Okay, so I am now on break.
Finals went very well… well, what I took of them did. I had a friend from Holmen die the weekend before finals so I went home for that. The funeral was on Thursday with visitation on Wednesday night so I tried to see if I could leave on Wednesday after my field education at the nursing home. I checked with the academic dean to see about rearranging my final times and he was all right with it. I had one final scheduled for Thursday and one for Friday so I had to get them both arranged to avoid having to make the long drive back on Friday just for one test before break. The final on Thursday was for my Catechism class and the priest that teaches that was willing to just do an oral final, in which he asked me questions about what we were going to have on the test. We did that on Wednesday after my field ed, but before I left. The final for Friday was for Latin, and since we are being taught to read it more than to speak it an oral final really wouldn’t work. The final for that also wasn’t written yet so I couldn’t just take it early. It worked out that I am going to take that final during the first week back after break. So technically I have received an “incomplete” in that for now, but will get a grade after I take the final. I had one person say that it was nice that I had two weeks more to study for it, I see it more as two weeks to forget what I knew.
So I actually kind of started my two week break a little early. We get two weeks off after every quarter. I stayed home after the funeral on Thursday and then came to Stevens Point on Friday. It has been a nice and relaxing time off for this. I haven’t had many obligations to do. I went to the Saturday evening Mass and then was asked to go out to dinner with three of the ladies who are active in the parish. That was very nice to catch up with them. I followed that up by going to visit my friends that I sometimes stay with here, we sat around chatting for a little bit. I am staying in the basement of the rectory (priest’s house) and think that I will probably stay there most of the times when I come up. There has been a futon down there to sleep on for quite a while, but we are making it a little bit more livable for down there. It has taken to being called the “seminarian suite” although it could be just a guest area at other points too. There is a guest room in the upstairs, but it is kind of nice to have the basement to myself, this way I have my own bathroom and a little bit more privacy. When I showed up on Friday I found that they had put a television down there and a recliner to sit in. I do watch TV in the evening upstairs with Father some, but it is nice to be able to just relax on my own too.
On Sunday I went to both of the Masses, I enjoy seeing all the people, but really enjoy the Mass experience at the 6:00 PM Mass on Sundays here. The student choir and the large number of enthusiastic college students is a real boost to my faith life.
Monday is Father Tom’s normal day off. He invited me to go over to the twin cities with him and another priest. They were going just for a trip to the cities, and to pick up some items for liturgies for the coming seasons. While we were there we stopped at the Ikea and picked up some furniture for the seminarian suite. We bought a dresser, an end table, and a coat rack, which a student here and I put together on Tuesday. It was a great trip to the cities, great company and conversation.
Tuesday after morning Mass I went and bought new tires for my truck and ran a few errands that I wanted to get done. I also picked up a few Christmas gifts. I had to pay attention to the price on these things a bit more than in the past, but that is not a bad thing to be doing.
Today (Wednesday) I have relaxed most of the day. A bit later we will have a student supper. I’m not sure if I mentioned that program at this parish before. It is great. Every two weeks on a Wednesday there is a supper cooked by stationary members (those that live in the area) for the student members. This starts at 5:00 and at about 5:30 a speaker starts. The speaker talks about whatever they want (based on what Fr. Tom has asked them to talk about). It is a great chance for the Catholic students to get together and socialize with other students who share their faith. The norm is somewhere between 50 and 70 students who show up to this, occasionally closer to 100. I think that this is a great turn out for college students with their busy lives to take time for an event at the church. At 9:00 tonight will be a “Late Night Mass” that is a week day Mass geared towards the students. I always really enjoyed these late night Masses because they are a great ways to take a break from the week and focus on what is important.
I will stick around in Point until tomorrow morning until after morning Mass and then head towards home. I am very excited because this weekend I get to go deer hunting with a couple of friends. I will relax there until after Thanksgiving. Fr. Tom has asked me to come back to point to be the server (altar boy for those who don’t know the word) for the Masses the weekend after Thanksgiving before heading back down to Mundelein Seminary for classes to begin that Monday.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Peace,
Adam
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