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!