Ukuleles and Catan!

   
Ever wonder what an International Volunteer at Tobar Mhuire does with her free time? Kate and I (and Paige, during her time here!) don't make a lot of money. And the money we do make goes to postage and travelling. Although, this year I've been slacking on sending postcards and letter! Sorry friends! So, we need activities that are both low cost and super fun. As a result, I spend most of my free time doing two things: playing Settlers of Catan and playing my ukulele.

Settlers of Catan, where to being? I played my first game of Catan after Paige's boyfriend, Steve, gave her the game when he was over after Christmas last year. As it was once explained to me, "Catan is a game of resource management." And, I think I will leave it at that! Paige is a master Catan player. I think I won ONE game out of the hundreds that we played...she both a master and ruthless! We introduced our two friends Caiomhe and Sinead to the game. Pretty much everything we hung out after that, Catan was played. And, I believe that it was Sinead's idea to play "Epic Catan" music in the background. It should come to no surprise to you that I was delighted to find out that Kate was also a Catan player. And, I was even more delighted to beat Kate's boyfriend, Doug, when he came over to visit :) All I can say is that this game is AWESOME. If you don't play...find someone who does and learn. Immediately.

One of the other wonderful things that Paige introduced to me was the ukulele. Paige plays the ukulele. And while I brought a third suitcase with me to Ireland, Paige brought her uke! Within a month I had given into the allure of the ukulele, and bought my very own uke! At least 3 nights a week Paige and I would play a game or two of Catan and then play our ukes until the wee hours of the morning...I'm sure our neighbors just LOVED us! Now, Kate did not play the ukulele, but within a month, she too was a proud order of uke! Ukuleles are contagious! 

Oh, and sometimes when it was really nice outside last spring, we take would our ukes outside and make videos..Enjoy!

                          

What's the Big Deal about CST?

Now that Lent is over, we at Tobar Mhuire needed to come up with a new theme for our blog. And we decided on...drum roll please...Catholic Social Teaching! Yours truly wrote the first blog with the intention of introduce people to Catholic Social Teaching and explaining why I think its so important. Enjoy!

"To be honest, as popular as service trips and immersion experiences are in the United States, I have never been one. Until two years ago, I never volunteered in either my local or global community. I took a class on Catholic Social Teaching as an undergraduate student. Of course I agreed with themes and principles that were taught in class, but I left the learning in the classroom. When I went to Boston College to study Theology, despite the world renowned ethics professors, I had no serious interest in taking any of their classes. My whole faith experience was based on me and Jesus.

 And all of a sudden, that changed. I moved. I actually moved six houses down the street and my world changed forever. I move in with five amazing people, people who were dedicated to advocating for equality, for women’s rights, for the end of domestic violence, and for the poor and marginalized  both in Boston and the developing world. I had the honour of living and learning from a community committed to justice and I have become a better person because of it.

I learned that my family is bigger than my mom, dad, sister and brother. I learned that my community is bigger than my friends, colleagues, and professors.

 I saw the face of Jesus in my house mates. Their commitment to loving their neighbor, no matter his or her race, gender, occupation, education level, socio-economic position, or sexual orientation, was a powerful reminder to me who Jesus Christ was. He was one to dine with the sinner, reach out and touch the sick, and built relationships with those most marginalized in his society. It was Jesus who said, “Whatever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.”In my case, it was “whatever you DIDN’T do for the least of my people, that you DIDN’T do unto to me.” I soon began to realize my faith compels me to do something.

The big question becomes, what can I do? How do I begin this task of advocating and promoting justice? The answer came to me in the form of Catholic Social Teaching. What is Catholic Social Teaching? It is the comprehensive teaching of the Catholic Church, informed by the Gospels and the lived experiences of Christians, on social, political, and economic issues. Popes have written encyclicals, bishops have created statements, and theologians have decided their lives to exploring, nuancing, updating, and reflecting upon Catholic Social Teaching.

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) gives us concrete steps for putting our faith into action. CST gives us seven different themes that help shape our actions.

·      Life and Dignity of the Human Person
·      Call to Family, Community, and Participation
·      Rights and Responsibilities
·      Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
·      Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
·      Solidarity
·      Care for Creation

For the next seven weeks, a different team member is going to be reflecting on one of these themes. The hope is that we will both learning more about each theme and be inspired to incorporate the themes into our lives. The key is to start small. I challenge you to find one practical and concrete way you can express each week’s theme in your everyday life. Just one thing. But if we all do one thing, think of the difference we will make!"

I Saw the Pope!

The highlight of my trip was seeing the Pope and witnessing (and participating in) Pope Francis' inaugural mass as the Bishop of Rome.  I was not expect to be able to see the Pope. Kate and I are running a Eastertide Bible study and we meet on Wednesday evenings, so attending the Pope audience on Wednesday afternoon was out of the question. So, being able to see him was even more of a blessing!

When I woke up on the day that I was traveling back to Rome from Greece, I received and email from Kate informing me that the word on the street (aka the word in the Passsionist House that we were staying at) was that the Pope was to say a mass at either 5 or 5:30 at San Giovanni in Laterno. My flight was to get in at 3.30 into Rome...so my ability to make it to the mass was dependant upon a quick transport from the airport into the city centre.

On the way into the main termini station, the rumours were confirmed. As the bus drove past the cathedral I saw the big TV was set up, police men and women were strategically places, and tons of people were already outside of the Church. When I got into the station, I hopped on the metro and arrived outside the church 20 minutes before the mass started...perfect timing!

It was a very powerful experience, despite the fact that I could not understand the liturgy. Since it was the Pope inaugural mass as the Bishop of Rome, everything was said in Italian. But, just seeing with my own to eyes, and being in close proximity to the man who has been tasked with representing, guiding, and loving the Catholic Church was extremely powerful. I remember standing there thinking, as a Catholic, "It doesn't get better than this."

Being able to participate in such an international mass (there were clearly people there from all over the world), for me, highlighted the universal nature of the Catholic Church. We all were able to enter into the mystery of the liturgy despite the language we spoke or the country we called home. We all believed the same thing, we all desire to enter into communion with one another, and we all cheered when we saw Pope Francis. Much like those two children in the airport, the language didn't matter. Words are not a barrier for love. And what I experienced that day was a love for the Catholic faith, a love for the Eucharist, and a love for our Pope.

"Brothers and sisters, 

Buona sera! I thank you so much for your company in today's Mass. Thank you so much! I ask you to pray for me. I need it. Don't forget this. Thanks to all of you! And let us all go forward together, the people and the Bishop, all together, going forward always in the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus. He is always at our side. 

May God bless you!... Many thanks! See you soon!"     -Pope Francis April 7, 2013

The Power of Play

While I was standing in the line waiting to board my flight from Rome to Thessaloniki, I witnessed something really awesome. As it happened, there were two families waiting in front of me. One family was Italian, the other was Greek. After the two mom conversed in English, they discovered that they both had 5 year olds. The little Italian boy was clearly very outgoing...and a very advanced "sharer." After spotting the other boy, he immediate went to his dad and pulled out two play dragons and offered one to the other boy. The Greek boy was a bit shyer, but after a little encouragement from his mom, he put the iPhone down and cautiously started to play with the other boy. Within minutes the most epic dragon battle was underway. The two were laughing and having the best of time. The funniest part was that they kept talking...in two different languages! The fact that they couldn't verbally understand each other did not prevent the two from forming a friendship.The words didn't matter. Sometimes, especially when traveling, its easy to think that language is an impossible barrier, or at least a huge hurdle that needs to be accounting for. But, these two boys reminded me that there are expressions more powerful than words...and in this case, it was play.

Christ is Risen!

The Tobar Mhuire Retreat Team and Community has just finished of our Easter Celebrations with a day of good food, good company, and LOTS of rest! It was a whirlwind of a Holy Week, but I wouldn't want it any other way! I've had a very powerful, moving, and blessed past few days. I want to (and will) share more about our lovely services and Kate will be a guest blogger as she shares her experience on the Holy Week Retreat lead by Fr. Tom C.P. But, for this blessed Easter night, I want to leave you with this....A video I created that features the meditation hymn we used at the Easter Vigil. The song is "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher and it was beautifully preformed by the Tobar Mhuire Youth and Young Adult Music Ministry. I am blessed to be able to sing with such talented young people, and I dare you to think otherwise after listening to this!