A Picture Perfect Weekend

We Have Arrived! We are a Baker's Dozen. We come from Honolulu, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. Some of us come straight out of college and others at ages 38 and 49. We are happy and excited to be a new part of Loyola House.

Hey look, there is our superior of the house, Fr. Chris Manahan, waving hello to you and me. Pretty much the ultimate "nice guy". You feel peace when you correspond with the man.

My two classmates, Matt L. and Kyle are in the center. Kyle is an amazing man both in accomplishments and in genuinity of heart. He has a B.S. from MIT, M.A. from UCLA, M.B.A. from Northwestern and was development director for the National Council of La Raza, a non-profit focused on reducing poverty and discrimination for Hispanic Americans. Matt is no slouch either having been sent to Guatemala for two years with the Peace Corps, work with Habitat for Humanity and a marathon runner like myself. Some great conversations have been and will be had.

On the right, K-boss or kevin is our second physician in the house and joins us at a ripe age of 49. When he called the vocations director (or Jesuit recruiter) for an application, the first question was a stern, "Are you employed?" Kevin laughed and told him "yes." He began the process on time, especially since the Jesuit age limit for the novitiate is 50 years old. Oh, he's got a sail boat for sale so if anyone's interested, i'll pass the word on.

Matt S., one of the 8 second year novices giving us one of many peculiar looks. Funny faces aside, the second year novices have gone out of their way to make us feel at home (i.e. carrying in our luggage, each being assigned as our guardian angel in case we have any questions, giving tours to ourselves and our parents......pretty much everything short of doing our laundry).

Here are the 5 Wisconsin guys being introduced while my shared bathroom neighbor, Pete, falls victim to the old name tag game of getting a insincere pat on the back, in this case by Brother Jim, who leaves for Haiti this week.

As expected, we eat VERY WELL. Some great conversation was had as moms, dads, and sons mingled. My mom and dad told some stories of being chased by bears while on their honeymoon adventures.......you know, the usual light Jesuit related banter.

p.s. if you look closely you can see mom talking to kevin. she did a b-line to him when she found out that he has attended the same Medical Brigade Program in Honduras that she is passionately in love with. Isn't she great?

Winner of the best humor in the house award, Joshua, takes a moment to admire over 40 years of Jesuit Novice classes in Detroit. One of the two empty spaces will be filled with our own very shortly. Basically Joshua reminds me much of Will Ferrell humor, obviously a bit more tame and with a buzz cut, but just gifted at making the awkward obvious.

Here the Beadle, or Bryan, doing a great job of welcoming us as the head novice by bringing some of our luggage in. As a longtime guitarist i'm looking forward to learning some Dave Matthews (his expertise) and some liturgical music as well.

AND here's the the entire house, the 13 first years, 8 second years, and 3 staff members (minus Sister Theresa). 24 mouths to feed, 24 good men of faith, and 24 great stories and characters to unfold.

I look forward to telling you a little bit more about the novitiate here as well as what life is like. Our busyness seems to kick up next semester when we won't be sleeping in the same town for more than a few weeks going from experiment to experiment, so I'll be trying to soak up the more consistent stay in Detroit until Christmas. Email is a great way to reach me. We'll be starting a few classes soon but most time is available for community, prayer, and exploring the city. Much love to you all. You are most assured of thoughts and prayers daily. I miss you but know life here is very blessed. I feel right at home.