Aldo and Arthur and the Publishers

Aldo Giraudo has been working with Arthur Lenti pretty non-stop since Saturday morning… well, that is after Thien Nguyen and I intervened on Arthur's IMac, which had gone on the blink. I was able to extract all of Arthur's files, which I saved and backed up, and then Thien reformatted the hard disk. The computer then began to merrily purr away, and we reloaded all his working documents.

That took up most of Saturday morning.

With the computer in shape again, Arthur and Aldo went to work. They ordered the outlay of the material; put system to the titles and subtitles; disposed of the graphics. Arthur is jubilant, and Aldo is convinced that the first four volumes of Arthur's work can go to print in the Spring of 2007. Thanks to Aldo, the funding is also in place: €20,000 from the Salesian Mission Procure in Torino. It is all very exciting.

This afternoon, while Arthur was correcting some student papers, I brought Aldo to see the GTU and particularly DSPT. He was very impressed. Now he has a better idea of our context, and will be able to speak up for us a little more assuredly, knowing our context and situation.

Aldo's arrival

Although I checked the internet for the arrival of British Airways flight 287 from London to San Francisco, and the airline website listed the flight as "on time"… well, it was not really the case.

As I have been doing lately, I dropped the car at the BART parking lot in North Berkeley, and took the light rail BART to the San Francisco Airport. I arrived at 15.45 for the 16.12 scheduled arrival, only to discover that the flight would be 50 minutes late. No matter. I had my IPOD (best investment in ages) and was happy to listen to podcasts on the subject of Harry Potter while I waited for Aldo's arrival. He finally showed up at 17.40. We made the easy walk to the BART station at the SFO International Terminal, and by 17.50 we were on a train heading for Berkeley;

The conversation was very interesting, and I was happy to be speaking Italian. Aldo caught me up on all the initiatives and politics of the UPS, of the Formation Department at the Salesian Generalate, and on individual friends of ours. My questions about the ISS of Berkeley and the Spirituality Faculty of the University remain the same as ever. I don't think there is a clear "better" or "worse" in all this. If I go back to Rome it will depend on my own decision, and not particular need.

We arrived back at Don Bosco Hall at 20.00. I warmed up a little supper and we continued our conversation. Then we paid a visit to Arthur Lenti, who was very happy to see Aldo… but Arthur's IMac was giving him problems, so Tho Bui was working on it as Aldo and Arthur discussed their work schedule for the next few days. The exciting thing is that Aldo has secured €20,000 to publish the first four volumes of Arthur's opus. This is a first!

Birthday busyness

Have just got back from the dentist: gift to myself was having my teeth cleaned. In a few minutes I will be off to the San Francisco airport to pick up Aldo Giraudo, a Salesian professor from the UPS who will spend some days with us helping to put Arthur Lenti's writings in order.

The big event of this week has been the planning for the 2007 National Salesian Conference.

At our meetings, the organizing committee (headed by John Graden OSFS and Joanne Kinney) expressed the desire to have some Don Bosco Salesians on next summer’s program. Mary Greenan is being invited to give a keynote; Joe Caporaso (Salesian Cooperators, New Jersey) and Al Vu (SDBs California) are being asked to give workshops.

To me this is very exciting. The organizing committee is really making a positive effort to include Don Bosco’s side of Salesian Spirituality. Until now there has been more efforts to bring in Jane de Chantal and Francis de Sales, almost in an historical way. However, since I have been connected with this group (starting in 1998), they have been more and more fascinated with the Don Bosco approach. This is good. I mean, it is a "National Salesian Conference", but the Don Bosco people are never part of it. If we don't start participating in the efforts to articulate Salesian spirituality and pastoral practice, mainline Catholicism in the USA may take the name Salesian away from us.

So I'm also very happy that Mary Greenan and Joe Caporaso immediately said “yes” to the invitation. We will have to figure out how to attract some Cooperators and SDBs and FMAs to the conference, even if the 2007 event is in St Paul in Minnesota and therefore far from our usual populations. However, I believe that participation will be helpful to our people as well as to the larger group of people who participate in the Annual National Salesian Conference (approximately 300 people, of whom 90% are laity).

Between Seminar and Conference

The Salesian Scholars Seminar concluded this morning very nicely at breakfast, and we were able to say our goodbyes. Most of the group took off for the airport or by car during the morning. Now there is a group of us who are staying on, and a couple of more people will arrive this afternoon as we start the planning phase for next summer's National Salesian Conference. This set of meetings will go forward until Tuesday noon.

Stella in the rain

Arrived on Wednesday afternoon in good weather. It then has proceeded to rain ever since. However, we have had some interesting discussions in the first two days of our Salesian Scholars Seminar.

Yesterday we spent the whole day with Agnes presenting material on 16th and 17th century emblem books. While I've had the Gambart Emblem book for a few months now, I must say that I did not appreciate the import of the Emblem in the early decades of publishing. My ideas are starting to change as I understand the concept much better. But I'll need some tome to absorb the wealth of materials received and the very good discussions the scholars pursued afterwards.

This morning we had the papers of Jill and Trisch. Both wrote on the missionary years of Francis de Sales in the Chablais. I have found both exceptional. Our discussions were very excited too, although I took issue with the representation of Francis as trying to just uphold the institutional church. I make my reference to him as a missionary in the Jesuit tradition of Italy and not as an agent of the crown.

This afternoon we'll have the papers of Sandy, on the image of Jacob's ladder, and Paula on Francis's use of classical images taken from Pliny. Good stuff.

It is not easy for me to go online, so I will just make a quick post and revamp this later as a have an opportunity.

Salesian Scholars Seminar

Tomorrow, early, I depart for the Salesian Scholars Seminar in Stella-Niagara, and am looking forward to living between the 17th and 19th centuries for a few days.

As is the practice, each of the scholars has a paper to write and to present. The dates were set two years ago, and the theme was set 12 months ago… but as usual, it took me a long time to get my ideas in line with the theme (Images in Francis de Sales). I've been working on this during the last month, between all the other things I have going right now. Yesterday I finished the paper and sent it off to Joanne Kinney, the coordinator of the event. Joanne mailed it out electronically to all the other scholars today. And tomorrow night we begin.

Well, that's me again. I usually arrive, but always at the last minute. It used to get me into a lot of trouble when I was in college… but later I noticed that most people from Bellflower are basically this way. Still, it would have been easier on the nerves if I'd have finished the paper a month ago.

Today I've taught my class, met a couple of students in dialogue (mainly spiritual rather than academic), participated in the school mass at DSPT, lunched with Hector Cortes (another of my students), walked my 40 minutes, and now have to clean up my quarters before the big trip tomorrow. So why am I wasting time blogging all this???

Minneapolis conference

Arrived yesterday in Minneapolis and gave a presentation to the folks in the neighborhood about Salesian Spirituality in terms of Francis de Sales sense of "home" and family. Today am doing a replica in St Paul, but in the form of a retreat day. Hmm… last night went well; today is a different story.

Bit of family background: coming to America

My cousin Frank sent an e-mail about family members serving in the U.S. Military… and I was reminded of conversations that I had with my mother's father on his experience in the U.S. army during World War I.

Yes, my grandfather Salvatore Nuzzo was drafted into the US military in 1917, and served in a company of soldiers that was made up entirely of Italians. Very few of the boys in his company spoke English. As they were disembarking in France to go to the Front, the American commanders had them all stand at attention and swore them all in as American citizens. Papa told me that they read out the oath to them in English (which hardly any of them understood as they were all fresh immigrants), and then their Italian commanders instructed them to say "I do swear". Only later did someone explain to him that he had just become a U.S. citizen.

Today it is difficult for people to get visas to immigrate to the U.S.A., and once they arrive, it is difficult to work their way through the process of attaining American citizenship. It strikes me that my grandfather, Salvatore Nuzzo, was in the country less than two years when he became a citizen. What is more, he took the oath of citizenship, not on American soil, but on board a U.S. ship in a French port.

But of course the great tragedy for my grandfather at the end of the First World War was the the Spanish Influenza raged through Europe in 1918, and so my grandfather's mother and grandmother both died during the epidemic. Salvatore Nuzzo's plans had been to return home in Acerra, but after World War I and the Spanish Influenza, there was nobody home in Acerra to return to. But now he was an American citizen, so he made his life in America.

When my "Papa" explained all this to me, I found it fascinating, but also very compelling.

Rainy day schedule

Last night after I returned from southern California it began to sprinkle… and then I woke up a few time from the sound of rain on the window. This morning I walked to DSPT in the rain (so I didn't wear a suit for the first time this year).

After a 90 minute class on "Jansenism", I did the Catholic thing and had coffee and donuts in the school lobby with a few of the students. This is against my eating program, but one donut in three months is okay, I expect. The class in Jansenism went well -- there were a lot of questions today, and so my illusions of getting through the whole two-day lecture in one did not materialize. I remain one lecture behind my planned calendar, but I'm still two weeks ahead of where I normally am this point of the semester. I'm sure I'll have ways to make up the one lecture in the future.

So, yesterday I was talking about Constantine and St Athanasius; today I was talking about Angélique and Antoine Arnauld and the Jansenists at Port Royal; tomorrow I'll be speaking about Francis de Sales. For that, I'll leave early in the morning to go to Minnesota for a presentation on Salesian pastoral and spiritual teachings…

Hmm, how will that go? Time to get prepared.

Quick trip to Bellflower

Left the house at 4:30 this morning to catch a flight from Oakland to LAX… then took the light rail metro train (Greenline) to Lakewood Station at the border of Downey and Bellflower… The Salesian Sisters were to meet me, but became confused on how to get to the metro station, so I walked the mile to St Dominic Savio Parish. Good thing I've been keeping in shape. It took me only ten minutes to walk the distance.

From 9.30 to 13.00 I taught three lessons in early Church History to a group of young adults from the Salesian Sisters and the Salesians who are discerning a religious vocation…

This is the second time I've gone to Bellflower on a Wednesday to do this, and I am alternating with Mary Greenan on this project. Today the class went very well, but the time was tight for me. Immediately after the class I asked two of the young women to give me a lift to the metro station, where I took the train to LAX for the return trip to Oakland via San Francisco. At 18.40 I was walking up the hill to Don Bosco Hall… and tomorrow it is back to the regular classes.

The young people appreciate the courses we are offering them, but this commute is going to be a killer, especially in view of all the other commitments I have locally. Oh well, it is just for a semester.

Sempre avanti

Now we are into the fourth week of classes. Things are stacking up very high with many commitments just in the day-to-day.

Yes, I am helping Sr Mary Greenan in giving classes to the prenovices and postulants of the fma and sdb in southern California. Last year Sr Mary Greenan traveled back and forth every week, but it is too much for one person. I do not believe that the request is very realistic on the part of the formation people in southern California. This year I am helping, so that the two of us split the weeks. Mary goes the second and fourth weeks of the month; I go the first and third weeks. But it is still too much, because we have many responsibilities here in the Bay Area and we teach every day. Still, I agreed to continue this during the Fall. Next semester I will not be able to continue it.

Unless the English-speaking provinces become serious about supporting the ISS in Berkeley, there is no future for us. This year we started with six participants: three sisters and one brother and two priests. One of the sisters had to return to her country because she has been ill and the doctors discovered a tumor. That leaves five participants. To carry this forward, I believe we would need at least ten every year, but the English-speaking provinces do not seem to be interested in ongoing formation in Salesian content and experiences.

And that is where the question of Rome comes it. If there is nothing more to offer systematically in English because of the lack of serious support by the American provinces, men and women, then the councilor for formation is telling me to teach in Rome, where there are younger student-Salesians from many countries.

So now we are already a month together in the new community at Don Bosco Hall. Fr Esteban Ortiz is here from Rome, visiting on behalf of the rector major Fr Pascual Chavez. The question of ongoing support for the ISS program has come up in our discussions.

For me Rome is ever more attractive… I'm finding it hard to put my heart into anything in Berkeley at this time in my life.

The coast is clear

Every month we try to bring the community on an outing, if not for the entire day, then at least for the afternoon. Since we still less than a month into the academic year, today was a good day to just get away, visit some wonder of the Bay Area, enjoy a piece of Nature and picnic together. After morning classes, we left in several vehicles for Point Reyes.

The weather was cool but perfectly clear, and the crowd enjoyed the drive as across the Marin peninsula into Point Reyes National Park. It took an hour for us to go from Berkeley to the park, but once in the park, it took another hour to drive the narrow highland roads to the famous Point Reyes and its lighthouse. This gave us plenty of time for stories and sharing on the way to and from the landmarks. Once there, the scenery was magnificent. Rarely have I seen it so pristine and lovely (and I tend to visit the point at least once a year).

As I just said, we like to do outings in this community of Don Bosco Hall. This has been the practice since the ISS began in 1984. We are not always conscious that we live in such a beautiful part of the world, but those who come from other countries are certainly interested in site-seeing and doing a bit of tourism for culture and play and so forth. This is why we program a number of community outings over the course of the year. Each month, a day-trip; each semester two extended, three-day trips. We consider these activities important in the development of the Don Bosco Hall community.

At the same time, most of the real community-building comes from the day-to-day activities and developing relationship. This is why Tom Prendiville always encourages spontaneous outings for small or large groups.

Well, that's the theory. Today the practice went very well. Everyone loved the lighthouse. Those who took the famous Point Reyes earthquake trail were fascinated by the science and history of our area (and checked to make sure their rooms were earthquake proofed once we got home). The evening came to a climax with Arthur Lenti (assisted by Mary Greenan) barbecuing a supper for us all. Some of the Salesians from the provincial house in San Francisco came to the barbecue, invited by Tom Prendiville and Arthur. What's more, a couple of young adults who wandered into the grove where we were spread out, struck up a conversation with our ISS people, and ended by joining us for dinner too. This was not a problem. We always bring more food than we can possibly consume.

And so the drive home was serene and happy.

Into third week

This afternoon we gathered the whole community in the living room at 4:00 for a community meeting. First we did a bit of a climate check, and then we went over some nuts and bolts for community administration. Mike Touchstone was with us. Everyone seems happy with the way we started the year. They love their courses at GTU and ISS, although the reading assignments are starting to stack up. Marcel has been a little sick, and everyone misses Nitaya, who left us two days ago. The meeting was followed by community liturgy. Everything was low key but joyful.

Less one

Yesterday Sr Nitaya from Thailand left Don Bosco Hall and the ISS program. Several years ago she suffered from cancer, and during the past month the disease has come out of remission. She faces surgery and treatment in Thailand. Her departure brings out ISS group down to five (two sisters and three Salesians), and the Don Bosco Hall Community down to 15.

This brings us back to the question that we have been asking ourselves (or at least that I have been asking myself) all summer: how much longer can the ISS survive? Is this the end of our mission in Berkeley? Is it time to say goodbye? And if we do, will the Salesians in California have anything more to say to the wider community? to the world-wide Salesian Society? Will Don Bosco lose any credibility he might still have in North America when the intellectual and formative core is disbanded?

These are the questions. Poor Nitaya has nothing to do with any of this: she and her little province are very supportive. Still, her departure once again demonstrates the fragility of our situation.

No news - is it good?

The blood tests were on Monday, as well as the visit to the dentists. I returned to the dentist on Wednesday for teeth cleaning, but since it has been about two decades (what???) since I've been to the dentist, there was a lot of tarter buildup. The hygenist, a sweet little lady from Jakarta, could only get the lower teeth cleaned. I need to go back in October to do the top rack of teeth. Sorrily, insurance won't cover two visits within a six-month period.

My mouth was sore for two days, but today I'm fine. I've also managed to keep up my 40 minute power walking.

Now it is Friday. I have not heard from my doctor Kun Huang concerning the results of the blood tests. Could it be that I'm back in the normal range? Does she only call when things are worrisome? Maybe I'll ring her on Monday. Still, I've begun to notice some progress. My morning walks give me more energy during the day and I'm not so weary in the hill climbing. Two weeks ago I had to buy a new belt, because I had come down two notches.

Two weeks ago I still had the weight, although I was thiner. Those who do exercise regularly say that building muscle keeps on weight, but that it is lean and not fat. So, even though I had come down two notches, I was weighing in at 195 lbs (On 9 July I weighed 200 at the doctor's office).

Yesterday I came down another notch on the belt… and today I weighed in at 186 lbs. Whoa! That's finally a breakthrough. I celebrated by having two cookies for dessert tonight! Okay, okay… bad move. Tomorrow I'll go back to no baked goods! And while I'm happy that I'm down by 14 lbs (1 stone), I hope to lose at least another 16 before November. That will put me closer to what is said to be the average weight of someone who is 5'8" tall.

But this is a stupid thing to be blogging about… When I get back to Rome, however, I want to be a bit smaller than I've been lately. It will make it easier to travel on the buses and the metro!

More class and doctor visits

Started the second week of class and managed to wake up before six and get in 36 minutes of power walking. Then I went to DSPT to set up for my first hour class. Afterwards I went to El Cerrito and met the dentist. After over 17 years I've finally had a dentist's visit. I've got to go back in a few days to see what the xrays reveal.

Since I hadn't eaten anything, I went right across the street for blood tests that my doctor Kun Huang asked me to take in July. She had said to wait two months. Hopefully the more strenuous exercise and the change in diet will have a positive effect. My blood pressure and triglicerides were way high when I got back from Italy. We'll see in a couple of days.

History in the media smart classroom

This morning I left the house early to get to DSPT and set up for my first history class of the semester. I've been slated to use Classroom #1 in the new building. It is the media-smart classroom. With an hour's preparation before the lecture started, I had a change to experiment and get everything ready. It worked out very nicely.

While I had only 10 students registered, there were 12 in the class. The room holds 60, but I asked them all to expand so that we are not shuffled into another classroom. Well, yeah! I used PowerPoint and other media with every lecture, so I'm so pleased to have been scheduled in such a room. Excellent! Now to see if I can sustain the course!

Berkeley or Rome

First day of class, and I taught at the first period in the morning (from 8:10 to 9:30). It is the same course that I taught last year in Rome, on the life and spirit of St Francis de Sales. I've got 14 in the class, even though only one had preregistered. I had to call Stella Niagara for more books, and then spent this afternoon in Kinkos running off the notes for the course. I'm doing them Italian style (dispensa), though they are in English (of course).

In the evening after dinner, Fr Esteban Ortiz asked to meet with Frs Dave Purdy and Tom Prendiville with myself present, to talk about the request that I go to teach a semester each year at the UPS in Rome. While I would love to go back to Rome even tomorrow, I realize that there is no one to take up the work I am doing here. We need support for the program in Salesian spirituality at Berkeley or this will fade into nothing.

Well, we did not come to any solution, but exchanged views for over an hour. In December and January I will go to the UPS and offer a condensed course in the last six weeks of the Fall Semester there. In the meantime, we need to look for more stable support for our programs at ISS in Berkeley and work more in partnership rather than in opposition to the UPS.



How do the others feel about all this? I don't know. If truth be told, I feel very emotionally involved. It is my life and future that is on the line, after all, and I am torn really between Rome and Berkeley.

Truth be told… nice phrase to quote in the Bocca della Verità!

Labor Day Crowd

Every year on Labor Day the Salesian Community in Berkeley hosts a barbecue for the Salesians and Salesian Sisters of the Bay Area. This year was no exception. About 48 people came over for the afternoon. Of course that meant that the community members were all working from early in the morning to get things ready, and then continued after the guest left to put everything back in order. Even with the smoke of the barbecue still clinging to everything in the house, we'll start classes bright and early tomorrow morning. Yes, the Fall Term begins at ISS and at GTU… and Don Bosco Hall community is right in the midst of it.

Time passages

Wow! It has been two months since I've had a chance to add a comment here. Well, I apologize to my readership (both of you). These two months have been busy beyond my expectations.

And now we are ready to start a new term at the ISS (Institute of Salesian Spirituality) at Don Bosco Hall in Berkeley… and, of course, this goes hand in hand with the new Fall Semester at DSPT (Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology).

DSPT has a new home (more on this later), and the ISS has a new crop of participants. There will be six taking part this year: three Salesians of Don Bosco and three Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The group is not really large enough, and I still wonder for the future of the Institute. Still, we have begun on Thursday with orientation, yesterday with registrations and a community meeting, and today with a little outing around San Francisco. I led the tour, driving through a crowded city across the three bridges. Since one of the bridges is closed, the traffic was horrific… but we kept up a nice little chatter in the mini-van.

And so we begin.(Joe Boenzi, Cecilia Tse, Anne Collins and Marcel Tigga,
Salesians all of us,
at Larkspur during our Three Bridges Tour)