Ho Due Blogi!

(That means "I have two blogs!")

It's official, the "A Day In the Life" blog (hereafter "ADL") is now live on the webpage for the Diocese of Greensburg. Much to my surprise, Dan and I are on the front page! I guess this means that we actually need to keep updating it...

If you want to take a look at what we've been up to, click on the link in the Links sidebar:

Thou Shalt Not Have Strange Gods Before Me

I just happened to stumble upon an article online entitled Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites (source: Vancouver Sun). In the article, it describes the work and reasonings of Ian Pilmer, an Australian geologist and outspoken critic of global warming. For this, he has received a great deal of criticism from those who believe that world governments need to work to curb global warming.

Pilmer cites scientific studies that suggest that during much of Earth's history, there has been no polar ice, as well as those that suggest that we are experiencing some of the lowest amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide in "recent" history (the last several hundred million years). It is explained as such:

While environmentalists for the most part draw their conclusions based on climate information gathered in the last few hundred years, geologists, Plimer says, have a time frame stretching back many thousands of millions of years.

The dynamic and changing character of the Earth's climate has always been known by geologists. These changes are cyclical and random, he says. They are not caused or significantly affected by human behaviour.

This discussion brings an interesting question to the forefront: Are people choosing to ignore some scientific facts in order to believe their position with blind faith? Although this accusation could be lodged against both sides, it is more damning to the proponents of the commonly accepted theory of global warming. Everything concerning the subject can be studied by science, which is governed by reason, thus we must use reason to evaluate what science finds. Critics of the commonly accepted theory are using an attitude of "We have evidence that disproves your theory, thus either your theory is incorrect, or you need to modify it to explain the new evidence."

From a spiritual perspective, a problem arises as well. Has "Stopping Global Warming" become a new idol for our time? It is my opinion that it has; stopping the "continuation" of global warming (if it is actually occurring) has become the goal in itself. It is perhaps one of the strangest of the strange gods.

We demonstrate our love by what we give our time, work, and resources to. If we love God, we will devote those three things to purposes that serve Him. If we choose to pour time, work, and resources into preventing global warming for only the sake of preventing global warming, then we come dangerously close to loving the world more than we love God.

I propose another way: we can use the Earth in a responsible manner, as humanity is expected to do per Genesis - we can use the resources, but also seek to preserve the planet from undue harm. We can seek to care for the planet while respecting the dignity of humanity to have productive jobs. Governments can seek to use their monetary resources for the betterment of their people, instead of pouring it into carbon credit scams that ignore some science while accepting other science on blind faith.

Studio l'Italiano*

One of the major challenges of life and study in Italy is the obvious one: everybody speaks Italian! Furthermore, when Dan and I begin our classes at the Gregorian University in the fall, all of the lectures will be in Italian. The university also requires all of the seminarians to pass an EU proficiency test for the language.

In order to help us adjust to speaking Italian with local Romans, as well as to understand our classes, the NAC has arranged several possibilities for language schools. Some of the seminarians are attending schools in Assisi and Siena, and we are studying in Verbania, a very beautiful town in the Italian Alps. We are living at a hotel called Il Chiostro, which means "the cloister" - it is a former monastery that was converted into a hotel. This is wonderful because we have the benefit of studying in the quiet cloister courtyard, and there is a chapel on site where a priest comes for daily Mass.

All in all, I'm pleased with my classes so far. We were each assigned two tutors, and we spend an hour and half with each. The one-on-one interaction is very helpful, because we each can work at our own pace, and we are forced to learn everything for ourselves. I can already see improvement in my own speaking and understanding after only three days of classes.

More to come later!

[* This actually means "I am studying Italian"]

The Tourist vs. the Pilgrim

This past week the new group of seminarians had the opportunity to visit a great number of sites, and most of these are religious sites; I have little doubt that these opportunities will continue to a less-frequent degree. But the vast majority of these trips are not simply for the sake of tourism. Instead, they help us to draw closer to the Saints and their times by letting us visit their remains and walk in their footsteps.

And this brings us to the spirit and purpose of pilgrimage. The purpose of any pilgrimage is to allow the person, place, or thing being sought to draw us cloer to Jesus Christ, who in turn constantly draws us closer to the Father.

In this way, we can draw on these sights and people for inspiration for our Faith. In some posts in the near future, I hope to explain how these visits have inspired me.

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Buongiorno! As I write this, I'm flying at over 30,000 feet over the Mediterranean. This is the beginning of a great adventure, but also, it is one of the most difficult things that I have ever done, because it means leaving everything and everyone that I have known and loved for my entire life.

Yet, in having this opportunity to blog, and in having access to the internet in general, I am able to keep in touch with all of my family and friends. Also, it is a great pleasure to be sharing my experiences with all of the people of the Diocese of Greensburg.

As always, God has provided me comfort in this experience. Shortly after our take-off in Pittsburgh, Dan Ulishney and I prayed the Rosary, reminding me that our entire trip is under Mary's maternal care. We met one of our brother seminarians from the Pittsburgh Diocese, as well as many others once we arrived in Newark, and we were already bonding quickly.

The Eternal City still awaits us (though we'll alredy be there by the time you read this, since we don't have WiFi on the plane). Our adventure is afoot, and Christ walks with us the entire way.