2nd letter of September 2005

2) 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 11, 2005

Monday, September 05, 2005.
Today is the Labor Day, the national holiday in the USA. I did watch some videocassettes I borrowed from the public library. In the evening, as community we went to OMI theology house, close to LSTC to attend the birthday celebration of Helacio, one of the five OMI students there. We had a good time in prayer, conversation, friendship, supper, dance, and singing until around 9 p.m. There were some guests from the Combonians, the Claretians, the Xaverians and one SCJ student (Octavio). At night I checked at Amazon.com on the Internet some books I need for the courses I have this Fall Semester.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005.
Today is the official day of the Fall Semester at CTU (Catholic Theological Union) where I study for the third year and at the same time in the evening, Jacques Bahati (a Congolese, Africa), one of the Xaverian students, left the community and still lives in Chicago to finish his study at CTU. So, this academic year (2005-2006) in our Xaverian theology house in Hyde Park, Chicago, we have 3 priests as formator (Rocco, Pascal and Victor) and 8 students (Alejandro from Mexico, and 4 Indonesians: myself-Denny, Ignas, Dharmawan and Harno, one from R.D. Congo: Pascal Atumisi and two Cameroonians: Valery and Francois). We’re 11 people altogether. In the evening after supper, I went to CTU to attend my first class of EMP (Integrating core) taught by Dawn Notwehr, OSF. There were about 18 students at this class. At 9.30 p.m. I went home together with Harno and Valery who have other class at the same time.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005.
In the morning at 8.30 a.m. I attended the class of James Okoye, a Holy Spiritan priest from Nigeria. This class is about Prophet and Amos. At the same class there are three other Xaverian students: Alejandro, Dharmawan and Harno. There’re about 11 students at this class. At 10 a.m. I went to CTS (Chicago Theological School) at 58th street to visit and ask one course of Ethic. It’s an old building and seminary that was built in the late 1800’s. From CTU I borrowed some seven videocassettes and watched them at the house. At the third floor, I found a thin book entitled Vade Mecum of the Xaverians that was written in Parma, August 1985 and I saw some rule about the perpetual vows and ministry ordinations both deaconate and priesthood. At least I know little bit about the rule of these final steps in my formation that I need to discuss with my formators in near time. I feel the time is so quick and short to end my formation in Chicago, particularly after this year, 2005 near to end. Less than two years I will finish all of my theology studies, even my M.Div is going to finish in May 18, 2005. This old archive book written in Italian, I read and pondered to know curiously about the rule especially in the perpetual vows and deaconate ordination that I am thinking seriously in the beginning of this academic year.

Thursday, September 08, 2005.
In the morning class at 8.30, Edmund Chia teaches one of Integrating Cores entitled Dialogue and Inculturation. There were about 28 students at this class and he asked me to help him to register some students who want to buy his book about Dialogue. Chia is a former Christian Brothers from Malaysia who has worldwide experience in Interreligious Dialogue. I took his class last year for my MA study, namely, Interreligious Dialogue in Asia. After the class ended at 11.15 a.m., I went up to the library at the third floor to read some magazines. In the afternoon, I cooked for the community. In the Holy Hour (Adoration), Father Rocco gave us the letter of Pope Benedict XVI for the seminarians when he visited Germany last month. We had community meeting at 7.15 p.m. till 9.40 p.m. to finish the discussion of our community project of life and we did finish it. Thanks be to God. We rely on the Good Spirit that accompanies us during this year to put into practice what we have discussed and decided in the last two weeks in our theology community in Hyde Park, Chicago.

Friday, September 09, 2005.
In the morning at 8.30 I went to the public library at downtown Chicago to return the videocassettes and DVD’s I borrowed last week and I took some other 6 tapes and DVD’s. I took CTA bus number 2 just in front of our house in Hyde Park and I stopped right in front of the public library. I went up at the 7th floor to see the language lab that provides a lot of media to learn some other languages. I was interested to learn some of them. Next time I am going to borrow some videocassettes of Italian language course, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Spanish. Even I found some media for English as second language. It’s going to be tool for my personal study this semester and this academic year, I suppose. After coming home at 1 p.m. I watched some of the media I took from the library. In the afternoon, Valery and Ignas came back from shopping. They are the ones who in charge of shopping for our community this academic year.

Saturday, September 10, 2005.
As community, at 8.20 a.m. we went to Adoration and Mass at Saint Frances of Rome Church in which Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago presided the Mass and ended the year of the Eucharist. In the middle of the adoration, Harno got sick then Alejandro and Dharmawan took him home. He was brought at Mercy Hospital and at night he returned home. He got terrible fever that was ups and downs during the last four days. Thanks God that he came back home and seemed better this night. In the afternoon, I prepared food for the supper in the community. I just warmed up Lasagna and made garlic bread.

At night I called up some of my family who don’t know about my youngest brother who is going to marry next Saturday, September 17. Since he doesn’t have big party, so he doesn’t invite other extended family. Even my second sister who lives in other city doesn’t know that he’s going to marry next Saturday. In this case, I have known more than others who live in the same country, Indonesia. This is my concern that I always keep in touch with them personally and routinely, so they always wonder that I know more and faster than others. It’s all because of the easiness and cheapness of the media in the USA in telecommunication system. I don’t know if I consider myself as a good messenger who spread the good news among my families that seem don’t get along with so often even though they live in the same island, Java in Indonesia. Probably, I learned of my grandmother (the mother of my father) who always liked to visit her sons, daughters and other extended family.

Sunday, September 11, 2005.
It’s the fourth year of the tragedy called the September Eleventh that happened in New York City. I woke up at 6.40 a.m., took shower then prayed the breviary personally in my room. After checking my e-mail and having breakfast, Ignas and I went to Saint Therese Church in Chinatown. There we helped out Father Michael to prepare fruits for the parishioners. We had conversation with Father Daniel, a young Holy Spiritan priest from Ghana at the rectory. At 11.15 a.m. I attended the Indonesian Mass at Saint Therese School. It’s presided by Father Sony, SVD. There were about 35 attendants at this monthly Mass. Since there’s celebration at Saint Therese Church for the Italian community to honor the birth of Mary, our Mother, so we, the Indonesian community had Mass at the school. Father Sony gave me a ride to come back home at Hyde Park. He’s going to finish his thesis soon and probably leaves the USA in the middle of October 2005. After taking a nap in the afternoon, I went to CTU to attend the Holy Spirit Mass, the opening Mass of CTU in the beginning of this academic year, 2005-2006. It was presided by the president of CTU, Father Donald Senior, CP. The collection of the Mass is given to Catholic Charity for the aid of Hurricane Catrina’s victims in New Orleans and other places that happened at the end of August. The Mass was very good as usual with the multicultural features in many ways. I read one of the intercession prayers in Indonesian language. After having supper cooked by Father Rocco, I typed this journal at my room.

One reflection that comes to my mind during this week is about the vocation to religious life in the USA especially for the religious priesthood. In my conversation with some people during this week and see the real fact regards the members of the religious communities I know in the USA, I come to a tentative conclusion that young people in the USA don’t have interest anymore to religious life and priesthood. The majority of students or seminarians who study at CTU are those young people relatively coming from other countries and continents such as Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Even in Maryknoll Fathers who was founded in the USA in nowadays they only have five theology students in Chicago. The Holy Spiritans only have five students, the OMI also only have five theology students this year. Most of them are not born in the USA. Most of them are not White Americans. The SVD’s have a lot of students about 50 in number and most of them are Vietnamese descendants. There are only two Vietnamese descendants who were born in the USA and the rest they are born in Vietnam. In my conversation with some of them, it seems that most of the religious congregations are still hoping to get vocation from the White/Caucasian Americans. I notice that the congregations which only prioritize the vocation to this race will not get many vocation and needles to say they have zero vocation. Just check what happen to the Vincentians, the SCJ’s and others in the USA. In the past they had a lot of Caucasians but not these days. But, some congregations who openly receive other races such as Vietnamese, Latinos, and other races, they still have many vocations. One of the SVD’s told me if there are no Vietnamese students, most likely they have very few students in Chicago. In the near future, there is going to be shortcoming vocations of the SVD from the Vietnamese descendants and now there are about 12 SVD students from Sudan, African who learned English in Europe then would come to the USA to study theology. My question is why the small congregations don’t learn of other big congregations, even the congregations that were originally founded in the USA? Almost all of them have lack of vocation. If the small religious congregations still have hopes to recruit Caucasian young Americans, do they learn of other big congregations who have major vocation is from other races? If the small congregations always try their best to get vocation but they never get it, what kind of hope they still have realistically? Do they learn of others in some ways? If there’s no hope, why they still work continuously as vocation directors? If they have been working many years and there is still none coming to join their religious community, are they aware that they are just wasting of their time and money? Why they don’t come to the source of vocations that most likely can be found easily in the other countries such as the ‘third world’ ones right now? I wonder to see how the SCJ’s recruit vocation in Colombia and other countries then bravely bring some young people to the USA. Even some dioceses in the USA they have gut and money to bring young people from other countries to become their diocesan priests. In nowadays, if there are men who want to join the religious life, most of them are almost to be senior citizens in a way cynically one comments that they want to prepare their way to go to heaven. They are interested in the religious life and priesthood after having experience in some professions and perhaps after having experience in marriage life that eventually lost one’s spouse or have been granted the annulment. I see one congregation such as the Claretians and the other one is the Alexian Brothers have accepted some elderly men in their community. I see they are in the 50’s years old. I wonder if some congregations still stick on the limited young ages (up to 35 years old) when they recruit vocations. Do they learn of the other nun and brother congregations and diocesan seminaries especially the second carrier life?

Finally, I put my enthusiastic and clear hope on the vocation life in the Xaverian Missionaries in Indonesia as I heard there was a renewal of vows of the philosophy students whose 19 in number on Sunday, September 11, 2005. Blithely, I write this good news to be shared to others that in Indonesia, the work of vocation animation still fruitfully growing to harvest abundantly. Congratulation to you all, the 19 younger confreres in Jakarta who are walking day-by-day in your kairos life toward missionary-religious-priesthood in our beloved congregations, the Xaverians. I put realistically my hope of vocation of the Xaverians in the future to all of you as you continue your journey tomorrow and so on in your whole lives.