Kicking and Screaming

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

In the clearing stands a boxer...
2007-06-12 18:48:00
Regionalization? it is the big buzz word around the Paulists. Regionalization is the strategy the Paulists have adopted in order to more effectively fulfill its mission on a more national scale. The various foundations (parishes, Newman Centers, and Catholic Information Centers) around the country, while continuing to serve the communities in which they reside, also will be working with other parishes and organizations within their larger regions the areas of reconciliation, inter-faith relations, and evangelization.We have a list-serve that goes out to all of the Paulist priests, students, and novices, and it the primary tool for people to have conversations on a community wide level. Every once and a while, the presidential board will start a conversation about topics relating to the importance to the community in order to keep everyone informed as well as keep topics like regionalization at the forefront of the community agenda.While it is certainly not a scientific method of ...
More About: Stand , Boxer , Clearing

Members Only
2007-06-11 19:11:00
You know, whenever I start these posts, for some reason I usually try to work what is going on in my life into some sort of meaningful narrative. With the conclusion of the Sopranos, I started waxing nostalgic about how, when I applied to seminary a number of years ago (an aborted first attempt), it was the same weekend I rented the first season of the Sopranos on VHS and was hooked ever since. That I loved the character Tony Soprano, especially when would flip out on people, and how as someone who rarely did that myself I actually found it kind of inspiring. How as a lover of any and all things New Jersey, it was a great connection to home, if only because they read the Star-Ledger newspaper I grew up with. So I started to work that into a narrative like I usually do for such topics and relate it to my discernment in some meaningful way... but then I thought fuck it, here's what I think of the finale.I woke up the next morning (get it?! "Woke up THE NEXT morning?") and was st...
More About: Members Only , Members

Aaaaaaa -mennn! Aaaaaaa -mennn!
2007-06-05 15:00:00
I am home in New Jersey on a two week vacation and spending the first part of break with my sister and her husband and the (relatively) new baby. His birthday is coming up, and I've gotten to spend time with the family these past few days. And as I look into his eyes, I cannot help but wonder... is he doomed for the rest of his life to have his name "sung" with the melody of the folk Mass we all went to growing up in the seventies?After three generations, our family is 100 percent Irish decent. Not 5 percent Lithuanian (not that there's anything wrong with that), but 100 percent Irish. That, and my brother-in-law's parents are straight off of the boat from Dublin, so there was very little chance that their first born son was going to be named Emilio.I have to admit that I had never heard of the name "Eamon" before my nephew was born. An Irish derivative of Edward, I think part of the reason for for the name was to pay tribute to my great-Uncle Ed. Still, 2006 was the year of...

Lay Your Hands On Me
2007-05-24 13:26:00
As you might know, when I was learning how to be an acolyte for Masses months ago, I had a very gracious priest explain all of the fancy terms for the items needed in terms I could understand. A "corporal" was the place mat, the "purificator" was the napkin, etc. etc. While this style of instruction helped me tremendously at first, it would cause some controversy when I served with a different priest a few weeks later.Before the Mass, he asked me if I had gotten the corporal; I asked him if he was referring to the place mat or the napkin.He looked at me and said, "Never tell anyone that you are a Paulist.""Don't look like you're protecting your balls."That was the instruction of the priest who was serving as the M.C. of the ordination ceremony last week in New York City... the Bob Barker of the ordination if you will. It's the day before, and "Father Barker" is organizing the rehearsal with all of the participants. I am trying to look solemn in between acolyte duties while still ...
More About: Hands , Hand , Hands On

Retreat "Homily"
2007-05-23 22:09:00
Our retreat director asked each of us to do the homily for the daily Mass during the week. I drew the "Wednesday" card and below the reflection based on todays readings. The readings can be found here.It?s funny, the retreat is not even half over and the readings are about ?sending forth? - sending forth into a dangerous world.I?ll be honest; I?ve never liked the absolute ?US versus THEM? dynamic often found in the Bible: ?of this world? and ?not of this world.? Still, I am not unaware of the dangers that lurk to those who are faithful. The first Christians faced savage wolves, stonings and being devoured by lions. We here in this room face difficult decisions, classes, community squabbles, and a steady diet of chicken. Smaller struggles to be sure, but they still have the same power to slowly wear away at one?s faith.Which is why Jesus and Paul were both so urgent in commending the spirit of God to those first disciples. May we be also commended to that spirit of God in thes...
More About: Treat , Retreat

Starry Starry Night
2007-05-22 04:57:00
Well, the Ordination of Bart was this past weekend, and it was really great (posts on that later). Just wanted to do a brief check in... I'm in Oak Ridge, NJ for the week on retreat. This is the week we are supposed to begin the decision making process to see if we want to go on to the next step.For me, I've just been coasting along with the belief that I have been called into this life, and in order for me to leave I would have to be called out. I've just assumed that I will be going on... still, a part of me realizes that I haven't made a full decision yet. Hopefully this will be a good week for me to catch up with myself to see where the rest of me is at with the big question.It's very quiet out here in the woods... I went outside for a little bit. I am naturally a home body, but once I am outside I do enjoy it. After forcing myelf to sit still and stay outside for a little bit, I had a realization, a very "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy" moment. That the more time I s...
More About: Night , Starry Night

Ordination this weekend
2007-05-17 13:57:00
We're heading up to New Jersey today where we will be staying for the ordination of our "graduating" Paulist in New York City. We got the schedule and alas, it does not appear that there will be any time for me to get my favorite steak in New York City at Carmine's (near Time's Square). It should be a great weekend anyway. The novices' (or "novi", depending on how sophisticated you want to get) main responsibility will be to drive family back and forth from Oak Ridge New Jersey, where most of the family will be staying, and the St. Paul the Apostle on 59th Street in Manhattan.He has already made final promises to the community (he did that last year when he was ordained a deacon), so there will be no wild bachelor parties going on the night before. Keep Bart Landry in your prayers this weekend - he's making the big plunge!
More About: Weekend , Dina

Tony Blair
2007-05-15 05:56:00
An era has passed - Tony Blair is leaving office. I don't know a lot about the man. What I do remember is that he was actively compared to Bill Clinton when he first became the Prime Minister of Great Britain: young, dynamic, articulate, inspiring. There was a lot of hope put in him when he assumed office.When 9/11 happened, I remember being comforted by his words, not my own president's, who was busy stumbling through trying to pretend he was a great leader. I was glad at that moment that there was somebody on the world stage who seemed to be able to rise to the importance of the moment... I then thought of John McCain. I gave his campaign money in 2000 and actually wrote his name in during the general election, that's how much I thought of him as a the real deal. I look at him now trying to become president and can't help but think of him as a diminished man, having been broken down by staying loyal to the man whose campaign lied about his own family in order to win the...
More About: Politics , Lair

Bee-Attitudes
2007-05-15 04:59:00
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am really concerned about the bees... or more importantly, the lack thereof. That, AND the Red Sox are in first place while the Yankees were actually in last place recently despite having the largest payroll in baseball (Roger Clemens is not going to change that). It's hard not to wonder if the apocalypse is right around the corner.So, being that I am now a student for the priesthood, when serving as the acolyte for a Mass recently, I thought that I would do what a man in my position could do. I prayed for the return of the bees during the prayers of the faithful. I did hear some giggling in the pews after offering my intention, but I did not care... these are Biblical issues we are dealing with.After Mass at dinner, my fellow Paulist brothers could not help but comment on my somewhat unconventional prayer. The main gist of the commentary that I could have been praying for something more important, like world peace. That landed o...
More About: Attitude , Attitudes

Sorry for the break
2007-05-14 05:45:00
I know that it has been a little while between posts - I have actually been working on a proposal for a project these past few weeks and have not been able to be as diligent about making posts as usual. At some point I'll share more of what that might be about. I think I also needed a break for a little while. I have the feeling that once I start classes and my novitiate ends, I am not going to have the time to make as many posts as I would like. I should get a better sense of that when I start catching up on my Philosophy credits over the summer. At the same time, novitiate has a lot of free time and I'm trying to get better about 'just being.' Cheesy, I know, but it is what this year is supposed to be about. It's been good for me.I cannot believe it's the middle of May already.
More About: Break , Brea , Sorry

Good One
2007-05-12 21:29:00
I am digging my heels in on certain things, things about myself I am not open to changing in the name of religion. First and foremost on that list is my sense of humor. We'll see how long that lasts.Sitting in the novice lounge the other night, I was flipping the channels on our flat screen TV through the satellite channels and I saw that the film "The Aristocrats" was on Showtime. It was about half-way done, but it's the kind of film you can jump in at any point and still enjoy. It's a documentary on the dirtiest joke ever told, and it has been handed down like an heirloom from comedian to comedian through the generations all the way back to the vaudeville days. The basic framework of the joke works like this: a set up involving a family "act" auditioning for a show, a middle, and then a throw away punchline to close. But it's "the middle" part that's the main part of the joke; it's the variable part that every comedian tries to fill with the most disgusting, perverse, ...
More About: Politics , Good

Cinco de Mayo
2007-05-06 07:05:00
I discovered recently that the celebration of Cinco de Mayo was not, in fact, for Mexican independence day. Rather, it is the celebration of the day when in the year 1862, four thousand Mexican soldiers smashed a French army of eight thousand at the town of Puebla, 100 miles east of Mexico City. While the meaning of the day has evolved over the years, especially since Anheuser-Busch got involved, in my own life the day has taken on a unique significance... It was the day I stopped volunteering.As I sat on a plane flying back to Baltimore on May 5th, 1997, I was in utter amazement that I was indeed, finally, heading back to the East Coast. Although I originally hail from New Jersey, Baltimore was the city where I had graduated college three years before and I still had many friends in the city. I had just completed two years and nine months volunteer work that had taken somebody who had never been more than 3 hours away from the state of New Jersey all the way to Phoenix, Arizona...

I have a request for readers
2007-05-02 02:03:00
I'm sorry that I have't done a lot of posts recently - I have actually been working on cleaning up some of my older material (these posts tend to be first drafts) for a project, and I wanted to get everyone's input on something.My question is, which have bee your favorite posts? Which ones do you think are the best, in terms of either being funny, or a good story, or insightful in some way? I am trying to collect a representative for a proposal I am working on, and while I know I have some of my own favorites, I wanted to get a sense of what other people like (or didn't like) as well. And feel free to mention more than one (if you did like more than one). Feel for to either leave a comment or send me an e-mail at ks_intention@yahoo.com.Thanks!
More About: Readers , Request , Have , Quest

Adaptation
2007-04-27 18:55:00
Every month we get together with novices from other religious communities in the local area for a shared seminar on some topic concerning religious life. A week ago Monday, we headed up to Bon Secours in Maryland for a seminar on obedience. The Jesuit who was presenting on the topic ended up using obedience as a spring board to discuss larger issues concerning group dynamics and challenges that face organizations.The Jesuit started by suggesting that those challenges break down into two categories: technical challenges and adaptive challenges. Whenever a challenge arises, it is very important for the type of challenge to be identified correctly so the response can be appropriate. Technical challenges are the types of challenges that lie within the competence of an organization. Management skills are what needed for these types of challenges as a response to the situation. Adaptive challenges, on the other hand, ask an organization to CHANGE... a change in behaviors, values, an...

Exodus 2: The Bees
2007-04-26 21:33:00
One of my classmates looks like crap. His eyes are puffy, his face is swollen... allergies. I have to say, I don't think that I've ever seen allergies affect somebody that bad before. And he's not the only one in the house; one of the other guys has been having major issues with allergies as well.It's hard to be surprised. The amount of pollen that is caked on the cars outside is pretty incredible. Now I know that DC usually has a problem in this area, but even this seems out of control. I hadn't thought much about it until I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher last night.His segment on "New Rules" is usually really funny... for his last new rule, he wasn't in a joking mood. It really seemed to tie in with the seminar I went to last week concerning group adaptation.And, finally, New Rule: From now on, Earth Day really must be a year-round thing. And...and in honor of this Earth Day, starting Monday, supermarket clerks must stop putting the big bottle of detergent w...
More About: Bees , Exodus

Augustine and Everything After
2007-04-23 19:48:00
"If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame."Whenever I have asked people what their favorite song is, I usually get a funny look. There are so many songs I like, it's hard to pick just one, people usually say to me. And I know what they're talking about... I myself usually find go through different musical phases. I'll find an album I really like, and it usually receives pretty heavy iPod play for a few months. In between finding something new and great, I find something focusing on the latest group of iTunes singles I've purchased. I get bored with those, and the cycle repeats itself.There is, however, one song that I never get tired of... and believe it or not it's not the Springsteen song I want played at my funeral (Born to Run). I can listen to Counting Crow's "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" on repeat for a whole day and never get tired of it. And for the longest time I didn't even know what the song was about... after Googling it about a ye...
More About: Augustine , Everything , Ever , After , August

The Ice Burg
2007-04-21 08:29:00
Anthropology, Jesus, and Connecticut: Part 3"I am more of an American that I am a Christian." So says Darryl Whiteman at the beginning of the day, to the shock and consternation of many people in the room. That when he started talking about our world views.Our world view is, well, how we see our world. It is defined as the central assumptions, concepts, and premises that are more or less widely shared by a culture or sub-culture. A child is taught the world view without critique and by the age of five, will accept the world view without question as fact. Then he break out the picture of the ice burg:Our personal behavior is what people see on the surface, but what largely drives that behavior is the world view that is below the surface, just like the biggest part of an ice burg is below the surface. "I grew up in America, with American culture surrounding me, so I have an American world view, not a Christian one." Now, now does that relate to religion, one might ask. He ha...

Stuff
2007-04-17 06:10:00
It's kind of blah weather here... I'm back in the Northeast, and wouldn't you know it, a nor easter storm is making it's way through the area. It's been raining all day, which kind of matches my mood. It was time to come back, I guess. All of the other novices had great experiences on their Lenten Assignments as well; we're all pretty much in agreement that while it's good to see one another again, all else being equal we'd still rather be where we we've just been at.It's back to reality now. Yes, it rained a lot in Berkeley too, but it seemed a lot easier to take in the shadow of redwood trees and drinking Peet's Coffee. It's a common complaint among most students who have passed through these doors... not that it's that bad of a place, but there is a dreariness to St. Paul's at times and lack of contact with the outside world. Nobody joined this outfit in order to spend time in a big gray building.In a few months, after I make my promises, I will have to move ...
More About: Stuff

Welcome to the neighborhood
2007-04-16 07:26:00
A very good friend of mine recently moved to nearby Arlington, VA. Soon after joining the seminary, he calls me up and asks me a question."Have you ever heard of the 'Society of Mary'?" I responded that I had not, but that I would check on it. Later that day I asked one of the priests at the house and he responded, "Does your friend mean 'Legion of Mary'?" "Yeah, that's it" when I reported back to my friend, and when I asked him why he was asking me, he relayed this story to me. (This story can also be read on my friend's blog here.)We finally moved to what I consider the promised land -- Arlington, VA -- and it wasn't too long before there was a knock at the door. Hello? There were two extremely old ladies on my doorstep. They had a notebook (w/ my name in it), oohed and aahed over my 3-year-old daughter and would I accept Christ into my life?huh?Okay, OK, I said, what church are you from? I brought my baby out on the doorstep and closed the front door behind me. The Ca...
More About: Come , Neighborhood

The other Mel Gibson movie
2007-04-16 02:54:00
A few weeks before leaving for Berkeley , I did a post about an old quote from Lenny Bruce. I have to admit, I felt a little funny about posting it... yes, even a confirmed smart-ass like myself has a filter that debates whether or not to say something (believe it or not). Although I do like to rock the boat, the cradle Catholic in me was raised to be guilty about doing messing up the status quo? damn Catholic guilt.Fast forward a few weeks later to my first day at Newman Hall. I walk into my new bedroom having just arrived form the airport, and I find this button attached to the mirror:While I?m still trying to figure out how I feel about Passion of the Christ, I thought of another Mel Gibson movie that came out a few years ago. The main theme of the film Signs is that nothing we experience is un-related; writer and director M. Night Shamalyan sets up a scenario in which Mel Gibson is a former Anglican priest who has lost his faith because of the horrific death of his wife. As...
More About: Movie , The Other , The O

Jesus has come, so it's time for me to go
2007-04-12 08:02:00
I arrived at on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, and I leave the Friday after Easter. I was asked to give my last homily/reflection at today's daily Mass, which is my final one for my time in Berkeley .Here is the text... pictures were not included at the service.I finally saw the movie "Passion of the Christ" a few weeks ago. I was flipping through the movie channels and I saw that it was just beginning, so I figured given my new line of work, I should stay and watch. Like Caddyshack, which I didn?t see until my Senior year I college, it was one of those movies that I got to see LONG after everybody was done talking about it, so it was impossible to watch it with a completely blank slate. But I tried to keep an open mind and see what all of the hub-bub was about.Although I fancy myself a somewhat sophisticated critic of film, I will spare you my own dissection of the film. But there was one thing about Mel Gibson?s epic that really stood out; Easter lasts ten seconds. After ...
More About: Jesus , Time , Come , Jesu

Road Trip
2007-04-11 08:18:00
I was asked to a reflection for the college student group this week on "The Road to Emmaus." I didn't have a lot of time to put it together, so the writing may be a little disjointed, but I thought that I would post it anyway.Based on Luke 24:13-35. Click here to view passage.Meeting GodJesus is kind of funny in this story? we never think of The Lord of Lords as a smart alleck, but here he is, messing with our two protagonists on the way to Emmaus. He approaches them, full in the knowledge that God has blocked them somehow from recognizing him, and he asks them what they?re talking about? as if he didn?t know. ?What sorts of things?? Jesus asks, as if the two men were talking about who won last night on American Idol. I find it comforting to know that even Jesus can have a little fun with super-natural powers. I?ve often found it strange that there are different times in the Bible when God chooses to reveal Himself? and different times when God chooses NOT to. And why is Jes...
More About: Trip , Road Trip

Winding Down
2007-04-11 08:13:00
I'm heading back to DC on Friday, so posts are going to be somewhat short. Just got taken out for ice cream with the student group to Fenton's, and I'm taking in an A's game tomorrow. It's bitter sweet - it's been a great time, but a part of me is ready to go back.Don't have a lot of "clever writing" right now because I'm in the midst of saying good-bye and packing, so posts are going to be a little light for the next few days. Hope all is well.
More About: Berkeley , Down , Winding

Happy Easter
2007-04-08 20:39:00
We had a really great Easter Vigil at Newman last night. It was actually my first Easter Vigil ever! It was very impressive, with the induction of those who went through the RCIA program (watching somebody get fully immersed in Baptism is a pretty amazing thing to watch), a candle light ceremony, and (I can't believe I am going to say this) really great liturgical dancing. I'm not usually a fan of liturgical dancing, but this was very well done and moving.At the end of the service, a lot of people in the congregation joined hands in a line dance of sorts and did (what could best be described as) a disco train to the altar to the music of "Lord of the Dance"... not Michael Flatley. There was a real sense of joy when people said "Happy Easter" - it made me think that there might be something to the whole concept of the liturgical calendars.Last few days here in Berkeley ... I am going to miss the place, but a part of me is (surprisingly) ready to head back. Maybe it's because i...
More About: Aster

Holy Thursday... Batman!
2007-04-06 00:15:00
I know the title's cheesy... I couldn't resist. If it makes you feel any better, after I came up with the idea of the title, I actually heard on of the guys say the same joke in reference to Holy Week. There goes my claim for originality. The past few days have been busy in preparing for the Triduum sevices (Holy Thursday , Good Friday, and Saturday Easter Vigil) here at Newman. They go all out with processions and dancers and all of that stuff throughout the weekend. I have been asked to serve as the "MC" for the Good Friday service... which originally I thought of as being the "Pat Sajak" of the service but it is really to serve more as a coordinator.I've been busy in the preparations for that and the other services, but have also been keeping in the back of my mind this anniversary of sorts... it was the night of Holy Thursday last year where I had my sleepless night and realized that it was time to join the seminary and kicked off this crazy journey. It's funny, for the...
More About: Batman , Berkeley

A Sunday in the Life
2007-04-05 09:20:00
My Sunday s have been following a certain routine. Go to the 11:30 am Mass with the RCIA candidates, in which half way through the service the candidates and their sponsors (and myself) head upstairs for a specific ritual while the rest of the parishioners receive communion. Following that Mass at 1 pm we have dinner at the rectory. My sister, in all of her "special" charm, said that I was truly an old man now because I was having dinner at one... ha. It's because we have two services on Sunday evening and it's the only time we have to eat, so there!! But I digress.The afternoon is largely free, so at Four I head off to my hot yoga class, which kicks my butt for the next ninety minutes. After a shower and 2 gallons of Gatorade to replenish all of the bodily fluids I've lost form doing yoga, I head to my Lenten discussion group, which meets after the 5 pm Mass. We have been discussing Vatican II, which isn't as boring as it might sound; it has been a great spring board on...
More About: Life , Berkeley , Day In The Life

Treasure Hunt
2007-04-02 12:49:00
During the student retreat a couple of weeks ago, there was an activity labeled "Treasure Hunt ." Everyone was given a "hint" card and had to find their hidden object that was place somewhere in the retreat center. Mine was fairly easy to find since it was inside the room where we started: dental floss.After about 20 minutes when all of the objects are found and a short talk about finding your "treasure," everyone gathers into their small groups. Ours meets outside under a tree. The group leader then asks everyone in the group to relate the importance of the specific object we found to ourselves and our relationship with God.Okay, I admit it; part of me rolls my eyes. Even though I'm going into the "meaning" business, I have a pet peeve about attributing importance to every single little thing in our lives and somehow turning into the meaning of life.. I mean, I got "dental floss" - it's not like I found an Apple iPhone... THAT I could do a whole dissertation on. This is an ...
More About: Berkeley , Sure

No Comment
2007-03-30 19:38:00
Sorry for the gap in between posts - it's been a busy week. Here is the Homily/Reflection I am doing for this Friday's Daily Mass. Sometimes, when I’m praying, if there’s something that I’m troubled about, or something is on my mind, or if there’s something I want to know, I will ask God for a sign. A lot of times, though, I don’t get a response... God is silent. It is usually a very frustrating experience… I’m talking to God, why is God not talking to me? Frankly, it sometimes feels kind of rude. But I think these times fall in the department of God knowing us better than we know ourselves. In the gospel, the people in the beginning story trying to have him killed… again. Jesus is seems more stupefied than anything else. He essentially asks, “What do you want from me? I’m curing the sick, making blind people see, I’m walking on water for crying out loud… what more do you need?!?!?”Nope, that still doesn’t do it for the people … and after Je...
More About: Men , Comment , Comm

Forming my explaratory committee
2007-03-26 09:05:00
Today, I turn 35... this being the last significant age of my life because today, I can officially run for President of the United States. The next significant age doesn't happen until 55, when I can apply for AARP.So in that spirit, my birthday gift to you... yes, YOU!... is that I am going to take this opportunity to handicap the contenders for the 2008 Presidential Election. I myself am going to simply write a book for the time being and bide my time until 2012 rears its ugly head.RepublicansRudy: Look, I know on the West Wing, Alan Alda got the nomination as a pro-choice Republican... but that was in the later years of the series when the writing was starting to slip - Aaron Sorkin never would have written such a preposterous plot line into the show if he were still in charge. Rudy was brought in to speak at the graduation of the Catholic university I attended in Baltimore where a lot of the students are from New York four years after 9/11... AND THERE WERE PROTESTS FROM P...
More About: Form , Comm , Committee , Ming , Tory

Ten Weddings and Two Funerals
2007-03-24 07:53:00
"There's no such thing as a normal life, Wyatt. There's just life." - Val Kilmer (as Doc Holiday), Tombstone________________________________ ________Two Saturdays ago, I went to my first funeral here at the Newman Center. The man who passed away was not a parishioner, but his mother had been involved with the parish. Instead, his parish seemed to be the trouble spots of the world; he was a doctor working for an organization very similar to Doctors Without Borders. Through his job, he had been in some of the most dangerous places in the world, including Afghanistan and Bosnia at their most volatile. The reflections given towards the end of the service described a human being who was half Alan Alda and half Indiana Jones.One of the speakers reflected on the story where the soldier returned to England from the Crusades only to find death waiting at his door. When not out saving the world, the guy was kind of a thrill seeker, whose hobbies included sailing and skydiving. A story ...
More About: Fun , Weddings , Wedding , Funeral