Last Weekend in the South

3 CSJs in Canton, Mississippi. Sarah Heger from StL and Chris Pologa from Albany and I converged on historic Canton for meal and camaraderie. We got there in time for lunch and enjoyed a grand time. Catching up, sharing experiences and dreaming dreams. Then hopped back in our cars and headed home 3 1/2 hours for each of us, north, south and west respectively.
Next weekend, I'll be in Milwaukee to do a presentation at the weekend Masses at St. Theresa for consecrated life Sunday. I'm thinking that I'll take some material from my thesis - okay I won't read it to them.... But in one of the sections I worked through the question of what a vocation is, and then what a religious vocation is. It was an interesting exercise, and I think I'll use some of that for the folks in Milwaukee. The readings will certainly cooperate: put out into deep water - I will make you fishers of my people. So I think it will come together.
I'll be here in Shreveport till Thursday, then the long train ride home, arriving Friday in St. Louis. Then Saturday morning I take off for Milwaukee.... I think I'll have some travel time to work out the presentation. Whew! I'll be there for four days, then back to St. Louis for a week and off to Belgium for my last stand!!!
I find myself saying over and over: when I get back from Belgium --- I've started a list. Right now there is too much coming at me to do anything but stay afloat. But I'm doing well I think. I had been somewhat concerned about these first two trips, and all has gone well. I sort of feel like I'm floating through the events, and managing to enjoy it all. But it will be good to get home and get on to that 'todo' list.
Keep warm and well - and remember to pray for safe and fruitful travels - and for the thesis defense on March 4!

Peace,
Amy

When the Saints go marching....

I just watched the last of the fourth quarter and the overtime - but it was certainly worth watching that much. And then there was all sorts of racket that broke loose in the area - celebrating I supposed. Later I found out that there was a fire nearby with fire trucks and the whole works. Guess I should pay more attention. It was an apartment and they managed to move into another apartment in the complex - but of course they need furniture, clothes, etc.
I've been working at the tribunal, meeting all the folks at the diocese and generally getting acquainted with the area. Last week, I was introduced as having come here from Belgium - so folks keep complementing me on my English.
It's really been a delight to meet some of the folks and hear their story and hear about what they are doing and why. That is the best part of it. Let me tell you: if the great, salt-of-the-earth, people got a chance to run the show, it would be terrific. There are a few things in the way, but it sure is nice to meet the folks that are just working to make the gospel happen in their own lives and around them.
I met with one guy who happens to be a big wheel in the Mardi Gras celebrations. He brought us to 'the dens'. Cool! That is where they assemble the floats for the big parade. It was really cool to climb on the floats and see how they are assembled - they all have a bar and bathrooms and there was a little rig to pass drinks up to the top.
After the dens, we saw the church - it was a pretty little church - there's a picture of me in the church - but it's not on my camera, so I found the one at the left on the internet.
Then I met with the ladies working at the tribunal - really nice folks - and they work really hard to keep cases moving along. The canon law system is more than a little crazy - but then I knew that. But the folks are really pastoral - and they try to help people move through the process and heal from a difficult relationship and understand what it takes to make a better marriage. It's just that law is not the tool to make this happen - but most of the folks I see are trying to make it work for the people.
I also finished my thesis and sent over to Belgium to get printed. Whoopie!!! So about a week here, a week in Wisconsin, a week in St. Louis, then a few weeks in Belgium and I'll be finished. I have a few presentations to prepare. With the thesis complete, I'll start working my way through those projects. March 4th @ 11:00am Belgian time (4:00am - central) I'll be defending my thesis - that will be my last requirement. I'll have a few presentations earlier that week - but they are on topics I've presented before. I just have to pull them together. I also have a webcast the day before I leave for Belgium - probably not a great plan, but that's just how it worked.
So keep me in prayer. I'm doing well, just keeping on keeping on through the various issues. Thankfully the internship is low key so I have time to keep up with these other projects.
Peace,
Amy

Arrived in Shreveport

I've arrived in Shreveport LA, it was a long, but good trip. Saturday rained all day - I mean really rained!!! But Sunday it's been sunny and lovely. We went to Mass, then went to walk out by the river and in the downtown area. That's where we saw the lineup of metal roses here. Not sure the significance. Anyway it was a nice walk - we saw a guy out flying a remote control airplane. I saw, but didn't get a picture - a small aircraft flying over and in the distance above it was an airliner. It would have been a cool picture - trust me.
Then I came home and tried to get the wireless working here. I'm staying with a CSJ from Albany who is the canon lawyer I'm working with here. Sr. Marilyn Vassallo. Anyway after lots of attempts and Tom's capable assistance it's still not working. I'm on a wired connection - we'll get a local guy to look at it later in the week.
On Saturday, we had a workshop by a guy trying to peddle the new translation of the Mass. No sale! His best argument for the new translation was "because I said so." "There's hardly any change.... But it is so incredibly much better." "And it's approved by the Vatican, so it must be better." (i.e. better that what was already approved by the Vatican 30 some years ago.) No sale! Grumble....
The two sisters here are great. One is Marilyn whom I'm staying with, the other is Pat, also an Albany CSJ, who is setting up Catholic Charities. Both interesting folks. I've met lots of the locals, I got introduced as a visitor from Belgium - and some guy came up to talked to me and after a bit commented on how good my English was.... Why thank you - you should hear my Flemish!!!
I'm getting my plans finalized for my trip to Belgium - I have a ticket over and a place to stay. My defense will be March 4 @ 11:00am. That will be 4 am St. Louis time - so if you're up early, send a prayer my way. I need to do one more read through on my thesis, and Julie is supposed to be reading as well. So hopefully I'll have it complete in the next week or so. I'll email it over and there is a guy there who will make the copies.
Tomorrow I'll have a quiet day. We were planning a trip on MLK day, but decided we both have work, so we'll stay home and I'll try to read a thesis chapter through. Maybe even two. I've been a little tired - shouldn't be, but I have been. So it will be good to have a quiet day. Its probably all the meeting and greeting - wears an introvert out.
All the best!
Amy

On the Road Again....

Blog posts have been a bit sparse for the last six months because I've been 'at home' and this was originally intended to be a way of connecting with folks at home when I was away. Well - I'm heading out again for a few months. I have several trips which should prove interesting and I'll want to keep all you folks on the home front apprised of my peregrinations.
The first journey should prove an interesting trip - I'm not sure what to expect from my Shreveport experience, except that I'm hoping it will be warmer than here. It's 13 degrees now in St. Louis and the snow is not even thinking about melting.... I know almost nothing about things diocesan, so it will be interesting to get involved for a few weeks and get a feel for how things work, at least in one, small, mission diocese. My communications with the sister I'll be working with have been good, and I fully expect to enjoy my time with her. She seems eager to show me the ropes at the diocesan offices and has generously offered to put me up during my time there and introduce me around the CSJ world there. I think it will be a good experience - and I'm looking forward to warming up a little.
The thesis is basically finished. I had several excellent reviews over the last several weeks. Various experts who commented on parts of the document and gave me really good suggestions. I've implemented all that, and am trying to gather steam to do one more good review.
I've also taken a moment to look back over my first six months back in the US during which I've been busy with thesis and some clients. I'm pronouncing it a good six months. I had heard stories about 'reverse culture shock', the notion that coming back home can be more difficult in some respects than going away. I'll have to say I've felt pretty good about the transition. I don't think I've annoyed too many people with my "well in Belgium they do it this way." It is surprising to see the things that had changed - folks here had gotten used to them, but it was new to me. For example, we used to have an economy, Bush was in the White House and I used to know the Cardinal players. Well, things change.
The next two months are booked pretty solid, and will involve lots of variety, some travel, some new faces, and the completion of the requirements for my JCL - I won't get the degree till July. Then when I get back, hopefully I'll have some time to organize an office and I'll have some work to do there.
All is well here - hope things are well with you as well.
Peace,
Amy

Snowball Fight Record

Leuven’s students did not have to wait for the winter to start having fun in the snow this year: on 14 October, several thousand students – 5,694 to be exact – broke the snowball fight world record. They smashed the previous record – 3,749 participants – held by Michigan Technological University. Skikot travel agency organised the record-breaking event, for which 120 tons of snow were shipped to the Ladeuzeplein!
Even though it's the oldest Catholic university in the world, they still strive for excellence in an ever widening range of disciplines - or un-disciplines. I missed the historic event, or I guess I could say I boycotted it due to the high environmental cost.... and I haven't seen a flake of snow yet this year.
I've finished a good first draft of my thesis and I'm running it through readers and implementing their suggestions. Then through my advisor and implementing those suggestions. So it's more detail work at this point. I'm pretty happy with the project as a whole. I had hoped to complete it by Christmas, and I've got the first draft 10 days early! I've got about a month to finalize everything and send it to Belgium to get printed and distributed.
I'm looking forward to Christmas with family and community. I've been busy making candy for the occasion. I enjoy doing this and always showing up for parties with a box of home-made goodies.
After the first of the year, things will get a little hectic:
Washington DC Jan 11-12
Shreveport LA Jan 13-Feb4
Milwaukee WI Feb 6-9
Leuven Belgium Feb 20-Mar5 (ish)
Then once I get back home, I'll launch into law practice in earnest. I've been working on the side (just won two tax cases in time for christmas - yay!). But it will take work to get all the organizational / administrative aspect of a Law Office back on track. And of course - I'm hoping I'll be able to build clients as well.
So this Christmas I'm conscious of the presence of God in our world, in my own world, and in and among those with whom I live and work: Emmanuel.
Christmas blessings!
Amy

Thanksgiving....

Someone just asked me if my time in Leuven went fast - well, I guess it did. It was a great experience, but now that it's past, it does seem short. However, I think there are lots of ways that I'm really a different person for the experience. Just having the opportunity to meet, study and pray with folks from so many different places and so many different experiences has been a real blessing. I think it is hard to measure how that will work into the future for me. Another real blessing is the opportunity to do theology while I was over there. I've been doing theology classes one or two at a time for 30 years. Now that is a good way to do things - you learn a lot, and have an opportunity to integrate with lots of life experience. But this time, I got the opportunity to do some things in a concentrated way, and, as I said, with folks from all over the world.
I've been back about four months, and I've found the transition back to be remarkably easy. Several things working in my favor: I have my thesis as my main task, so I didn't have to face getting back into full time work / finding a job, etc. Also, I was concerned about rebuilding a law practice - well, that has been easier than I expected, various clients around the country are connecting. Also, the apostolic visitation is raising questions for folks, and I'm better equipped to help now. (This one is a mixed blessing for sure.)
This year, for the first time in two years, I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with family and community. That is a real treat. We'll gather at Mom's and Dad's in New Haven for dinner on Saturday. We celebrate Saturday to accommodate all the in-laws schedules, and make it easier for everyone to gather. I'm planning to stay out in New Haven for the whole weekend - depending on when I can get transport. Then Christmas is just around the corner. Can you believe it?
My thesis is coming well. I have two chapters back from my promoter, and another that is written, Julie is proofing it before I send it over. Then I have a pretty good outline on the final chapter. It will be fun to write, but may be a little challenging. It will be on the theology of transfer - probably the spirituality of transfer. But that requires that I first talk about the notion of vocation, and of religious vocation in particular. These are important topics, but somewhat elusive. People have written about them, but often by talking about the externals, or by saying what it's not. But really, what IS vocation - and what IS religious vocation in particular? So that's what I'll be working on for the next few weeks.
I have some legal work - I'm pretty confident that this will grow in the month ahead. Probably my biggest challenge is to arrange everything that's going on in the first three months of next year: conference in DC, internship in Shreveport, presentation in Milwaukee, thesis defense, workshop and presentation in Leuven. I'm still trying to get all this pinned down so I can make travel arrangements. Then when I get home around March 10, things should settle down a little, and I can turn to getting more organized for law practice. Right now I'm still hobbling along on the organization I set up 5 years ago - it's going well enough - but could use some serious 'tweaking'.
HAPPY Thanksgiving All!!!
Peace,
Amy

Karmic Koala, etc.

Last week was the big release of Karmic Koala, Ubuntu's version 9.10. I had planned to wait a week or so, but when my computer popped up ready to update - well, I just couldn't resist. My computer is all full of Karma and it's great. The program is faster and cleaner and there are some neat new bells and whistles. I got an Asus netbook when my laptop died, and it required a few patches to run the last version of linux, but with the new version it's up and running out of the box.
In other Linux news, I've found a great podcast: Going Linux. It has interesting tips and news items. I'm learning more and more how to "use linux to get things done," so goes the program's tag line.
Hard to believe something came before my thesis in the Blog. So the thesis is coming along. I have two chapters completed - they are both out to readers (friends). I have yet to submit one to my advisor - but I will get that out this week, even if I don't have anything from a reader. I've started the "juridical" chapter which is really the last chapter. I'll go back and fill in the Theology chapter - I think that will be more fun to write, so I'm saving it till last.
I went to another national meeting October 20-23. It went really well, connect with a lot of folks that I've worked with in the past, and met new people as well. The Apostolic Visitation is a big stir and topic of conversation. It is a serious issue and there are a lot of unknowns. Prayers are needed for the women under investigation, and for the investigators as well - euphemistically called the Visitator. There are lots of legal problems with the current phase, but I think folks are taking the time to get good advise and the help they need to decide how to respond. I have to say this has really made me see the wisdom of doing the canon law program. Who would have known, but it puts me in a position of being able to help lots of folks. So as soon as I finish my program, there should be plenty of work to do.
At the October meeting, I also made it to the Atlanta Aquarium - which was incredibly beautiful. We had an hour after the general public had already left to go around and see the fishes - very peaceful and really beautiful. It was just amazing to see all the little guys swimming around and the big ones as well. They had a few of the staff people who could explain about the fish and their habits and where they all came from. That was also nice. But mainly it was just so neat to see them all swimming around - just amazing.
Beautiful autumn weather here too - the trees are absolutely gorgeous - they will probably be bear soon, so it the last chance to enjoy them.
Peace,
Amy