Hey everyone.
So today was another awesome day (would any day be NOT an awesome day here?).
The morning started off slow. I was really tired. It seemed a lot of walking tires you out and so, even after 8 hours of sleep, I was exhausted when I woke up and REALLY didn't want to get out of bed. But I got up anyways (yes, FJ, be surprised).
Anyways, I skipped breakfast this morning and went straight to class. Today was Prof. Hittinger's last lecture which was really sad because his lectures are outstanding, though, to say the least, quite dense (in a good way, there is a LOT of content). He talked about JP II and Social Doctrine. Essentially what he was arguing was that JP II saw the shift in the world's point of view. Before the war there was a false understanding of the State and Society, and the Church responded to that with her Social Doctrine, hence why every Pope since Leo XIII and onwards have started their pontificate with a Social Encyclical. But JP II didn't do that, he broke the trend. He started off his Pontificate with "Redemptor Hominis" - Redeemer of Man. What JP II saw was a shift in the modern problem. The biggest danger was no longer the State and societies (what Hittinger calls N+1 unities, oh, and by the way, societies are persons).
Anyways, the modern problem was now anthropological, that there was a false understanding of man that came from the enlightenment. He made a great point (one that I know I have held as well as most here) that JP II was a Pope who understood the implications of ideas. They seem abstract but they really do effect things. The Englightenment took up the Creation story from Genesis and stated that what man did to distinguish himself was not something that was given to him a priori, but was something he willed for himself. He willed to be different from the animals, it was not something universal that God gave him and this trickled all the way down to our modern times and so JP II answered that with his definition of man. This is why you can't read JP II without understanding in its fullness the Theology of the Body.
Quick sidenote, Hittinger argued that Humanae Vitae is not first and foremost about contraception, but about whether or not man has dominion over his own body. Really interesting stuff. Anyways, I talked to Hittinger after class and we were discussing a few things and he told me he had a zip drive with a couple of .PDFs on it. One is his book that is being published in September, the other is an article he published. I am still going to buy the book when it is released, but he said these 2 .PDFs have EVERYTHING he said in class and more so I am really looking forward to looking them over.
The second lecture was by George Weigel on the 2 notions of freedom and it was excellent. He got to the root, and it was an affirmation of what I was reading into when I was reading the Free Society Reader in preparation that, essentially, the modern struggle about who man is is rooted in the Ockhamist Thomistic debate of the 13th and 14th century. Thomas had a "freedom for excellence" ideal in which reason/truth are the root of God and man, while Ockham had a "freedom for indifference" idea in which will and powerful assertion of the will is primary in God and man. Again, fascinating, though I noticed traces of stuff he had to say in Victoria.
After that it was lunch and I had it by myself today. After that I came back to the priory and hung out with some of my friends for a while. We then had discussion groups which were OUTSTANDING today. We went over time and the discussion was really excellent and I really enjoyed it. I noticed most of the problems the Pope is pointing out in Centissimus Annus are really apparent in Canada and that if we want Canada to survive in is in desperate need of change.
After that was Mass in which Fr. Maciej gave a great homily about how we ought to be joyful everytime we hear the words "the Word became flesh", just like the women who touched the cloak of Christ and was in fear and trembling, we should have the fear of God in us, and that if we don't jump for joy everytime we hear this, we have something wrong and really need to change.
Dinner was good. To be honest, I didn't enjoy the food that much and so ate very little. But the discussions were great. Steve White, George Weigel's assistant, myself, Ryan, and Brian were have a great discussion about the nature of vocations in which Steve told us how he finally came to discern marriage. Excellent discussion. Then we went into the next room to see everyone singing and we stuck around for about an hour singing a bunch of songs and having just an outstanding and amazing time. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces and enjoyed the company a lot. I have some video to show upon my return.
And now I've returned from yet another excellent day to prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the trip to Auschwitz in the afternoon after the 2 morning classes and a quick lunch. To be honest, not looking too forward to it, it's a pretty depressing place, but the group is going and so I will go again.
God bless you all!
-Harrison
Showing posts with label Krakow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Krakow. Show all posts
Monday, July 09, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Sunday, July 8th
Well, today has been an AMAZING day.
First off, I woke up to a perfectly sunny day.
A group of us met up and went to St Giles Church which is a parish in town that does a Mass in English at 10:30am on Sundays here in Krakow. It ended up being what we called the "George Weigel Mass". We mean that in a good, loving sort of way. It is just that he did everything, the readings an the singing, hence it has been named the "George Weigel Mass".
After Mass we headed back to the Priory. By the way, for those of you who don't know, we are staying in the Dominican Priory here. Anyways, at 12pm we headed for the train station. Myself, 2 Poles, and 6 Americans went to take the Pope train to Kalweria Zabredowske. The first amazing thing is that they actually have a "Pope Train". It is the actual name. It is a train that takes you to the various places in and near Krakow that were important in the life of JP II. It is also a very nice train! And it only costs 6$ Canadian round trip.
Anyways, we headed to Kalweria Zabredowske and it was an amazing time. We started off with walking from the train station uphill to the Basillica. It was tiring but worth it. We got lunch and then went to walk. We went to the gift shop first because I wanted to get a map of the chapels. This is a pilgrimage spot that has 42 chapels layed out across some 8 kilometers to mark Christ's walk in His passion. It is amazing. Last time I was there, I only got to see a couple of chapels, though this time we got to see about half. It was quite wonderful. We spent 4 hours total in Kalwaria Zabredowska. After that, we began our way to the train station with a small stop for ice cream. Then we got on the train and headed back home. We got home and at 8:30pm we went for a late dinner to Da Pietro which is an excellent Italian Place in the Old Square. We had great conversations which included MANY Monty Python quotations including a thing or 2 from Faulty Towers and we left at 11pm.
Today has been the perfect Sunday. The weather was perfect, the company was great, lots of time for prayer, great food and beer and just overall relaxing, restful, and fun. We all agreed that today was just out of this world.
I hope you are all well and so forth.
God bless
Harrison
First off, I woke up to a perfectly sunny day.
A group of us met up and went to St Giles Church which is a parish in town that does a Mass in English at 10:30am on Sundays here in Krakow. It ended up being what we called the "George Weigel Mass". We mean that in a good, loving sort of way. It is just that he did everything, the readings an the singing, hence it has been named the "George Weigel Mass".
After Mass we headed back to the Priory. By the way, for those of you who don't know, we are staying in the Dominican Priory here. Anyways, at 12pm we headed for the train station. Myself, 2 Poles, and 6 Americans went to take the Pope train to Kalweria Zabredowske. The first amazing thing is that they actually have a "Pope Train". It is the actual name. It is a train that takes you to the various places in and near Krakow that were important in the life of JP II. It is also a very nice train! And it only costs 6$ Canadian round trip.
Anyways, we headed to Kalweria Zabredowske and it was an amazing time. We started off with walking from the train station uphill to the Basillica. It was tiring but worth it. We got lunch and then went to walk. We went to the gift shop first because I wanted to get a map of the chapels. This is a pilgrimage spot that has 42 chapels layed out across some 8 kilometers to mark Christ's walk in His passion. It is amazing. Last time I was there, I only got to see a couple of chapels, though this time we got to see about half. It was quite wonderful. We spent 4 hours total in Kalwaria Zabredowska. After that, we began our way to the train station with a small stop for ice cream. Then we got on the train and headed back home. We got home and at 8:30pm we went for a late dinner to Da Pietro which is an excellent Italian Place in the Old Square. We had great conversations which included MANY Monty Python quotations including a thing or 2 from Faulty Towers and we left at 11pm.
Today has been the perfect Sunday. The weather was perfect, the company was great, lots of time for prayer, great food and beer and just overall relaxing, restful, and fun. We all agreed that today was just out of this world.
I hope you are all well and so forth.
God bless
Harrison
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday, July 6th
Hi everyone.
Today's isn't going to be extremely exciting.
This morning we learned about the notion of love and its historical roots in the thought of JP II. There was some interesting Thomistic and Aristotelian lines of thinking about the 4 kinds of love that I hadn't heard before, as well as a very different way of going about it then C.S. Lewis does. It was by Fr. Kubczek and it was excellent as always. I will be ordering his book on the philosophical anthropology of JP II quite soon.
After that was coffee break followed by a second lecture by Prof. Hittinger on Catholic Social Doctrine. Again, it was very profound. He has a book on this stuff that I, again, will be getting. It just blew my socks off...literally. The persecutions the Church went through in the 18th and 19th century, well, I don't think Catholics know about them and about how many Catholics have actually been martyred. He likened it to the Holocaust in that it was the same course of action, a systematic and intentional extinction of Catholics. It is amazing what the Church has been through in regards to this. Also, he talks about the political nature of the Sacred Heart (it is quite fascinating) Marian apparitions, and how every encyclical a Pope has put out on the rosary has been social in nature. Quite amazing.
He also talked about the history of the idae of subsidiaridy. We talked about it in group discussion alongside the notion of private use and private property. Fascinating discussions ensued to say the least. I discussed it over with him at dinner and asked him what he thought about the state of Canadian Health Care in regards to this and he said, really, it does defy the principles. He said that yes, Health Care is a public good, but that, for reasons of better access and for incentives in order to become better at its service, some public goods are held in private. Examples are food and education. These are both public goods for everyone to have access too. But just because it is a public good does not necessitate that it ought to be held by a public agency. Imagine if the State was in charge of food and distribution! And education is provided by the state, but it is also provided privately too, though more so in the States then in Canada. So, fundamentally, you cannot use the argument that because it is a public good that it must be held in public for there are many clear examples against this.
Dinner and lunch were excellent today where, again, many awesome conversations ensued. Sometimes they're not that intellectual either, we just sit back and relax. There has been beer every day because it is so amazingly cheap here. It comes out to be about $2.50 for a half liter of beer here. We have gone out for drinks many times already over the week and it has been a great and relaxing way to end the days!
Now I am going to spend the rest of my evening tonight relaxing with a good book. We are going for a boat trip down a river in between a bunch of mountains tomorrow which should be quite nice and am looking forward to it. I will get someone else to bring their camera though, I don't trust mine.
So, all in all it has been a great opening week. Lots of great education mixed in with great conversations and a lot of fun. It has definitely confirmed my yearning for further education, this has been where I have been thriving and just enjoying it so much.
I hope all is well with everyone else!
God bless!
Harrison
Today's isn't going to be extremely exciting.
This morning we learned about the notion of love and its historical roots in the thought of JP II. There was some interesting Thomistic and Aristotelian lines of thinking about the 4 kinds of love that I hadn't heard before, as well as a very different way of going about it then C.S. Lewis does. It was by Fr. Kubczek and it was excellent as always. I will be ordering his book on the philosophical anthropology of JP II quite soon.
After that was coffee break followed by a second lecture by Prof. Hittinger on Catholic Social Doctrine. Again, it was very profound. He has a book on this stuff that I, again, will be getting. It just blew my socks off...literally. The persecutions the Church went through in the 18th and 19th century, well, I don't think Catholics know about them and about how many Catholics have actually been martyred. He likened it to the Holocaust in that it was the same course of action, a systematic and intentional extinction of Catholics. It is amazing what the Church has been through in regards to this. Also, he talks about the political nature of the Sacred Heart (it is quite fascinating) Marian apparitions, and how every encyclical a Pope has put out on the rosary has been social in nature. Quite amazing.
He also talked about the history of the idae of subsidiaridy. We talked about it in group discussion alongside the notion of private use and private property. Fascinating discussions ensued to say the least. I discussed it over with him at dinner and asked him what he thought about the state of Canadian Health Care in regards to this and he said, really, it does defy the principles. He said that yes, Health Care is a public good, but that, for reasons of better access and for incentives in order to become better at its service, some public goods are held in private. Examples are food and education. These are both public goods for everyone to have access too. But just because it is a public good does not necessitate that it ought to be held by a public agency. Imagine if the State was in charge of food and distribution! And education is provided by the state, but it is also provided privately too, though more so in the States then in Canada. So, fundamentally, you cannot use the argument that because it is a public good that it must be held in public for there are many clear examples against this.
Dinner and lunch were excellent today where, again, many awesome conversations ensued. Sometimes they're not that intellectual either, we just sit back and relax. There has been beer every day because it is so amazingly cheap here. It comes out to be about $2.50 for a half liter of beer here. We have gone out for drinks many times already over the week and it has been a great and relaxing way to end the days!
Now I am going to spend the rest of my evening tonight relaxing with a good book. We are going for a boat trip down a river in between a bunch of mountains tomorrow which should be quite nice and am looking forward to it. I will get someone else to bring their camera though, I don't trust mine.
So, all in all it has been a great opening week. Lots of great education mixed in with great conversations and a lot of fun. It has definitely confirmed my yearning for further education, this has been where I have been thriving and just enjoying it so much.
I hope all is well with everyone else!
God bless!
Harrison
Thursday, July 05, 2007
A quick update
Hi everyone, I have to try and be quick with this update.
Anyways, yesterday was great. We began the day with a lecture by Fr. Kubjac on the philosophical anthropology of JP II. This man is supposed to be the world's more foremost figure in the study of JP II's philosophical and theological anthropology. The lecture blew my mind! I couldn't take notes fast enough. In fact, I'm going to try and purchase a digital recorder of some sort while I'm here because the lectures are really that good!
At the end of his lecture I asked him about how JP II found that a theologian can only be a phenomenologist in a secondary sense and never a primary sense and if he could explain that. He said that, in response to people like Max Scheler, that they weren't phenomenological enough, which blew my mind. One example was that Max Scheler doesn't talk about the experience of "I will" as he though that the will was nothing truly real, but a result of emotional experiences. Amazing stuff.
In the second lecture we had Prof. Russell Hintinger. This man is a genius, seriously. He is so smart that he speaks at extremely abstract levels and was talking about the ontological nature of society. My notes explain it all and I will be more then happy to share this stuff with everyone. He really got started at getting to the route of what JP II meant by the "subjectivity of society".
For lunch we attempted to celebrate the 4th of July with the Americans by having hot dogs and hamburgers. Unless you're in England or Germany, do not try this, it will not be successful, the burger was discusting. I went off with a couple of the seminarians to have some real food and we had some great discussions and I bought a Polish Jersey fro 30 Zloties (which equates to about $10 Canadian!).
After that we had discussion groups. I didn't particpate too much in this one as it was a large discussion about the role of the EU (came out of discussing Centissimus Annus). Anyways, I don't know much about it, but do hope to read up on it one day.
In the evening we went for dinner. Followed by dinner myself and some other students joined Stephen White, George Weigel, and Prof. Hittinger for polish vodka and cigars. It was good vodka, though I think I had one shot too many. I didn't get drunk or anything that evening actually, but it hit me this morning!!!
After that Zane, myself, Brandon, and Stephen White went to a bar for a beer and discussed the seminar, lots of various topics, and an intense discussion about free will, the hierarchy of goods, and how it relates to vocation in terms of one's freedom.
Quickly today we started off with Fr. Kubjac again and it was again an amazing lecture and we had Prof. Hittinger go into the history of the Church acting and understanding "societas". It was an amazing lecture. It brought in the Cluniac Reforms and the Investiture conflict so I was especially excited! Again, too much in these lectures to be able to get across what has been said. I have used now just more then half of my first notepad that they gave me.
We had a quick lunch at a place near the Dominican Priory and then went on a tour of Wawel Castle and Cathedral, St Mary's Basillica, and a bit of the town. Was nice but a bit long and it has tired me out.
We are about to have Mass and then it is off to dinner yet again and then I think I'm just going to hang out here tonight and read and relax, no beer or vodka today!!!!
Thanks to those who have e-mailed me and hope to hear from others soon! To those who e-mailed, I will do my best to get back to you soon, now I'm off to Mass.
I guess it wasn't such a quick post after all!
God bless
Harrison
Anyways, yesterday was great. We began the day with a lecture by Fr. Kubjac on the philosophical anthropology of JP II. This man is supposed to be the world's more foremost figure in the study of JP II's philosophical and theological anthropology. The lecture blew my mind! I couldn't take notes fast enough. In fact, I'm going to try and purchase a digital recorder of some sort while I'm here because the lectures are really that good!
At the end of his lecture I asked him about how JP II found that a theologian can only be a phenomenologist in a secondary sense and never a primary sense and if he could explain that. He said that, in response to people like Max Scheler, that they weren't phenomenological enough, which blew my mind. One example was that Max Scheler doesn't talk about the experience of "I will" as he though that the will was nothing truly real, but a result of emotional experiences. Amazing stuff.
In the second lecture we had Prof. Russell Hintinger. This man is a genius, seriously. He is so smart that he speaks at extremely abstract levels and was talking about the ontological nature of society. My notes explain it all and I will be more then happy to share this stuff with everyone. He really got started at getting to the route of what JP II meant by the "subjectivity of society".
For lunch we attempted to celebrate the 4th of July with the Americans by having hot dogs and hamburgers. Unless you're in England or Germany, do not try this, it will not be successful, the burger was discusting. I went off with a couple of the seminarians to have some real food and we had some great discussions and I bought a Polish Jersey fro 30 Zloties (which equates to about $10 Canadian!).
After that we had discussion groups. I didn't particpate too much in this one as it was a large discussion about the role of the EU (came out of discussing Centissimus Annus). Anyways, I don't know much about it, but do hope to read up on it one day.
In the evening we went for dinner. Followed by dinner myself and some other students joined Stephen White, George Weigel, and Prof. Hittinger for polish vodka and cigars. It was good vodka, though I think I had one shot too many. I didn't get drunk or anything that evening actually, but it hit me this morning!!!
After that Zane, myself, Brandon, and Stephen White went to a bar for a beer and discussed the seminar, lots of various topics, and an intense discussion about free will, the hierarchy of goods, and how it relates to vocation in terms of one's freedom.
Quickly today we started off with Fr. Kubjac again and it was again an amazing lecture and we had Prof. Hittinger go into the history of the Church acting and understanding "societas". It was an amazing lecture. It brought in the Cluniac Reforms and the Investiture conflict so I was especially excited! Again, too much in these lectures to be able to get across what has been said. I have used now just more then half of my first notepad that they gave me.
We had a quick lunch at a place near the Dominican Priory and then went on a tour of Wawel Castle and Cathedral, St Mary's Basillica, and a bit of the town. Was nice but a bit long and it has tired me out.
We are about to have Mass and then it is off to dinner yet again and then I think I'm just going to hang out here tonight and read and relax, no beer or vodka today!!!!
Thanks to those who have e-mailed me and hope to hear from others soon! To those who e-mailed, I will do my best to get back to you soon, now I'm off to Mass.
I guess it wasn't such a quick post after all!
God bless
Harrison
Monday, July 02, 2007
In Beautiful Krakow!
Hi Everyone!
Well, I have some interesting stuff that happened to me!
First, I did not fall asleep last night. I couldn't sleep. I guess I didn't adjust as well as I thought to the timezones. This is good though because the front desk never did give me the wake up call I was expecting at 4am, so it must have been the hand of providence that ensured I didn't sleep.
So I go downstairs to pay and found out that my card is declined. He tried a second time and the same thing happened again! Needless to say, I was freaking out. So I went to a bank machine, and it wouldn't let me take that amount out of my Visa card. So I took the money from my bank account and am going to have to get a hold of my parents to see if they can temporarily put $500 in my account...as this has caused great distress and no access to funds for me. God has and will provide. Weird thing is that to pay for my ticekt on the Gatwich Express, I tried my Visa and it worked! Very odd indeed. I will be making a call to my Visa company. I am not happy to say the least as I put almost all my funds on my Visa (easier to use, and cheaper). I pray that I WILL have access to them.
I have a feeling they may have put a security freeze on it for the large deposit I just made for the houses we are renting for the Eucharistic Congress.
Anyways, I get to the airport and see a MASSIVE line for baggage drop. Thankfully I got in in time, but am happy I didn't leave any later! I didn't expect that kind of line up!
So then it is through the security check. I have to give them my ticket and they take my picture for their database, I then have to put my bag through the normal x-ray thing, walk through the metal detector, get frisked, and then put my shoes through an x-ray machine! Needless to say, it makes flying rather....annoying and not worth doing.
So I got on the plane and promptly passed out. Finally, some sleep! I arrived at the Priory at about 12pm local time (3am PST). The schedule looks out of this world! Unfortunately it seems that Michale Novak is not here this year, I was looking forward to meeting him.
Tonight we start off with an opening lecture my George Weigel, followed by Mass and then dinnner at 7:30pm. I am thinking I might go hit a McDonald's or something as I haven't had anything to eat since Lunch yesterday.
So that has been my interesting day. I'm going to go get some food and take a nap!
God Bless!
Harrison
Well, I have some interesting stuff that happened to me!
First, I did not fall asleep last night. I couldn't sleep. I guess I didn't adjust as well as I thought to the timezones. This is good though because the front desk never did give me the wake up call I was expecting at 4am, so it must have been the hand of providence that ensured I didn't sleep.
So I go downstairs to pay and found out that my card is declined. He tried a second time and the same thing happened again! Needless to say, I was freaking out. So I went to a bank machine, and it wouldn't let me take that amount out of my Visa card. So I took the money from my bank account and am going to have to get a hold of my parents to see if they can temporarily put $500 in my account...as this has caused great distress and no access to funds for me. God has and will provide. Weird thing is that to pay for my ticekt on the Gatwich Express, I tried my Visa and it worked! Very odd indeed. I will be making a call to my Visa company. I am not happy to say the least as I put almost all my funds on my Visa (easier to use, and cheaper). I pray that I WILL have access to them.
I have a feeling they may have put a security freeze on it for the large deposit I just made for the houses we are renting for the Eucharistic Congress.
Anyways, I get to the airport and see a MASSIVE line for baggage drop. Thankfully I got in in time, but am happy I didn't leave any later! I didn't expect that kind of line up!
So then it is through the security check. I have to give them my ticket and they take my picture for their database, I then have to put my bag through the normal x-ray thing, walk through the metal detector, get frisked, and then put my shoes through an x-ray machine! Needless to say, it makes flying rather....annoying and not worth doing.
So I got on the plane and promptly passed out. Finally, some sleep! I arrived at the Priory at about 12pm local time (3am PST). The schedule looks out of this world! Unfortunately it seems that Michale Novak is not here this year, I was looking forward to meeting him.
Tonight we start off with an opening lecture my George Weigel, followed by Mass and then dinnner at 7:30pm. I am thinking I might go hit a McDonald's or something as I haven't had anything to eat since Lunch yesterday.
So that has been my interesting day. I'm going to go get some food and take a nap!
God Bless!
Harrison
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