Sursum Corda

Right now, its Tuesday night in Sydney, so I've spent two full days here.

Yesterday, it was rather awkward settling in. My host family was very welcoming, but this is not my house, so I think I was bound to feel awkward.

I went to two parts of the SCENE Congress. In the afternoon, we went to something called a "Vocations Expo," which took place in an open square in the middle of the city. There was a stage where various local bands/talent groups performed, and then there were a bunch of different booths ("stalls") where various religious orders, diocesan offices, and other Church-related offices were talking to people and giving out information. The neat thing about it was that it was completely open and in a well-trafficked part of the city so that passers-by could easily stumble in for a conversation or a cup of the cappuccino supplied by the Capuchin friars (ha ha ha). This sort of accessibility is great for meeting up with people you might not ordinarily.

Today, I went with Jessica to the morning session of SCENE, which included a witness talk by a boy who had come back to the faith after a long time away, a talk from the Archbishop of Perth, and Mass. The archbishop talked a lot about current trends in the Church, and his basic message was that based on his experience, even though there are plenty of unfavorable trends in politics and philosophy, there is a great deal of good happening with regard to the conversion of hearts among the faithful, especially in young Catholics, and lots of lay people working to encourage this further. Sursum corda!, he urged. Lift up your hearts!

We spend the afternoon in the Chaplain's office at the University of Notre Dame (Jessica's school and employer) drafting a proposal for the events that Viva!, ND's only form of campus ministry will put on this semester. The chaplain's office is basically the only space that the chaplaincy has to do any work. Jessica gets paid for her work organizing Catholic student events, but she doesn't have much space to do it, and she said she often feels like she is on top of people, which is unfortunate. One of the big events she is planning for the semester is a big festival to celebrate the canonization of the first Australian saint, Mary MacKillop, which is happing on October 17th. Its going to be a very exciting day for the Australian Church!

Afterwards, we went to the daily SCENE holy hour at St. Mary's Cathedral, and then came home. The holy hour was in the crypt church, which has a marble floor and no kneelers, so my knees were really hurting by the time it was over. Yikes. Those who were fortunate enough to travel to Washington for the March for Life with PC last January will remember just how much I love marble floors in church crypts...

In the evening, I went with Jessica and her family to her aunt's house just down the road for a birthday party for one of her other aunts. It was very full of happy people and small children, and quite fun. I got to learn a bit about Australian current events, and was a huge source of interest for Jessica's small cousins. One of them spent a bit of time just standing next to me listening to me talk because he wanted to hear my accent.

I should mention that I've got a lot of interesting reactions from people when they ask what part of the United States I am from. For the first time ever, I've had to explain that Rhode Island and Long Island are not the same, although a surprising number of people are perfectly familiar with RI because they watch Family Guy. Others have just plain never heard of it, which is understandable because its a pretty small state, and half a world away. A few of the religious I've met are familiar with Providence College, so that's exciting, too. Living abroad is certainly an interesting experience because for the first time, I need to remember to tell people that I am American, not just from Rhode Island. It's a good lesson to learn.