"And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told? Let them ring out loud till they unfold." (Nobuo Uematsu)
Name: John Brotemarkle
I am a seminarian studying for the Diocese of Wichita, KS. Currently, I am in my first year of theology studies at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO
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Wow, has it really been two weeks since I last posted? Seems like it hasn't been that long from my end. This is because I've had so many different projects due over the last couple of weeks. First, I had a 30 min Powerpoint presentation with another seminarian last Thursday. Last weekend was busy, as we had to attend a conference held in St. Louis. The keynote speaker at the conference was Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is the prefect of the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments. He gave a good talk about the use of Latin in the Liturgy. Then, on Sunday, he visited the seminary and gave a talk to the seminarians. It was about how to lead a fruitful, spiritual seminary life. He stayed for dinner and gave a talk to the priests of the diocese.
When that was done, I had to work on an hour long Powerpoint presentation with two others seminarians for a different class Monday. Tie that in with two short papers for one class, a six page paper that was due today, and an online test today, and that makes for a busy week.
Well, with all that out of the way, Thanksgiving break is looking very nice. I won't have to do anything major over break. That will happen during finals week (although that looks weak in comparison to the past week). I probably won't post during break, so it may be another two weeks before I post again.
This weekend is one of the most important weekends at the seminary. Its the annual fundraiser, otherwise known as Convivium. Every year, people donate items to the seminary, including each class, so that they can auction it off to guests. There is both a silent auction, where the items are placed in rooms and you write a bid, and a live auction, held in the refectory. All the seminarians have to help out with the event, be it gift runner, waiter, greeter, etc. It pretty much runs all night, leaving all of us tired by the end. So, here's hoping that this year turns out well.
Well, I hope that everyone had a great Halloween. Here at the seminary, we had a great time. As part of the festivities, each class puts together a short skit and perform it at the Halloween party. Usually, the skit gets though out the day of the performance. However, my class worked on it for at least a few days. I won't bore you with the details, but it was basically a spoof of the 60's series The Prisoner, and of The Wizard of Oz. It was probably the best skit of the night.
Also, we had a costume contest. There were three prizes handed out. One was for the best pirate (we had an underlaying pirate theme), one was for best saint/blessed, and one was for best "something else." Since I was backstage getting ready for our skit, I didn't get to see the winners for the first two. However, the winner for best "something else" went to one of the deacons who was dressed up as Spock. I didn't really have hope for my costume, since it blurred pirate and "something else." What my costume entailed was Roman soldier armor and equipment, and I added pirate clothes, pirate hat, and an eyepatch to it. My story was that I was a soldier who didn't have good job security and took up pirating in order to live.
All in all it was a great night. Of course, any night in which you can make fun of the faculty and staff of the school and not get in trouble is a good night. In fact, its almost expected that you do make fun of them in your skit.
