Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Class Picnic at the Esser House

It was warm and sunny here in Southern Indiana—a great day for a picnic! So to a picnic our Deacon Class went. Actually, Fr. Joe Moriarty, the Associate Spiritual Director of the School of Theology, had invited our class a couple of weeks ago for a meal today at his home here at Saint Meinrad. Thus, we gathered at Esser House (a good six minute walk down one hill and up another, located at the far western side of the Archabbey grounds) at five in the afternoon to pray Vespers and then to partake of a meal prepared by Fr. Joe and Aaron, one of the seminarians from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. We had steak, baked potatoes, and green beans, cookies for dessert, and much deserved rest and relaxation.


Fr. Joe’s warm Irish hospitality was a welcome respite from our barrage of readings and assignments. It is becoming a very busy Fall Semester; we have several deadlines coming up this week (a paper on our genogram for Ministry to Families and postings for Catholic Sexual and Medical Ethics) and the next (a wedding homily for Practicum). Of course, most everyone's mind is really on October 28, the Diaconate Ordination of twelve members of our class (and Br. Paul, OSB, of the Archabbey) at the Archabbey Church. I know how much anxiety builds up as the date gets closer (call it pre-ordination jitters, for lack of a better term) because I had to deal with the same bulk of planning and preparation for my Diaconate Ordination last June. Fr. Joe had wanted to host our class to a Pre-Ordination meal and thanks to him we got to leave our anxieties about school and ordination at his door, if only for an hour or two.

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