The Cathedral Blog

Rome — Final day(s)

Well, we’ve all arrived home safely and I finally have the convenience of using a wireless internet that works so I can update you on everything that happened the last two days of our trip.  Sunday was absolutely incredible.  We split up and half of us went to see the ruins of an old military base on the coast and the other half of us went to Mass at the Vatican.  Both groups had a fantastic time.  I went with the group that attended Mass and it was breathtaking.  The Salgado family had a particularly miraculous experience (if I may be so bold to call it that). They were asked to carry up the gifts at the Mass and Mrs. Salgado was asked to read the second reading.  She read beautifully in Spanish and the Salgado children and father did a wonderfully graceful job bringing up the gifts.  The Mass processional was the longest I had ever experienced.  There were 60 + priests, 20+ Bishops and one Cardinal who all sat behind the altar.  It was so moving that by the time the Salgado family got to carry up the gifts, myself, and I’m sure those around me (Mrs. Witka in particular) had tears streaming down our cheeks. After Mass we rushed outside because at 12:00 every Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI gives an address and a blessing.  It was amazing.  When we had gone into the Mass that morning there had hardly been anyone on in St. Peter’s Square but by the time we emerged from the Vatican doors, thousands upon thousands of people had crowded into the square.  There were giant banners, songs ringing through the air in every language, and people shouting and smiling and waving.  The window of his personal quarters had an ornate red rug draped from the balcony and 10 minutes later, the Pope appeared in front of his adoring people. He addressed us in Italian for a while and talked about the Feast of St. Peter and Paul that was this weekend and is a huge holiday in Rome, then gave a blessing, and then said something short in about 9 different languages so that everyone could understand him.   After Pope Benedict retired to his private quarters we went to eat lunch and then met up with the other half of the group for rehearsal for the big performance.
St. Maria di Sopra Minerva is a beautiful church located a stone’s throw away from the Pantheon and provided an amazing background both acoustically and aesthetically. The combined choir sang in Latin, Italian, Gaelic, and English.  Their performance was as beautiful as the church, maybe even more so if that’s possible.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  There were very few, if any hitches, and everyone had a great time.  I want to say a big congratulations to the Cathedral Choir for their talent, maturity, and professionalism in both their performances and behavior.  They represented Cathedral so well!!!  It seemed they sang their Irish Blessing whenever they had the opportunity and musically left their mark on a beautiful, beautiful city.

Sarah Morone

Rome — Day 4

Et Patre, Et Filious, Et Spirito Sanctus.  Amen
We began our day with a Latin Mass at the Vatican. What an absolutely AMAZING experience! The students’ beautiful voices echoed off of the Bernini sculptures, the gorgeous Baldachinno, and the immense marble walls.  The beauty of the Vatican is absolutely indescribable. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta which moved some of us, mainly yours truly, to tears, and we took pictures by the Jubilee door that is only opened ever 24 years for only 24 hours. We toured the Vatican Museum and the breathtaking Sistine Chapel and then ended our evening with dinner at a restaurant called Grotto Azurre and of course, evening rehearsal.  The weather was a perfect 75 degrees and breezy and even though we are all exhausted, this is a day we will surely always remember.

Sarah Morone

Rome — Day 3

Churches, churches, and more churches!
After our 6:30 morning “wake up call from Rome” the students and chaperones loaded the bus for their rehearsal.  They met with the other four choirs that will be singing with them at the festival and after 4 hours of singing, they were off on another site seeing tour.  We did everything from throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain, climbing the Spanish Steps, gazing awestruck at the Pantheon, bartering with street souvenir vendors, and visiting church after church after amazing church.  Dinner was wonderful.  We all crammed into a small authentic Italian restaurant for a meal of stuffed eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini for appetizers and pasta with cream sauce for our entrees and of course, a little Tiramisu for dessert.  Tomorrow is the Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, where the students will be singing, and then a tour of the Vatican and Vatican Museum.  We are all tired but it’s a happy and satisfied exhaustion.

Sarah Morone

Rome — Day 2

Buon Giorno!!
After a grueling flight we have all landed safely in beautiful Roma!  It’s about 80 degrees but after spending the entire day in the sun, I think we are looking forward to the rain that supposed to come tomorrow.  We toured the Coliseum and the Roman Forum ruins by foot and saw many of the other sites while on the bus today. Tomorrow our talented choir students are practicing, practicing, practicing for their big performance on Sunday.  We ate dinner with other choir groups from the USA tonight that are staying at the same hotel and everyone seems so excited just to be in such a beautiful city. I still can’t believe that I was standing inside the Coliseum today!  It can only get better from here!

Sarah Morone

Rome — Day 1

“Learning to Fly”
After a  short jaunt from Indianapolis to Chicago, a restless group of choir students and their already exhausted chaperones are anxiously awaiting our connecting flight to Rome.   The weather at O’Hare airport is rainy with an occasional flash of lightening  so we are all very hopeful that our flight will be able to take off on time. The kids are passing the layover time by playing cards, and shopping at the duty free shop to stock up on snacks for the nine hour flight.  The photo shoots have already begun and I am sure that all of the students will have hundreds of pictures by the time we get home.  Send some prayers our way for happy and safe travel!

Sarah Morone

On a Mission in Peru –– Day 9

So we went to Machu Picchu today, kinda cool I have to say. I mean the whole part of waking up at 7 a.m. and getting on a train, sitting there for three hours while descending from 12,000 ft to 8,000 wasn’t what I would call a rare old time, but the actual city of the Incas was cool. We had a personal tour guide, which was nifty, and he showed us around the ruins for a good two or three hours. The buildings and why they were there made sense, but truthfully, I seriously doubt that we have any ACTUAL idea of what is at Machu Picchu and why it is there. But anyway, we got to be inside “the Kings house” which was neat, the guy had his own private lavatory system, which I found … slightly amusing. By the way I should throw in there that “Inca” means King, so technically “Incans” means Kings, pretty cool right? I thought so too. Apparently men and women are relatively equal within the Incan “pecking order”, pretty progressive if you ask me for the 15th century. Pachacutec the 9th Incan ruler, is responsible for all of this progression, and he is the man credited with turning the Incan regime into an Empire which ranged from Bolivia and Ecuador, to Chile. Its capital was Cusco and Machu Picchu was thought to be his home and a gathering place for the very religious and spiritual leaders from the Incan empire. He created new customs that forbade the sacrifice of human life, put more emphasis on new technologies, and he was the man responsible for creating Machu Picchu, and the mythical city of Vilacamba, as the new Incan capital. Vilacamba is believed to be the last bastion of hope for the Incans from the Spanish. The professor from Yale University, Hiram Bingham, was in search for Vilacamba, and when he and band of merry men stumbled upon Machu Picchu in 1913, he believed that this city was indeed the capital. Turns out the guy was wrong, but oh well. Machu Picchu is a relatively small community, having about 160 or so homes, that would have been able to house 600 to 800 people. The Spanish never discovered Machu Picchu and the villagers left it when Vilacamba was established. It is special because it is its original form of 15th century existence, unchanged by the conquering Spaniards.  Anyways, I learned all of this info in a little bit over two and half hours, so just think what one could learn if they actually TRIED to pay attention, and if they spent some more time exploring this ancient wonder.

Nate Moyer, student studying Spanish with Mrs. Morris

On a Mission in Peru — Day 8

Today we arrived at Cusco and pretty much relaxed the whole day. First we arrived at the hotel,  unpacked and got a two hour break to adapt to the altitude of 12,000 ft. We had all taken our high altitude pills to avoid horrendous headaches and dizziness.  Our motto for the day was “easy does it”.  After our relaxing time, we went to the center square where the entire town was celebrating the festival of Corpus Cristo. At the festival there was a huge parade of 12 floats being hand carried by different groups,  trumpets and bands, food, candy apples, and a lot of other enjoyable things. There were people on every street inviting everyone  to come to their restaurants. Food was being cooked everywhere on the streets.  For lunch,  we chose a traditional Peruvian restaurant and could view the parade and masses of people from the second floor. After lunch we went on to enjoy the festival some more.  For dinner, we went to a pizzeria where the chefs bake the pizza in a wood oven (it was the best pizza I have ever had)! We are walking on little cobblestone streets from the 15th century and there are a lot of hills.  Cuzqueños (people from Cusco) are in great shape, especially for the altitude.  As we huffed and puffed our way back to our hotel, we saw happy locals like we have at the Indy 500 everywhere and bands played until late in the evening.
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Alexandria Dunlap (student of Mrs. Egan)

On a Mission in Peru — Day 7

Today was a somewhat slow day, which is nice every now and then. The main body of kids didn´t get home from school until about 1 or 2 p.m., so it was pretty chill up until then. But even when the kids got home, they weren´t all over the place like they were yesterday. They seemed pretty content just sitting on the couch waiting for their turn for me to either spin them in high-speed circles, tickle them, or throw them up in the air. Mind you, these activities can be extremely exhausting for yours truly, but hey whatever.  We went through the schedule of baby play in the morning, noon lunch and our afternoon trip to the park with ease and without too many diversions. But around 4:30 p.m. the gang hopped into probably THE smallest taxi in Peru, and drove into Lima. And being the people that we are, we sat there for the next hour or so and talked about why we were here, what did we want to take out of this trip, and our thoughts on the powers that be. It was quite touching.  We got to Lima, and of course we went to a special Peruvian meal and traditional show at a very upscale mall in Miraflores, Peru, right on the coast. It was funny how excited I was to be back into my comfort zone. Like I was walking a lot faster than all the others and I wanted to see all the shops, I didn´t think I missed America THAT much. But I guess I do. Interesting……..

So let me get started on the whole ¨Why I´m here¨ dialogue from our taxi discussion. To tell you the truth, I just wanted to come. Some would say that this Peru trip was one of the pit-stops I would make in my long life journey, the whole idea of Destiny and that God wanted me here because somehow what I do here is going to affect the rest of my life. But really, I just saw the flyer and I thought ¨That´s what I want to do this summer.¨ Contradictory to what I said about missing suburbia, downtown malls, water I don´t have to be wary of, modern plumbing and tons of TV channels that are in English and don´t have subtitles — I was getting kind of tired of that whole thing. I was annoyed of petty gossip and drama, the kind that in a year it would hardly matter. So I left that world, not permanently. But when I go back, I´m probably going to have a different perspective on the Mid-Western world.

So I guess, ultimately, that is why I´m here, to gain a new perspective on the life I lead. It is also to gain a different kind of self-worth and confidence.

By Nate Moyer, studying Spanish with Mrs. Morris

On a Mission in Peru — Day 6

Today the volunteers with morning shift had to help with the babies. One of them was being naughty and bit Mr. Halstead´s shoulder when play time was over. During lunch, the kids were being difficult and they didn’t want to eat. Dr. Tony says that they need to eat everything they have on their plate for nutrition reasons. For dinner,  they finished dinner very quickly because if they didn’t finish, they would not have chocolate for desert. We also went to the park with the kids that didn’t have homework, and two of the boys got into a fight over a toy. Our creativity is being used everywhere in Spanish and in childcare.

Today some of the volunteers, including myself, didn’t get to go to our routine coffee break at 4 p.m. because we were at the park longer than usual with a class of visiting Peruvian students.  I would have enjoyed the break and the chocolate cake.

For dinner we had an omelet  with spinach and I also tried a hot sauce called Aji.  It was so spicy but I  liked it in small quantities.  We left the Hogar at 8 p.m. after evening Mass and dinner.  Roxana, our blind “Incan princess” sang one of her Quechu songs at the park.  She also listened to part of the Three Musketeers at the library and practiced her 11 and 12 multiplication tables with Mrs. Halstead.

By Alexandria Dunlap, student studying Spanish with Mrs. Egan

On a Mission in Peru — Day 5

Part 1:
Last night Saturday evening all of the children from the Hogar, except the babies, went to mass.  I thought it was amazing. Dr. Tony has a huge  van, and he drives all of the youngest children. The rest of the children walk with the volunteers including those who are blind, in wheelchairs or crutches. The church is about three blocks away and there are a lot of groups of nuns and novices in habits attending along with others from Chacalcayo.  The church is salmon pink in color with a mosaic tile of Jesus and Mary at the front of the church.  There was one special girl named Roxana, who is blind now due to a terminal brain tumor at the age of 11. She walk to Mass with Mrs. Halstead helping her, impressively avoiding the cracks and ruts with little guidance.  She walks every night to daily Mass and sings with a most beautiful voice.  She also goes up for communion.   Mrs. Halstead is praying for her miracle of a cure.  The children were so eager to go to Mass and they sat quietly and listened to the service. We children took up about six rows! It was definitely a great sight to see.  The Mass was in Spanish, I did not understand all of it but I enjoyed the peacefulness of the church and service.
By Alexandria Dunlap, student studying Spanish with  Mrs. Egan

Part 2:
So today was pretty much the slowest day so far. I mean, from personal experience, Sundays are always slow. But hey, maybe there´s some magical thing about how all the sudden everything slows just because it´s the Sabbath. I don´t know, it´s just a theory.

OK, enough of that. So yes, pretty slow day. Some nuns came in and taught the children Sunday instruction.  After that it was pretty mellow. The Doctor lets the kids watch DVDs on Saturday night and Sunday only, so all the younger ones just sit there and are mesmerized by the miracles of Hollywood, while the older kids either join in on the vegging out, or just run off to their own corner and have some personal time. I actually saw some them go outside and sit under a tree. So it´s a pretty chill and relaxing day, as I´ve said several times before.

We volunteers took our traditional 4 p.m. coffee pause with the Dr. and that was nice. We chilled, and I had some delicious torta de chocolate, and the Doctor talked about some of the kids/patients. There is one kid there, Luis, who was a victim of someone burning down their house. I´m not sure about how his parents faired, but he lost a sister in the fire, and he was left covered in burns. When I say burns, I mean horribly, horribly burned. He is completely functional, just his entire body is one big scorch mark. And I kinda wonder if the person did that to him ever thinks about that.  He wears a plastic face mask or a tension body suit at night to bed which helps reduce the scar tissue development.  He is strong tempered which maybe is an important quality to help him get through life.

One of our troops, Alexandria, got a little sick but she is better now.

The gang also talked about this guy named Jamie. He´s a pretty cool cat actually, and he speaks surprisingly good english. He is continuously studying, and I think I heard something about him wanting to be an English teacher. He has burns that cover his neck, but I guess he has made good progress in therapy because he left the Hogar for some time, but returned in order to finish it. So hats off to Jamie, who also sings with a beautiful voice and plays the guitar. He is probably 22 years old and is working hard on his ability to teach English.

Then we returned to the Hogar to help with dinner and dishes.  Dinner was roast chicken with sautéed onions and tomatoes, first preceded by soup.  As always, the kids ate every bite.

Some Peruvian high school  students came by to help, with two American cousins from Ft. Lauderdale.  Another three children will be admitted this week and two will go home, having been helped and cured as much as possible.

Nate Moyer, student studying Spanish with  Mrs. Morris