrow it down, narrow it down… but in the end he wanted to be comprehensive in all this.

Well the defense went well, as I said. John had a huge group following the exchange, so much so that we had to move the examination to a bigger room. John was very articulate as well, and did extremely well on the oral examination. My own thought is that he will have a lot of material from this thesis that he can develop into courses for the ISS when he gets there for the Autumn Term.

Great work, John! Congratulations.

Tropical fruits and Roman scholarship

My lecturing is finished - it is just a question now of continuing the examinations (all oral) and correcting the theme papers submitted by the students. I've also completed two of the four exams of Licentiate theses last week. New Monday and next Tuesday I will have the last two of these thesis examinations, as well as other exams… Then I'll submit all my grades and return to California…

Today I have not commitments, so I've sat for a few hours in a lounge chair in the sunshine, reading through the fourth thesis… it is very pleasant, not for the reading but for the fact that the sunscreen that I've applied to my skin is scented like mango… all of which is disposing me very kindly toward this final thesis!!!

Pietro Stella died today

This morning I had to leave the UPS at about 8.45, and don Stella was still alive at that point. I returned at noon and found that he had died during the morning. The funeral will be held at the University Church on Monday, 4 June.

At this point there is one poster in the community dining room areas; I expect more information will be posted soon.

Here is the official announcement from the UPS of the death of Pietro Stella. It was sent out this afternoon at about 13.00 hours.

È morto don Pietro Stella
Il cordoglio della comunità accademica dell’UPS

(UPS – Roma, 1 giugno 2007) – È deceduto questa mattina venerdì 1 giugno 2007 il Rev. Prof. don Pietro Stella, insigne studioso e professore dell’Università Pontificia Salesiana.

Il Rettore don Mario Toso a nome di tutta la comunità universitaria ha scritto un messaggio di cordoglio che riportiamo di seguito.

In memoriam

L’intera comunità accademica dell’Università Pontificia Salesiana (UPS) si unisce al dolore della Comunità “Gesù Maestro” della Visitatoria per la scomparsa dell’illustre Professore don Pietro Stella.

Docente ordinario di Teologia morale nella Facoltà di Teologia dell’UPS sino al 15 ottobre 1979, il Prof. Stella è stato, tra l’altro, ordinario di Storia Moderna presso la Facoltà di Magistero dell’Università di Perugia dal 1977 e, nel 1981, fu chiamato a coprire la cattedra di Storia della Chiesa nella Facoltà di Magistero dell’Università degli Studi di Roma.

Incaricato per anni del Centro Studi D. Bosco dell’UPS, il Prof. don Pietro Stella si è affermato come un grande studioso non solo dell’opera e dell’attività educativa e pastorale di Don Bosco nella storia della Religiosità cattolica, ma anche del Giansenismo in Italia.

L’Università Pontificia Salesiana è riconoscente a don Stella per il suo insigne impegno culturale. Con il suo servizio, contrassegnato da circa cinquanta anni di ricerche, ha altamente onorato la nostra Comunità accademica e salesiana, con la quale ha sempre coltivato un legame profondo.


Prof. don
Mario Toso
Rettore

I funerali avranno luogo lunedì 4 giugno alle ore 11.00 presso la chiesa dell’Università Salesiana

Prayers for the dying

This morning at 5.00 don Stella's condition changed suddenly, and he went into a slow decline. His blood pressure began to go down in gradual increments and his body temperature as well. He is breathing, but just. At 7.00 we had our community mass in the infirmry chapel, praying the mass for the dying. Afterwards a number of us went in to see him. He is surrounded by his brothers and don Nicolussi is with him, as is don Strus'. The sisters of the Sacred Hearts (don Variara's group) continue to assist as well. So I was able to spend a few minutes at his bedside with the others.

At the mass we prayed for the Lord's assistance to don Pietro in these moments. It is now 8.10 -- I just grabbed a coffee after seeing him and came to make this blog post using one of the university computers.

Pietro Stella near death - Macintosh out of commission

Yesterday Pietro Stella could not speak, although he seemed to understand enerything said. Doctors visited hiò also to try to ease pain, while more family members came to be with him during the day.

Last night, then, for the first time a number of confreres stayed by his bedside throughout the night, helping to move him from bed to chair from time to time, since it is easier for him to breathe from the chair. Tonight another group will stay with him to assist. Mood in the Gesù Maestro community is very somber these days, as it is in the Domenico Savio community (both are communities of professors). I don't know the reaction in the other communities.

For myself there has been a setback. The cord to my laptop burned this morning in what must have been an electrical surge (in spite of the fact that I was using surge protectors). The computer does not seem to be damaged, but the battery evidently was not charging and recharging, perhaps the cord and transformer have been damaged for a few days. All my data and materials are there. My backup disks, however, are safe in my desk. Tomorrow I will go to the Apple Store by Sta Maria Maggiore in hopes of getting a new cord etc.

This never happened last year, when I actually used the computer more than now -- but it makes me realize too that laptops are not made for extended use. I'll need to get a desktop mac for my use in DBH, and a desktop here next year when I come. The are cheaper but hardier and should be able to take the wear and tear better.

Pietro Stella -update

Today don Pietro Stella had a very difficult time breathing and his heartbeat was labored. For most of the morning he seemed in a coma, but became conscious in the afternoon. However, he remains in a very weakened state.

His doctor came by in the afternoon and told the sisters at the UPS infirmary that he could go at any time now.

Keeping vigil with Pietro Stella

This is an update on the condition of Fr Pietro Stella. On the feast of Mary Help (24 May) he received the Sacrament of the Sick. Since that time he has not been able to celebrate mass. On Saturday he told Jozef Strus', the rector, that he his not afraid of daying and is ready. Then he said "It is time that I pass on the torch to another". When don Strus' asked him what he meant, don Stella said he was speaking of his place in the area of Salesian research. Stella named a confrere, but Strus' did not reveal this (however, I already know that Stella means to "pass the torch" to Aldo Giraudo, for he has been very matter of fact on this score with Aldo ever since he first became sick in November).

On Sunday Pietro Stella was visibly weakening. He could no longer stand unassisted. Today, Monday, he spoke very little. Relatives of his are starting to arrive to see him; his sister spent the entire day. Of course, Prospero Stella, who is older and much more reserved than Pietro, has been with him all during these days.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pietro Stella's ordination. He made the remark on the day that we celebrated (Ascension) all the anniversaries: "Please thank the Lord with me that he has allowed me to meet Don Bosco, and then that he allowed me to love Don Bosco, and finally that he has helped me remain faithful to the Founder until the last."

Whatever develops next, the community here keeps him tight in prayer.

Difficult news

During the lunch for the feast of Mary Help of Christians we got news that Jacques Schepens, one of the leading Salesian scholars for the Flemish, French and German contexts, has been struck by a mysterious disease that has left him incapacitated mentally. It is devastating news, not only for what regards Jacques (whom many of us know and love sincerely), but also for the field of Salesian studies and spirituality. Where this leaves the few of us still active in the field is anyone's guess.

Celebration of nations and of Mary Help

May at the UPS always ends with the celebrations of the nations. Every cultural block prepares musical numbers or dances in the morning break as the semester winds down to a conclusion. These celebrations all lead to the feast of Mary Help of Christians, which is truly the highlight of the Spring season at the University.

Here are some shots of this year's "celebration of the nations".

An ethnic celebration of heart: Eastern European countries joined together for a series of interpretive dances that spoke of the Gospel appealing to the heart of the young. 

Everyone dresses casual, and many africans dress in colors from their countries. The time at the morning break only lasts 20 minutes, so one group could present each day, but as the week wore on, the mixing became more pronounced. 

Young Congolese women lead entrance procession with yellow umbrellas, symbol of the Rector Major's program for the year which called for faith and optimism that can transform the hearts of the peoples.

Planning summer course

In preparing for the summer sessions at DSPT, I have been asked to teach my usual course in ecclesiology: In Search of the Church.

As a textbook, I am working on my own classnotes and putting them into book-form for the course. My intent is to have copies ready for the class, and hope to have them printed while in Rome. I will make them available to the students at cost. I'm not sure what that will come to, but it should be around €12 or $15 US.

As for book reports (which I put in the course description as a requirement) my hope has been to have the students read different books and let them make reports. Now I am thinking that there is little time in two weeks to find books, read them and report on them. Also, a number of students are going to be auditing, as I understand from Teresa Olson, the DSPT registrar. My thought, then, is to have the students locate journal articles on ecclesiology themes and report on them. On the first day of class we'll have a chance to look at options here. Given that we only have two weeks and given that the class sessions are long over those days, I don't think it is reasonable to expect students to read piles of books.

That said, I will make available a bibliography for those who, in future, would want to delve more deeply.

New movie of Don Bosco in English - update!

In January I discovered that the DVD version of "Don Bosco" was soon to be released coming in English. I had seen the made-for-TV film in Italian. It aired as a mini-series in September 2004. The Italian version is absolutely excellent. I have the copy in Italian which I purchased last year while living in Rome, and have brought that copy with me, but I had been waiting to hear if the film would come out in English (since it was actually filmed in English). Today I received the English version from Ignatius Press and watched it immediately.

Well, I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. The English-version lacks the quality of the original. The dubbing is well done, but there are some major errors in pronunciation. For instance, even though everyone knows this saint as "Don Bosco", the English version calls him "Father Bosco". That is strange, especially since all the names of the characters remain in Italian (Giovanni, Michele, Domenico, etc.). But, fine, it is a minor irritation and I could live with that. What really is strange, however, is that the voices in the English soundtrack consistently mispronounce the name of the religious movement and congregation that he founded, the Salesians. Who worked with English-speaking actors? The Salesians are the second largest order in the Catholic Church: you think that someone from sound stage might have been able to find a Salesian to consult so that they could get the names and terminology correct!

All right, that's the bad news. As for the movie itself, it is very good news. Happily, there is both an English and an Italian track, and so you can view the film in either language, and you can activate the subtitles in English or Spanish. It is funny that the translation of the text of the English subtitles is very different from the English soundtrack… but that is fine. This written text is actually closer to the Italian, as are the Spanish subtitles. I've decided that when I show the film to friends, if I can convince them that the sound of Italian may be more interesting, I'll encourage them to watch the film with Italian sound and English subtitles. If they don't want to do that the first time, then maybe the second time we watch it.

Or maybe I'm just dreaming!

As I said in this blog back in January, the Italian version is excellent, excellent. Flavio Insinna is a most convincing Don Bosco, and is far better in the role than was Ben Gazara in the 1988 RAI television production. Even what I would call a disappointing English soundtrack does not seem to diminish the story or the action. But then, I'll have to see what non-Italian speakers think of it. For myself, I'll keep watching the film in Italian.

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.

A morning at the Policlinico Umberto I°

After early mass, as I was grabbing a coffee in the refectory, Jesús Manuel García asked me to accompany him and bring Don Pietro Stella to the hospital. It seems that his condition has worsened this week, and his doctor, a Prof. Giuseppe Naso, wants him to receive a blood transfusion immediately.

Well, immediately is only a figure of speech. After breakfast Jesús Manuel and I brought Don Stella to the Emergency at famous Roman "Policlinico" Umberto Primo. The attendant at the desk seemed bored and diffident when we brought him in, but when he looked at the doctor's analysis, his comment was a surprised "Urca!" He directed us to bring Pietro Stella immediately into an inner waiting room, and then sent the two of us out of the area, down the hall and around the block to another series of waiting rooms for visitors. This is how we spent the whole morning.

After three-and-a-half hours we were told that it would be another hour before they could test his blood, and another two hours after that before they could make a decision. Since we were not even allowed to say with him through any of this, we decided to come home. Around 3:00 we'll make a call and see what is happening, but things are serious and it seems they want to keep him there over the weekend.

This was the morning I was going to dedicate to packing for my return trip to San Francisco tomorrow… but there is little to worry about there. I've got almost everything ready by now, and a number of items I will be keeping in my office here for my May teaching tour.

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.

Classes, theses and pizza

It is Tuesday morning and I am getting ready for my 12th lecture, which is later this morning. Then I spend the next three days correcting drafts of theses. I haven't been out of the area, but I have had a chance to visit and do pizzas with some friends, and so to spend "some time in the fun zone", as my friend Kathleen Hadfield would put it.

From that perspective, I now have one more lesson, five more theses and one more pizza party to do before getting back to Berkeley.

Spring forward into the winter rain

This has been the day to change the clocks in Europe. The USA now does the changing (as of this year) two weeks early, so now my computer if not by body is caught up for both time zones. I awoke at 6:30 (Central European Daylight Time), thinking the mass at the Don Rua community would have the mass at 7:30, as it usually does on Sundays. When I got there, I found a sign saying "La messa alle 8.30: Nuovo Orario". So, in the hour that I waited I did some laundry and went back to preparing my presentation for tomorrow's lectures. I also discovered that it was raining again!

Because I am so busy during these weeks trying to get my classes prepared and then correcting drafts of theses of my students, the best time for me to interact with folks is during the meals, and in the period right after dinner. Today I had a chance to touch base with John Roche (but mainly about his thesis) and with Marco Bay. I also met a young man from the Central American province whose name is Raymond, and who is enrolled in a four month course for formators. He will work with the Brothers Professional Formation Group, now moving from Salvador to Guatemala, come June when he returns to his province. He told me of how the Interamerican region is restructuring some of the interprovincial formation projects. I wonder that I never heard of this, being on the formation commission of the San Francisco province. I suppose these details are not thought to be significant for us. Instead, they color what we do in Berkeley. How do we keep on marketing ourselves to these provinces if we don't know that the criteria for formative courses and itineraries (as they love to call them) are shifting.

Oh well… what can you do? I suppose it is impossible to keep up with every trend… but as I was speaking with the young Raymond, the rain stopped and the sky opened slightly. The thunderheads are still imposing, but not delivering any action at the moment.

The gum of the bridge

Today I got news from my cousin Dominic who just returned with his wife Barbara from a week-long winter vacation to the Grand Canyon. He said that his trip sounds meager compared to my being in Rome, but this is absolutely not true. The Grand Canyon is impressive against any measurement, and from the sounds of it, Dom and Barb had a wonderful trip

In Italy there is a lot of notoriety to certain American landmarks, and I remember when I lived here in the 1970s that there was a television ad for "Brooklyn Gum" -- it is a chewing gum brand that is Italian, but of course no respectable Italian would chew gum, so by giving it an American name, it suddenly became stylish for young people to do so.

That ad on TV started with a boy offering a girl a stick of gum, and as both of them put the gum in their mouths (all smiles, of course), they were instantly transported to the Brooklyn Bridge, which they crossed to enter into the Grand Canyon, and as they turned, chewing and smiling, they fell into an embrace and a long kiss in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Geographically, the advert presented some logistical problems, but what really made me wonder as a 25-year old was why two people would want to kiss their lover with gum in their mouths. One of my friends saw the question mark on my face as we watched TV, and promptly told me that this is how American couples like to kiss.

I don't know if that is true or not, but the fact remains that the Brooklyn Bride, the Grand Canyon and the Golden Gate Bridge are the dream places that every, gum-chewing Italian longs to visit.

More rain

The forecast has been for rain and nobody wanted to believe it. Yesterday while I was teaching in the afternoon we had a tremendous storm… and I'd put some things out to dry earlier. I had to wash them again (by hand) and dry them on the radiator in my bedroom.

Today the wind has been blowing hard all morning, and it has begun to rain and to hale. On the horizon there is sunshine, but here, right over the University, the rain is very heavy at the moment. It is a mighty show for the last day of winter, and just what I need as I prepare for my late-morning class.

Feast of St Joseph - la festa di san Giuseppe

An Irish friend sent me an e-mail today commiserating with me that St Joseph has been overshadowed by St Patrick. As if!

The funny thing is, St Patrick passed altogether unnoticed here in Rome last Saturday. On that day our community celebrated the feast of St Zbigniew. St Patrick got not even an honorable mention! I guess this is what happens after nearly three decades of having a Polish pope. Yet, I saved the day because I did wear green that day. I think I was the only one in the whole university to do so.

Instead, for the feast of St Joseph, we started the day with a sung liturgy, and at mid-day we were treated to a five course dinner. I had to be careful, since I teach three classes in the afternoon, so I kept it very light. A group of Slovak students came in to serenade while we ate, singing Slovak, Bohemian and Moravian folks songs, accompanied by students playing traditional instruments including a young woman who worked wonders on a violin. Incredible! And at dessert there were St Joseph Cakes, a specialty of southern Italy where it is called le zeppole (I'm told that in Rome the cake is called bigné di san Giuseppe). In the evening, a very festive Vespertine prayer service, again with a lot of singing and supper with stories and new wine. Not bad for a working day, and not bad for a day when the heavens broke open and we've endured heavy rain all day. But it has been a fun day.

So, what can I say except that nothing overshadowed the feast, and had the Romans celebrated St Patrick instead of St Zbigniew, I'm sure he would have only added to feast, since he too was ceratinly a devotee of St Joseph.

Maltese cross (on the catechism)

This evening I attended the defense of a doctoral dissertation by Carl Mario Sultana. Carl Mario is a young priest from the Archiocese of Malta, and he has done his studies in youth ministry and catechetics here at the Salesian Pontifical University. We became friends last year when I was a member of the Don Rua community

Carl Mario did his research and wrote his dissertation on a Maltese figure, Gorg Preca, who brought catechesis to a strong level, advanced biblical studies and worked for bringing laity into active and important posts of apostolate in the Church.

Well, Carl Mario did brilliantly: summa cum laude. However, it was an easy defense: both his thesis director and the second reader were so enthusiastic with the written presentation of his dissertation that they did not ask him questions but enthused over his work. I couldn't help smiling as Prof don Mario Cimosa went over every detail with such excitement that I began to believe that I was at a book presentation rather than a defense! However, I realized that I was not sitting at Barnes and Noble but in Sala Marolla at the UPS -- so that was my reality check.

Still, I kept thinking throughout the presentation that it would be good to connect the church in Malta with the church in Guam: both islands of Catholicism in a sea of modernism, isolated and different from their distant neighbors and the continent/mainland. As an interested outsider who has visited both islands and who has had the opportunity to works with priests and laity in those local churches, I find some interesting simularities, and I am guessing that there would be a benefit in connecting.

My action-step will be to contact my past pupil, Fred Tenorio Rodriguez, in Guam, and let him know of this dissertation defense as I suggest that he have the archdiocese invite Carl Mario to Guam for some resourcing to the catechists and parishes. At least, that's what I'm thinking I need to do. I do love when things connect!

Francis de Sales conversations

After lunch, or rather dinner (pranzo) today, I took a stroll in the upper courtyard of the university with Fr Morand Wirth, who is one of our experts on Francis de Sales. Last year during my stay here we met quite often, since he was writing a book on the saint's educational approach and I was teaching the course that he normally taught on the main traits of the spirituality of St Francis de Sales.

I was thrilled to hear of his research. He is tracing references to the biblical phrase "Give me souls, take away the rest" from Genesis -- a saying that Don Bosco attributed to Francis de Sales and adopted as his personal motto and the motto of the congregation. I too have written a sketchy article on this, and in fact the whole Salesian Society is gathering around this phrase as we prepare for the General Chapter slated for 2008. «Da mihi animas, cetera tolle» will be the theme, in fact, of that chapter.

Well, back to don Morand. He tells me that the Fathers of the Church used to use this phrase to point to the influence of evil in the world. In fact, in Genesis, it is the King of Sodom who tells Abraham, after the freeing of Lot and others who had been enslaved, to simply give him back his own people that had been held hostage and keep the booty for himself. Abraham refuses to do this, being the man of Faith that he is, and give back everything, as well as a 10th of all his own recovered goods to the priest-king of Salem. Now since it is the King of Sodom who makes the request, the Fathers, particularly those of the Alexandrian School, read into this in light of the later skirmish between the sons of light and the citizens of Sodom. They see the request as Satanic.

John Chrysostom knows the Alexandrian interpretation but he does not agree, and proposes that we simply understand the passage in the literal and not the allegorical sense. His voice, however, is not strong enough to drown out the opinion presented by the Alexandrians.

Oh well… but that's not really the point. The first time that the da mihi animas is taken in a pastoral sense, says Morand, seems to be in the Spirit of Blessed Francis de Sales written by Jean Pierre Camus. Within a generation of the publication of that book, many pastoral and spiritual writers, particularly among those of the French School, cite the phrase in the way attributed to Francis de Sales. And while Don Bosco also can cite the literal sense in his book of Salvation History, when he applies the words to the work of the Oratory, he uses the pastoral sense as found in Camus.

Is Don Bosco right in ascribing the phrase in its pastoral meaning to Francis de Sales? Morand Writh says that his research is bringing him to this conclusion. I look forward to seeing his article published on this theme. It is exciting, really.

Okay -- it is exciting for us professor types, I suppose. For others a good gelato would be more exiting still. However, it is still winter and Lent, therefore I will forgo the gelato.

After all that intellectual and mystical excitement, I changed clothes and took a power walk around the area for 40 minutes, finally sweating out all the stuff of the last few days.

Two down, seven to go

After almost two full days of prep, I taught the first two periods of class this afternoon. We had to iron out the time table, since there are students from three different programs. And I got them though a PowerPoint. I am not confident that I was able to convey anything to them. Really, this is not my material.

While I had expected to teach again for two hours on Thursday, I will, instead, teach for one period tomorrow. As it is, we went for nearly three periods today, and tomorrow will make four. I think that this is enough. The students also want to avoid too many afternoon classes. It looks like they have class three afternoons each week. If we can avoid Thursday afternoons, they won't have to make it four.

So, I need to get my act together tomorrow… and I need to start talking to my licentiate students: John, Virgilio and Sebastian. I've got a lot to do, it looks like.

With all this content, printed up the class notes that Jacques Schepens had e-mailed me. I had to do a lot of formatting, so that took a good deal of time both last week and through the weekend. As fate would have it, all three photocopy machines broke down over the weekend, so my students won't have the bound copies until Thursday (which is the day that I thought I'd meet them next). This makes tomorrow's class a bit iffy, as I was counting on two more days for preparation.

Beyond this little problem, I did my negotiating for library usage and was also able to settle on a better classroom. Jarek, the registrar of the university, generously gave me one of the newly equipped smart classrooms. It looks like things will work out better for my AV presentations and such in Classroom 4, because the project is built into the room and you can darken the windows. That's good news. None of this is possible in Classroom 9, which is the normal room for doing spirituality.

Well, we'll se how it works out tomorrow.

Adjusting and readjusting

When I woke up this morning, I really didn't know where I was for the first few moments. Amazing, since this trip back to Italy has been nearly the only thing on my mind for the last three months. Of course, I'm staying in a different part of the university and so, in that respect, my surroundings are new and different. My room is in the Philosophy Building, with a window overlooking the inner courtyard of the university.

I did not have any trouble sleeping through the night, which is also a difference. Jet-lag usually has me waking five times and always earlier. Come to think of it, I've been waking five time every night at home in Berkeley… Which may mean that my body is still used to the Italian time frame and I live in perpetual jet-lag when I'm in California. Now that is a scary thought!

As I mentioned yesterday, I am to be a member of the community of Gesù Maestro, which is one of the communities of professors. Jozef Strus' is the director, and it was he who was my director 17 years ago when I came to the UPS for the first time to begin studies on my licentiate. Of course, Tom Prendiville was my provincial superior at that time and now he is my director in Berkeley. It seems that no matter what the theatre, I'm playing with the same cast of actors.

For the bulk of the day I have been working on notes for the classes that I begin to teach tomorrow. I don't feel prepared, but at least I can give them a fist full of notes.

Tornando a Roma (Returning to Rome)

The title says it all. I arrived in Rome at Fiumicino Airport at about 17.30… Of course, it took forever to get the luggage, but there was no problem going through immigration and once outside the customs area, Aldo Giraudo was there to meet me. He briefed me on many elements of life at the UPS as we first stopped for something to drink and then took the road back to the university. The trip was almost uneventful, except that on the offramp from Rome's Ring Road into the neighborhood of Fidene, we got rear-ended as we were caught in the gridlock. Luckily, there was no mark on either car. It must have been because we were stopped and the other driver was going at only a crawl. Thank God for that. All we would have needed is to fill out an insurance claim.

Back at the UPS, I have a room in the professors' residence. I will be part of the "Gesù Maestro" Community during my stay here. Giorgio Zevini gave me the key to my new office, which is on the second floor of the Theology Building, one of only five offices there. I'll go through all my material tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have seen a lot of folks already: Jozef Struz', director of Gesù Maestro and once my director when I was a student in the Don Rua community in 1990-1992. Of course I met Giorgio Zevini on the stairs as I went to the dining room. I also saw Renato Mion, Cosimo Semeraro, Gianfranco Venturelli, Christian Debuts, Jesús Manuel García, Jose Luis Moral, Mario Midali, Giuseppe Nicolussi (provinical superior), Donato Valentini, Ottorino Pasquato, Josef Kutarna (who spent last year in Berkeley), Giuseppe Bertorello, and Antonio Escudero.

Some of these had been my professors; some had been my classmates in years gone by… but that's a lot of people to greet in one evening as I fought off sleep. Which reminds me! What am I still doing up? I'm going to try to catch some sleep. There's a lot to prepare for Monday's class, and I'll have to get on that tomorrow!

Buona notte!

Lay over

So here I am in Frankfurt… the layover between flights is almost five hours, but luckily I have been able to go into the Lufthansa lounge (with my United Airlines Red Carpet Club membership). Makes it nice.

European lounges are very different from American ones. They are bright, open, airy… There is a lot of interaction of people, as opposed to the American airline clubs that seem to be wood-paneled and dark, intimate, quiet. This lounge for Lufthansa reminds me of an internet cafe and lunch counter combined. Anyway, I am enjoying making use of it. The food is constant and good.

Of course, I have been up for how many hours now? My brain is feeling a bit fuzzy. I am anxious to get to Rome and to the UPS. At the same time, I'm nervous about how I'm going to get that course together. That is probably why I'm eager to get to the UPS. Once I see who is participating in the class, I'll be in a better position to see how to present the material (or at least I'll know what I'm worrying about).

Ready to fly

Here I am in the Red Carpet Club of United Airlines at San Francisco International. My flight to Rome via Frankfurt departs in about an 90 minutes, so I'm just going through the last stages of disorganization here and preparing for the long flight.

Of course, I'm wondering what I've forgotten. Do I have my other pair of glasses? Are the books I am bringing enough of the right stuff? How am I ever going to pull of this class in youth spirituality (not my material, is it?)???

Too late to worry about all this (but then don't I always tie myself up in knots worrying about details?). I've got three weeks in Rome now, during the month of March, and then another five weeks in May-June. This should give me enough time to carry out the teaching of a course in youth spirituality, at least according to the plan that has been on the books plan since September. We'll just have to see how it all works out. It is one thing to plan and quite another to put the plan into action.

Still, I propose to be truthful as I blog my next edition of Roma experiences. This is, after all, the bocca della verità!

Syllabi, commitments, deadlines

Last night I found a series of e-mails regarding the theology courses to be taught at DSPT in Summer 2007.

Yes, I did say that I could be available after Michael Sweeney asked me several times. And yes, I did clear it with the team at Don Bosco Hall (although I brought it up at the end of one of our lengthy meetings and they were perhaps all comatose when they said "yes" to me on this issue.

Now, the other professors (all non-Dominicans) who will be teaching are speaking of class-session time, expectations, duration. It is going to be serious business rather than a summer enrichment type of thing.

As I prepare my syllabus, I am beginning to think that it will be useful to run copies by the other two professors (John Berkman and Marianne Farina). It might be helpful if we help each other check our materials in terms of realistic expectations.

The course that I will be teaching this summer on Ecclesiology is something that I have been teaching at DSPT since the year 2000, but I have always taught it over the course of a whole semester. How to repackage it for two intense weeks may be tricky. From what John and Marianne are saying in their e-mails last night and this morning, I may need to reconsider the whole approach. No, let me reword that. I MUST reconsider my whole approach. The thought of three-and-a-half hours of this stuff every day is exhausting to me. I can imagine what it would be like for the poverini who would be enrolled!

Okay… in two days I depart for Rome. I'm not ready for that either, but I've got my ticket and my toothbrush!

Getting ready to travel

When I left Rome last June, I traveled by train to Fiumicino… Jesus Manuel García brought me to the train station in Nuovo Salario, but it was a pain to carry the luggage. Since then I have done my usual fair amount of traveling, using taking BART to the airport, and picking up the metro or public transit on the other side. Since here I travel with a backpack, this has not been problematic. However, as I'm getting ready to go back to Rome, I decided that I need a larger piece that has wheels.

Anyway, this has been on my mind since I stood on that train from Nuovo Salario to Fiumicino, and this morning I finally acted on it. As soon as my class was finished with the ISS people, I hiked into downtown Berkeley, to the luggage store. I found a nice piece by Samsonite -- one that they call the "hardside spinner". It was a bit pricey, I thought, but then I haven't purchased luggage since 1992, and so I decided that this was not the time to be worried about the economy. $275 later, I was rolling my way through downtown Berkeley and back up the hill to Don Bosco Hall.

Ah! What a difference. I think this is going to work. Anyway, I quickly packed and that part of my trip is ready. Now I've got to finish my class prep for this week, and clean my office. What a mess… but that's another story.

Tonight we have a couple of birthdays: Sr Anne Collins (who is from Ireland and doing the ISS course) and Fr George Allengadan (who is from Bangalore and now works for the diocese of Oakland). They are both great folks, and I'm looking forward to the celebration.

Raining down the blossoms

When I left for school early this morning there was a bit of a drizzle… I had my umbrella, but didn't need it. Once I got to my office the heavens opened, and the downpour continued furious and cold right through the morning. When I went to teach my course on ecclesial movements at 11:00, it was still pouring.

Rain is good for the earth, good for the California water table, and good for my capacity to study. I get more done on a rainy day than when the sun is shining… and so it is today. Since class, I've been able to sort through a number of projects and put things in order. But when I came out of the class and back to my office, I noticed that the sidewalks were littered with blossoms that had been rained off the trees. I wonder what this will do for Spring when if finally comes.

That's okay. Right not California needs the rain!

Umbrella run

Thursday we had rain and I went to DSPT prepared that morning, with my umbrella. By the time I finished class at 12.30, it had stopped raining and the sun was shining. It was still cold and breezy, but the sunshine made me feel great. I was a bit confused, thinking that I had a Salesian meeting, so I rushed home to Don Bosco Hall… instead, that meeting that I was sure I needed to attend, I found out, is scheduled for next Thursday.

It was just as well. It started raining again, and rained all day Friday and all day Saturday… and when I thought of going out, I remembered that I had forgot… my umbrella, of course.

This morning we had more rain, but by noon it had cleared. The sky was still dark, but I made a quick dash over to the school and picked up my umbrella from my office. I then checked and found that my mailbox was full of papers from students: theses and proposals and things of that nature. This week, in fact, is when the faculty meets to approval thesis proposals. Well, I should be prepared for that. If not, at least I'm prepared for more rain, as long as I don't forget my umbrella again.

Year of the "Pick"

As the Vietnamese and they will tell you that we are starting the "Year of the Pick", but this is only because they cannot pronounce the final "g". Ask the Chinese and they will tell you that we are starting the "Year of the Boar". Well, it all started today in our house… and this evening we had a celebration of the Lunar New Year according to the Vietnamese tradition. It was also the birthday of Fr Eugene Sweeney, from the Archdiocese of Armagh. Eugene had Irish guests from GTU; Sr Anne Collins had a couple of guests; Tho Bui and Thien Nguyen invited members of the youth group from St Ambrose; Fr Tom Prendiville invited members of the provincial house. The celebration was as big as Christmas, but with less organization and more rice.

Well, there is much to say about all this, but I'll do so later. In the meantime, there is nothing left to say except Chuc Mung Nam Moi, unless perhaps it might be Gung Hay Fat Choy. Prosperity, Health and Fecundity, and Long Life!

Marathon

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

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

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

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

Almost raining

The Intersession period comes to an end today, and there is a certain buzz of activity as students try to complete their registrations for the new semester. The GTU Library, which has been empty for much of the month, was very busy and noisy this afternoon, as was the GTU bookstore.

In terms of the Salesian intersession program, Mary Greenan completed teaching the "Mother Mazzarello" course today. With that, the prenovices and postulants making their last visit to the classrooms of Salesian High School Richmond. After that experience, the Salesian Sisters invited their postulants to go to San Francisco for a day of sight-seeing and visiting of the Salesian parishes as well… On this side of the Bay we have had thick mist and drizzling… Who knows what kind of day it will have been in the City.

In any case, people are about ready for the new semester to begin. It has been a long inter-semester break, and many students and professors that I know are antsy to get the new term underway.

That will all start on Monday.

Saga of the garage door continues on the feast of St Francis de Sales

Today the final chapter of the garage door. A technician from Madden Doors arrived at 8:30 in the morning to install the new garage door for the Arch Street Building. He was all alone and had to assemble the sections and mount them. He worked at this until about 2:30 in the afternoon. But now the door is finally finished, and more sturdy than the previous door. Also, at the top panel there are three opaque windows that allow light to come into the garage. It makes the area less of a cave.

So three cheers for Madden Doors. For the first time in nearly a month we are able to close off the area and secure the house.

In the afternoon, the group of Salesian Sisters' postulants and SDB prenovices came to DSPT for a look around. I did the tour-guide job, and brought them through all the nooks and crannies of our new school. They had a lot of questions, and I think that they are beginning to have an inkling that our work at Don Bosco Hall has a larger contest. And it was fun. I mean, I learned how to be a "tour guide" at the Catacombs when I was 25. I guess I love that role.

Well, okay, let's not talk about the catacombs now… Bringing this Salesian sister group through the theology school was an opportunity to let them understand that there are other ways of doing formation than the little in-house courses.

Memories of Januaries past

This morning I had a conversation with a high-school classmate of mine, Vic Suarez, who is now vice-principal of our alma mater, St Francis School in Watsonville. He told me that the kids are beginning a week of celebrations for the feast of Don Bosco, and that the day will culminate with a mass with Bishop Sylvester Ryan, the outgoing bishop of Monterey, and Bishop Garcia, the new bishop.

Well, the conversation brought back memories of those precious days when we were students St Francis. I always loved January best… that is after the semester exams, which terrified me.

Yes, exams! When we'd walk out of the exams Vic Suarez (who was a 4.0 student) would begin asking me how I answered this or that question… I'd break out in a cold sweat because I could never remember any of the questions that he used to bring up. Years later, when I read Harry Potter and would see Hermione asking Ron Weasley and Harry Potter about "how did you answer the question about…", it reminded me of our high school exams, Vic Suarez, cold sweat and all.

After exam week we'd have a week-long retreat. I absolutely loved it. A whole week with great preachers (in 1963 Fr Joseph Costanzo came from San Francisco; in 1964 Fr Arthur Brainard came from Richmond). These dynamic Salesians totally inspired me then. But I also remember the retreats as an opportunity to spend some intimate time with a great spiritual book from our musty library collection. During my freshman year I read the life of John XXIII (A Man Named John, by Alden Hatch) and still have great visual and sensory memories of sitting under the red woods on the slope leading down to Kelly Lake to read that book in the afternoons.

And after the retreat, with the souvenir card, we had the three-day feast of Francis de Sales and John Bosco, from 29 to 31 January. In 1966 many Salesians came for the three days -- priests and brothers. I can still see in my memory the concelebration with 22 priests. I was so amazed by that, and thought the church was really moving forward! Roger Luna had composed a special mass, and I remember Vic Tousignant was the thurifer… Why do I remember Vic Tousignant being the thurifer that year? I don't know, but incense just seemed to sum up the solemnity of that wonderful feastday in my teenage mind, I suppose. Well, I also remember all the melodies and antiphons that Fr Roger taught us.

The feast of Don Bosco would feature an afternoon banquet, and all the students were expected to dress formally in suit and tie. The food that day was always tremendous: Italian style (but being Italian, I didn't even recognize that this was special until my classmates ooed and awed over the Lasagne and the Rosemary Chicken, and the gelato for dessert. Finally, we would end the feast with an "academia" in the evening: an entertainment prepared by the students that featured musical, poetic, comic and artistic presentations.

Photo: Feast of St John Bosco, 31 January 1966, at St Francis Watsonville

January and the Salesian feasts! That was always a wonderful time for me as a kid in the 1960s. I hope that the young people in our schools and parishes are having a similarly wonderful experience in 2007!

Intersession and guests

The postulants of the Salesian Sisters arrived this afternoon, joining the prenovices of the Salesians who have been here in Berkeley for one week already. The young people will be participating in a course on the figure and spirituality of St Mary Mazzarello, taught by Sr Mary Greenan. Somehow linked with this course will be the experience of visiting classes and students at Salesian High School in Richmond.

Now, I am not sure how the course on Mother Mazzarello relates to doing vocation talks in the high school, but in point of fact Sr Mary Greenan must teach classes all week long in Richmond, and so it is easier for her to host the course there in the Salesian Residence. Of course she is eager to let the Sisters' postulants experience the high school, and so all this has been put together. However it will work out, I'm sure that our guests will enjoy the experience and benefit from it, as I hope will the students at Salesian.

New movie of Don Bosco now in English

Tonight I discovered that the DVD version of "Don Bosco" is coming out in English. I've seen the made-for-TV film in Italian. It came out as a mini-series in September 2004. It is absolutely excellent. I have the copy in Italian that I brought over last year and have been waiting to hear if it would come out in English (since it was actually filmed in English). Now I have preordered a copy from Ignatius Press here in San Francisco and am looking forward to its arrival.

From what I have seen in the blurb at Ignatius Press, the DVD has the Italian and English soundtracks, with subtitles in English or Spanish. Like I say, the Italian version is excellent, excellent. It is far better than the 1988 movie of Don Bosco with Ben Gazzara. Flavio Insinna does an excellent job as a very believable Don Bosco. The kids are believable too: Michele Rua, Giovanni Cagliero, Giuseppe Buzzetti are all portrayed in ways that mirror what we know of their actual characters as kids (each went on to do great things as adults in the Salesian cause). There are also some characters of boys that sum up troubled youth: "Bruno" is a character of this type, and done with exceptional delicacy. And Domenico Savio also shows up to interact with Don Bosco and the other (older) boys. Don Cafasso and Mamma Margaret both play significant roles in the story, as does the Marchesa Barolo. And there are hard issues to deal with as well: the Archbishop of Turin's attempts to curtail the Salesian work, and the antagonism of the Italian government.

Finally, let me say that I found this film "Don Bosco" not only excellent but totally moving, and normally I am very critical of attempts to portray Don Bosco in the popular media.

Remembering involvements

Several years ago I had a lot of contact with the Cooperator units and other groups of the Salesian Family. In fact, from 2003 to 2005, I served as coordinator of the Salesian Family Groups in California. The experience was exhilarating, if truth be told. The upshot was that I learned much about the workings of many of the groups. This experience has helped me in my teaching at Berkeley, but also in these workshops such as SLIM, that we celebrated this weekend in Bellflower.

SMS 2007

On Friday I flew down from the Bay Area to LAX again, this time to help facilitate a weekend of ongoing formation for adults from Salesian parishes and youth centers. The weekend (called SMS) began this morning and continues all day tomorrow and until early afternoon on Monday, 15 January. My task today was to be part of group discussions; tomorrow I'll give the main presentations of the morning and the early afternoon.

(Judy Alvarez and Al Vu animate a group discussion period of the afternoon program)

SMS is another acronym for our alphabet soup of programs out of Don Bosco Hall and the Youth Ministry folks of the province. It means "Salesian Ministry Seminar". We started SMS in 2005 but last year it did not get off the ground (or so I am told). This year we have 30 participants. Facilitating the weekend are Judy Alvarez, Mel Trinidad, Al Vu, Gael Sullivan and myself. I'll try to post more on this tomorrow.

Student services and such

Am at DSPT today, catching up on things. A few people are around, but it is rather peaceful too. A couple of my students will come in to go over their study plans and such. One of the students is working on his language requirements (Italian) while the other is working on his research readiness with an eye toward choosing a theme for his MA thesis. Both are first-year MA students and among the younger, lay students of DSPT. It is good to see them so ready for their theology studies.

More planning meetings this afternoon in Richmond for ongoing formation among the laity of the Salesian province. Tomorrow I make another trip to southern California for a formation weekend for parish leaders. That too is exciting. The requests for formative experiences becomes more intense with each passing year! I never thought I would be doing this sort of ongoing, adult education. No, I'm the kid who could not read aloud in class: how did I ever settle into education as a career??? It is amazing, really.

Teacher retreat

Spent the day at Salesian High School Richmond, where the faculties and staffs of Salesian High School and St Francis High School (Watsonville) came together for a day of retreat and sharing. I was asked to give the main input and to facilitate the day together with members of the administration of Salesian High.

About 80 people participated. The day seemed to have gone well. There was a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the teachers. The group from Watsonville brought new vitality, and the crowd from Salesian brought a sense of belonging.

Oh, the theme that I was asked to present to the teachers and staff? The roots of Salesian spirituality in St Francis de Sales and Don Bosco.

The second semester begins for both schools tomorrow.

We home

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to Sal and Andrea and Little Landon Lee at 9:00 in the morning, and then mom and I went to Savio for Sunday Mass. I was asked to preach, which I did. This was an easy task in that the liturgy was of the Epiphany, and what else have we been thinking about all weekend???

Met Mario and Diane after mass with Mom and Diane's mom Alice Armijo, and went to breakfast at Carrows.

During breakfast I caught up on the news about Mario and Diane's children: John starts a new job today; Angela has a promotion from Parks and Rec of Bellflower and is doing well in school, although she cannot give her time completely to this because of the need to care for her baby Luke; Teresa is three-units short of getting a qualification as a physician's assistant. So, with Carrow's usual amazing omelets, we had a quiet and happy visit.

After all that, I brought Mom back home and then got back in the car and started the drive back up the Interstate 5 to Berkeley, getting back safely… that was last night.

This week there are a few things to do, like a retreat for teachers in Richmond, and meeting with students at DSPT. Onward we go into 2007.

Epiphany

Epiphany!

According to the liturgical calendar, the feast will be celebrated on 7 January this year. According to the Nuzzo Family, we celebrate it on the first Saturday of the New Year so that we can all get together. So today, 6 January 2007, we are celebrating the 12th Day of Christmas together: the descendants of Salvatore Nuzzo and Maria Zito.

In days gone-by our family always gathered on Christmas Eve, first at the house of my grandparents Salvatore and Maria, and then, from 1960 to 1989, at the house of my parents John and Concetta (Nuzzo) Boenzi. There was always a great turnout on Christmas Eve, and we always celebrated by preparing the traditional, meatless meal.

But after the death of the grandparents, the families gathered more locally on Christmas Eve. Paula Nuzzo Radosevich gathered the Nuzzo branch at her house; Rose (Cookie) Kasal Harris gathered the Kasal branch at hers; Mario and Diane Boenzi gathered the Boenzi branch at there home in Cerritos. And the Gray Family had moved to Reno, and celebrated in their own way… we all but lost touch with them, really.

Still, all the cousins missed the gathering. At Cookie's instigation, we resolved to meet once a year and celebrated anything together, and that carried us through the summer of 1990, after Papa Salvatore's death, until 2001. But there was something about the holiday season that we didn't want to miss, so in 2002, the gathering day has been Epiphany at the home of Paula (Nuzzo) and Ken Radosevich in Temecula…

This is how the Nuzzo extended family in California has come to make Epiphany central to our life as family. Paula did all she could to research the customs, and bakes the King Cake… Paula and Ken also irritate all their Anglo neighbors by keeping up all their Christmas decorations till now… but then, everyone in the family still has their homes decorated in Christmas theme till now, so Paula? Let your Anglo neighbors feel as uncomfortable as they want. It is Epiphany! It is still Christmas!

And so, for the Nuzzo Clan, Epiphany has become a great day for family: lots of fun, lots of chaos, lots of time together. The day goes quickly since there are so many people to visit with, stories to recap, and all the catching up that goes into it.

We are just back from the celebration now, and uploading our photos before going off to sleep… but then, the neighbors are having a wild party here, and we may not get to sleep any time soon.

Epiphany photos

Somehow the Epiphany parties always have a ritual commemoration of my grandfather, Salvatore Nuzzo. It was the year of his death (1990) that we started to gather as cousins… and somewhere along the years cousin Bill Kasal decided that the way to remember his grandfather was by passing out cigars and making Manhattans.


Cousins-in-law Big Bill Kasal and Ken Radosevich savor a good Havan Cigar brought over from Russia by Duane Harris… Cigars are always to be smoked at the Epiphany party since Bill's grandfather Salvatore Nuzzo was an ardent cigar-smoker till he was 93. At 94 he lost his taste for cigars, but that's another story.

Epiphany photos

Andrea Boenzi with Michele Nuzzo (at left) in the living room of the Radosevich home… a bit away from the roaring crowd. The two take some time to get better acquainted halfway through the evening. The two second cousins really don't have a chance to see much of each other outside of Epiphany since Andrea lives in Tucson with her son Landon, and Michele lives on the West side of Los Angeles where she also works as a professional writer and editor.

Of all the Nuzzo Clan, Michele is the one who still lives close to the place where the family first arrived in California: Los Angeles.


Here (at right) are Curtis Henderson and wife Maria Kasal at the Epiphany party. Their older children Danielle and Jeffrey were not able to attend, but young son Michael was present and enjoying himself with his cousins.

In the photo on the left, hostess Paula Nuzzo Radosevich together with her cousin Tina Kasal McMillian and her sister Donna Nuzzo Meehan discuss scouting, raising children and puppies, and all other important issues that go into Epiphany conversations.

Arrival from Tucson

This evening Sal and his daughter Andrea with her son Landon arrived, by car, from Tucson. They have come to my mom's house for the same purpose as I have: to celebrate the last days of Christmas. Tomorrow we go to Temecula together for the cousin reunion.

Driving in the driving rain

Although I'd planned an early departure, it was pouring rain this morning in Berkeley… I checked the forecasts on Accuweather, which showed the rain to be confined to the northern part of the state, and so I started south on I-5. Instead, the rain followed right through. It got so bad at the Grapevine that I nearly pulled into a motel. That was at 3:45. I filled the tank with gas and the sky seemed to break open, so I continued south. Big mistake. It took me three hours to do the last 90 miles.

But all was not loss. The news today was interesting. The swearing in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House was the main attraction on KCSB and then on KNX (Los Angeles) radio news. Here we are: the first woman Speaker in US History, who is also the first Californian as Speaker, and the first Italian-American. All those elements came into play today in the news, as well as her being a mother and a grandmother: "from the kitchen to the congress," she said. Evviva, Signora Pelosi!

Do I want to drive to L.A. again? As I was making my way through the darkness and the rain, I thought that it is better to fly if only to avoid the L.A. traffic. A trip from the airport to Bellflower on the Green Line of the light rail train is so much easier, and so much faster.

Okay, this sounds like a great resolution for the new year! I'm sure United Airlines will be happy too.

Getting back to work… almost

(Image of Bro Tom Mass and Fr Joseph Nguyen-Duc-Thinh at St Francis, Watsonville)

Yesterday afternoon one of my students, Joseph Nguyen, arrived from Watsonville with the first three chapters of his thesis. The two of us spent over an hour going over the details of these chapters in the evening after supper. He is at a good stage, and he and I are both hopeful that he'll be able to hand in his work by the middle of the month.

Meanwhile, yesterday I also completed correcting all the research papers for the Church History course that I taught during the Fall Semester at GTU for the DSPT. Today I went back to my office at the school and registered my grades after going through all the papers one more time. The procedure took me nearly three hours, but I'm happy that I've been thorough in the correction. Hopefully it will be of some use to the students, even if they have already completed the course. Anyway, grades are due in two days, so I've ended with plenty of time.

After lunch I was able to bring Fr Rafael Borges around the GTU and for a visit to DSPT. Rafale is on the pastoral team of the Salesian Regional Ongoing Formation Center (CRFP) of Quito. I've known Rafael for 9 years, and have met him on different occasions at Salesian meetings of the Interamerica Region. I also had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time with him during the month I stayed in his home province of Venezuela (July 2001). Now he is interested in renewing contact between CRFP Quito and ISS Berkeley. Happily, I was able to introduce him to Michael Sweeney, president of DSPT, as well as to Scott Connolly and Pete McLeod who both work on the administration and planning core of the school. The visit was quick, friendly… and now we are planning a more intense visit and exchange next July.

Interesting stuff for the first day back at work, eh?