Rome Sweet Home

Well, after a pleasantly uneventful journey, I arrived safely in Rome yesterday. I began unpacking my things and bought some groceries (at the grocery store across the street from St. Mary Major Basilica!). The story of my life thus far in Rome has been a constant battle to keep things dry! As I was unpacking, I realized that the majority of the clothes on the bottom of my big suitcase were damp and/or had wet spots all over them. Turns out my luggage was sitting in the rain for a little while in London. Then today it's been a pretty constant downpour since around noon, so almost everything in my backpack and the clothes I was wearing were pretty soaked. You know it's raining hard when the rain starts to come straight through a perfectly good umbrella!

The view from my window right now:


On a lighter note, the owners of the apartment I am staying in have a cat and a dog, both of which are very friendly. I also have a roommate who is from Germany and will be staying in Italy for two weeks. This morning the cat came into our bedroom and woke us up, purring and cuddling. :) Here's a picture of her:



Tags: Roma, rain, cat

The Green Old Party

Don Bosch over at the Acton Institute blog has an excellent post on Republican environmental activism. Turns out tree hugging isn't just for hippie liberals! :)

Tags: Republican, environmental activism

I leave for Rome SATURDAY!

After spending the last few months getting all of my documents together for my student Visa and visiting with friends and family, I'm finally leaving for Rome!  I hope to update this blog regularly while I'm there with pictures and stories of my adventures.  If you'd like to subscribe to this blog by email so you don't have to keep checking back, just enter your email in the box on the sidebar. 

And with that, I'll leave you with some pictures of my adventures this summer:

Bike ride with Margaret and Carmen


Hike to Humpback Rocks


Swimming in the Blue Hole


Wild turkeys in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard


The whole fam!


The Hollywood sign with Lina


And finally, a few views I'll hopefully be seeing again in a couple days:




Tags: Rome, pictures, summer, family, friends

Recent Science and Religion articles

It's been awhile since I've posted on here, and while I've been slacking, good articles to post about have kept coming!  Here's an overview of some good ones:

Evolution and Creation Are Not Foes, Says Priest (ZENIT)
This is yet another article focusing on the need for separation of science and ideology in any discussion of evolution and creation.  Father Pascual of Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University states: "Whereas creationism and evolutionism are incompatible in themselves, this is not so of creation and evolution, which are, instead, on two different levels, and are compatible." I think the distinction between the scientific theory of evolution and the ideology of evolutionism is too often overlooked by those on both sides of the debate.


Cantalamessa on "Ecology of the Heart" (ZENIT)
"What defiles man?" asked Fr. Cantelmessa in his commentary on the gospel of Mark September 1st. We spend so much time worrying about pollution in our world today and how it may affect us, but so little time worrying about pollution that comes from within ourselves.  He states: "Let's be very clear: It is not a question of opposing the two kinds of contamination. The struggle against physical contamination and care of hygiene is a sign of progress and civilization which must not be given up at any price. However, Jesus told us, on that occasion, that it was not enough for us to wash our hands, our vessels and all the rest; this does not go to the root of the problem."

This really struck a chord with me.  I often speak about how as Christians it is our duty to care for the Earth and not pollute it, but how often do I speak about how our care for the Earth should come as an extension of our care for our own souls?  We have to start from within ourselves, that is where the most dramatic changes can and must begin from. 


New Zealand Bishops on the Environment (ZENIT)
This article goes along with the same theme as the previous one. 

"The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast." - Pope Benedict XVI, homily at Inaugural Mass, 2005


Green Offices are Economical at the Acton Institute PowerBlog (via Dappled Things)
Surprise!  Cutting down electricity use saves more than the environment, it also saves money.

On Humanitarianism and Animal Rights from Catholic Culture
Jeff Mirus has an excellent article on our culture's confusion of humans and animals, and the important differences between us and the rest of the animal kingdom.

Whew!! Okay, I think I'm (kind of) caught up now!