Author: esteban

Gumbo and Haiti Talk

/ esteban

Last night, I was privileged to attend a dinner hosted by the pastor of my parish, Fr. Jack.  The event was a meeting of FIAT (Faith in Action Team), the name given to our Haiti mission group.

Fr. Glenn Meaux, pastor of the SOLT Mission in Kobonal Haiti (see my mission blog at haiti.everythingesteban.com) is making his yearly visit to our parish.

The purpose of the meeting/dinner was twofold.

First, to get the members of the mission team preparing to visit the mission in November together.  There is much work still to be done to pull off this particular trip, and it was important for them to meet Fr. Meaux.

Second, to sample the gumbo that Fr. Meaux prepared.  Being from Louisiana, he is adept at preparing gumbo and other Cajun cuisine.

It was fine fare, along with grilled asparagus, potato salad, bread pudding and pecan pie.  Coupled with a little red wine and ample talk about mixing cement, making bricks and building houses, it was a solid 3-Napkin dinner.

I’m not planning to make this November trip to Haiti, but the one scheduled for the end of February is definitely calling my name.

Esteban’s Dining Experience Scale

/ esteban / 3 Comments

I had three wonderful meals this week.  Two were home-cooked, one was at a small mom&pop Chinese restaurant, and all three were with wonderful friends.

All of these dining experiences were memorable because they each had their own unique mixtures of thoughtful food preparation, interesting conversation, and shared camaraderie.

During the last of these meals, we actually had a discussion of how we would rate the meal itself.  This led to some pondering of how I might develop my own, totally arbitrary and objective dining experience scale.

Thus, I deliver to you Esteban’s Dining Experience Scale!

I reserve the right to award any dining experience I have with whatever level I wish, but here is a general idea of what I have in mind.

The Positive Scale

1 Napkin – A meal I might cook for myself.  Frankly, it would be nothing special, hardly memorable, but not likely to make you sick.

 

2 Napkins – Something a bit better, probably at a restaurant.  A quick meal caught with a friend.  A hot dog at a football game.

 

3 Napkins – A meal I would remember and tell others about.  Any meal that ends with gelato or decent pie.  A special occasion, like a birthday or wedding reception or a meet-up with old friends.

 

4 Napkins – An outstanding meal!  Photos were taken, drinks were shared.  All were relaxed and no harsh words were exchanged.  These are the meals when the “good china” is brought out and people might dress up a bit.  People often come from afar for these meals.

 

4 Napkins + Wet Wipe – The pinnacle of the dining experience!  These are those experiences that you wish would never end.  They require bold culinary experimentation among friends you know won’t mind if it fails.  Gatherings of folks with whom you have shared many journeys.  These have that quality for which the phrase “je ne sais quoi” was coined.

The Negative Scale

Unfortunately, not all dining experiences come up to the basic 1 Napkin level of what I might prepare for myself.  We’ve all had them, haven’t we?

Here is my scale of progressively worse meal experiences:

1 Burnt Toast – This is a dining experience that meant well but didn’t live up to expectation.  The food might be edible but a bit cold, or over spiced.  The service might have been just “meh”.

2 Burnt Toast – These unfortunate meals are memorable because of some notable mishap.  The service is so bad that you dock the tip or complain to the management.  An argument among friends breaks out or someone imbibes too much in that “bad way.”

3 Burnt Toast – These meals are so bad that you end up with a serious belly ache.  A bad date that you walk away from in the middle of, or a restaurant that you flee from without paying.  Service so bad that you tell all your friends and create a new Twitter hashtag as a warning beacon for others.

4 Burnt Toast – Remember that one meal in Cuzco, Peru and the 8 hours of absolute misery that followed?  Or that other time in Peru when we had bad ceviche?  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  These experiences have their own special trauma so as to live on perpetuity.

I expect that I’ll be pretty liberal in my awarding of positive reports on meals that I share with friends.  All three of the meals that I had this week were at least 4 Napkins because of the people I was with.   Look for another posting on the most imaginative of these and the first awarding of the coveted 4 Napkins + Wet Wipe award!

You too can compete for this coveted award.  Of course it means you have to invite me over!

Do you have any special meal memories that have been evoked by this?  I’d love to hear them!

Howdy! (New English Roman Missal)

/ esteban / 2 Comments

Howdy!

Or perhaps I should be more exact and say “How do you do today?”

(See what I did there?  I translated my Okie greeting into more specific and more understandable English.)

So, about 96 days from when I’m writing this, the English-speaking parts of the Catholic Church will begin using a new English version of the Roman Missal.  This will be the 3rd official version of the Missal approved by the Church.    Only the third one since we began organizing all the various texts into one book more than 450 years ago.

What’s the Roman Missal, you ask?  It’s the ritual text that contains all the prayers and instructions for the celebration of the Holy Mass.    It’s a big deal.

The English version, and all the other language versions, are translations from the “official” Latin language Roman Missal that is issued by the Vatican with the approval of many, many people including the Pope.

There’s quite a bit of hub-bub about this new English Missal.  It’s taken many years to complete and there is quite a bit of confusion about why it’s being issued.  There’s also some resistance by some people who don’t want to change the prayers they’ve used their entire lives.  Understandable to have these feelings, but in my opinion, they are based on misunderstandings of the reasons for the changes.

I ran across the following three videos produced by Life Teen that give a brief yet entertaining explanation of the changes, the process involved, etc.  There’s one for adults/parent, one for teens, and one for middle school age kids.

They don’t tell the whole story, but I think they’re a good start and will hopefully open the minds of folks who are scared of change.

Have a look at these and let me know what you think in the comments.

Parent Version

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25418499]

Teen Version (my favorite!)

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25418957]

Middle School Version

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25418061]

 

Thanks to the Christe, Audi Nos! blog for pointing the way to these videos.

Move, Eat, Learn

/ esteban / 1 Comment

The three videos below have really captivated my imagination.  If you haven’t seen them yet, you’re in for a treat.

It’s not so much the actual content of the videos that grabs my attention, so much as the idea behind them.  The joie de vivre, in other words.

As some of you may know, I work from home.  For me, it’s a real challenge.  Apparently, I’m more extroverted that I thought and there are days when I want to run around the house yelling and banging my head into the walls for lack of real human interaction.

These videos, and in a similar essence, this recent post by Matthew Warner, have me considering new possibilities, new and daring challenges.

Perhaps I should have entitled this entry “Faith, Hope, Courage.”

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27246366]

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27243869]

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27244727]

 

Padre A’plas – Servant of God

/ esteban / 1 Comment

Fr. Stanley Francis Rother

July 28, 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of Oklahoma priest Fr. Stanley Francis Rother.

A missionary priest, Fr. Rother was the pastor of the Parroquia de Santiago, in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala when he was killed by men thought to be paramilitary hit-men of the government.

Below are links to where you can find the whole story, so I won’t recount it here.

I first learned about Fr. Rother in March 2000 when I accompanied a group of Newman Center students from the University of Tulsa on a spring break trip to Santiago Atitlan.

The Dioceses of Oklahoma operated  the parish in Santiago Atitlan as “Micatokla,” the Mision Catolica de Oklahoma, so it was a natural place for us to visit.  Through that visit and a dozen more, I came to admire Fr. Rother greatly and to feel a personal connection to him as a missionary.

The room where Fr. Rother was murdered, at one time a bedroom in the rectory, has been converted into a chapel and a memorial for him.   Through the years, the students and I have prayed there, attended Mass, and used it for quiet meditation, mere inches from the blood-stained walls and bullet-ridden floor.

That probably sounds a bit macabre, but it really isn’t. Because of Fr. Rother’s example of serving the people and defending them from the dangers of the time, the Church has deemed it worthy to open a cause for sainthood for Fr. Rother.  Someday I hope to hear that he has been declared Venerable or even Blessed.

Honestly, despite the tragedy that occurred in this room, it is one of the most peaceful and prayerful places in parish complex.

My good friend Mark Steichen and I, along with a contingent of other Oklahomans, attended the 25th anniversary observances in 2006.  It was an incredible experience, and proved to us the love and respect the people there have for Fr. Rother.

We were staying at a small office building 2 blocks from the parish, sleeping on the floor and cooking our own meals in a small kitchen.  At midnight on July 28th, we could hear singing coming from the church and from the rooftop of our building we saw that the church was open.

Late a night, dozens of people where in the church praying before the memorial to Fr. Rother built near the main entrance.  Catechists had gathered young and old around them and were teaching them the story of Fr. Rother, about his work with the people and his work for justice.

There is no doubt in the minds of the people there that Fr. Rother is a saint.

I understand that a large contingent from Oklahoma, as well as several bishops, are in Guatemala this week for this anniversary.  My heart is with them.  I would have loved to be there.

Note:  The people of Santiago Atitlan are members of the T’zutujil Maya and speak their own distinct dialect.  There is no equivalent name for Stanley, so they called him Padre Francisco (in Spanish) or Padre A’plas (the T’zutujil equivalent).

Here are a few links.  Spend a few moments learning about this faithful priest, loyal Oklahoman, and Servant of God.

There are better videos around, but this is the only one I could find online.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_kl-uD4inY]

My Close Encounter: STS-1

/ esteban / 4 Comments

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I’m feeling a bit melancholy about the end of the US Space Shuttle Program.  Today, via the wonders of the internet, I witnessed the 135th and final launch of these awesome machines.

As I write this, Shuttle Atlantis is in orbit over the Earth, making its way to a docking with the International Space Station.

The photos you see above were taken by me on April 27, 1981,  just a few weeks after the completion of the first Shuttle mission, STS-1, by Shuttle Columbia.   It had landed at Edwards AFB in California and was being transferred back to Florida piggybacked on a NASA 747.

My college roommate at the time, Michael Ryan, and I had heard that the shuttle was going to make a stop at Tinker AFB just outside of Oklahoma City.  When we heard that it was going to be open to the public, we couldn’t resist seeing it.

We made a mad dash from Stillwater, OK, driving the 70 miles to Tinker, arriving just in time to see the shuttle/747 descending over the highway towards the runway.  Traffic for miles around came to a standstill and people got out of their cars to watch.

Eventually making it onto the Air Force base, we were allowed to view the shuttle from less than 100 yards away. I can’t imagine being allowed to do that today.

I have been captivated by the manned space program my whole life.  In the ’60s and 70’s, I was mesmerized by the Apollo program and vividly remember watching Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, during Apollo 11.

For 30 years, the Shuttle program has waxed and waned in my attention, but I remember, almost painfully, where I was when I learned of the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

And so, yes, there’s melancholy to see this program end and I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see America continue its manned exploration of space.

Americans have always been curious explorers of the frontier.  It’s part of our definition and our genetics.  I worry about the cohesion of our national identity when we set this aside.

Oh, how I pray we remember to be pioneers.  I take hope from Commander Christopher Ferguson, who before the flight,  saluted all those who contributed over the years to the shuttle program.

“The shuttle is always going to be a reflection of what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through,” he said. “We’re not ending the journey today … we’re completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.”

 

Independence Day

/ esteban

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I had a very enjoyable Independence Day weekend and I thought I would share it with you.  The photos above should give you a good idea of my time, but here’s the “rest of the story.”

Helen’s Baptism

My very good friends, Jim & Kerry, asked me to be the godfather for their youngest daughter Helen.  Her baptism was held at Tulsa’s Christ the King Church on Saturday afternoon.

I’ve known Jim and Kerry for almost 8 years now, beginning when both were students at TU.  Both were very active leaders at the Newman Center and I counted on them many time.  Kerry was my designated Spanish speaker on several trips to Guatemala – which always put my mind at ease.  Jim organized many activities and sports teams, traveled on most Newman Center trips and was one of my companions on the great trek across Spain on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

Following Helen’s baptism, Jim and Kerry hosted a day-long reception at their house. It was great fun, with lawn games, good food and drink, and rousing games of ping-pong.  I was quite literally there for 7 hours!   I’m sure they are still recovering!

It’s a great honor to be their daughter’s godfather.  Helen joins Sophie, my other goddaughter, the oldest child of my great friends John and Nadine.    I have likewise shared many experiences and have traveled the world with them.  I’m looking forward to seeing them in October.

My life would be so much poorer without these friends and their extended families.

Grand Lake

I spent Sunday afternoon at our cabin on Grand Lake.  We have a quaint cinder block cabin on 14 shoreline acres.  The place has so many family memories and I love spending time there.

There was some sadness being there this year.  Several of the lake communities have been suffering because of the weather this year.  Last winter, a great deal of damage was caused by massive snowfalls.  Many boat docks and boats were sunk due to the weight of snow on their roofs.   This spring other communities suffered from tornado damage.

These communities rely on big holiday weekends for much of their revenue.  Unfortunately, there is currently an outbreak of blue-green algae kept many people way this weekend.  The algae is dangerous stuff.  It releases a neuro-toxin that can make people and animals quite ill.  The lake authorities warned people not to make contact with the water.  Naturally, this kept many people away and the lake communities suffered yet again.

I was determined to spend time at the cabin anyway and to do some upkeep on the place.  It was a relaxing time, but I would have preferred to have friends with me.

Tulsa Drillers Baseball

I didn’t really have any firm plans for the 4th of July itself, so on a whim I purchased one of the last tickets available for the Tulsa Drillers baseball game.  I like to attend baseball games but I hadn’t had a chance to go to one at their new downtown stadium.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity since I knew they were going to follow the game with fireworks.

A bit warm, it was a very pleasant evening.  The Drillers led most of the game but were defeated when the San Antonio Missions took the lead in the 8th inning.  Nonetheless, it was a very American way to spend Independence Day.

As promised, the Drillers offered up their own fireworks show following the game.  This was an experience!  The fireworks were of the low-altitude variety, shot off from the field itself.  The video that follows was shot on my iPhone from less than 100 yards away.

It was loud, exciting, patriotic and smelled of gun powder!  Nothing like blowing things up on the 4th of July!
I’d say that was a very successful holiday.  Now, I need to rest up!

 

Fireworks at Oneok Field from Steve Nelson on Vimeo.

Once Upon Our Lives (1967-1969)

/ esteban

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It’s time for another installment of family photos from my childhood.  There are probably too many in this batch but this pretty much wraps up our journey through the 50’s and 60’s.

I like these photos because they are a good look at the special occasions in our lives.  Birthdays, patio parties, little league, etc.  Nothing but the good times, the happy times.

I’ve added some captions which I hope are helpful.  If you watch the slideshow, they should be self-explanatory.    Times gone by.

I’m mourning a bit to reach this end point of dad’s collection of photos.  There are only a few left, and then we entered the age of Instamatic cameras and flashcubes.  (They haven’t aged well).

As the 7o’s hit, things started to change, in our family, in our society, and much more.  If you lived through the early 70’s you know what I mean.  We’ll see if I’m brave enough to find, scan and post those pictures.

In the meantime, enjoy this little look back at our family as we wrap up our time in Midland Texas and begin the next move that will take us to Tulsa, in 1970.

The Buzz: Making Iced Coffee

/ esteban / 9 Comments

Before I lose an undue number of man-points by blogging about making iced-coffee, I’m going to blame my friend Pat Padley (patrickpadley.com).

He pointed to me to this post on The Pioneer Woman blog.  What Ree Drummond does on her site is the epitome of what I think websites should be.  The photography alone is reason enough to spend alot of time on her site.    It also doesn’t hurt that she’s an Oklahoman, living not all that far from Tulsa. (“Yeeow! A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!”)

Anyway, ever since some Cajun oilfield workers challenged my manhood and put hair on my chest by convincing me to drink heavily sugared chicory coffee, I’ve slowly become a fiend for the stuff.

A true Italian cappuccino on a cold morning in Rome is the stuff of legend.  On the other hand, on a summer morning in Oklahoma, when it’s 85 degrees by 9am, iced coffee, better yet, iced mocha coffee, is a better choice.

So, when Pat drew my attention to Ree’s post from a few days ago, I thought I would give it a try.

Note:  if you’d like to learn how to make this by looking at pretty photos and reading witty verbage – go to the post above.  My experience was, shall I say, not as pretty and quite a bit more work than I expected.

Steeping Coffee

Step 1:  Steep 1lb of ground coffee in 2 gallons of water.

Seems easy enough.  I had the coffee.  I had the tub.  I had the space in my frig (guy, ya know).  Mixed up and stored overnight, about 12 hours or so in my case.

What resulted was this awesome smelling sludge that appeared to have great potential.  Just looking at it took me back to my college summers working in the oilfields of Monument, New Mexico.  The gunk at the bottom of pumpjack cellars looks something like this.

Sludge with potential

Step 2:  Strain out the coffee grounds

This doesn’t sound as icky as it turned out to be.  Coffee, in large amounts, tends to have an oily component that coats the things that it comes into contact with.

Ree is clearly more accomplished at this than I am, and probably has the right equipment to do this without endangering her home.

My first attempt was to use some coffee filters in a large strainer.  Didn’t work.  The filters became clogged very quickly with so many coffee grounds involved, so I switched to another strategy.

Bulk straining of the sludge

Step 2a, 2b:  Remove bulk of grounds with strainer

Two passes seemed to do the trick.  Out of self-defense, I used the kitchen sink to avoid what might have been spectacular devastation of my kitchen.  I endeavored to be as sanitary as possible, but splattering was still a problem.

Dregs of the sludge

Straining through cloth. More coffee-like than sludge-like now

Step 2c:  Strain through cloth

Things were looking up at this point but clearly there were still some solids to be removed.  Of course if you don’t mind chewing some of your coffee, you might skip this step.

All in all, I think it took about an hour to de-sludge this concoction and I ended up with about 5 quarts of pretty intense coffee.

Preparing the first beverage.

Step 3:  Prepare the beverage

OK, there’s nothing magical in this step.  I basically followed Ree’s sage advice.

  • 1 tall glass of ice.
  • fill glass halfway with coffee.  (I used the leftover part that wouldn’t fit in my other containers. It was closer to room temperature.  I wish I had used chilled coffee to avoid melting the ice too quickly)
  • fill rest of the glass with cream-like choice.  I avoid dairy, so I used organic chocolate soy milk (yes, I’m aware of the problems associated with soy, but  what can you do?)
  • sugar to taste (I added about 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar, but I think it would be OK without it.)

Tasty beverage.

Step 4:  Enjoy tasty beverage

I have to admit, this turned out really well.   I’ll have to wait to see how it goes as I drink more of this batch to see how I ultimately feel about it.  I wish it was creamier, so I agree with Ree’s suggestion to use half-and-half if you can.  Otherwise, so far so good.

I will say that this stuff packs a punch!  I had two tall glasses this morning and whoa! It was probably the equivalent of drinking 3-4 cups of regular coffee.

I can feel the buzz still.  In fact, my left leg is bouncing up and down as I type this entry.  You know that feeling, don’t ya?

Give this a try, but know your limits.  I’m off to find some protein which will hopefully serve as a caffeine antidote.

Lest We Forget …

/ esteban / 5 Comments

On this Memorial Day, I wish to honor Harold W. Linihan, my mother’s cousin, who served in the US Army Air Corps. during World War II.

This morning, I attended the annual Memorial Day Mass at Tulsa’s Calvary Cemetery.  There were more than 400 people in attendance including a large number from Tulsa’s Vietnamese community.  The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Edward Slattery, who you can see in this (rather poor) photo.

Eleven members of my family are buried in this cemetery and it’s probably where I will someday be buried.    For the past several years, it’s been my habit to visit the cemetery with my aunt Joanne to place new flowers on the various family graves.

Next to my grandfather (Roy McKeever) is the grave of Harold Linihan who died on Christmas Eve 1943 while flying a mission aboard a B-24J Liberator, during service in China.

As I passed his grave, I was reminded that he was only 21 years old when he died.  Only twenty-one, and the circumstances of the war took him and so many other young men and women away to lonely places around the world.  And he, like so many others, did not return.

I honestly had not given much thought about Harold although I had visited his grave before, but I was inspired this day to find out what I could online and so perhaps give a little more life to his fleeting memory.

Here is what I’ve been able to determine so far, thanks to the wonders of the Internet.

  • Harold Linihan was my grandfather’s nephew and cousin to my mother Mary and my aunt Joanne.
  • According to the limited military records available online (without paying a fee to retrieve his official military records – something I may do someday), he is listed as being from Rogers County, Oklahoma.  This would put him in the Claremore area, NE of Tulsa.
  • His headstone lists some of the pertinent data that I started my search with.
  • He was born June 6, 1922 and died December 24, 1943
  • He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 308th Army Air Force Bomb Group.
  • With a little more research, I was able to determine that he was part of the 374th Bombardment Squadron and part of the 14th US Air Force (which is a descendant of the 1st American Volunteer Group aka “The Flying Tigers.”)

    308th Bombardment Group

  • This squadron flew the B-24J Interceptor (heavy bomber) which normally carried a crew of 7-10 men.
  • During 1943, the squadron was stationed at Chengkung Airfield in China.
  • According to the very limited records I’ve found so far, he died along with the following members of his crew:  Dale R. Anderson (2L / Illinois), Harvey Berman (2L / New York), Terry Lamar Humphries (TS / Louisiana), Wendell Guy Mettert (SS / Ohio), Raymond L. Paulina (SS / Pennsylvania).
  • A brief mention in the “West Bend News” (May, 24, 2006) says that Mettert was killed during a “bombing raid” on December 24, 1943.
  • According to this brief unit history, 18 B-24s of the 14th Air Force conducted a bombing raid over a Tien Ho satellite airfield on December 24, 1943.  One

    374th Bombardment Squadron

    B-24 was lost in the raid, which I presume was the plane carrying Harold Linihan and his fellow crewman.

  • I believe that the Tien Ho airfield was near what was then called Canton, now Guangzhou.

This is not much information and it does nothing to tell you about him as a young man, but perhaps there are other members of his family that know more and can keep his memory better than I’ve been able to do here.

I hope this post in some way honors Harold Linihan and all the others who served our country in defense of liberty, in defense of freedom, and to free other peoples from tyrannies that sought to oppress them.

 

So, it really isn’t magic.

/ esteban / 5 Comments

I love riding bikes.  It’s true.

Having my own bike gave me the first true taste of independence as a child.

Countless miles have passed below my feet over the years, mostly as a kid, but continued up through my high school and college years.

If you’ve followed this blog in the past, you may have read this particular entry, where I describe the joy of discovering how to ride a bike (without training wheels, that is) on Christmas Day:

“We had this old bike from the ’50s with large balloon tires on it.  It had been re-painted and passed down through all the kids.  Kevin (my brother) would launch me down the sidewalk on this thing and I would invariably crash into a neighbor’s car, or my mom’s rose bushes.  Neither was the preferred outcome.

But on this glorious Christmas Day, when it was about 70 degrees outside, I took my new Sting-Ray out to the street, kicked up the kickstand, climbed aboard, and gave the pedal a mighty push.  I was off down the street like I had known how to ride all my life.

I rode up and down the street a few times, more than a little excited.  I managed to get back to the house, ran inside and made my dad come out and watch, proof that I had finally managed the intricacies of bike riding.”

The truth is, I don’t know how to ride a bike.  I just do.  One day, I couldn’t keep my balance and would crash into things, and the next day, I could.

It’s always bothered me that I don’t understand the physics of bicycles.  The analytical part of my brain has tried to find an obvious answer for how bikes work and how riders keep their balances.  I haven’t found it, and apparently for good reason.

I ran across this article, “How Bikes Keep the Rubber on the Road“, and discovered that truly learned scientists don’t fully understand how bicycles work either.  A team in The Netherlands has studied the factors that help keep a moving bike upright and have learned a few things:

“A conventional bicycle is remarkably stable when moving. Even without a rider, it can coast for long distances and catch itself from falling.” […]

“Bicycles, the team suggests, are more complicated than previously thought. While gyro and trail effects can contribute to stability, other factors such as the distribution of mass and the bike’s moment of inertia can play a role as well.”

I knew it!  I knew there was more to bikes than can be casually observed.   These scientists hope that their experiments will lead to new and improved bicycle designs that will augment these natural factors.  It will be fun to see what they come up with.

OK, so we really don’t know why bikes work, but I guess I can retire my earlier fall-back hypothesis in lieu of these new scientific findings:

“It’s magic!”

 

 

My Favorite iPhone App

/ esteban

I think it’s high time I shared with you my favorite iPhone app.  Yes, I’m a Mac guy and I have an iPhone – and I love it!

I’m also an amateur photographer and I’m always trying to find ways of taking better shots, particularly landscape or panoramic type shots.

Some months ago, I learned about an iPhone app called “Pro HDR.”   It’s a $1.99 app for either the iPhone or Android phones and, in my opinion, it’s well worth the money.

Basically, what it does is take two photos, one slightly over-exposed to highlight the colors in the image; and, one slightly under-exposed to bring out the shadows and contrast.  The software merges the two images to give a finished product that enhances the actual shot.

It does have some drawbacks in that it won’t work well if there is any movement in the shot.  This will cause a blurred image, or even a double image, obviously.  However, for the landscape type shots that I enjoy, where there is little or no movement, the shots are great.

Your shots also have to have some good contrast in it for it to work well.  If you notice from the shots below, I have good luck shooting at sunset when there are large clouds in the sky.   I get a kick out of those anyway and Pro HDR only makes them better.

For my money, this is a great app for bringing out the special in your iPhone camera.  Here are some of my recent shots using this app.

We Are Many Parts

/ esteban

I am not quite sure what it is that I’m trying to convey with this particular post.  I suppose it’s more for my own memory than anything else.

Those of us who have been blessed with opportunities to travel the world, as I have been, sooner or later have one of those “a-ha!” moments when we personally experience what we call the “universality” of the Catholic Church.

These moments occur when we understand that the Church we belong to, and the faith we profess, is much bigger and richer than what we experience in our home parish.    We see and hear this all the time, but actually experiencing it is the real eye-opener.

My first such experience occurred on my first trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala with students from the Newman Center.   I attended a Sunday Mass celebrated in a mixture of Spanish and T’zutujil Maya with a crowd of 2000 people that filled the church and spread into the plaza outside.   Although I couldn’t really understand what was being said, I still “knew” the Mass and could participate in it fully.  It’s a real rush to know that you really and truly belong to something much bigger than yourself.  Such experiences give you a new and broader perspective on being Catholic and in some sense your own place in the world.

I had another, yet different, sort of experience during my recent trip to Rome.   Several times during the week I spent there, I found myself immersed with pilgrims from different countries.  Totally unexpected and unplanned.

As I wrote earlier, my trip from the US to Rome was in the company of a group of Polish pilgrims from Chicago.  It was great to see not only their excitement to be going to Rome for the Beatification Mass, but also their devotion to Pope John Paul II as one of their countrymen.

Once I arrived in Rome, I spent the next several days with Fr. Roderick and the Dutch radio personnel and other pilgrims that were in and around the Friezen Church.   We all know that the state of the Church in The Netherlands and other parts of Europe is dire, but seeing and talking to these people, I still sensed a spark of faith in them.

The photo above is a group of French bloggers and journalists that Fr. Roderick and I had lunch with on the Monday following the beatification Mass.  We met them quite by accident when one of them recognized Fr. Roderick and invited us to tour Vatican Radio with them.  We had already been there, but that didn’t stop us from going again, or joining them for lunch at Pope Benedict’s favorite German restaurant!  They were very nice to speak English when they could, realizing that I don’t speak French.  It was very much appreciated!

At other times during the week, I spent time with my American colleagues and friends, conversed with nuns from a variety of orders and places, was introduced to a South African seminarian just days before his ordination as a transitional deacon, and met a New Zealander (or was he Australian?) working in young adult ministry in New York.

These random encounters with different nationalities continued even as I was leaving Italy to return home.  On the “Leonardo Express” train which took me from Rome’s Termini Station to Fiumicino Airport, I found a seat in a compartment of Spanish pilgrims.    As I spent my last minutes in Italy, I overheard them discuss the Beatification Mass, what it meant to them, and their desire to share their inspiration with the youth at home.   They were under no illusions about the enormity of their task, but yet they were willing to try.

And, how could I forget the Chinese-American women seated across the aisle from me?  During our flight home, she prayed a couple of rosaries and reflected on a set of prayer cards that she had with her.

I suppose one of the things that I’m trying to convey here is encouragement.  Going to Rome always inspires me.  Seeing people from around the world is encouraging and reminds me that in spite of all the problems that we face, both in the Church and in the world, there is reason to have hope.

If you’ve never been on a pilgrimage outside your own country, my encouragement to you is to go and open your mind to a new understanding of the universality of the Church.

Afterall, the word “catholic” means “universal” and we should embrace that!

Beatus!

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Last Sunday, I had the great privilege of attending the beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

From my previous posts, you may know that Fr. Roderick and I were in Rome a few days prior to this and saw the influx of pilgrims and the preparations on-going throughout the city.

On Sunday morning, after many people spent the night outside the Vatican and in the Via della Conciliazione, St. Peter’s Square was finally reopened and pilgrims were allowed in for the Beatification Mass.

I was very impressed with the way the security forces managed the crowd, and despite the long night and tiredness of the crowd, I did not witness any problems. Groups of a few thousand people at a time were let in and allowed to go through the security scanners in order to enter the square. It took more than 3 hours, but by 10 am the Square and the Via were completely filled, all the way from St. Peter’s to the Tiber River.

Fr. Roderick and I avoided the crowds and left the Friezen Church just as the square was getting filled. Somehow, we ended up in a “no man’s land” between the end of St. Peter’s Square and the beginning of the Via della Conciliazione. I think we were actually in a security lane, but so were a lot of other people who didn’t look like they necessarily belonged there.

Nonetheless, our vantage point was near the big video screen I’ve mentioned before, and at the very edge of St. Peter’s Square, technically standing in the middle of the street. We tried to keep a low profile so that security wouldn’t kick us out.

Mass began with the entrance of Pope Benedict in the pope-mobile. We were a long distance from his entrance route, but we did actually see him. The photos below were taken from the video screen, but you can get the gist. The crowd was quite excited to see him and you could tell that he was enjoying himself.

The Beatification itself was a fairly simple affair, occurring after the Entrance and Penitential Rites and before the Liturgy of the Word. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, presented a humble petition to Pope Benedict, asking that Servant of God, Pope John Paul II be inscribed among the list of those Beatified. (This according to my attempts to translate the Italian).

Pope Benedict replied, according to the current formula, as follows (also according to my limited ability to translate Italian):

“Acceding to the request of our Brother Agostino Cardinal Vallini, our Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, of many other of our Brothers in the episcopate, and many of the faithful, after consultation with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, by our apostolic authority we declare that the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II, pope, shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed and that his feast shall be celebrated every year on the 22nd of October, in the places and according to the norms established by Church law.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

After this, the Mass pretty much proceeded as any other Mass would.  I would point your attention to a terrific homily given by Pope Benedict about Bl. Pope John Paul II.    If you haven’t read it, you can find the text here.  The Holy Father’s personal note at the end of the homily is particularly moving.

Estimates I’ve seen put the attendance at between 1 and 1.5 million people.  Clearly this was the biggest gathering I’ve ever been a part of.  It was a highlight of my life to be both a witness and participant in this occasion, one I will never forget.

Here is a montage of photos from my vantage point at the end of St. Peter’s Square.  You don’t really get a sense of the size of the crowd, you can find those photos elsewhere.

I have no doubts about the saintliness of Bl. Pope John Paul.  As the proclamation of his beatitude was made and his portrait on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica was unveiled, you could feel the electricity and joy in the air and hear the gathering chant of “Juan Pablo” as it rolled up through the crowd beginning at the Tiber River and ending at St. Peter’s Basilica.   It would be hard to experience that and leave with doubts.

 

 

Waiting for the Beatification Mass

/ esteban


 

Fr. Roderick and I had quite a time the night before last Sunday’s Beatification Mass for Bl. Pope John Paul II.

The above video shows a bit of the atmosphere outside the Dutch Friezen Church, just 20 or so yards outside of St. Peter’s Square, where we decided to camp out for the night.  I’m very thankful that we had this opportunity to make this church our base of operations as it gave us a great vantage point from which to watch the preparations being made in the square and the hundreds of thousands of people who were waiting outside in the streets overnight.

At some point in the evening, around 7pm if I recall, the police closed the streets surrounding the Vatican so that security arrangements could be put into place.  Ostensibly, no one was to be allowed into the area until the next morning, though like all things in Rome, I’m not sure how stringent these regulations where adhered to.

This made our decision to remain at the church much easier for us and the area that you see in the video above is not as crowded as it could have been.  Those present are pretty much just those that were still in the area when the streets were closed.

Later in the evening, the cordoned off areas along the Via de Conciliazione – the long street leading directly from St. Peter’s Square, opened to allow pilgrims to get closer to the square.    Because of the various barricades in place, we didn’t really have a good way to photograph the huge crowd waiting, but reports seem to place the number between 1 million and 1.5 million people.

As it was getting close to sunrise, the organizers started to let people through the barricades, a few thousand at a time, to go through security and to find a spot in St. Peter’s Square.  I was very impressed with both the way they handled the crowds and how the crowds themselves behaved.  Given the long night, chilly conditions, cramped quarters, and the earnest desire for the night to end, most people behaved themselves pretty well.

Here are some additional photos of that night.   Hopefully they give you some sense of that evening as everyone waited for the celebration the next morning.

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A Silent Vigil

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Friday evening, after dinner with my friend Msgr. Mueggenborg, who works at the Pontifical North American College here in Rome, I had some time to kill before meeting up with Fr. Roderick.

I made my way back over to St. Peter’s Square and enjoyed some quiet time strolling on the piazza.  A large video screen at the entrance to the square has been displaying commemorative videos about Pope John Paul II’s pontificate and they were still showing although it was now almost 10 pm.

It’s a mesmerizing video, projected without sound, which recounts JPII’s important history of traveling the world.  Although I had seen parts of the video earlier, this night it drew me in and I was captivated by the memories that it brought back.

Slowly, as the video played, more and more people in the piazza were also drawn in and a crowd gathered in complete silence, a vigil of remembrance for Pope John Paul II.

As each year of his pontificate passed in turn, we saw the joy of the people he visited and remembered the messages that he delivered in all parts of the world.  In a short time, we also saw him age and the heartbreaking advance of his illness and infirmities.

The video ends with his death and funeral.  With a few tears and a collective sigh from our little group gathered in vigil, a quiet applause came as the crowd dispersed, deep in thought.

This was one of those unplanned moments, a shared experience among strangers.  But also one that those present will not soon forget.

Rome & Radio

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The theme for our Friday in Rome quickly centered around international Catholic radio.  During the morning hours, we settled into an upper room at the Dutch Friezen Church, just off of St. Peter’s Square.

I listened to Fr. Roderick and his radio crew record a radio program in Dutch for over 2 hours.  I never imagined that I would be in Rome but yet privy to the work of the Church from the Netherlands.

Later in the day, we had truly one of the best experiences I could have hoped for.  We had the privilege of visiting the offices and studios of Vatican Radio and were introduced to Fr. Roderick’s former professor Mr. Sean Patrick Lovett.  He is the director of the Italian and English language channels for Vatican Radio and a wonderful person to talk to about Catholic media, its past and future.  Vatican Radio is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and it a worldwide organization, broadcasting in 34 languages.  It was a great experience!

Mr. Lovett also gave us a tour of one of the radio studios where live broadcasts were in progress informing pilgrims in Rome about the upcoming Beatification, security, and traffic arrangements.    Mr. Lovett also expressed his interest in the work of SQPN and in some of the ways that our experience can benefit them.

 

Fr. Roderick and Mr. Sean Patrick Lovett at Vatican Radio

Vatican Radio Broadcast Studio

Vatican Radio Control Room

 

 

Trading Days

/ esteban

Yesterday, Fr. Roderick and I were walking in one of the districts just outside of the Vatican when I saw this graffiti on an alley wall.

It immediately struck me as profoundly full of despair.  Would I ever want to trade all my tomorrows for one yesterday?  I hope I never feel that way.  I know that there will be bad days in the future, but I certainly have hope for wondrous days to come as well.  The Beatification of Pope John Paul II is hopefully one of those wondrous days.

The Catholic sentiment is absolutely the antithesis of this graffiti.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation you can trade all your yesterdays for the best of all tomorrows.

I hope the soul, who expressed the sad plea above, finds a better path.

Walkabout

/ esteban

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Our first full day in Rome, Fr. Roderick and I took some time to check out the preparations for the beatification in St. Peter’s Square and get our bearings on a few places that we’ll be visiting over the next few days.  We weren’t there too long, so I didn’t take too many photos.  No doubt there will be more as the excitement builds.

It seems to me that there are already quite few people in Rome for the beatification.  Strangely, I haven’t noticed any other Polish pilgrims but I have no doubt that there are loads of them here, somewhere.

Some SQPN fans from Indiana introduced themselves to us along one of the streets and we even had a brief encounter with Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who kindly hosted last year’s CNMC.

Here’s a little video of St. Peter’s that I shot as well.

The Journey to Rome

/ esteban

I made it safely to Rome yesterday and met up with Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, CEO of SQPN. Not too much to report other than a well deserved nap, some good pasta at a nearby restaurant, and a nightcap of some excellent tiramisu.

Usually, the journey to Europe is extremely tedious and something to be endured as part of the price to be paid to visit a wonderful city such as Rome.

This trip was not like that and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

The flight from Washington, DC to Rome included about 25 Polish Catholics from Chicago, traveling like me to the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.  They were a joyous group and fun to watch.

I sat next to a Polish couple, now living in Denver, who are just old enough to remember the Communist years in Kracow, but still young enough to appreciate the spirit of renewal that JPII brought to his country.

The young woman in the couple told me that she had never taken advantage of the opportunities she had to see or meet Karol Woytila, when he was Archbishop of Kracow.  Her journey to Rome for the beatification is in a sense to correct that and to honor his memory.

I was so glad, and lucky, to have the chance to sit and talk with them as we whiled away the time over the Atlantic.  Polish Catholics have always impressed me with their devotion to the Church.  I know that their society is increasingly under the pressure of secularization, so I take hope when seeing groups like these.

We are just beginning our time in Rome, so hopefully we will have more opportunities to share the experiences of other pilgrims here for this wonderful event.

There’s a forecast for rain this weekend, but I would be surprised if it dampens any of the spirit of those coming.