A few days ago, I received another package in the mail! This one contained 50 copies of the terrific Africa eBook Project CD, created by my friend Brandon Vogt and his many collaborators, which include notable organizations such as:
This weekend, the campus of St. Fidelis Seminary was host to a wonderful event – the profession of solemn vows by two Capuchin brothers. With more than 200 family members, villagers and Capuchin brothers in attendance, Brother Patrick Herok and Br. Robin Rati make their promises to serve the Church and their Capuchin brothers for the rest of their lives.
I felt very privileged to have been in attendance to see their witness of faith and that of people. The video below is a montage of the Mass, including the participation by a local parish choir and a couple of traditional groups who were instrumental in representing their culture during the Mass.
Hopefully the video does a good job of standing on its own, but if you have questions, please let me know and I’ll do my best to provide an answer.
Solemn Profession – Papua New Guinea from Steve Nelson on Vimeo.
Br. Jim came back from the post office in Madang a few days ago, excited to tell me that I had received my first actual mail from the US.
Two Christmas cards and a package!
There’s just something special about receiving “real mail” these days, and it’s even more special when it comes from home far away. The extra thought and expense is truly appreciated and it invigorates that bond with home.
So, first on my “Mail of Fame” list are:
Matthew, Tracy and Ellie Pepper from Santa Fe, New Mexico. These are some of my dear friends from my earliest days as a campus minister. Matthew, Tracy and I have lots of great shared memories and travel experiences, so I’m not surprised at all that they are some of the first to think to send me a Christmas card, all the way to PNG.
Mac and Katherine Barron, from Swainsboro, Georgia – also known as “Catholics in a Small Town” to SQPN and Catholic New Media folks. I’m sure this is all Katherine’s doing, Mac’s too much of a guy to have thought this up :-). They are a great family with a great story to tell of living their Catholic faith in a small town in Georgia. I’m so glad to call them my friends and hope you’ll take my word that you should check out their podcast at http://catholicinasmalltown.wordpress.com/ or subscribe through iTunes.
That package came from the good folks at Word on Fire, publishers of the fantastic Catholicism DVD series. When I discovered that I arrived in PNG with one of the DVDs missing, they very kindly, and with some expense, sent me a replacement right away. It arrived in our mailbox in under 2 weeks. This must be some sort of PNG record! We’ll be using the Catholicism series as a part of the catechesis for new seminarians coming to St. Fidelis next month. The effort of Word on Fire to get the DVD to me so quickly is enormously appreciated by the teaching staff here at the college.
At the risk of sounding REALLY self-serving, if you suddenly feel inspired to send me some mail, or chocolate chip cookies, you can mail it to:
Steve Nelson
St. Fidelis Seminary
P.O. Box 827
Madang, Papua New Guinea
(just kidding about the cookies! They would melt long before I received them or be intercepted by some Fijian mice or something)
There are more than 800 indigenous languages in PNG, the most of any nation I’m told. Because of their long administration by Britain and Australia, English is one of the official languages and is used for most government functions and in the schools.
Another official language is Tok Pisin (often called pidgin) which is more widely spoken than English. It’s an English based creole language (a patois, perhaps?) that was developed primarily so that people of the various other language groups and villages could communicate with each other.
Mass in the villages is mostly said in Tok Pisin, which has an approved version of the Sacramentary for their use. (Interestingly, I’m told it was a more accurate translation before the English one was updated.)
If you’d like to see a sample of the language, here’s the Lord’s Prayer in Tok Pisin. If you read it aloud, you can probably hear its English roots and get the gist of it.
Papa bilong mipela, yu stap long heven. Mekim nem bilong yu i kamap bikpela. Mekim kingdom bilong yu i kam. Strongim mipela long bihainim laik bilong yu long graun, olsem ol i bihainim long heven. Givem mipela kaikai inap long tude. Pogivim rong bilong mipela olsem mipela i pogivim ol arapela i mekim rong long mipela. Sambai long mipela long taim bilong traim. Na rausim olgeta samting nogut long mipela.
Here’s my rudimentary translation. I don’t speak any Tok Pisin yet, so I used a dictionary in many cases. So if you’re a speaker of Tok Pisin, please feel free to correct my mistakes!
Papa bilong mipela
“Father who belongs to us” = Our Father
yu stap long heven
“you are in heaven” = who art in heaven
Mekim nem bilong yu i kamap bikpela.
“Make your name to come up to greatness” = Hallowed be thy name
Mekim kingdom bilong yu i kam
“Make your kingdom come” = Thy kingdom come
Strongim mipela long bihainim laik bilong yu long graun
“Strengthen us to follow what you wish on earth” = Thy will be done on earth,
olsem ol i bihainim long heven
“also as it is followed in heaven” = as it is in heaven
Givim mipela kaikai inap long tude
“Give us food enough for today” = Give us this day our daily bread
Pogivim rong bilong mipela
“Forgive the wrongs of us” = forgive us our trespasses
olsem mipela i pogivim ol arapela i mekim rong long mipela
“also we forgive others doing wrong to us” = as we forgive those who trespass against us
Sambai long mipela long taim bilong traim
“Stand by us in time of trial/temptation” = Lead us not into temptation
Na rausim olgeta samting nogut long mipela
“And remove all bad things from us” = But deliver us from evil
The other day, as I was flipping around in the breviary, I ran across a treatise on the Trinity written by St. Hillary, a Doctor of the Church and Bishop of Poitiers.
I thought the last paragraph would make a good prayer for those of us using new media for evangelization. Continue reading
A couple of days ago, Br. Jim decided that 5 of the coconut trees near the high water tank on the campus needed to be cut down. He’s been worried that a high wind or storm may cause one of the top-heavy trees to fall, crashing into this very important tank.
A man named Max from the nearby village of Rempi was hired to climb the trees and attach a rope near the top, so that some of the brothers could control which way the trees would fall when cut.
Br. Jim, with his trusty chainsaw, did the actual cutting, a task he’s obviously skilled at. Each tree fell with a mighty WHUMP!, sending coconuts and friars scrambling and leaving a noticeable dent in the ground. It also dislodged a few hundred thousand of those pesky ants that I wrote about before.
I shot some video of this ersatz lumberjacking process and posted it on YouTube. I know Jim Fox will particularly appreciate it. Maybe you will too.
[youtube http://youtu.be/f1mZ6LdLhAA]
This is my first little video project using my new camera. I still have to learn a few things about it. What do you think? Please leave a comment below. The video resolution may be a bit low, but even at this reduced size, it took almost 3 hours to upload.
Oh, leave a comment too if you have some ideas about other things you’d like to see from the environs of St. Fidelis. I’ll see what I can do.
The photo attached to this post? That’s kulau, the coconut water inside the young coconuts (not coconut milk). This is a clear water-like substance inside the coconut that is very drinkable, full of electrolytes, and quite tasty. It has a tang to it and reminded me a little of Sprite. Not at all like coconut.
I first learned the basics of saying the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) when I was an undergrad at Oklahoma State University. My friend Dan Mueggenborg (now Msgr. Mueggenborg!) and I would make the short trip from campus to Stillwater’s St. Francis Xavier Parish for evening prayer, a few times during one of our semesters.
I didn’t learn it well then and I wasn’t all that committed in those days, but I guess a small seed was planted. I don’t recall ever doing it again until we started offering it for students of the St. Philip Neri Newman Center, while I was campus minister there.
Some of the students would meet for Morning Prayer, but I was present more for Evening Prayer as students ended their classes in the late afternoon and were on their way home for dinner.
Here at St. Fidelis, I’m learning much more discipline in this than I’ve ever had before. Although I’m a lay volunteer, the friars have invited me to participate in their daily prayers, meditations and Mass. I have to say the regularity and consistency of this has helped with my transition into this foreign environment. There’s nothing like the universality of the Church to make you feel at home anywhere in the world.
Here’s the daily schedule:
6am: Morning Meditation
6:30 am: Morning Prayer
6:45 am: Mass
Breakfast follows
12:15pm: Lunch
5:00 pm: Meditation
5:30 pm: Evening Prayer
6:15 pm: Dinner
The schedule will change somewhat when school starts. Right now, we do prayers and Mass in the friary chapel. When the students arrive, we’ll move down to the campus chapel with some slightly different times.
I’m still getting the hang of the meditation parts. For now, I usually do some reading in the morning, and say a rosary in the afternoon.
BTW, here they use the British/Australian version of the breviary. It’s quite a bit different from the one used in the US and I’m of the opinion so far that this one is much better organized.
What about you? Have you ever prayer Liturgy of the Hours on a consistent basis? Any tips on how to be more disciplined with it or to appreciate it better?
(I know my SQPN friends are laughing because of the early schedule I keep every day now, and how I used to complain about our “early” board meetings at 7am.)
By happenstance, I had lunch with Fr. Joseph, a priest of the Archdiocese of Madang. It was a chance encounter, but I’m glad I had this opportunity.
When Fr. Joseph learned that I was new to PNG, he made the effort to tell me what it’s like being a priest with responsibilities for far-flung mission stations.
In particular, he told me about a group of parishes and mission stations that he’s only able to visit once every 3 months. It requires taking a boat down the coast, being let off on the shoreline, and walking 8-9 hours to the farthest station, and then taking several days to work his way back. He visits the faithful at the various stations, bringing them the Sacraments and performing numerous baptisms and weddings along the way.
It’s starting to dawn on me that almost every priest here has similar responsibilities and similar stories to tell. Long treks into the backcountry, many different cultures and tribal situations to negotiate, being the true faces of the modern missionary priest.
As I ponder the rather cushy nature of my previous parish experiences, I wonder if I’m brave enough to go and visit some of these mission stations. I wonder if I’ll have that opportunity sometime while I’m here….
(PS: I borrowed the photo attached from this post from the Capuchin website. It’s Bishop Don Lippert, OFM Cap. of the Diocese of Mendi, but it should give you a bit of a hint of what priests like he and Fr. Joseph are tasked with.)
I’m having trouble getting used to the rain here. It’s not that it’s particularly bothersome, it’s just that it’s different.
At home in Oklahoma, we rarely just have rain. We most often have storms that come with rain, and wind, and lightning, and thunder. We like those quiet rainy days that come every now and then, but it’s not the norm. We’re trained to look at the sky, chart the path of fast moving fronts, and calculate the severity of what’s coming up the turnpike from Oklahoma City. It’s just part of how we plan our day during the spring and early summer.
Here in Madang, we’ve have had quite a bit of rain the last 2 weeks, at least by my reckoning. No storms and only a little bit of lightning and thunder. With little notice, the faucet is turned on, it rains several inches, and then it just stops. No fast moving clouds, no enormous lightning or thunder shows (it does lightning and thunder some, but not like on the great plains), just a lot of water falling straight down.
And the water just disappears.
The ground is very porous, mostly sand and coral, so the water doesn’t really puddle up anywhere. If we had the same amount of rain in Tulsa, we’d all be using boats by now.
It never occurred to me that I would miss Oklahoma storms and their awesome exhibits of natural energy.
I’m sure that PNG has its own such displays of nature, but I’m not sure I’m going to like them as much.
All this doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for the rain. Fresh water anywhere is vital and that goes for St. Fidelis. Rain water is the primary source of water at the school, collected in large cisterns from the roofs of most of the buildings. They tell me that during dry seasons a well must sometimes be used but it’s often brackish and salty tasting.
I have admit that I was a bit leery of drinking the water from the cisterns when I first arrived. I’ve had too many bad experiences in Central America with the local water to not at least give it a thought and a prayer before imbibing.
Happily and thankfully, I’ve had no problems, it tastes pretty good, and is abundant as long as it continues to rain.
The Gospel reading and homily from today’s Mass (Jan 4 here in PNG) has been rattling around in my head this morning and I thought I would write about it while I still have a few minutes of internet time left.
The reading is Jn 1:35-42 and in it, Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?”, when he sees some disciples following him. It also tells how Andrew, after spending the day listening to Jesus, goes and finds his brother Simon and tells him that they’ve found the Messiah and he needs to go meet him. Of course Simon becomes known as Peter. Andrew always seems to be bringing people to meet Jesus.
Fr. Cyril, the priest at St. Fidelis, spoke of this Gospel reading in terms of vocations. St. Fidelis is in the “business” of vocations. Our job is to help the young seminarians who arrive here to give birth to, nurture, define, and learn to care for their own vocations. An awesome responsibility.
I wouldn’t be here in PNG if I didn’t feel a vocation for working with young adults. That’s why I was in campus ministry for so long and it’s a big part of why I’m here now.
I hope I’m up to the tasks ahead and pray that I’m where God wants me to be and not too dull a tool for his work.
Growing up in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, mowing the grass was something that you could do every couple of weeks or so. The common ants were called “fire ants” and built huge underground nests that killed all the grass and plants in a 5 foot radius. The ants were large, slow moving, but with a firey bite. As kids, we were fascinated by them, but knew to stay away from them for the most part. Unless they took over your yard, they were easily ignored.
These have new meaning in PNG.
St. Fidelis, as you can tell from the photos I posted here, has large areas of green space. All of which need constant mowing. The school has at least 5 push mowers and a large tractor being used daily and yet we never seem to catch up. A good rain and the grass can jump up an inch over night. Waiting to mow is not an option and the grass is of a tough dense variety that seems to fight the mower at every step. Still, it’s good exercise and I expect I’ll be leaner for it.
Meet my new nemeses.
I haven’t had to give much thought to ants lately. The ants in Tulsa are pretty innocuous, at least around my house. A curiosity usually, but will give you an itchy bite if you happen to sit too near their nest.
Here in PNG, I’ve already encountered at least three different type of ants, some very tiny but extremely fast when they find something sweet to eat, like the sugar bowl. The ones that swarmed ours the other day made it look like a miniature freeway.
The ones pictured above are something else completely. I gather that they live above ground, inhabiting just about every tree and shrub in the area. If they can find a leaf that they can roll cone-shaped, they set up house with great fruitfulness.
They are ferocious little beasts! Perhaps because they live above ground, they are quick to defend their domain. I first encountered them while mowing beneath a palm tree. When I got too close to one of the lower branches, the ants would leap off the branches, onto my head, neck, arms and feet. They’ve got a good little bite too, very noticeable with one, quite annoying if there are more.
Yesterday, Br. Jim (I’ll write about him another time) was attempting to trim an overgrown bush filled with these ants. Every time he came close, the ants would swam over his hands and up his arm, forcing him to retreat or take a licking in the attempt.
I’m constantly on the lookout for them now as I move about the school. I’m sure that they will be a constant part of living here and you’ll no doubt hear more about them in the future.
We may have found a chink in their armor though. Br. Jim learned from one of the PNG nationals that the ants aren’t as ferocious in the cool of the morning or during a rain. He tested this theory by trimming the same bush mentioned above during yesterday’s deluge and found the ants much more subdued. Victory may be ours!
After my last post recalling my long and frustrating travel adventure to Papua New Guinea, I thought I owed you something more pleasing about being here.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting this particular trip to Catholic HQ (Offices of the Archdiocese of Madang) and the use of the internet here. I’ll be better prepared for a full report next time.
In the meantime, the slideshow above of random photos that I’ve taken this first week should give you some hints about the lush tropical environment and the environs of the St. Fidelis Seminary.
It’s pretty quiet these days with more than a month until the students arrive for the next school year. I expect some more lively reports to come.
I have flown hundreds of times, more than I could count; across the country, to Central and South America, and to Europe. I’ve learned see airline travel as sort of a pipe that you enter at one end and have to just wait and endure what comes along until it spits you out at the other end.
There’s always a measure of frustration of some sort, either with security checks, bag fees, bad food, weather delays, crying children, or … something.
All previous experiences pale in comparison to my trip to Madang. The actual flying itself went off as best could be expected under the circumstances. It was the experiences on the ground at most of the airports that became an unforeseen type of torture for me.
I left Tulsa at about noon on December 18th and finally touched down in Madang, Papua New Guinea just after noon on December 22nd. Four days of traveling that felt more like six. I was never so happy as when I was finally spat out of the pipe in Madang, only 24 hours later than planned.
You might not find this interesting, but for my own recollection, here’s a rundown of my journey.
Looking positively at this, I am happy to be in Madang, happy to have traveled safely even though piled high with anxiety and frustration, and happy to have received all of my luggage.
I have a new-found aversion to any airline called “Air” – something. But I’m sure I’ll have opportunity to let them redeem themselves in the future.
And I’ve learned a few new lessons on what to pack in my carryon bags. I will never assume that things will go as planned, again.
(PS: Many thanks to the Archbishop of Madang, Steven Reichert, for allowing me the use of his satellite internet. )
As I write this, it has been 13 days since I left my home in Tulsa for Papua New Guinea. So far, the internet has been a very elusive animal, creeping about, giving the briefest of glimpses but never making itself useful for any length of time.
So, I’ve decided to write blog posts as simple documents, waiting the time when I can cut and paste them into my blog.
If you’re reading this, I guess I finally managed to tame the beast for at least a short while.
The two weeks leading up to my departure were two of the roughest I’ve face in a very, very, long time. My level of anxiety was off the charts as I tried to make arrangements, pack my house into storage units, figure out what I would take with me, and most importantly, try to take leave of my family and friends, at least for a little while. I’m usually a good planner but I was not really prepared for this.
I could not have done it without the support of my friends, particularly those in Tulsa but also those from around the country and the world. Even though I told some of you very late of my plans to come to PNG, your advice and encouragement has been wonderful.
Three guys, in particular, really stepped up and went beyond what I should have asked them to do. Jim Fox, Brandon Pollet and Alex Carroll, each in their own way, assisted me by helping to move my house into storage, cleaned it to ready it for renters, helped me find solutions to unforeseen problems, assisted with repairs at my family’s lake property, and then they asked to do more. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to them!
Tuesday, December 18th, was my day of departure. With only 2 ½ hours of sleep, it was full of last minute things to be done before leaving for the airport. A quick breakfast at Village Inn with Alex, a haircut, a last trip to Goodwill and one more look at my luggage.
I knew there wouldn’t be much of a send off, it being a work day and all. Thankfully, Alex wasn’t working that morning so he drove out to the airport to see me off.
Nonetheless, I was grateful for a warm December day, clear skies and time to see some last views of Oklahoma as I winged south to Houston, the first leg of what was to be a remarkably tough trip to PNG.
View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint
In about a week, I’ll be leaving my homeland of Oklahoma for a volunteer teaching gig at St. Fidelis College in Madang, Papua New Guinea. At the invitation of the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (CapCorps, part of the Capuchin Friars of the Province of St. Augustine), I will be teaching primarily English, but other subjects too, as needed.
St. Fidelis College is part of the diocesan seminary program operated by the Capuchins in PNG. As I understand it, it’s the entry-level program for seminarians and is intended to bolster their education level, post-high school, so that they can go on to further study at the other seminaries in PNG.
Doing something like this has been on my mind for some time, essentially since December, 1999. Some of the students at the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa, where I was volunteering at the time, were planning their own volunteer assignments after graduation when I became interested in it. I submitted an application to the Jesuit Volunteers International and was offered a teaching position in Tanzania. I ultimately turned down that opportunity and pursued campus ministry at TU for the next eight years. The opportunities I had to visit those students who had volunteered in Nicaragua, Peru and other places kept the bug in the back of my mind. As did the many student trips that we took to the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala, Mexico City, and all over Europe.
Several years ago, before I began working for SQPN, I created a profile on the website of the Catholic Volunteer Network, a clearing house of Catholic volunteer programs. Since most applicants are young adults finishing up their college careers, I didn’t really expect anything to come from it.
Surprisingly, about two years ago, I was contacted by CapCorps with this opportunity in PNG. Since my skills and experiences over the years seemed to be tailor-made for what they were looking for, I decided that I would enter into discussion with them, follow their application process and see where it might lead.
Every step of the way, the right doors seemed to open, the people I spoke to had nothing but good things to say about the school and the work of the Capuchins in PNG.
We finally reached the go/no go point and I made the decision to go on a 2 year commitment.
I realize that this is a very idealistic decision, especially at my age. It was hard to ignore this opportunity as a person of faith and knowing the call to service and evangelization that we Catholics have. Working in Catholic New Media as I have, it was also hard not to put “my money where my mouth is.”
This decision hasn’t come without cost, though. Giving up my job with SQPN, renting out my house, and leaving my friends and family are just the tip of the iceberg. My decision is placing burdens on my family, friends, and co-workers as they assume some of my responsibilities and support me with their friendship while I’m away.
I decided when I entered into this process that I wouldn’t make a decision based solely on fear, but to try to discern God’s call in this decision. There’s a great deal of fear in this, to be honest. A little voice in the back of my head, chattering away “You’re ruining everything!” I hope not.
Here’s where I can sling more clichés about the road less traveled, nothing ventured nothing gained, no pain no gain, etc.
I think I’ll just close with the one that’s most often come to me when I need it.
Be not afraid.
I’ve lived in Oklahoma for the majority of my life. In other years, I lived in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas, areas that are environmentally very similar to the western parts of Oklahoma. The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s has always been talked about, but I don’t think I truly appreciated what happened, until now. It’s a very blunt lesson of what can happen when a lack of respect for the environment and ecology comes face to face with human greed and ignorance.
“The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s, particularly in 1934 and 1936. The phenomenon was caused by severe drought combined with farming methods that did not include crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops or other techniques such as soil terracing and wind-breaking trees to prevent wind erosion.[1] Extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains in the preceding decade had displaced the natural deep-rooted grasses that normally kept the soil in place and trapped moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. Rapid mechanization of farm implements, especially small gasoline tractors and widespread use of the harvester-combine were significant in the decisions to convert grassland (much of which received no more than 10 inches (250 mm) of precipitation per year) to cultivated cropland.
During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the soil in place, it dried, turned to dust, and blew away with the prevailing winds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky, reaching all the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. Much of the soil ended up deposited in the Atlantic Ocean, carried by prevailing winds. These immense dust storms—given names such as “black blizzards” and “black rollers”—often reduced visibility to a few feet (a meter) or less. The Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres (400,000 km2), centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.[2]
Millions of acres of farmland were damaged, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes; many of these families (often known as “Okies“, since so many came from Oklahoma) migrated to California and other states, where they found economic conditions little better during the Great Depression than those they had left. Owning no land, many became migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages. Author John Steinbeck later wrote The Grapes of Wrath, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Of Mice and Men, about such people.”
Many years later, these devastating years in our young state, bookended on one end by the years of the Great Depression and on the other by World War II, still have an impact on the psyche of our state. There’s an independent streak in our people, a determination to be self-reliant, and a thin skin when it comes to anything that disparages the image of what it means to be an Oklahoman. For many, the term “Okie” continues to be a serious deprecation and insult.
So why am I writing about this? The master documentarian and storyteller, Ken Burns, has come out with a new project, entitled “The Dust Bowl.” It aired on PBS stations the last two nights and it was a real eye-opener for me. This masterpiece captures in a new way the sheer immensity of this man-made disaster and how it impacted so many lives. The storms themselves were such incredible acts of nature that it’s impossible to put them into any reasonable perspective. But the storms are only part of the story. Following on the heels of the storms were plagues, illnesses, psychological destruction, economic collapse, and one of the largest migrations of Americans from one area of the country to another.
If you have an interest in American history, I encourage you to watch this two part series (about 4 hours in length) from Ken Burns. The full episodes are currently available for free at pbs.org.
I have not been a follower of Ron Paul, described by ABC News as “the iconic libertarian congressman from Texas”, but reports of his farewell address to Congress caught my attention.
Nearly an hour long, his speech enumerated many of the problems facing our country and reinforced the grave feelings that I have for our future.
“Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed,” Paul said. “The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified.”
Quoting the ABC News article that I read (emphasis is mine),
Paul left the podium, for the last time, offering an “answer” to all of these problems: that people should choose liberty and limit government, and seek change within themselves.
“The number one responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow,” Paul said, urging an end to two motives that have hindered U.S. society: envy and intolerance.
These last statements particularly caught my attention because earlier in the week I had the privilege of hearing Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s presidential speech to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops fall meeting in Baltimore.
In his speech, Cardinal Dolan recalled part of the closing message from the recent Synod of Bishops. That message reminds everyone, beginning with the bishops themselves, that the New Evangelization must begin with personal conversion.
“The New Evangelization reminds us that the very agents of evangelization – you and me – will never achieve that abundant harvest Blessed John XXIII described unless they are willing and eager to first be evangelized themselves,” said Cardinal Dolan, “Only those themselves first evangelized can then evangelize.”
Cardinal Dolan later said,
“The premier answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming … none of these, as significant as they are. As Chesteron wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is just two words: ‘I am.'”
There is so much more to be taken from Cardinal Dolan’s speech, which you can read here, especially concerning the central importance of the Sacrament of Penance, but I was struck by how two very different men, with two very different roles in our country, and two very different perspectives and belief systems, could both hit on the same central solution to our ills.
Our hope as one sharing the New Evangelization, or our hope as a citizen of a free nation, depends on a virtuous and moral personal conversion.
So say we all.
I haven’t done one of these “7 Quick Takes Friday” posts in awhile. I’m not sure I have the hang of it yet. If you want to see the pros in action, go over to conversiondiary.com and check out the other posts there.
1.
It hasn’t really hit me yet that I have to get on a 7am flight tomorrow morning. I am not prepared. I used to do this all the time when I worked in corporate America, four years of commuting to either Boston or Houston. I know what to expect and no amount of coffee will cure the morning fog I’m going to feel until I arrive in Baltimore tomorrow afternoon. Oh sure, take a nap on the plane they say. Yeah, right. That never happens for me. And, I can’t read that early in the morning either, so I’m counting on my iPad to entertain me with some soothing music or a film that I’ve watched a dozen times already, just so I can put my brain in neutral for awhile.
2.
Baltimore, you say? Yep! I’ll be attending the Bloggers Dialogue session that precedes the Fall meeting of the USCCB. It’s been a long time since I hobnobbed with bishops. I better go shine my shoes or something.
3.
It’s guy’s night tonight, which will probably be my undoing given tomorrow’s early flight. But, how could I turn down trying out a new BBQ joint with my buddies, followed by seeing the new James Bond flick “Skyfall” at the Imax. It’s a moral imperative. (Does anyone but me ever get that reference from “Real Genius“?)
4.
It’s always the cables. Anyone who spends much time working with computers or other electronics knows that if a problem crops up, the first thing you do is check the cables. I know this from LONG experience of working on all kinds of equipment, from PCs to custom designed RTUs and PLCs. I apparently forgot those important lessons earlier this week. I installed one of those medial alert systems in the home of my elderly aunt. You know, you push a button on your wristband if you’ve fallen and can’t get up. I could not get the thing to work. I even read the directions and looked at the diagrams, TWICE. I know, right? Should have worked. It was only after calling technical support did I realize that I had the phone cable plugged into the wrong port. I blame the diagram for inconsistent wording. It’s not like I have a master’s degree in computer science or anything.
5.
The election is over. Oklahoma is probably the reddest of red states. There’s a palpable sense of anger and disappointment here. Now would not be a good time to try and mess with us.
6.
I am not an accomplished movie reviewer, but I’m going to try. Last Tuesday, instead of obsessing over the election returns, I went to a showing of the new film “Flight” with Denzel Washington. I hope this isn’t a spoiler, but the film was not what I expected it to be. First, it’s definitely not a family friendly movie. The preponderance of drugs and alcohol and the mostly positive portrayal of it was not something I enjoyed. The language was just as bad and gratuitous. There’s some great acting in this film, particularly by Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadle and Kelly Reilly. However, having had to deal with the issue of alcohol addiction in my family, I did not enjoy this film, did not like its overall message, and can not suggest it to others for that reason. I know, if you’ve seen the movie, the end of it seeks to redeem the characters for their flaws. That doesn’t mean that I enjoyed the film any more.
7.
On a happier note, for Battlestar Galactica fans, the first two episodes of BSG: Blood and Chrome are now available on Youtube, on the Machinima channel. It’s a very light weight prequel of the previous Battlestar Galactica series. From what I can tell from the first two episodes, it’s going to be action packed, but without all the deep philosophy and rich character development that we came to love. But with just 12 minutes per episode, that’s fine with me. Perhaps it will get some legs as a web series and have a chance at being extended into a real show on SyFy.
I’m incredulous that I had to resort to this. I mean the note.
The office where I work is actually the living room of my home. It has one of those quirks from the 60’s where instead of installing an overhead light fixture, the architect decided to wire the light switch to one of the wall outlets. For a table lamp, I suppose.
As it works out, the best place to plug in my computer, printer, and podcasting equipment is this very same outlet.
For years, this was never a problem. I knew not to flip that switch. A piece of black electrical tape served as a reminder.
Six months ago, I discovered these much more attractive switch covers during a recent pilgrimage to Home Depot. (Yay for hardware stores!)
The trouble began almost immediately after replacing the electrical tape with the switch cover. It’s like catnip apparently.
Three times in the last 6 months, visitors have determined that the cover must mean “insert your finger into the tiny slot in the side of the cover and flip the switch just to see what happens.”
Seriously? You really came to that conclusion?
In all fairness, I do take a little pleasure when the person sheepishly confesses to the crime. There is obviously some psychology involved in this that I just don’t understand.
I added the note above the switch yesterday, after the latest incident.
Please, resist the catnip next time.
“Don’t live life as a spectator. Always examine life: Espouse new ideas, long for
new things, constantly discovering new interests, escaping from boring
routines. Engage life with enthusiasm; grasping life aggressively and squeezing
from it every drop of excitement, satisfaction, and joy. The key to unleashing life’s potential is attitude.The person who approaches life with a child-like wonder is best prepared to defy the limitations of time, is more “alive,” more of a participant in life than the person who remains a spectator.”
― Felix Baumgartner
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I]