Alumni update

I am a guest blogger on my high school's alumni website today, thanks to an invitation from one of my former English teachers. He had visited this blog, and so asked me to write about my VSC experience. It was a good exercise to try to distill a year into one short article. I hope the stories I chose to tell will help people realize what a volunteer year is all about.

While I was killing time in San Antonio, I was able to read Pope Benedict's new social justice encyclical Caritas in Vertitate (Love in Truth). Besides making me look business-like in the hotel restaurant, this was serendipitous, as I discovered a great quotation to use in my article.

“Only through an encounter with God are we able to see in the other something more than just another creature, to recognize the divine image in the other, thus truly coming to discover him or her and to mature in a love that ‘becomes concern and care for the other.’” You can't get much more Vincentian than that. The Holy Father also cited a scripture verse that is the Daughters of Charity motto: The charity of Christ urges us. (2 Cor 5:14)

P.S. Fun Fact: The teacher who requested this article also got me on the road to Museum Studies. I wrote my first public history paper for his class my sophomore year of high school. He forbade any "depressing" topics, so I researched the history of the Smithsonian Institution. I liked the idea, but it turned out to be even more fun than I expected.

What dreams may come

President Obama met Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, and by all accounts things went very well. Besides discussing immigration, the Middle East, economics, etc, the Holy Father gave Obama a copy of his recent document "Dignitatis Personae." The President's response to this medical ethics gift? "I will have some reading to do on the plane."

Say what you will about the Obama's past faux-pas with British dignitaries, they did very well with this audience. Instead of useless DVD's, they gave a thoughtful, appropriate gift - a stole that had been placed on the body of St. John Neumann. Michelle is wearing her trademark cardigan and belted dress, but the look is understated and dignified.
On a side note, I'd like to learn more about this apparent female dress code of black dresses and mantillas for Papal audiences. Is that a rule or just a safe call? What would happen if I showed up in, say, blue or red?

The only downside of all the coverage of this happy meeting is that it gave me really, really weird dreams. Just before my alarm went off, I had a nightmare involving ponds, colonial stone walls, and a Papal visit to my hypothetical parish. Everyone got to meet the Pope except me!!
I was next in the receiving line when he wandered away with a group of well wishers. Then his SUV drove away when I was right outside the window. Why God, why???

Faces in time

Photographing a great candid action shot is so hard. I like architectural photography because your subjects will hold still! Theodora the camera often can't keep up with fast motion in dim lighting.
Still, I love seeing what other, more skilled photographers can do. News coverage of public figures has great potential for fun images, producing an historical record that is more detailed and more accessible with each passing year.

The White House now has a Flickr photostream, with a new set of the President's First 100 Days in office. Photographer Pete Souza has done marvelous work capturing moments in history that are full of personality. Such as:

A sweet but also awkward "private moment in a freight elevator."

A lovely shot of the White House in the snow

And this candid shot of a budget session that just cracks me up. Was there a memo to coordinate the orange ties? Did someone forget to bring an important document? Do they realize FDR is grinning over their shoulders?


Ok, that's enough Obama, even if he is terribly photogenic. I've also been enjoying Whispers in the Loggia's full coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the Middle East. I may not have read all the Holy Father's speeches yet (they pile up like New Yorker back issues or online TV episodes), but I have relished all the pictures.

Here's my favorite - Papa Benny with medically fragile babies! His statements at Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem could have been about NFNF as well.

"this institution has remained a quiet oasis for the most vulnerable, and has shone as a beacon of hope that love can prevail over hatred and peace over violence...Mary, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Mother of the Redeemer: we join the many generations who have called you “Blessed”. Listen to your children as we call upon your name...We ask your Son Jesus to bless these children and all children who suffer throughout the world. May they receive health of body, strength of mind, and peace of soul. But most of all, may they know that they are loved with a love which knows no bounds or limits: the love of Christ which surpasses all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19). Amen."

There are also some darling pictures of the lucky children in Amman who received their first Holy Communion from the Pope. I love how tiny this fellow looks compared with the kneeler.

And this girl is a portrait of happy peace.