Hello again,
Well, I am halfway through my first year at Seminary. We had midterms this week in the classes that are having midterms. I only had two midterms, plus a paper, so it wasn’t too bad. The oddest part about it for me was coming back, only having two days of classes last week (due to ministry seminar and field education) and then getting into finals week. I tend to prefer to be a bit more into the swing of things before taking tests, but it wasn’t too bad.
The midterms that I had were in Latin and Ancient Philosophy. Latin is Latin is all that I can say about it. I feel like I am understanding it when in class, but the minute I get on my own to study I am so lost that I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. However, when I look at what I do know I realize that it isn’t as bad as I think. The Ancient Philosophy exam was pretty much what I expected, so I think it went well.
I guess I’ll reflect a bit on the seminary experience after halfway through this first year. I will start by saying that it is pretty much what I expected, but in a better way than I expected. I anticipated the busy class schedule, the busy schedule of times for other activities, and all that is going on for actual activities and such. It is better in all of the intangibles.
The people that I am with are far better than I expected. I think that I have mentioned this before, but it still fits, especially in my class (those that I know the best). I had expected that there would be good guys here, I mean, who else would be expected to be in seminary. I did expect however, that there would be some people that I could only “get along with”, but that I wouldn’t really want to be friends with. That is the real world, so I don’t think it is a pessimistic view, simply reality of life. I have found however that at least in my class I could see myself being friends with everyone in my class for the long term, what a great feeling that is to be spending so much time with such wonderful people.
I can’t really describe the nature of why this is. I think that it definitely isn’t that we all are the same person. It is more that we all respect where we have differences and are fine with it. We all seem to be pretty decent at reading people and knowing what is appropriate for each different guy. The guys aren’t all uptight as you may be imagining, we relax and joke around as everyone else does. We all know that this isn’t a competition; we are trying to help each other. If we find that one guy is struggling with personal issues or academics or anything else we see what we can do to help, and people are willing to allow themselves to be helped, it is amazing. When I first started paying attention to seminary and considering it I heard people use the term “brother seminarians” and I thought it was some sort of old cliché, but I have found that it truly fits. It is incredible.
The faculty here is great as well. For many of the same reasons as above, they want to help us to succeed, they are real people and not uptight overly pius people. I find that they take a true interest in each of us and want to know if they can be of assistance in any way. They don’t make the classes too tough (this is important of course). The material that they cover in class is challenging, but by no means unachievable.
The Masses are faithful but with a relaxed feel. I had worried about the Masses here being overdone and not fitting what we find in the real parish world, but it is indeed what we find in the real world. This is seen in the music selection (I would have some difference with it if I picked it, but it is still good), it is seen in the faith and belief seen in the homilies, they aren’t all stellar homilies, but on the whole they are pretty good, it is seen in the way that we celebrate the Eucharist, a faithful reverence without any distracting trappings.
So, in short I am still very happy with my choice to enter seminary. I ask you to keep me and all seminarians in your prayers. If you know a young man considering this as a life path please be encouraging (but not pushy, it isn’t for everyone). Please pray for a willing response to God’s call by those that He picks.
Oh, one story to make you smile before I end. Obviously one aspect of Christianity that is important is charity. We do many little charity things during the year, I haven’t mentioned them much. A humorous one this week that we have is an “Underwear Challenge”. Got your attention with that didn’t I? One way to focus donations for the needy is to be direct in what is needed. When you think about it, most donated clothing is used, and people aren’t likely (I hope) to donate used underwear, so that is something that is actually a desperate need. So, by cams we are competing to see who collects the most new underwear. My cam decided to collect money and then go out and pick up underwear. I volunteered to do the money collection with one other guy and go out and buy the underwear. So a couple of hours ago I was in the Target (cheaper than Walmart for this) buying 14 packages of underwear, this is 100 pairs, you can imagine the looks I got from other customers.
Peace,
Adam
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