January - A Month in the Life of a Seminarian

[Philip Mayer]

Greetings,
I hope you're staying warm. It's been painfully cold here in
Wisconsin. The other day I rode my bike to chapel and by the time I
arrived, my face felt as though it had been splashed with boiling
water. The weather has been in single digits -- negative single
digits. They canceled the local elementary, middle and high schools
because of the danger of frostbite, but not the seminary! The
formation of priests marches forward.

My general ordination exams are finished. One little room, a table
full of books and a computer in the basement of a library--that was
the setting for four days of tribulation, uh, I mean ordination
testing, earlier this month. The questions weren't easy: "Are there
any actions that are intrinsically evil? Write a three page single
spaced essay." Yikes, this particular question frightened me at first
glance. Others though, weren't so difficult, such as "The only
daughter of a couple at your church, died in the Virginia Tech
tragedy. What is your theological response and how would you counsel
these struggling parents? Write a three page single spaced essay." I
was quite nervous about this exam and approached the experience with a
certain amount of trepidation. While ruminating in the months and
weeks before the academic trial, my seminary education appeared as but
a few spindly threads compared to the vast carpet of knowledge that it
seemed I should know in preparation. However, many a three page essay
later, I am finished and am now feeling somewhat confident that I've
passed at least a good chunk of the ordeal. I should be getting my
exam results back within a few days.

A few weeks ago I and some other students went down to New Orleans. We
met with Bishop Jenkins and assisted in rebuilding some of the forlorn
neighborhoods and learned of the corruption and racism in the city
that was painfully exposed through Hurricane Katrina. I was awestruck
by the array of mansions that lined picturesque St. Charles Avenue
with its oak trees and the romantic rumble of streetcars as they
passed. Yet, just behind this portrait of wealth and Southern charm,
were the neighborhoods in which we would be volunteering, hidden away
in the backstreets, blighted ghettos, houses with caving roofs and
broken windows. Back there we saw no iPod attired joggers, but rather
a black man who politely said hello and then went on carefully picking
through a trash can, collecting cans and other bits of metal that he
could sell by the pound to the local scrap metal dealer. We learned of
nearly daily murders, growing camping tent villages of homeless folks,
and a government which sees these people as a hideous sore. My trip to
New Orleans was harshly illuminating, saddening, though it's
encouraging to see and be a small part of the restoration that Bishop
Jenkins is leading.

One more big change is that after much prayer, Melissa resigned from
the bank. She'll only be working part-time at a nearby retirement
community, which will allow her to finish her Master's thesis project
(assembling a curriculum for women in the Church exploring a theology
of the body--a much needed teaching in response to the vain focus our
culture places on the female body). We were concerned that if she does
not finish her degree now, before we have children, it would never be
completed, and so it's important to us that we both finish our degrees
by May of this year.

Thanks for all your prayers--we're almost to graduation, just a few
more months and God willing, we'll be back in Florida and serving the
Church there. Blessings.

Grace and Peace,
Philip N. Mayer

phil....@gmail.com; 407-409-8913; philipmayer.blogspot.com
Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2777 Mission Road, Nashotah, WI
53058