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Hi everybody!

Well, I'm back here at the Josh. I've been here for three days and I have to say it's good to see my friends again. The new guys are an interesting bunch as well. There are some top notch guys this year.

I want to draw you attention to a blog by a good friend of mine as well. His name is Shawn and he's a member of the Glenmary Home Missionaries of America. This group has a great apostolite and you can find out all about him at his blog at http://seminarianshawn.blogspot.com

5 More Days

Well, there's just 5 more days until I go back to the Josh. I've already begun to move my stuff. My computer is packed and I'm looking forward to seeing my friends again.

It's always neet to meet the new students, especially those from the southwest. I remember last year when I met some of my greatest friends who happen to be from New Mexico. It was funny seeing the looks on their face when they got their first taste of Ohio humiditiy. It was priceless. Their reaction to a 2-14 day rain storm was neet too. I remember one of them asking "why is it not flooding?" Truely priceless. I am expecting the same reactions this year from the new guys.

It will be neat not being a "new guy" this year. I don't have to get used to the different daily schedules and to the overall life at the Josh. Although I'm expecting that some things will change, I don't think much will so I won't have to get used to a whole lot of new stuff.

I'm also looking forward to some of my classes this year. I'm hopefully going to be taking a French class, which I have wanted to take since High School, but it wasn't offered. I'm also looking forward to taking a liturgy and sacraments class for my undergraduate theology class. I'm really looking forward to that as I have read quite a few liturgy books this summer.

Well, please pray for me as these 5 days count down. Also, I would encourage you to take a look at the new Vocation Station on my blog located on the right side of the page. They are all male orders who (to my knowledge) are faithful to the Church. If you have any suggestions for the list, please let me know. Also, I'm thinking of putting one for female orders on there as well, but to do that I will need help because I don't know of that many female orders to place on there. Please comment on this post if you have any suggestions.

Is Latin The Issue?

After reading blog after blog and hearing numerous media reports, I can see that the older form of the Mass or the "Extraordinary Form" is catching a lot of flack. Most of the negative reports boil down to one argument, Latin. The story usually contains a line similar to this: "Most of today's Catholics don't know or understand Latin." I honestly think that this argument is a cop out and oversimplifies things.

The main thing I want to get at is this. Is the older Mass about the Latin? Is Latin the main focus here? The answer is no, it's not. Now, Latin has it's advantages and is disadvantages in the liturgy. Obviously it is the language of the Church and must be respected. It is more meticulous of a language and thus is more accurate in expressing prayers. Because most people aren't fluent in Latin, it does protect the liturgy, to an extent, from abuse such as ad-libbing prayers. It's disadvantages include the fact that most people don't understand it, as that is a legitimate point. However, is the use of the Latin language the central point of the ancient liturgy? Of course not.

The Church, even today, is full of ancient liturgies. The most obvious proof of this is in the east. Most of the liturgies used in the eastern Church are at least 1200 years old. Now I have heard the objection that their liturgies aren't that old because they use modern languages in their liturgies. That is precisely my point. A language is not ontological to a liturgy. The form of the liturgy is not contained in the language but in the specific thoughts that are expressed through the language.

So, is it about the Latin? Here's yet another example. I have spent this summer in the parish of my diocese that had the former indult for the Extraordinary form. Many of the parishioners who attend the 9:00 Traditional Rite don't speak Latin, yet they love this form of the Mass? Why? Well, it's just as I said, they love this FORM of the Mass. They love the prayers expressed in this Mass and the reverence that is built into it. The language is merely an accidental property of it. Now, as I said before, this shouldn't be interpreted that the Latin is not important. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the Latin isn't ontological to the liturgy. If the Ordinary Form of the Mass was just simply the Extraordinary form in the vernacular, I don't think we would have seen the problems that we've seen in the Church for the past 40 years. However, the Ordinary Form is a completely different in form from the Extraordinary. There are different prayers as well as the actions of the priest are different. I'm not saying that it's a different rite or that one is valid and the other isn't. I'm not even saying that one is better than the other. I'm just trying to point out one simple fact.

When peoples complaints about the Extraordinary form boil down to the use of a language this is clearly a smokescreen for the fact that they usually don't like the very form of the Mass. Why don't they? Well, I'll leave that for you to decide.

New List!

I just wanted to highlight the new list on my blog! If your interested in vocations (male vocations) check out the list just below my profile. If you can think of any orders that are missing, let me know and give me their website and I will add them!

Just About Two Weeks

Well, I have just about two more weeks before I go back to the Josephinum. I'm looking forward to a new year and am planning to revise my day to day routine to strengthen my prayer life this year. I'm looking forward to seeing all of my friends again. For any of you who are thinking about seminary, I would encourage it for even only one year. You'll make some of the best friends of your life, I know that I have.

This year's also going to be a year of heavy discernment this year. At the suggestion of my vocation director, I will be visiting some religious orders this year during my breaks. I was originally thinking about religious life before entering diocesan seminary and I've began to think about it again. I'm hoping this year will clear some things up in that aspect, so please pray for me.

I'm also going to try to modify my schedule so that I can pray all of the hours of the breviary every day, or at least as much as possible. Due to my class load last year and the way my schedule was, that was a near impossibility. Last year seemed to be a very "working" year for me and I hope to make this one a very prayerful one.

So, please pray for me these last few weeks of my summer assignment and keep me in prayer for this year at the Pontifical College Josephinum.

+Oremus Pro Invicem+

The Seminarian Retreat

Well, I said I'd comment on the yearly seminarian retreat and so here I go!!!

Overall, the retreat went very well. The retreat was far from silent and I suppose technically It was not a retreat but a fun gathering of all the seminarians. One of the best things we did there was dubbed "Ora et Labora" day. We spent the whole day cleaning St. Theresa's retreat center (which was badly needed) and revolved the day around the Breviary. It was a lot of fun and because it was focused on prayer, it was extremely contemplative in nature. Plus I got to use a power washer! (As a side note, if you ever need to clean anything, always get a power washer!)

The second day (which was the last full day) we got to go trap shooting with the retired bishop of Columbus. What fun! I am a very big gun enthusiast and found a lot of common ground with our retired bishop. What a great guy! This day also revolved around prayer and the day was just a fruitful as the day before.

Overall, the retreat went very well and I got to take care of some discernment issues as well so the week all ended on a very high note.

A Great Political Cartoon

From the local newspaper in Columbus. How right they are! (BTW, this is usually a very very very liberal news paper)

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Hi again everybody!

I wanted to bring some attention to a favorite blog of mine, Bonfire of the Vanities. I just got the opportunity recently to meet Fr. Fox and was very intrigued by our conversations. Pay his blog a visit. He puts his Sunday homilies on regularly and they are a good treasure trove of insight.


Also, my retreat went well and I will be posting about it soon. Thank you for all of your prayers.