Class half done

OK, so to start, my daughter pointed out that I had not recognized her 16th birthday on the blog.  My response - You actually looked at the blog?!?  She said that she is stalking me occasionally by reading the blog.  We had a party with about 20 of her friends two weekends ago to celebrate - of course it was her doing all the celebrating with her friends.  Who has time for dad when 20 of your friends are here?

Happy Birthday (a little late) M!

With that out of the way, we are halfway through our first class, the Synoptic Gospels.  Our brothers (and one spouse) in Plymouth have to deal with intermittent disconnections from the video feed.  I think it is wearing on them and I hope it gets a bit smoother since we have to do this for the next three years.

Class is interesting, building on an academic approach to the gospels.  However, it is interesting that we have basically checked theology at the door for our review of each gospel.  Some of the class are further along in their theology and are somewhat frustrated at the strictly academic approach.  They have a point.  Although what we are learning is valuable, it is a bit out of sequence.  We still could collectively benefit from a thorough learning of the church's position and teaching on the gospels.  Some specifics - perhaps the teaching on when they were written, why they were written, the church's official interpretation, etc.  We are unique that the Magesterium is the official teaching arm of the church.  I think some personal study is needed here to augment what we are learning.  That has me seeking out things like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Answers Live and some other more orthodox sources of information.

Also new in the the news is the announcement of a new bishop of the Diocese of Manchester.  Installation is set for December 8 and hopefully he will be able to attend a portion of one of our Formation Weekends in 2012.  Our first weekend is coming up - Oct 15/16.

Class tonight at 7 PM with our paper for this class due on Thursday.  I used Sunday to ensure I completed my reading and homework so I could use Monday night to write the paper.  I have it mostly done, but want to use tonight's class info to polish it Wednesday in prep for turning it in Thursday.

If you recall, I was also giving a talk on Sat, Sept 21.  I'm glad to report my public speaking went well, but my topic was a bit off.  I talked about "Saying Yes to Jesus" more often in our lives.  I tried to shy away from making large commitments, but trying to focus on some small way we can say "Yes" to Him more often than trying to avoid Him.  It was probably a bit heavy a topic for everyone on a Saturday Morning.  A few good points came up in the discussion, and the feedback so far on my speaking and style has been positive.  So I got some experience, and a lesson in choosing a topic as I prepare for my next talk in Litchfield in November.