Subversive did you say?

Okay, I'm back online. Lots of reasons for the gap ... some of them true.

All is going super well here. I got an under the table okay to go ahead and try to plan my internships for next year. So I'm contacting folks for that and I should be able to set up something good. Three possibilities I'm pursuing (of which I can do two) are 1. working at the Congregation for Religious in Rome, 2. working with a group that provides canonical defense in the US (canonical public defender), 3. working at a religious congregation's chapter. Hopefully that will come together over the next few months.

I have several trips upcoming - I just found out that the law students here (civil law) are taking a trip to the Hague and will sit in on some proceedings of the international court of justice. Cool! Barb Jennings is planning on coming around Thanksgiving. That will be awesome! There is a student trip to Amsterdam planned when she is here so we'll go there together. We're also going to look into taking a trip down to Le Puy together. Then in December my brother Tom will come and we will travel together to Uganda to spend Christmas with the CSJs in Gulu. I'm sure that will be a very enriching experience. Then in the spring, Mom and Dad are coming at the end of January. We have a few ideas for excursions when they come: Switzerland - my mom is part swiss and has never been, Germany, Dad plans to visit some of his buddies in England, and some other friends here in Belgium. Should be a hoot.

So you ask am I here to study or to play - well, as one student's family said when they sent her off: don't let studies get in the way of your education. Well, I'm certainly getting an education. One think that I notice with my thesis topic (Work's of Francis Thompson, an English Poet): reading poetry and studying canon law take different parts of the brain. I can be very tired of canon law, but still ready to read poetry, and vice versa.

I see some of the new students who are still trying to find their circle of friends, etc. And I really thank God that I have lots of circles of friends that I can enjoy. It is nice to connect with folks that I had in classes last year, and with new people this year. Then of course I can connect with people at home as well. Lovely.

The pictures are of a church group that did a pilgrimage to Zoet Water (sweet water) just south of Leuven. It was a nice day. Most people biked down, but with my shoulder, I decided to take the bus - and one other person came on bus with me. It is a lovely rustic setting. Then we gathered after at the Salesian house where one of the group is staying. (Alex - for those of you who know him.)

Okay just a bit from our salvation/liberation class: Cool article. The last class we talked about this article, basically our group (consising of an Indian, an Eastern European, a Belgian, an Asian and me) was very interesting even in its dynamics due to language and cultural differences. The article (link above) was about how the notion of preferential option for the poor isn't really right. First of all, it's not poverty that is at issue, but injustice. And it is not only personal injustice, but systemic injustice, which I will add is really the societies that have all the conveniences, and hoard wealth, over and against the societies where people are starving to death. How can we talk about biodiesel (admittedly better than alternatives) when there is a food crisis? It's like taking food from the mouths of starving children and putting it in our automobiles. How can we do that? Well okay, so it isn't a matter of preference either; it's a matter of justice. How can we feel good about ourselves by sending our $20 to some cause, then continuing to use more than our share of resources, utilities, goods, etc.? It's a problem, as the article says, it's not a preference, it is a requirement of justice to change our lifestyle to be more just. Some of us in the group agreed that it wasn't possible to create a just society today, but we can and MUST take some steps in that direction. And in a sense, until we have 'utopian justice' our efforts are never enough. So while the victims of injustice need to be saved from our unjust systems, we who profit from those systems also need to be saved from our inability or perhaps only our unwillingness to change. Whew! Thompson has a poem on the charity ball: "The rich with pure intention amuse themselves to help the poor ... All night dance to clothe the naked ... for indigence wear fancy dress." Ouch! Lots to think about.

So I will be in touch!
Amy