Parish Life

God Bless Mike (below). This is one of the hardest summer assignments he will have as a seminarian. I, having completed CPE last sumer, am living happily in a parish of my own diocese. I arrived a week ago, and life has been busy. There have been some wonderfully challenging moments already, though the most interesting of which was being called upon to translate the rite of baptism into Spanish as the baptism was occurring because the sponsors spoke no English. It was not as smooth as I would have liked, but I was understood, and there are now two more Catholics in this world. I am just taking a few minutes today to catch up on some communications before setting out to take Holy Communion to the homebound. Apparently Father has decided to put his sole installed Acolyte to good use.

I am rapidly discovering how quickly one begins to fall in love with God's people. I have met some marvelous people already, and there are still more to meet. Parish life is great.

Home Sweet Home

Finals are over. Thanks be to God. The papers are all written and graded, the final grades are recorded, and summer is here. There is tremendous relief in knowing that the year is over. As Pilate said, "What I have written, I have written." And now, I have a few more days of summer bliss before the work of a summer assignment sets in. I have managed to have a marvelous time doing a lot of nothing. (Be assured, not all seminarians are lazy. I assume my peers have been much busier than I have.) Below you will find some photos of how I have managed to waste a few days so far.

1) I went fishing with my dad and brother in the lovely Rapid Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I caught a small one and turned it loose. Dad and my brother caught none.






2) I have been watching a lot of jack rabbits and antelope. There are a lot of them around this year.







3) My family and I went to the Casey Tibbs Matched Bronc Ride (basically a Rodeo) in Ft. Pierre, SD. It is a rodeo dedicated to the memory of the famous South Dakota rodeo cowboy, Casey Tibbs.




4) I attended a rally in Support of HB1215, a law which eliminates abortion in South Dakota.



5) At the end of the week, I will join the diocese in celebrating the ordination of Jim Hoerter to the priesthood. it will be a wonderful celebration for us.


So, that's been the last two weeks or so in a nut shell. There will be more once my summer assignment officially begins.