The Musical Priest

When I was in high school, there was a teacher who was notorious for leaving homework papers and tests totally  marked up with red ink. I'm not saying corrected, mind you. A returned-paper tended to have jerky lines running down the paper, often curving, sometimes halting, but the lines were always numerous. As only student are able, we came to believe that this teacher had narcolepsy and simply fell asleep hundreds of times while grading papers, those sudden falls into the abyss of sleep not stopping him from dragging marking pen across the paper. Turns out that it was just his way of making us think he was grading the papers. Last night, I was reminded of this as I sat in bed grading a batch of Latin quizzes, I like to grade-and-return overnight so the kids know quickly what they are mastering and what they need to continue to study. Like any class, the grades run from those kids who never miss a point to those who struggle enormously. Working through the batch, I hit the...

I fell asleep fairly early last night and, consequently, woke up earlier than I might normally have on a Sunday morning. Too lazy to pick up my book and not tired enough to go back to sleep, I stared up at the ceiling and indulged in one of my favorite pastimes: thinking . Thinking is something I don't get to do in a high school classroom with great regularity, as most of my effort goes into entertaining, reacting, cajoling, haranguing, and praying (for the bell to ring). For some reason, my mind went to one of those strange phenomena I've noticed in my beloved Catholic Church. This is the phenomena of the distribution and reception of the Eucharist. As a communicant for nearly 24 years and as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist (EME) for nearly fourteen, I have come to regard the reception of the Eucharist at the Catholic liturgy both the source and summit of my faith and a study in the oddities of human behavior. From the Perspective of the Extraordinary Minister o...

It has been a crazy week around these parts! I went to Boston last Saturday for a feis on Sunday, came home, and resumed teaching on Monday. I had to write, to give, and obviously to grade 2 different tests this week, prepare for a rally, Homecoming Dance, and a little thing called Pledge Detroit. So it just seems fitting that, this morning, I woke up with no voice. You know you teach really good kids when you can't really raise your voice and they absolutely still so that you can still teach! My life has not been quite my own this week. I'll be back to more regular postings after Tuesday's big day. Please keep those involved in U of D Jesuit: Pledge Detroit in your prayers.

I can remember distinctly that, when I was a high school student at Saint Ignatius in Cleveland, the happiest teachers on the faculty seemed to be the Jesuits. Etched into my memory is a particular instance when I saw then-Mister and now-Father Raymond Guiao, SJ walking across the campus and being struck by the man's obvious  joy. Of all the things I ever wanted in life, I knew that I wanted to be happy, to be joyful, and the joy of the Jesuits I came to know over the next several years helped to focus my desire to serve God as a Companion of Jesus. In between classes yesterday, I heard some of the sophomores talking about how they were learning about sexually transmitted diseases in their Health class. Never wanting to miss an opportunity to say something outlandish and seizing an opportunity to point out the use of the Latin genitive case, I encouraged first my Freshmen Latin students and then, later in the day, my sophomores to go home that night and to announce with convictio...

Yesterday, our school community kicked of the Second Annual U of D Jesuit: Pledge Detroit!  As you may remember from last year, this is a school-wide initiative that serves as the largest student-driven fundraiser of the year. Rather than selling raffle tickets, our students collect pledges that support them when, on October 4th, our entire school gives itself over to a day of service in the city of Detroit. This year, we are pleased to be returning to Belle Isle, Historic Fort Wayne, and adding Palmer Park.  It is easy, I suspect, for schools to use handy quotes like "AMDG" or "Men for Others" when talking about what they do as a school. What I am most proud about Pledge Detroit is that it allows our students to do more than say  that they are "Men for Others." Pledge Detroit gives them an opportunity to be "Men for Others" together as they put their hands where their mouths usually are! That we are able to involve our alumni and the paren...

Earlier this week, a high school football game garnered wide media attention simply for the cheers offered by the student body. Cincinnati's Saint Xavier, a football powerhouse, went head-to-head with a major rival, Cincinnati Colerain. The then-No. 26 Saint Xavier narrowly triumphed over then-No. 8 Colerain with a score of 17-14. Apparently, moments after the victory, the Student Section at Saint Xavier began to chant "We've Got Jesus." Upon hearing this cheer, Colerain's coach Tom Bolden apparently went ballistic and he began shouting at the students. Asked after the game, a simmering Bolden is quoted, "They ought to be embarrassed." In response, one of the Saint Xavier students had this to say: "The sad reality of this situation is that our entire faculty has absolutely handcuffed us in terms of what we are and aren't allowed to chant because they are so worried about our public relations, and the chants that our student section chant a...

One of my favorite subjects to address with my students is the compatibility of religion and science. There are any number of ways to enter into the discussion, although one of my preferred ways is to make the distinction between the fundamental types of questions theology and science ask. The philosopher Wittgenstein wrote in his Tractatus  "It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." Or, as I frame it for the guys, Science asks "how" things are in the world; Theology asks the very different sort of question: why is there anything at all? Father Kiser's sister forwarded him this Doonesbury comic earlier this week. It really made me laugh, as recently there seemed to be some confusion about what the Church's teaching on religion and science actually is. As one who understands the nonsensicalness of both "Creationism" and "Intelligent Design," I fully appreciated the wit of this cartoon.