Thanksgiving vs. Turkey Day

First, I think it can be a both/and.  But I had a bit more thanks this past weekend than I had turkey.  To begin with, I was thankful for no school on Thursday.  The NAC told the universities that we would not be in class due to the American holiday.  Though, because there was still class, some very astute seminarians went to take notes for everyone…another point of thanks.

 

I was up at 6:30 to help with our hall breakfast, which was amazing.  Breakfast casserole, breakfast burritos, fruit salad and apple tarts were just a few of the deliciousness that we enjoyed.  Then, we had a wonderful Mass and a wonderful feast afterward. Each state or group of states had their self-decorated table to make it feel like home.  There was turkey, dressing, mashed something, cranberry sauce, green beans (though not in casserole form), and plenty of pumpkin pie (to have them, thanks to the deacons and families for bringing cans with them; for the over abundance, a big thanks to Mustang parishioners).  Interestingly enough, pumpkin pie is one of American’s weird foods.  It didn’t hit me until I was talking to the Italians about it.  We make a desert out of a vegetable.  We grind up a gourd and serve it for desert.  The idea is a little strange but ever so delicious.  And the Italians agreed. 

The day was pretty complete then.  However, the weekend was just getting started.  Saturday, we had the Newman-Oldman show.  It was a production.  The Newman part went for an hour and half.  I was in a couple of acts including the finale and a couple of videos that we made.  It was a fun night with many laughs. 

Sunday was the big game, the Spaghetti Bowl.  The Oldmen hadn’t been defeated in nine years.  We took the field to end that tradition.  I played lineman on the offense; I made sure that no one got passed me.  And I did pretty good.  The Oldmen has a few big guys who were competition. I got jacked in the jaw on one play and my shirt sleeve was ripped even on the first play, but it was a great Sunday.  We unfortunately lost, but we held our own and were only a touchdown away from breaking tradition.  Thankfully, no one got seriously injured.

And so ended my first NAC Thanksgiving. 

What a past couple of weeks!

Two weekends ago the Consistory was here.  It was busy here.  We hosted Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Burke here at the NAC.  I got a wonderful experience of being a photographer and have some of my pictures here:

Though I had a ticket to the berretta (hat) ceremony, I wasn’t able to make it in.  Even two hours before the event wasn’t enough time to get a seat.  I got right up to the security gate, and they closed it at 9:50.  The event was at 10:30.  I waited there with a priest from Washington, DC who was excited about Cardinal Wuerl.  We decided to wait.  Around 10, a young man and his grandmother from Equador came up to me and asked if I speak Spanish.  Not thinking about how the Italian has taken its toll, I said “si.”  Sure enough, I could understand, but I could get out the words without great strain.  Luckily he spoke English perfectly.  Turns out his grandmother was first cousin to the new Cardinal from Ecuador.  Though they didn’t let us through, we had a great conversion.  Since it was this guy’s first trip to Rome, he was excited.  He talked  about a need to give something back to the Church for all it’s given to him, resounding a bit of a possible vocation.  We parted ways.

I headed back to the school in the driving rain, and I got camera-d to take pictures of the Cardinals in the Red Room here at the school.  While there were many dignitaries (US Ambassador Diaz), one of the more talked about people, outside of the Cardinals, was the lead actor, Eduardo Verastegui,  from the movie Bella who came.  There were so many people at the school here.  It was rather intense. 

After the guests had left, we got to breath.  That night we headed over to the Apostolic Palace where the Pope and many other important figures live.  The night of the Consistory is only night that the Apostolic Palace is open.  No, the Pope’s apartment isn’t open, but there some very beautiful stairs that lead up from the Bronze Doors to the place where the Pope receives guests.  It was something else to greet Cardinal Burke up there.  Cardinal Wuerl was over in another building.  As we were leaving, we walked by Cardinal Amato’s receiving line.  The name stopped me.  This summer, before coming to Rome, I saw Fr. Albert from Conception Monastery, who has been working on the case for sainthood for Fr. Stanley Rother.  He told me before I left that if I see Archbishop Amato over here that I need to tell him to hurry up the cause of Fr. Stanley.  I knew that this was the same man.  So I got in line with my friends, one of which was a seminarian who attended the same seminary as did Fr. Stanley.  When we got up there, I explained who I was and where I was from.  At hearing that I was from Oklahoma, his eye perked.  At hearing that we were praying for the cause of Fr. Stanley Rother, his eyes perked again.  Cardinal Amato was very pleasant to talk to.  He was kind, forgiving of our Italian, and asked questions about us.  He cared about people; that was clear.   

Sunday instead of going to the Mass of Rings, where the Princes of the Church receive their rings, I headed up to Christ the King parish here in Rome.  It seemed fitting since Sunday was the feast of Christ the King.  It was wonderful to get into a parish with families, and it was even nice to have Mass in Italian.  But truly amazing for me was the walk back.  The trees were golden and the leaves would cascade softly rolling down the breezes as the sunlight would splash through them and bathing the streets in a glow.  And it felt just like that.  What a great weekend! 

Next update…how Thanksgiving is done here.