New Website

If you're reading this blog, you're probably looking at the new CSC website (beta version). Erik Buschardt, CSC webmaster, has been working on the new site for several months now, and I think he's done a fantastic job in reconfiguring the site.

Our mission when revamping the site was to find the optimal way to connect with more people more often. We're all about connection here at the CSC--connection through spiritual sharing, through mass, through discussions, through debates, through hugs--why should our technology be any different?

We decided that we wanted to simplify the user experience and put content that changes on a daily basis (announcements, calendar, blog) on the home page. More static content--important stuff that rarely changes--can be found by clicking the links on the left. Depending on the size of your computer monitor, you may be able to see the entire home page without scrolling at all.

Of course, the project isn't complete until we get user feedback. Let us know what you think of the new site. Is something really hard to find or counterintuitive? Let us know. Should something be bigger or smaller or more colorful? Let us know. Does something appear a little off on your browser? Let us know.

E-mail me with your feedback at stegmaier@washucsc.org.

Contest

My aunt, who is a nun in Philadelphia, sent me this information about a contest that might be of interest to you spiritual writers out there. It's sponsored by a publisher called Paraclete Press, and the prizes are large gift certificates to the company's books and products. If you win, let us know so we can link to it on this blog!

Jesus taught in parables, and as Peter Rollins (a Paralete author) says, "Parables do not seek to change our minds but rather to change our hearts." Do you have a truth you feel must be told? Do you have a parable to tell? Here's what you do: 1. Read the sample parable from Rollins' book (click here). 2. Craft your own, original parable, communicating truth from your own life of faith. Parables may be anywhere from 100 to 1000 words in length. 3. Send your entries to ellen@paracletepress.com no later than August 1, 2009. All entries will be read and judged by Peter Rollins and winners announced on or before September 1, 2009. (see below for prizes) Paraclete Press may post the parables of both winners and contestants on our website anytime after September 1, 2009.

Leap of Faith

The third and final article on my adoption--this time from my parents' perspective--has been published on Crosswalk.com. There are links to the first and second parts on the article in case you haven't read those.

http://www.crosswalk.com/parenting/11603222/

The CSC in the Post-Dispatch

The CSC is mentioned several times in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The article, entitled, "Stretching Physical and Spiritual Muscles," mentioned the recent Yoga stations the CSC hosted:

"Last month, students performed yoga while praying to the Stations of the Cross at Washington University's Catholic Student Center."

Later in the article, the CSC was mentioned again, complete with several quotes from Fr. Gary:

The Rev. Gary Braun, director of the Catholic Student Center at Washington University, has watched the number of students who show up for Stations of the Cross dwindle to three or four. He said he's concerned that young people don't see God in suffering. He said they'd rather avoid acknowledging their own suffering by engaging in risky behaviors, such as drinking. 

So he cast about for something new and appealing that would mesh well with the Lenten devotion. He kept hearing students talk about yoga and came up with the idea of doing a different pose while praying to each of the 14 Stations of the Cross as they were projected on a screen. Braun was stunned when more than 40 students showed up to participate.

"It blew us away," he said. "The parishes around the neighborhood asked us to do it for them next year." 

A company has approached Braun about making a video of the poses so people can do it in their homes. 

Braun stresses that he's not proselytizing, but merely wooing young Catholics to the devotion. He hopes they walk away with a better sense of Jesus Christ's suffering, he said. 

"Yoga is about being present, and there's a pain in the body to hold the pose," Braun said. "It's amazingly visceral."

Lessons from the Interns

Gabe and Rachel, the CSC interns for the 2008-09 school year, spoke during a segment of the homily at Tuesday's Mass. They each had a lot to share, but I thought I'd pull one thought from each of them that stood out to me. The Gospel question was, "What have you learned this year?"

Gabe shared how he has gotten better at accepting help this year, and he offered some insight on how to do that. A struggle he has--that a lot of people have--is believing someone when they offer help. We don't know if they really mean it. So Gabe has come up with a theory that you should always accept offers of help because (a) if the person genuinely wants to help you, then they'll feel good after helping you or (b) if the person doesn't actually want to help you, accepting their disingenuous help will teach them not to offer help when they don't mean it.

Rachel shared how she has learned how to offer prayers of gratitude this year. She said in the past she would mix thankful prayers with "wishful" prayers, So she wasn't able to embody the gratitude as she was praying. She decided to name specific names and things she's grateful for, as well as gifts that God gave her. It became an exercise in intentional prayer focused on specific examples in her life and what those things mean to her (instead of thanking God in general for all of your gifts or blessings).

Have you felt the heartache of God's love supreme?

I find myself losing the proximity of some beloved friends as this year comes to a close, and the pain of this has surprised me. Especially in a college setting, people move away and shift to new chapters of life all the time; often these are wholesome shifts to hopeful futures... So why does this hurt so, so much? Why does heartache increase the more you care about a friend? And why is there divinity in this kind of bittersweet?

A couple of years ago, I don't think I was capable of missing people as I do now. I interacted with people and wanted what was best for them, but because I was focused solely on the anthropology of it, I rarely wondered what actually constituted the essence of friendship. I figured that its degrees of meaningfulness and permanence probably had to do with personality type and the pragmatics of daily life. But during my time at the CSC, I've found that deep friendship is a phenomenon which can't be fully explained with a sociology of interaction. The friendships that matter and last are those that have a divine dynamic while remaining completely rooted in the personal and relational reality.

Humanity has an inherent need to understand and be understood with the depth of God - in short, to find a 'love supreme'. I remember when Robbie Williams' single by that title topped the charts in 2000. The song's bathos bothered me, but I couldn't help recognizing that it voiced something true about people's need for intimacy: Oh, it seemed forever stopped today, all the lonely hearts in London caught a plane and flew away... Oh, what are you really looking for? All the places you have been, trying to find a love supreme, trying to find a love supreme...

The world posits a million ways to strive for it, but I think that the much searched-for love supreme is manifested in friendships of mutually growing care. At an RCIA Question and Answer session, Father Gary once said that "the highest form of humanity is good conversation," and that always stuck with me because it charted a path to collective holiness. While the logistics of a friendship may be the chatting or the time spent together, the life of a friendship lies in the manifestation of an ecstatic (as in 'out-of-stasis') divinity. It always involves growth. It always involves the building of something holy.

The heartbreaking thing about the end of the year, then, is that these life-giving friendships sometimes have to change and readjust to new circumstances. The spiritual family members we've grown together with are suddenly moving across the country, heading to new ministries, starting different jobs and attending new universities. And although we know the friendships will continue, it hurts that they can't continue exactly as they have. The divine growth is going to have to shoot forth in slightly different ways. Thank heavens for modern communications!

I suppose there is something beautiful about the bittersweetness that comes from deeply caring. I was utterly devastated earlier this week when I realized what painful thing it is to watch a friend/spiritual mentor prepare to leave, but she captured the supreme in an email, writing:

"Heartache is not something I've ever 'gotten used' to, but what I have learned is that it is an indicator that I have loved and been loved... and for that I am most grateful."

God is good, dear friends!