benedetto. felice. amato.: Awesome day at the NAC

It was a beautiful day in Roma today! Perhaps one of my favorite on this trip so far. We had an early start to the day and went to Mass at the Pontifical North American College with the 240-ish seminarians who are studying there and probably about 30 priests who are doing some continuing education in the same area. We sang all four verses of the processional hymn and it still wasn't long enough for all the priests to make it into the Sanctuary. It was awesome. These guys are going to be a huge part of the future of the Catholic Church in the United States so it was neat to celebrate Mass with them. During the Eucharistic Prayer the priests said, "For Benedict, our pope and bishop" - it was so cool! After Mass we walked over to Trestevere and explored for a bit and made our way into a few churches that we had been wanting to see. We went to quite a few and more than half of them had weddings going on. Although it was a bummer that we couldn't see the churches, it was awesome to see so many sacraments being celebrated these last few days. As Michael said, it means that the Church is alive and that all of these churches aren't just museums! After some more wandering, we found a great little restaurant in the Trestevere area to have lunch and then Anne and I went back to the NAC and got an awesome tour of the place from two of the seminarians from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe - thanks Michael Niemczak and Christopher Bernabe! We heard some funny stories and learned a lot about all of the beautiful artwork there. We met the rector, Fr. James Checchio and Bishop Hebda of Gaylord, MI. We got a beautiful view of St. Peter's and all of Rome from the roof of the college as well. While wandering we found Archbishop Sheehan's and Monsignor Voorhies' photos from when they graduated from the college - that was so neat! The great day was concluded with Vespers there at the NAC and a nice walk back to the Residenza. We head to Florence in the morning where we will actually start class (I think I forgot what class even is!) I am sad to leave this beautiful place but I can't wait to see Florence. I look forward to returning to Rome next month for the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha! Ciao for now, Roma!