My first full day in Rome is actually a day off. The Institute begins officially tomorrow, Wednesday 15 February. This morning I decided to make it a lazy day and sleep in. I was awakened by the noise of rolling luggage in the hallway. New participants were literally rolling in. There is no carpetting anywhere. That is typical of southern Europe. This building has been totally renovated. And I learned yesterday that we are not the first occupants. The Fall semester was the "shakedown cruise" as the director put it. The floors of the rooms we occupy are all ceramic tile, the hallways are bamboo, the public rooms have the old marble floors preserved. All in all, very comfortable, but a bit echo-y.
Good news, from Carol, the Institute's secretary. My box of clothing, including my black suit and clerical shirts, is on its way from the Italian Customs to the Vatican office. Hopefully I will have it by Friday. There is a group picture to be taken and I need my clerics.
The only item on the agenda of today is Mass at 6:00pm.
At 1:15 is pranza, otherwise known as dejeuner in France, or lunch back home. As usual in the southern Europe, it is the biggest meal of the day. Today, the 20 ITCE participants who have arrived thus far were together. Our tables were the last ones out of the refectory. The seminarians move their meal right along. We priests were at tables and are still getting to know each other. Our courses of the meal lagged behind the students. When they were clearing the 4th course, we were justing sitting down to our second. One thing I am finding amusing - well actually a couple of things. We are given a cloth napkin and we have an assigned spot in this rack that looks like mail slots - each with our names on it. We are to use the same napkin all week. We take our napkin from the rack and replace it after the meal. Also, as a testimony to the practical nature of most parish priests, we're not following the process of individual plates for individual courses with separate silveware. Especially, the noon meal has a rather formal place setting. I think most priests these days without domestic help in rectories have resorted to the typical American style of heaping all the dishes at the table at the same time, and using the same plate and utensils. And the practice of individual courses being served separately is not what most families do at home. At my table today, we finished the 3rd course and there were still two stacks clean plates at the table. Also, the entire dining room was empty except the three tables of ITCE priests.
After lunch we were offered a tour of the some of the practicalities of living in Rome. We walked down the hill towards St. Peter's Square. Those of you who were with me in Rome a couple of years ago remember the place above the big parking garage we used to get up to the college, and the sunken passageway to cross from our hotel to St. Peter's Square. And you all remember the gelato shop right at the corner - I know Dennis Dube does. That gelato shop was on the itenerary of neccesities even before the pizza shop, the pharmacy, and the grocery store. I'm glad to see this program has its priorities in place.
As we were walking back to the Casa O'Toole, (I still need to research the origin of the very non-Italian name for this facility.) I took a detour back into the seminary. Deacon Riley Williams had left a priest stole in my napkin box for me to use during my stay. He received it as a gift and he cannot use it until his priesthood ordination in July. So I did not have buy one. As I was heading out of the building, I heard piano music coming from the auditorium - Beethoven's Sonata "Apassionata". It's a very challenging piece. One of the seminarians was practicing it. So I went in and had the chance to introduce myself. I learned about the other pianos in the building and the opportunity to practice there. I mentioned that I had the music for the Mozart Sonatas for 4 hands and would he be interested in playing them. He said he was not very good at playing multiple part music. He told me about two other musicians who may be more interested. In any case, there are pianists here who are rather well accomplished. This will be another opportunity for me to play and rehearse. And again as I was leaving, I had to pass through the hallway that leads to the chapel. Someone was practicing the organ. Some great music going on here.
This evening at 6:00pm, Fr. Wensing invited us to concelebrate Mass with him. It was not the official opening Mass of the Institute. That will happen at 9:00am tomorrow morning with the rector of the seminary, Msgr. Checcio. Tonight, we were invited to celebrate Mass for this day. The gospel was the passage where the disciples tell Jesus, "we have no more bread". In his reflections, Fr. Wensing suggested that maybe many of us felt that way about out ministry. This may be the reason for our decision to come away for a while, apart from our day-to-day lives. It is very possible to come to point to realize that we have little to give. We realize that unless we "restock" our supplies, whether it is spiritual, emotional, or intellectual, our ministry can become dried up and exhausting for us (and for our people). Without this replenishment, we risk losing the vitality and the spirit that first called us to service as priests.
I hope to share more about the priests who are here. Tonight at dinner, I sat with Fr. Tom Merrill, ofc., Fr. Arsenio Redulla, Diocese of Lubbock, Texas, and Fr. Paul Martin, SM, from New Zealand. After the meal, Fr. Martin was asking about coffee. None was made, so he went and made a pot. I was the only one who wanted any with him. I joined with him in a coffee in the lounge beside the dining room (pictures of all these spaces to come soon) and had a great convesration. He is the principal of boys' high school in New Zealand.
It was back to my room, skyping with my mother, and now I am finishing up my post for today.
7:00am breakfast and preparation for the opening Mass with the rector tomorrow.
Buona notte tutti.
