Approved!

Yesterday I went in for my Year III evaluation before the formation faculty here at the seminary. The Year III evaluation is "the big one" because it is based on this evaluation that the rector of the seminary decides whether to recommend a candidate to his bishop for ordination. You might think that Year IV would be more important because it comes right before ordination as a priest, but if you think about it it makes sense to give the Year III evaluation more weight. After all, you wouldn't want to ordain the guy a deacon after his Year III evaluation and then find out during the Year IV evaluation that he's not suitable material for priestly ordination. It's too late to "un-lay" the hands by that point!!

Anyhow, I "passed" the evaluation, so I am now officially approved for Holy Orders by the seminary. However, the Bishop has to call me to Holy Orders before any ordaining will take place. That usually happens by way of a letter that he sends after receiving a favorable recommendation from the seminary.

Topic Two: I met a very nice couple from California (Santa Rosa) the other afternoon at St. Peter's. They approached me, asking if I spoke English, and I ended up giving them a short tour of the basilica, after which they invited me to meet them for dinner. So I met them for dinner and had a great time. The husband was Australian businessman (former CEO type), and the wife was a retired flight attendant. In fact, they met on a plane. Anyway, I won't go into the whole story. Just wanted to mention it as a fun experience I had recently -- and one that rarely happens, at least to me.

Topic Three: Last week we had the annual Rector's Dinner, the seminary's biggest fund raiser. Lots of big donors come to the campus and we treat them to a nice dinner with entertainment. So I played the piano for the VIP's during the reception (much as I did for the reception after the consistory of cardinals awhile back) and then served as a waiter during the dinner itself. Usually there are a lot of oddballs that show up at this dinner (women wearing fur coats with animal heads hanging off of them, big, blocky, thick-green-rimmed glasses, and hats the size of a spare tire, for example), but this year there didn't seem to be very many of those. Too bad -- they're fun to look at.

Topic Last: This weekend I will be away at the coast (Santa Severa, where my class had our retreat last September) for a "class fraternity weekend" with all the Year III guys. I don't know what exactly we'll be doing out there, but I imagine it will involve a lot of loafing around, playing cards, and doing other exciting activities. We'll be back Sunday evening.

I'll try to post again early next week and let you know how it went.