Christmas Eve

All the teachings and all the mystic experiences of Christianity are wound into the feast of Christmas, and this gets translated into Family celebrations too. Each generation holds on to what they have grown up with and share these with new members of the family -- the children, the in-laws -- even as they make new traditions that work in new times and places.

So to with the Boenzi family, transplanted from Acerra to Cerritos, via Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Bellflower.

There are many traditions, but let me just note a few.

In centuries past, Christmas Eve was a day of fast and abstinence from all meat products. This was typical on the day before every major feast. Thus, during the day of Christmas Eve, people ate very little and no meat. Then in the evening there was a supper -- a huge supper as a matter of fact. Now, how could you justify a huge meal on a fast day? The reason is that before the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar (1582), the new day was always reckoned to begin with sunset, not with midnight (who had clocks in those days besides the very wealthy?). In the Church this tradition continues on feast days when «First Vespers» marks the beginning of the new day liturgically. Well, the Neapolitan custom of the big supper goes back centuries, and so once it is dark on Christmas Eve, the fasting is finished because it is a new day.

Yet, if the meal is big, it is still meatless. There is the tradition of seven fishes or of twelve plates. Seven fishes for the seven days of creation, and twelve dishes for the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. Of the twelve dishes, then, seven would be seafood. Usually there are three salt-water fish and three fresh-water fish, and one serving of eel. Each has a symbolic value that would recall the mysteries of faith and traditions of Christian practice.

The opening dish is a seafood pasta, and for us, it is always linguine with clams. Clams are thrown into the sauce after it is brought to a boil.

Angela prepares to stir the tomato and clam sauce

For the last couple of years now, my niece Angela has prepared the sauce. She has become quite expert in this, having learned the recipe from her mother Diane, who learned it from her mother-in-law (my mother) Connie (Maria Concetta Nuzzo), who learned it from her mother Maria Zito. The sauce is a tricky one since the herbs must be just right. In the old country the clam shells are cleaned and the clams then sorted, and then they are thrown into the sauce living. The pasta will be served with the clams and shells and all. We instead buy the clams already par-boiled, and therefore there are no shells (and the cook does not feel herself to be cruel).

The pasta is the last thing to be cooked, but then you know that. Ten minutes before the guests are ready to sit down, Angela throws the pasta in the pot.

Pour a little hot water in the bowl to heat it up, empty it, and then line the bottom with sauce. Take the pasta from the colander, put it into the sauce in the bowel, as you see my brother Mario doing in these photos.  Our father taught us this trick. The reason, he used to explain, is to keep the pasta from sticking and to allow the red sauce to spread evenly on all the pasta… but one must work fast.

After filling the bowl, add more sauce, stir the pasta together. Now you are ready to serve. My brother Mario, as head of the family in southern California, does the honors of serving up the linguine.

Mario fills each plate with the first course: linguine with clams

Mario follows the tradition that he learned from my father. He asks that all the plates be brought to his place, and fills each bowl with the linguine, then hand the bowl to the first person, who then passes them on to the one whose name Mario has called. Each person may add more sauce as she or he prefers. Cheese should never be added to a pasta dish if there is seafood… this is traditional, also because in old time abstinence from meat on a fast day included abstinence from dairy products. Very few people know this today. However, the clam sauce is so favor-full that there is no need to add cheese (good job, Angela!!).

There is plenty of pasta, but be careful. Do not fill up on this. As my uncle Rudy used to quote the old proverb, “taste everything but eat nothing” (assaggia tutto; mangia niente). Why? there will be more to come, of course. This is the first of twelve dishes… but I’ll shut up for the moment, so you can enjoy the pasta.

The meal ends with a dessert which we call gli strufoli. This Christmas dessert is typical only of Naples and the towns of the old Kingdom of Napoli. It is virtually unknown in the rest of Italy, but because of the strong emigration from southern Italy to the USA, more people in America know this tradition than perhaps in Italy today.

The small, golden brown orbs of a deep-fried pasta are covered in honey and dried fruit or confetti candies… the candies represent the sparkle, and the pile of pastry orbs represent gold. Yes, of course, the gold brought by the Magi to the Christ Child. The «strufoli» are served on a platter as if they were a pile of gold, and each member of the family spoons a small portion on to his or her own plate. It is a royal treasure shared. As with all the dishes of the Neapolitan Christmas Eve supper (cena), this dish has catechetical value. Christ is the King of Heaven come to us: Come let us adore him.

Gli strufoli e le generazioni - la nonna e le nipoti

Fervent greetings for a Happy Christmas to all.

Remembering my grandfather

Yes, I have been thinking about my father’s father a lot today, but this is nothing new. I actually think about him every day… of all my grandparents, actually.

There are many incidents that I could recall about him, incidents in my own life and those that have been told to me by family members. Perhaps some day I will put all these down in writing, but today I just wanted to note a few facts.

He was born on 25 November 1893 in Acerra, the first-born of Domenico Boenzi and Rosa Cantore. He was named for his father’s father: Giuseppe Boenzi. This grandfather of his was called an industrialist, but what kind of industry could he have promoted in Acerra during the decades following the fall of the Bourbon monarchy and the unification of Italy? There were no industries as we have come to think of them, with mass production of heavy goods, not in this area of Italy at that time. There were, however, cottage industries. This was what could properly be called manufacturing, that is, hand-made goods. What goods? Anything from clothing to shoes to hats, to small furnishings… but we do not know. The fact is, our Giuseppe was cut off from the Boenzi family almost immediately, for his own father Domenico died on 4 July 1894, leaving Peppino orphaned of his father before his first birthday. Thus, he was raised by his mother’s family, and came to be known as Giuseppe Cantore, rather than Boenzi.

There are many details to tell, but I will fast-forward to 1951 when my grandfather came to California from Illinois to spend some time with us. My impressions are more visual and sensory than logical: I remember his white hair, similar in cut to my father’s black hair; his cigar; his deep voice and punctuated comments; his habit of kissing us on both cheeks or tricking us into a kiss when we were giving a hug.

Grandfather holds me and my mother holds my brother Sal 1951

The following summer my father took us to Chicago. I was not yet three-years old then, and again my memory centers more on highlights than on substance. I remember the long drive and various stops before we finally arrived in the city of my parents’ birth. We visited a whole collection of relatives on both sides of the family, but very memorable were the days we spent at the Boenzi home in Berwyn, Illinois. It is memorable because it was the first time that I ever had seen stairs… and I fell down those stairs at least four times.

This is when I met my grandmother, but of course my grandfather was a known quantity. I can remember his gruff voice but and his kind eyes behind those wire-rim glasses. When he spoke to me, it was in Neapolitan, and although I thought that I never learned the language, whenever he spoke to me, I understood… not just that summer, but into my teens.

One year later, in 1953, he drove out to Los Angeles and spent a few weeks with us. He looked for a home and bought one on Denker Street. Then my grandmother came from Chicago and they moved in. For the rest of her life she would speak of Chicago, but he seemed to like Los Angeles just fine. He was turning 60 and got a job in the garment district, working as a tailor for another 15 years.

Giuseppina & Giuseppe Boenzi in L.A. 1954

These are all facts that underline the memories. I was not thinking of my grandfather in these terms, however. I was remembering him as the hard worker that he always was -- as the family man, the professional tailor, the artist. I was thinking of the Sunday dinners with all the grandparents and how he, more than others, were interested in the news, the politics, the church, the sermons (even if he did not go to church on Sunday, he wanted to hear what the sermon had been about), the trade unions and international affairs. He would usually begin speaking in English and then switch into Neapolitan until he realized that the non-Italian spouses of my aunts and uncles were trying to keep up with the conversation. Then he would blush, and immediately switch back to English.

It was a struggle. Often I heard him say at the end of a statement: “I don’t know if I made myself understood?” My grandfather Boenzi was very self-conscious that he did not have a command of the English language even after 50 years of living in the United States. “I wish that I could express myself,” he would often repeat, with a bit of desperation sounding in his voice.

At the time I thought that he was doing just fine. It was not until I moved to Italy at age 25 that I realized how much I myself wanted to say but was incapable of doing so because I lacked the words, or the proper grammar that would zing my points into the perspective that I wanted to present. Of course, now I am here in Italy for many years -- a reverse of my grandparents’ experience, but perhaps more similar than not. During these weeks as I teach courses or attend meetings of the faculty, or engage in similar experiences such as the symposium on this weekend: yes! I get my point across, but how I wish I could say it better, or in a way that people would not be distracted by the California cadence of my diction.

This is what brings Peppe Cantore to mind. He died in Bellflower on 18 April 1978, but I am still reliving many of his experiences, and wondering at the world the way it seemed to me that he did -- now from behind my wire-rim glasses. He actually understood more than he could articulate, although perhaps I am the opposite and articulate more than what I understand. Sill, I see his eyes and hear his voice play back certain phrases in my head. I can still hear his Neapolitan cadenced English exclaim: “I weesh dat I cuud espressa myself!” And I think, yeah, you and me, papa: you and me! 

Spiritual theology and its challenges

Symposium of Spiritual Theology began this afternoon at the UPS. The symposium has been planned for months to bring together theologians from a number of the pontifical and Catholic faculties in Rome, Naples, Bologna, Milano, Torino. The director of our Institute of Spiritual Theology, Jesús Manuel Garcia has been the prime organizer.

Professore Don Jesús Manuel Garcia

It was last July that I received the first notification of this symposium, but I did not receive any follow-up emails… I presume because don Garcia has a mixup of my email address in his address book. In any case, I have been able to participate, and while many of the talks are striking, I want to just put down some raw ideas that I have picked up.

The symposium is held in Sala Viganò, in the University Library

Padre Luigi Borriello, a Carmelite and professor of Spiritual Theology at the Teresianum, stressed that one of the difficulties of Spiritual Theology is that there is not one measure for speaking of spirituality. There is not one term that the Church uses, or that Christians use. There are so many models of holiness that to speak systematically of only one way will diminish everyone.

Father Borriello

In this way, Spiritual Theology is not like dogmatic theology or moral theology. These follow singular methods. It is the same with biblical, liturgical and pastoral theology. Here, instead, we are talking of lived-experience and praxis. Better, it is lived-experience in charity (I was hungry, I was thirsty…).

So there is a gap between theology and holiness. The theologian that attempted to fill the gap was Urs Von Balthassar. He speaks of mystical hagiography. You cannot talk about a saint as one who is holy before birth. It is the lived-experience, heroic effort to live the Gospel. It cannot be quietism. Every saint has a mission in the world, to people, to let them learn that God meets them where they are. There is One who is Holy, but there are many ways to respond to God in the lives of each one.

To put it another way, there is each believer must find his or her own way to live the gift of faith received. No one is a replica of someone else (this is the path to abstraction and not responsibility) but each struggles with the realities, the setbacks, the victories, the opposition to call God inside his or her life, and then to respond.

God’s action and the response of human nature; a welcoming of the divine and human effort to receive that presence. It is always subjective because they all live in different contexts, in different histories, with different personalities, weaknesses, talents, relationships, histories. Sanctity is theology lived, not theology theorized. This is the sense of Thomas who affirms, «All these words are straw». One thing is necessary, Union with God.  So we can ask, are all mystics saints? Are all saints mystics?

Interesting! Great talk. Of course, the moral theologian at the symposium did not agree because he seem to see spiritual theology as a duplication of moral theology and specifically of virtue ethics.

Fr Borriello’s response: what did John Paul II and Benedict XVI do in Assisi at a stretch of 25 years distance? They did not call dogmatic or moral theologians. They prayed with the representatives of many different faiths and religions and non-religions. They prayed together.

Someone in theology needs to offer to all those in theology an incentive to continually receive the Word, and challenge all to understand the Word better because it is lived.

Don Pier Lugi Boracco, professor of theology at the Facolta Teologica di Italia Settentrionale (FTIS), offered an interesting image of the work of Spiritual Theology. It is like a musical composition played by different orchestras and sounding very different. The musical score is legible; the sound is very different according to the abilities, tastes and so much more of each different orchestra. Still, the music is alive, also for this -- and the pleasure is that we can hear the same music interpreted in many different ways. And spirituality or holiness can be understood in this sense.

Well, my reflections, as I have said, are very raw. Do not worry: the official acts of this symposium will be published, and everyone can see the clarity of these theologians points in that final text. All that I am saying is that it is interesting to sit with these problems and thoughts and insights. 

Family feast day of Mary Immaculate

The feast of the Immaculate Conception, besides being a solemnity in the Church, is a day of remembrance for the Salesian Family, for it was on 8 December 1841 that Saint John Bosco began his work with the youth of Torino. According to his own account, this took place quite unexpectedly when a bricklayer’s apprentice wandered into the sacristy of the church of San Francesco d’Assisi that snowy morning. Don Bosco’s description is interesting. He says:

A humourous incident opened the way to put into action my project for the boys who roamed the streets of the city, especially those released from prison.

This apprentice had lost both parents and had experienced hardship and abuse. Don Bosco worked with him gently, and then reflected that if young people, even those who had been in trouble with the law …

…could find someone to befriend them, to look after them, to assist them on [Sundays and holidays], to help them get work with good employers, to visit them occasionally during the week, these young people soon forgot the past and began to mend their ways. They became good Christians and honest citizens.

Sacristy of S. Francesco d'Assisi church (Photo by Teresio Chiesa)

Well, the full story is contained in Don Bosco’s little volume, The Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales (New Rochelle: Don Bosco Media, 1989). Suffice it to say that, to this day, Salesians retell the story.

There is another important incident that took place on 8 December -- one that is equally formative for the Salesian story, I believe. On this day Francis de Sales was consecrated Bishop of Geneva. In speaking of the day of his ordination, the sainted bishop reflected:

When I was anointed bishop God took me to himself and away from my own self, and then he gave me back to my people, that is to say, he changed me from being something in my own right to being something that existed only for their sake. And so may we all be taken away from self and changed into him by the sovereign perfection of his holy love. [S. Francis de Sales, as quoted by S. Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot Rabutin de Chantal, Saint Francis de Sales: a Testimony by St. Chantal, newly edited in translation with an introduction by Elisabeth Stopp (London: Faber, 1967), 55].

S. Maurizio, Thorens, where Francis was consecrated Bishop in 1602

So we remember all these vocational stories on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The day becomes a favorite day for Salesians, full of family stories. We heard a few of these stories repeated curing the liturgy today. Don Francesco Cereda, councilor for formation, celebrated with our university community, sharing teaching and spirit. The mass was joyful and festive.

Francesco Cereda presides at today's liturgy

After the mass, a reception that included the Salesians and young Cooperator Salesians… and then the banquet. In the early afternoon, as I was returning to the faculty quarters, I ran into three friends of mine  -- Polish Salesians Darek, Gabriel and Jan -- who were taking advantage of the beautiful weather and the free hours to take a trip up into the Alban Hills. Both Gabriel and Jan are here in Rome for the first time, and rightly enjoying a bit of tourism. I thought that this is also a very family way to celebrate the day of the Immaculate Conception.

Darek drives Jan and Gabriel to the mountains outside Rome

Celebrating a birthday

Today is my 62nd birthday. I never thought I would reach 50, but here I am to celebrate my 62nd birthday in Italy, the land of my ancestors… and mine too, after so many years.

It has been an interesting day. Many people at the University came to share their good wishes, including students who stopped by my office, fellow professors, community members, close friends and those with whom I rarely interact because of different faculties and schedules.

Birthday cakes are a rarity in Italy, although like many other Americanisms, like corn flakes and Halloween, you can get a cake and candles in this day and age. The custom here is that the one who is celebrated buys the treats.

In line with this custom, I bought two bottles of spirits: one rugged and one sweet; one from the north and one from the south; a grappa from Veneto and Strega from Benevento. My purpose was to celebrate the 150 years of Italian unification that I procured the two different bottles… also because I know that some like the serious northern grappa while others appreciate the crafty southern strega. It all went over very well, and I have to say I was surprised by the way everyone responded, even those who abstained from the drink. Only the moral theology professor did not respond to me (was that a sign, or a message?).

In the evening I celebrated Eucharist for the San Tommaso community, which is a newly reorganized community on campus for student priests who are newly ordained. The community has 24 members, and my long-time friend Giorgio Zevini is the director. I shared with them thoughts on what it means when a priest returns to his province of origin after having studied in Rome: people's expectations; the fact that you may represent the Church universal even without realizing it. As usual, the student priests were cordial and welcoming, and I tried not to be tedious. After the mass they invited me to join them for supper and there, with good wines, liqueurs, and ice-cream cake, they celebrated my birthday -- guitar and song and all.

On the way back to my room in the faculty quarters, I found a Fedex envelope from Berkeley, with a birthday card signed by all the members of Don Bosco Hall community. What a surprise! With all this attention (not to mention the facebook greetings and emails), I have felt very honored and blessed. It has been one of the more memorable birthdays, and a good way to start my 63rd year.

Oh yes: I usually remember Theodore Roosevelt, who was born on this day in 1858 and who was the twenty-sixth president of the United States, and the youngest man ever to serve the USA in that office. He died at age 63… so it is a poignant birthday for me, but I honor him too: rough-rider, governor, author, innovator, populist, conservationist, trust-buster, negotiator, nobel laureate and Bull Moose. Happy birthday, Teddy! 

Class discussions blogged

La Filotea, a cura di Ruggero Balboni

As I have done in previous years, I plan to begin a blog for the courses that I am teaching. Besides my lectures, I invite the students to break into groups to share their insights from reading the assigned texts. In one course here at the UPS on the History and Spirit of Francis de Sales (course number TA2262), the students will concentrate on the saint’s most popular book, the Introduction to the Devout Life (La Filotea), written by Saint Francis de Sales between 1603 and 1608, and first published in 1609.


The Italian text that I recommend is the translation by Ruggero Balboni, a priest of the Oblates of St Francis de Sales. His edition (published by the Paoline) has gone through a number of reprints, the latest being in 2010. For those who want to read the book in English, I recommend the edition by Msgr. John K. Ryan (Doubleday: 1954; numerous reprints).

Introduction to the Devout Life, translated by John K. Ryan

If the students find other editions in their own languages, they are welcome to use them. In the course this year, there is two French-speaking students from Africa. The rest are all proficient either in Italian or English.

The idea of blogging the group discussions came to me six years ago when I first starting teaching in Rome. Ordinarily the class period here lasts 45 minutes (as opposed to 80 minutes at the GTU in Berkeley). Even keeping the groups to a size of three or four persons, 45 minutes is too short to do the group sharing and then for all the groups to report back. However, I have each group choose a secretary each week and this person sends the reflections to me by email, and then I post them on a class blog. By doing this, everyone can speak in the group, and then every group can effectively share.

Groups can send me the text of their group summary in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian. From the looks of it, this year the groups will use either Italian, English or Polish in their discussions. We will see what develops when they send in their discussion summaries, which will be posted on a blog that I have created called Filotea 2012 (Filotea is the popular title for the Introduction to the Devout Life in Italian… and this is the school term of 2011-2012).  

First discussion in small groups for the course TA2262

Here is the list for the readings of the various Parts and Chapters of the Introduction as spread out during this semester.

Part I, 1-8, for Monday 17th October 

Part 1, 9-24, for Monday 24th October

Part II, 1-11, for Monday 7th November
Part II, 12-31, for Monday 14th November

Part III, 1-15, for Monday 21st November

Part III, 16-29, for Monday 28th November

Part III, 30-41, for Monday 5th December

Part IV (all) for Monday 12th December

Part V  (all) for Monday 9th January

Stained-glass image of Francis de Sales, OSFS, Wilmington

Getting busy at the UPS

The busy days are upon me (but what else is new?).  I arrived at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome on Saturday evening and on Monday I was already meeting with students… On Tuesday I began  teaching the new courses of the new semester. The three courses that I have been asked to teach are completely different courses from what I have been teaching at DSPT/GTU this term, so I am catching up on class preparation.

At this point I still do not have the final list of students enrolled in each course. The registration continues all this week and as soon as the names are all entered in the main computer of the registrar's office, the professors will be able to access those names online. However, it is nice to know that I have only two classrooms this year (as opposed to five classrooms last year). It is also easier to set up my laptop for powerpoint when I need to do so.

So far, the weather has been very warm… well, quite hot really, and very sunny. That should give plenty of opportunity for exercise, and if I ever catch up on the getting my notes printed up for the students, I will definitely start my program of brisk walking. For now, all my energy is going into getting the term underway.

That sounds funny for someone who started seeing students at the end of August and who has already put in 6 weeks of a semester before arriving in Rome… but my feeling is that everything that I was doing in Berkeley last week really feels like something that I been doing in a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away.

Mourning my friend Andrzej

Today when I returned from the Province Assembly, I received an email with the simple announcement of the death of another UPS professor. What a shock to learn than Andrzej Mazewski, professor of Latin and my table companion during 2007-2008, died suddenly in Ljubljana. He was with the Salesians in the Slovenia province for Easter Week and died on Wednesday, 27 April.

Andrzej (pronounced André) was born on 2 December 1956 in Plock, Poland. His father was in the military and Andrzej was what we call in America a "military brat". That was a help to him, really, for Andrzej was highly adaptable, not only to changing circumstances but to a great mix of people. He entered the Salesians in 1977, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1984.

As a young Salesian he worked in education but also was devoted to visiting incarcerated youth. His stocky and strong build, matter-of-fact attitude, down-to-earth language must have helped him to fit right in among such youth, and he is known to have helped many to open their hearts, change their ways.

Who would have taken him for a Latin professor! Yes, his doctorate was in Latin, and he taught both the Latin language and Patristics at the Salesian formation college in Lodz until he was invited to Rome to join the faculty at the UPS in 2007.

As I said, I was on the same table with him during 2007-2008, along with don Antonio Castellano (professor of systematics) and don Gianfranco Venturi (professor of liturgy). Every meal was a riot of laughs, but also of sharing scholarship, talking deeper issues of faith and life -- and generally of good friend-building. In the years since, even though I was assigned to a different table for the meals, I found many opportunities to get together with Andrzej, and our relationship continued to grow.

Needless to say, I am shocked by this news of his sudden death. The funeral and burial took place in his hometown of Plock, and prayers are being held at the UPS in these days. May the loveable Fr Andrzej find rest and joy in the presence of the Risen Lord, whom he served with such enthusiasm and dedication.

Photo by JM Garcia: Fr Andrzej Mazewski during a community celebration in Spoleto, 16 October 2010

Packing again

Four months in Rome are coming to an end. I arrived on 25 September last, and am scheduled to depart on a United Airlines flight from Rome to Los Angeles tomorrow morning. I should be packing, but I'm also working on backing up the computer files that I have worked on while here, so this gives me a motive to stay at the computer.

San Salvatore in Lauro

Every time I come to Rome, and every time I go to Berkeley (or anywhere else, for that matter), I have all kinds of plans of what I can get done during that period. Of course, I never finish those many projects. My imagination has always been bigger than the time allotted. This used to disturb me. I felt that I was not using my time properly. Now I realize that I use my time very well… but that I've got more ideas than I can fit into a day, a week, a month or a semester.

So I'm smiling as I think about these last four months. I have enjoyed teaching the courses assigned to me. I found the students of the course on Youth Spirituality eager to learn. They brought to the experience very interesting, challenging sometimes, stimulating always. They opened many doors for me and for themselves, and for one another. I left each of the sessions smiling. That's right - it was a lot of fun (imagine, teaching has become fun!).

Youth Spirituality Class - Listening to Student Presentations

The students of the course on Don Bosco's socio-political-religious environment (a cultural history of 19th Century Italy) we a bit more sedate at the start of the semester, but they became just as animated and interested as the weeks progressed. I found myself wanting to prepare more and more for this course week by week as well.

Torino Crocetta

In addition, I was able to do some other things in the way of research, reflection and presentations on the life and teachings of St Francis de Sales. The response was always better than I ever anticipated after each of these interventions, and this has given me courage to complete the manuscript "Francis de Sales: Life and Spirit". I need another month and that should be complete.

Saint Francis de Sales

It is time to get back to packing, but I do so knowing that these four months in Rome have been good ones for me. Well, no surprise. Time spent here has always been that way.

Individualism or the Common Good?

On Saturday morning there was an attempted assassination of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson. The alleged gunman, 22-year old Jared Loughner, shot the congresswoman in the head and then shot at the bystanders, wounding 19 and killing 6 others.

Since Sunday I've been reading the commentaries and watching the CNN transmissions on internet and what seems to be missing in all of this is the sense of what the fathers of the american nation used to call "The Commonweal". In fact, Common Good, Community, the People - are phrases that are all missing in the reports on this tragic event.

This afternoon I saw an interview with a neighbor of the shooter's family that is today published in a Tucson newspaper. The neighbor says that the parents have not come out of the house since they learned of the massacre. This particular neighbor is the only one that Loughners deal with: he goes in and out, brings in their mail and newspapers, delivers messages to the media. He is quoted as saying about the couple that "He is a mess and she's worse."

At one point he says that the Loughners cannot imagine why their son would shoot anyone. The two of them are weeping, sobbing, living in shame, and that this is so wrong because, the neighbor says, this couple is not responsible for what happened. "They just happen to be the parents of the individual who did this; it is not their fault."

When I read that phrase, it all came home to me.

How do you just "happen to be the parents" of anyone?

They are locked in the house now for 4 days. Why haven't they gone over to the jail to see their son? Why have they not gone to speak with the lawyer? Why do they have no one in the community, in the city, in their extended family with whom they can speak?

Some of the pundits are saying "this is not a political act; it is the act of a crazed individual".

Really? Cannot crazed individuals do political acts? If he is so cut off from the world of politics, why did he target the Congresswoman? Why did he shoot others who were part of the town meeting? How can it be said that this is not political?

It is very political. And he is not simply a crazed individual - sounds to me that he comes from a crazed household who kept him from mixing with others as a child - a family that would shun their neighbors for years … Now we have the results. I won't even talk about how easy it was to buy a gun (a Glock 19 with a high capacity clip of 33 bullets and a rapid-fire capacity designed not for hunting deer but for killing people).

It is interesting that no one is talking about gun-control. All the chatter is on a "crazed youth". Even the photos of him in the media show a "crazed youth". Its not the gun's fault. Its not the political vitriol's fault… what can you do when there is a "crazed youth" in the mix?

Yeah… okay. But now I have a question.

How many other crazed youth are out there, ready to do the same thing if they have a chance? My ardent hope from all of this is that we will not look for the easy answer but will ask the hard questions and somehow uncover how, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we can have a Ina & Oracle, a Columbine, a McDonalds at San Ysiro, and Oklahoma Federal Building, a Waco. This one hit a judge and a congresswoman, but the others were just as political. Unless the hard questions are asked and answered, we will just be waiting for the next massacre.

(Photo of Gabrielle Giffords in Congress on Monday, 3 January 2011).

Snow in Rome

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

The Salesian Pontifical University dons a winter coat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Symposium, Mindfulness and Visitations

Today I attended a symposium on Indian philosophy and spirituality - and I was asked to give some feedback from a North American perspective. The symposium was very interesting, with the interventions of Francis Vincent Anthony and Cyril D'Souza. Fr Luiz d'Lima from Brazil gave the feedback from the Latin American perspective. A good number were in attendance.

Professors Luiz d'Lima, Francis Anthony, Joe Boenzi, Cyril D'Souza

As I listened to the usual observations and complaints about pragmatic western culture, I thought that I have been graced to know a contemplative way in the West that is as deep as any in Asian quarters.  Asian mindfulness can learn a thing or too from the Visitation Nuns, and particularly from the "Nunz of the Hood," that is the Visitation community in Northeast Minneapolis.

Visitandine Monastery in NE Minneapolis

Twenty years ago a group of Visitandines from St Louis and St Paul formed a community in the poorest district of Minneapolis. They bought an old house and moved into the neighborhood. They kept up their schedule of prayer but also in their work, they invited their neighbors over for prayer and meals, taught some recipes and gardening. They say that the monastery wall is the wall of fear that surrounds the inner city neighborhood. While they open their house, they also have their time of seclusion and contemplative prayer. When they are ready to welcome guests (particularly the children), the put a windsock on the porch. This is why the Visitandines in Northeast Minneapolis are called the Sisters of the Windsock.

May the house of the Sisters of the Windsock be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that their hearts and those of their neighbors may overflow with beatitudes and blessings.

Remembering our dead at Genzano

As we have done in previous years, the combined communities of professors from the UPS has gone to the "holy ground" (which is what Italians call the cemetery) in Genzano where the dead of our University have been buried.

Mass for the dead in the cemetery chapel of Genzano

Last year we had a lot of fun with Signor Pio dal Pozzolo, but he kept saying that we would be visiting him this year. In fact, he died on 15 April, and we did in fact remember him today during the mass of suffrage and in visiting the tomb. Signor Pio, ever witting and pragmatic, was Piedmontese. He was born on 27 February 1925 and was a lay Salesian (in English countries he would be called a "Brother", but Salesians in Italy do not use that title).

Signor Pio dal Pozzolo, one year ago, at Genzano

Also, Don Roberto Iaconangeli died in the past year, last 27 December 2009, and therefore since our visit to Genzano. Don Iaconangeli was born in Genzano on 20 April 1916. He was professor of classical languages at the UPS from the beginning of the University, but in the last years had stayed in the Infirmary. It was his family that donated the tomb to the Salesians of the UPS so that we could bury our dead in one area. Tributes were paid to him today in both Italian and Latin.

Mausoleum where University Salesians and Iacoangeli family members are buried in Genzano

Following the blessing, we all went to a pizzeria in town that is owned by a Salesian alum for a bit of a "merenda". I used to think that "merenda" could be translated as "snack", but since our merenda lasted nearly two hours, I am looking for a different term to translate this word. In any case, it was another wonderful occasion to spend time together, tell stories, hear some songs and poetry from those at table, laugh and plot and plan. On the way home on the bus, we prayed the rosary again for the deceased members of our university community and for those of our provinces. 

Reflections on the Rua Congress 1910-2010

John Itzaina will be giving a report to the Salesian Family in California on the Rua Congress, held here in Rome from 28 to 31 October. I've send some photos to Ralph Murphy, and I'll send more, but let me put down a couple of reflections now.

Don Rua nella Storia - 1910-2010: Congresso Internazionale

My first sense is that this is a historiographer's conference, but that the Rector Major wanted this extended to the whole congregation. He put this proposal to Francesco Motto (director of the Institute of Salesian History in Rome) as early as 2005, and since 2006 preparations for this congress have been underway. The historians were a bit miffed, but the majority of delegates were formation counselors or those working in Salesian spirituality and formation.

Over 20 of my students from Rome (from 2005 to 2008) were taking part in this congress, as well as two from the ISS (Yarat and Paul Felix Vernal).

Yarat from Thailand and I talked a lot about Berkeley and Arthur's great breakfasts

Actually, I knew a lot of people present for this congress, and it was good to see old friends and colleagues from past projects.

As I said, the Rector Major really wanted this congress. His concluding conference says it all. He wants Salesians to get away from the clichés about Don Rua that are more dismissive than helpful. Rua is the one who institutionalized the charism and therefore is the one who brought Don Bosco and the Salesians out of the confines of the back alleys of Valdocco and into the forefront of the world…

Well, not all the world… our world has barely heard of Salesian… but this may be the point. As Don Rua found ways to invoke Don Bosco's spirit in new situations and unexperimented venues, so we have the same task today as the world moves into a major culture shift unknown since the defeat of Napoleon. In that sense, we are not too late. If Don Bosco has been "on hold" in English-speaking countries until now, we have the chance to introduce him to a new world, much as Don Rua did as he grew the congregation of 700 Salesians to over 4000 during his two decades of service.

But the Rector Major says it better than I can.