Midterm Review: A Visit from the Archbishop; Identity Questioning and CAKE!!

 Thursday Night featured the awarding of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association's Excellence in Facilitating Personal Development award and The Northwest Association of Student Activites Professionals Award for Innovative Programming to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a men's spirituality group. Again, I had my camera ready, resulting in some great and not so great photos and videos. Sorry for their lack of light/quality.

Archbishop Vlazny posing with the original group and Josh Noem .

 Starting in freshman year, groups of 6-8 freshmen gather with two faculty/staff advisors to discuss topics "deeper than girls, sports and cars," as co-founder Josh Noem puts their mission. Every meeting, a member shares their story through the lens of the year's guiding questions.

 Freshmen tackle the questions "who am I?" and "what do I believe?;" sophomores focus in their relationships and how they affect themselves and others; juniors discuss resiliency and how to persevere; and seniors review what has happened over their time on campus and discuss where they are headed.

The reason many are here, other than the Archbishop and cake

  I'd like to take part of this post to discuss my answers to those questions thus far and show you how the Archbishop answered the freshman questions.

I am the younger of two, a neurotic, somewhat intelligent, sardonic, passionate, often cynical but occasionally optimistic, California male who often enjoys being wrong because the situation has become more educational and puts the efforts of others ahead of my own so often I have trouble understanding my own interests, dreams or beliefs.

The second and surprise award

I do believe in truth, information, complex sentences, the importance of keeping a close eye on government bodies (that one's for you, Dr. Lovejoy,) and the idea simple things can be crucial to happiness, especially at unexpected moments.

My relationships are diverse but often shallow because I share more of myself through actions than words, which somehow leaves me feeling like the other person does not know who I am other than an aide or possible hindrance within the interaction.

 Whenever I try to interact deeply with others, I often either cannot coordinate the time or cannot facilitate conversation for a sufficient amount of time to be viewed as interesting or sociable to a normal extent. If a time presents itself, I will tend to keep you occupied for longer than you intended.

 My resiliency right now comes from the British method of soldiering on through the day and tasks. Like Jesus, I also need time to withdraw and understand the previous events.

 From the relatively nomadic style I pursue, I have no proper clue where my life is headed. I could be anything from a lawyer, accountant, priest, HR Rep, radio board operator, or transient.

 Here's the Archbishop telling his story, it is a long one:

Stay tuned this week for the student and advisor responses, partly so I can take my time rotating the video, the hardest part of the whole process and the main reason for the time of this posting

I teased it in the title and you were so patient, so here's the cake!

The final award of the night: would you believe there were leftovers?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will be having their Manquisition in the coming weeks, so stay tuned, readers and event fans!

For those of you who managed to stick around: who are you and what do you believe?

Cheap Food and Jazz Carry Mardi Gras

This last week was the final week of Ordinary Time, and Campus Ministry and the Jazz band continued to amaze with their Mardi Gras activities.

King of the Napkins!

Friend of the blog, Will Lyons covered the Mardi Gras Celebration for the Beacon this week.  He had a good article covering the community's approach, including a block party the previous Saturday on Lombard.  The only error was misquoting Maureen Briare's statement  this was the Jazz band's first year history at the event because I remember one of their conductors, Teige Weidner, having to leave a Hall Mass early in order to play last year. Other than that, the article did have a good analysis of the event. 

Low-priced food in the Commons? This must be a special occasion!

Unlike most nights, the Commons offered non-Grill food beyond 8pm. As the photo shows, those who complain about food prices were pleased for at least a night.  Chicken and waffles, oyster shooters, and biscuits and gravy at around half of their usual prices obviously lead to longer lines.

The Jazz band performed to varying crowd sizes, the norm for late night events, but when I swung by, there were about 20 people taking in the musical stylings.  As shown, the members enjoy their craft, but understand hard work is needed to flourish.  In this video, the band is playing the jazz standard "G'Day Mates," Luckily I had my camera at the ready. Despite some stabilization tactics, the video does have some shaky moments.  The sound should still translate and entertain, so do not worry.


Lent leads to an interesting time on campus.  The Commons has now included meatless options with their usual fare after years of students complaining that the school should not be making everyone subject to meatless Fridays even if they are not Catholic or as devout as their pastoral residents or Bib Trad professors.  Though UP is a Catholic university, allowing students to err on meat abstention or their Lenten promises by still offering chocolate and other temptations is proof Bon Appetit, the parent company operating the Commons, Cove and Anchor,  listen to students and are able to change to meet concerns.  Maybe they can expand their warm food options after 8pm the rest of the week...

Maureen Briare, one of the event coordinators, said she was "giving up complaining and am going to try and do more silent prayer" for Lent. I am going to seek more personal time for reflection and discernment because I have spent plenty of time investgating and helng others. If I can sharpen my own skills, I should be able to better help others.

What do you plan to do for Lent?  If you are not celebrate Lent, what do you wish to improve about yourself?