What a life! And it is mine, as a Priest of Jesus Christ!

Two years ago today, Sunday August 28, 2011 I was supposed to move into St. John's Seminary in the morning, attend most of the orientation events and then rush back to Stoughton to Immaculate Conception to be a groomsman at the wedding celebration of my dear friends Paul Albert and Anna Fegan. However, because of Hurricane *Irene*, which was predicted to make landfall in the New England area that day--plans changed. I moved my things into St. John's on Saturday 8/27, met a couple orientation leaders and said "see ya tomorrow!" Anna and Paul made the difficult decision to start making calls saying the wedding was postponed to Monday night because of the hurricane. As *Irene* hit late Saturday night--the wind picked up, the rain pounded on the windows and roof, leaves and branches fell, and eventually power was lost. My family and I went over to my Aunt Norine's, and it was from there that I said "goodbye" to my family and headed into SJS for my firs...

Well, we are almost a week into the regular orientation schedule! For the next few weeks a typical day will begin with 7 am Morning Prayer and Mass, then breakfast, followed by 8:30-1 Italian classes (with 30 min coffee break), 1:15 pranzo, 2:15 conference and then typically free time from 3:15-5:45 when there is (optional) exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Evening Prayer around 6:45, cena at 7, then homework and time for exercise, relaxing, etc. Yesterday we were introduced to the Spiritual Directors, and we have a days now to choose certain ones we'd be interested in having as our SD, then meet with them for 15-20 minutes and then rank our top 4 choices. The head SD and the rector will then assign each man a SD, based on the directors current "case load", and the directees preference. After the conference yesterday some of us went on the Scavi Tour underneath St. Peter's. The Scavi is a guided tour (we had a seminarian who has the Scavi as his...

Today after the 10 am Mass at the college, the group of new men, orientation leaders and a few priests walked down to St. Peter's Square for the noontime Angelus address of Pope Francis.  In his address, he reminded us that Jesus is " open to everyone, without distinction, without exclusions, without privileges. Jesus does not exclude anyone." After the address and the Angelus (traditional Catholic prayer prayed usually at 6 am, 12 noon and 6 pm, that prays the Angels announcement to Mary that she was to bear the Son of God), Pope Francis greeted various pilgrim groups that were in the Square. A special shout-out was given to "I Seminaristi e sacerdoti di Pontificio North American College". Immediately after the Angelus, we walked back to the NAC and boarded buses for Castelgondolfo, the traditional papal summer residence. Though Pope Francis was not going to be there, we were going to be given a tour by Cardinal Harvey of Milwaukee, who was Prefect of ...

"You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My Church" New Men entering 1st year at the Pontifical North American College Yesterday was the first full day for all of the 64 "new men" entering First Year at the NAC. The day began early, arriving to St. Peter's Square for a 6:55 am photo of the new men with Msgr. Checchio, the rector of the college. Afterwards, we went into the basilica, and at the altar which is above St. Peter's tomb, we all knelt down and professed our Catholic Faith in the Apostle's Creed--the same faith that Peter professed 2,000 years ago and was martyred for. (Of course, we also prayed an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be!). Next we went below to the altar directly in front of the burial place of St. Peter for the celebration of the Holy Mass. On Thursday night I asked for prayer requests on FaceBook, and I was very humbled to be able to bring so many peoples intentions to the Lord at Mass, and ask for St. Peter...

I have returned to Rome... We got back from Siena around 11:45 this morning. Tomorrow starts the regular orientation with the complete first year class. (Those who didn't do Early Orientation/Language School in Italy leave the USA today and arrive tomorrow morning in Rome). Recap of Siena experience: We studied at Dante Alighieri School, and it was a great experience. The teachers, one on one tutors and faculty were all very helpful, kind and welcoming. The stay at the monastery was enjoyable, although we would have practiced Italian more in a home stay--we didn't eat, pray or really interact with the sisters to for long enough daily to improve our Italian. My morning class teachers Ile (Ilenia) and Gui (Guido) were great. Our class atmosphere was definitely laid back, but I feel like we were able to practice speaking, listening, and reading a whole lot. My one on one tutor, Berto (Alberto) was awesome. He studied art history and Italian and does not look like any Itali...

Who are you?? ONE rule before you answer that. DO NOT use your name to answer who you are. So again, I ask... Who are you?? What came to your mind first? Profession? Personality attributes? Character description?...Who am I? The top three that come to my mind when I hear "Who are you"...I am: SON BROTHER SEMINARIAN I am a son of God. HE is the first and foremost person I draw my identity from. From the beginning of time He knew that I would exist, knew what I would do while on this earth, and loves me beyond any possible human comprehension. Secondly--I am a brother. Not just to Chris and Juli, or to my brother seminarians, but to all. I believe we are all God's children, therefore we are all brothers and sisters. So, because of my identity as a son of God, I become a brother to all. Lastly-- I am a seminarian, studying for the priesthood of Jesus Christ. I believe that this is what I was made for, the reason I exist. I believe I am ca...

The WiFi package that I bought for the month at the monastery isn't the most reliable--and is often pretty slow, so I figured while I'm still at school I could write a new post. I went back to Rome this past weekend because two seminarians from SJS were going to be there Sunday-Thursday ending their trip to the Holy Land with the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. And one of them is a very good friend, so there was NO WAY I wasn't going to hang out with him. As expected, the weekend went by too quickly and before I knew it, Monday night had arrived and it was time to board a bus back to Siena (yes..that means I skipped classes Monday, and I have no regrets). On Monday I went to St. Mary Major Basilica since it was the feast day of the dedication of the Basilica. During the Gloria, "snow" fell from the ceiling onto the sanctuary, because when the site for the Basilica was being chosen, it snowed in Rome in August on this spot, and therefore that is where the Basi...

For those who followed my blog last summer (or for those of you who have read through the archives), this post will seem very familiar. The numbers have been updated to match 2013, however the story, what it did for me, and the gratitude I have to God for my conversion remain the same. So, here we go! August 2, 1998 was a typical summer day. My family went down to Rhode Island for the Pawtucket Red Sox game with the free tickets we got at the end of the school year. After a long day, the family slowly retired for the night. Being a "cool teenager" (I had just turned 13 in June), during summer I stayed up until all hours talking on the phone with friends or watching tv. This night was filled tv and Town Spa Pizza. However, something strange was happening. My dad kept coming out of his room and getting water, wiping a lot of sweat from his head and then going back to his room.  One time however, grabbing his left arm, he said he thought I needed to wake my mother up. I knew...