Happy Halloween!!

If you go out tonight, expect this to happen to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkr_x7--WBk&feature=related

Or see this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBySfz_w3YE&feature=related

Ultimate Fakebook

I have a group of friends from Kansas who used to be fans of a local power pop/rock group called Ultimate Fakebook. Sounds from the group can be found here. They have a creative style but unfortunately, broke up in 2003. The band's name has been used colloquially to represent a fake person/action. A poser.

The band reference is relevant only to mention that the title Ultimate Fakebook has recently been revived because of the actions of my exuberant roommate: Genevieve Jordan. Today we had the chance to hear 'Delaware's Own' Joe Biden speak about 10 minutes away from the D-house convent on the campus of his alma mater: The University of Delaware.

Gen decided it was a good idea to leave around 6:45am to get a good spot for the 10:30am talk; I obliged, and we did get a good spot in the second row.

The spot was discovered to be even better as the potential VP descended to shake hands in the front row. Gen, sporting her snazzy maroon Philadelphia Phillies hat, reached her hand through a window between two shoulders in front of her. As Joe grabbed her hand Gen shouted 'Go Phillies!' Joe smilingly responded, "Yea! But the Phillies did it. Now it's go team!'

A seemingly warm encounter. So why condemn Gen to 'fakebook' or even worse, 'ultimate fakebook' status, especially since she has, commendably, been to one game at the Phillies stadium?

-She has never watched more than an inning of World Champion Phillies baseball before or since (including all of the playoff and World Series games)
-She can only name 2-3 players on the team
-She didn't know who/what the Phillies were before we moved to Delaware

Today, Gen used the tools that she had to prompt a conversation with the political celebrity; well done, she 'took what the defense gave her'. Yet, this came at the expense of playing the role of ultimate fakebook. Poser.

...I would have done the same thing!

Spying on Mike

I've been looking around on the St. Dominic's website to see when their Saturday Mass time is (4:30pm). As you know by Mike's post way below, he want on a mission trip to Ecuador. What you might not know is that there are pictures up on their website from this trip. And the blessing of the animals (that all 3 of us participated in--check out picture 22). And several other Mike related events, including a bonfire.

Don't kill me Mike.

Wilmington: "A Place to be Somebody"

Our baseball team-- soon to be World Champions
Our senator-- soon to be Vice President


...we're the shit

Spreading some Music Love

This past Saturday Angela and I went down to San Antonio for a Young Adult Conference. They had some great speakers there. It was just a one day deal and they ended it with a concert by Mike Mangione and his band! Mike is an amazing Catholic musician. His songs might not specifically be about Catholic things or God, but he wants people to interpret them as they will. He is an independent artist, so y'all should check him out! We got to meet him after his concert. He is from the Milwaukee/Chicago area and we actually have a friend in common, which is pretty awesome.

He is a pretty short guy, so I was bending down to get the pic (like I do with most short people...) and he goes "stand up straight!" He told me his wife is 6' tall. wowzers. Anyway, you can check him out at his own website and listen to his music on myspace. And you should check out where he's playing at to see him in concert b/c he is amazing live! And I saw by his microphone stand that he had a holy card of Pope John Paul II, a San Damiano crucifix, and another holy card. He knows where his focus is!

Echo-lantern

Peoria wishes all of Echo a blessed All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day!

Mark It Down

October 27, 2008: Brookfield's first snow of the season, and, I venture to guess, the earliest of all houses.

Unless Fort Worth has some surprising news.

Quarterly Report

So... we have finished our first quarter of being "Apprentice Catechetical Leaders" in our parishes and I think this is as good of a time as any to look back and reflect on we (or more specifically me)have learned so far. This is just a brief and somewhat censored list on things that I have learned about being an ACL and myself

1. Monkey See. Monkey Do.: After 4 years of going theology professors' classes, I have picked up a thing or two from them. Cunningham's walk with his two arms behind his back (that one's for you Meli). Fr. Odozor's seizing of the dramatic/intense moment. Fr. Daley's "any thoughts?" and getting all exuberant. MacIntyre's penchant for getting chalk all over his clothes when teaching and overly sharp/critical questioning. And of course Cavadini's fixing of glasses and pondering glances. If anything, I have completely found what I want to do with the rest of my life and by doing that I have discovered what I don't want to do as well...

2. "So do you have those TPS reports?": I never want to work a 9-5 or more specifically in my case a 9-4 job. Ever. I don't mind being in my office, but I can't stand being in there for overly long periods of time. Terry the Mentor mentioned the other day that she read an article about how people stay thin by being fidgety and constantly moving-she thought of me. I just want to go explore or camping for extending periods of time. This summer before we start up at ND again, I am going to either Israel or roadtripping. If the college version of me saw me now, he would be pissed how somewhat boring I have become.

3. "Sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.": I love all the people I have met while working and living in DE: Terry the mentor, Bob the curmudgeonly priest, Clement the Monsignor, Niamh the pre-school girlfriend, Random Kids at the school who wave at me, the hot yet unavailable teachers, my students young and old, Ed Gordon the Diocesan Director, and Mike and Lauren the neighbors. After years of living with brilliant college students, its great and eye-opening to live with people of all types and backgrounds. They are all good-hearted people. That means they deserve the best that I can give and should give. Being a hero...I mean catechist is more than just being the person that people need; its about being the person that people deserve.

So yeah those are some of the things that I have learned so far and hope to learn more. J-Lew is probably going to say something about how this post is so long, but you know what-Screw it.

Suggestions?

The D-House women are nowhere to be found this weekend!

Suggestions for me and The Tae?

This article makes me smile

I'm preparing for 10th grade class on Sunday. The topic is prayer. I've made it a goal of mine to include some sort of CS Lewis thing in every class from here on out.

After a couple of Google searches, I came across an article that talks about the mystical nature of Narnia and mentions prayer. So I read it, and it made me smile.

Any ideas for presenting prayer to 10th grade?

Standing On Top of the World

Hola, amigos. Here's a little taste of the Ecuadorian world, as I stand atop Quito's famous Basilica del Voto Nacional.

I need an ice scraper

I woke up this morning to go to 8am Mass, thought I'd have enough time (12 minute drive to parish, leave 16 minutes 'til Mass, until I realized that there was a thin layer of ice on my windshield. I lacked an ice scraper. So I had to turn on the car and wait for it to thaw out.

Fun story. I know. Moral of the story, don't live in Wisconsin. Other moral of the story, steal Tom's ice scraper. And, as always, the third moral of the story, after parking the night before you think there might be an ice storm, either leave your car running overnight or put a thin layer of either wax paper or plastic wrap over the windshield and the un-windshield (the back windshield which isn't really a windshield because it doesn't shield you from the wind in the same way that a real windshield does). That way you just have to wrap up the wax paper/plastic wrap and throw it onto the ground. Very environmentally safe.

World Series, HERE WE COME!!!!

RAYS WIN!! RAYS WIN!!

1998-2007 = Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays

2007 = Worst record in baseball

2008 = Tampa Bay Rays

(took "Devil" out.)

2008 = World Series

Coincidence? I think not...

Vincentian Prayer

Bill Johnson at a workshop thing a couple of days ago prayed this prayer. I really like it:

Divine Savior,
transform me into yourself.
May my hands be your hands.
May my tongue be your tongue.
Grant that every faculty of my body
may serve only to glorify you.
Above all, transform my soul and all its powers
that my memory, my will, and my affections
may be the memory, the will, and the affections of you.

I pray you to destroy in me all that is not of you.
Grant that I may live but in you and by you and for you,
that I may truly say with Saint Paul, "I live, now not I,
but Christ lives in me."
Amen.

Whoa!!! Gettin' Rid of Hair

I really just wanted to use that subject line, but just so y'all can recognise me next time you see me, here is what I look like minus 13 inches of hair.

Gettin' rid of hair. . . must be an echo thing.

Dept. of Cooler Echo Placement Than Yours: Not In Your Hemisphere

Hello darlings, and greetings from Quito, Ecuador. That's right, the southern hemisphere. Drink it up.

I don't really have time to write, since I'm bumming a computer off a volunteer at the kick-ass center I'm staying at. More will follow. But I wanted to get the jealousy brewing, or something.

Back Sunday night. Expect some kind of long-form thing within the next two weeks.

Just in Case Jerry DOES Read the Blog

A little background information:

When Jerry came to visit my parish last week Janet and I took him all around the premises, like the rest of you did. Since I'm teaching middle school religion classes every week, we thought it would be nice to introduce Jerry to one of my classes. So, we popped in on the class and I introduced him to the regular teacher, Mrs. Pennington, and the 7th graders. Jerry was actually great with the kids, although he only said a couple of things to them and then we were off to see t rest of the campus.

Now the story:

Yesterday, as I was walking to my 8th grade class I ran into one of my 7th graders. He asked me whether I was teaching his class and I told him that I wasn't, but that I would next week. His response was, "awesome. Is that Dr. Bomby... Bommer.... uh... Dr. guy going to come back with you?"

I had to reveal that Dr. Baumbach had gone back to his normal job at Notre Dame. 

"Dang," the 7th grader said, "I love that guy!"

Evidently, Jerry made a pretty big impression on my class!

Finally experiencing Fall

Oh how I have missed Minnesota! I am currently back in this grand state on a vacation from Texas. The leaves are beautiful and the weather is chilly. I saw a ton of friends when I went to the main academic building when afternoon classes were done with and got bombarded by people, it was amazing. Tonight my friends had a cookout at 7pm, so, it was basically dark out. We grilled up some hot dogs and my vegetarian friend ate chicken for the first time in 4 years! We loved it. The friend I'm staying with made an apple caramel crisp pie, wow was it delicious! She also made a pumpkin pie but we didn't eat it. And it got cold out! I loved it! I know, I know, call me crazy. But I don't get to experience my hands hurting from being cold in Texas.

So anyway, I'm loving being back up north. It feels a little weird not having a "home" on campus and there are many new faces, but plenty of familiar ones! Tomorrow one of my friends and I are going to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, WI. We're only going in the morning, but we both haven't seen the completed church (which they believe will be dedicated as a basilica).

Oh man, I am tired... ok, so random post.... catch y'all on the flip side!

Echo Gourd

(sorry for two posts in a row- but this was worth it)

The Baumbach Blogger

One of the first things Jerry said during my meeting with him was that Milwaukee house told him about the blog. He said it in a way that made me feel "found out" or convicted. I’m sure I said something stupid in response and then moved to a different subject.

He brought it up again at dinner, a couple of times. I soon realized that Jerry has NO IDEA what the blog is, and because of that, his imagination has really run rampant. He has some strange sense that the blog is all about him and that any piece of information that lets out about his life is no sooner spoken than posted on the blog for all to see.

"It probably even has my sons’ shoe sizes."

He feels very guilty about forgetting to tell St. Petersburg that his son is expecting a child. Apparently they asked him how his family was doing and he never answered. He was afraid that he would tell us something about his family (like expecting a grandchild), it would make it to the blog, and then St. Petersburg would see it and get their feelings hurt.

In other news, Jerry thinks his grandchild should be named "Echo." I thought he was kidding—and I think he sort of was, but he sort of wasn’t. Jonathan suggested the name "Gogy" if it’s a boy and I think "Gogia" is an appropriate feminine alternative.

Sarah, however, had the best idea:

"I think you should name him Hector because it has all the letters of ‘ECHO’ plus two more."


A final Jerry moment to report:

I gave him the routine parish tour and we came to our music director’s office. I introduced them and Jerry looked around and said something like, "yeah I appreciate what you do. I’m a real mystagog by nature."

cricket. cricket.

I had almost forgotten that mystagogia is ALWAYS relevant.

A Marriage Proposal

"Are you marrying Mr. Tae? Because I want to marry Mr. Tae!"-4 year Niamh (pronounced Nieve) to her grandmother, Ginny

The Prayer of Oscar Romero

Some of you have probably heard/read this before, but I found it when going through some of my things and I thought I'd share it with you. It's a good prayer for the work we're doing.

Have a beautifully blessed day! :)

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

3 Cheers for YAM!

YAM, as in, Young Adult Ministry! I wish there was a better acronym for that... oh well. This past week was crazy; I did a young adult related activity 6 days in a row! So here is a preview of the young adult ministry in the Diocese of Fort Worth. Normally it isn't this busy!

Monday: Small Church Community (dinner and "bible study" on the upcoming Sunday readings)
Tuesday: Theology on Tap (which is awesome here!)
Wednesday: Holy Family/Saint Andrew Young Adult Leadership meeting
Thursday: Diocesan Young Adult Council meeting and going out for a drink afterward
Friday: Symphony night! We scored more free tickets for the symphony, went out for a drink after that as well
Saturday: Flag Football practice (The diocese puts on sports tournaments 4 times a year; the fall is flag football for charity)

On top of that Jerry came to visit on Wednesday and Thursday and we had lunch with the Bishop on Friday. Jerry's visit was great, we gave him advice and we ate at a steakhouse. He also said that St. Petersburg spilled the beans on Echo 5 (I guess they told him about our blog). :O

How I Spent My Saturday: A Photo Essay/Bedtime Story

Today I got the full Florida experience.

I started off my day with a 5 hour trip to the beach.

(Let's not talk about the sunburn...)

Did I go with my grandma?

No...

I went with my two favorite girls from work -- Mary & Joanne!

Mary and I decided to go for a swim.

Wave to Joanne!

But then we came back and sat in ankle-deep water.

And while we were talking I started collecting sea shells.

I came home with a delightful little collection.

Then we went home. BUT the day was not over!

After dinner at a parish event, we went to Mary's neighbor's house to watch the Rays/Red Sox game. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

Loretta (Mary's neighbor, second from left) had all of her sisters over for the weekend. One of the sisters brought matching pjs for all of them.

This bunch of Red Sox fans (complete with heavy Boston accents) provided mucho entertainment for the evening. I can't even begin to describe how hilarious they all are.

And let me tell you - the 53-minute 5th inning was a little crazy.

The game is currently going into the 11th inning... approximately 4.5 hours after it started.

Needless to say, I'm glad I left when I did.

Time for bed.

I hope you all enjoyed this bedtime story.

I had a fabulously delightful day, and just about every person I hung out with could have passed for either my mother or my grandmother.

Gotta love living in Florida...

Famous People in DE

enough said.
(pages 9-10)

Render to Caesar...

At St. James, we reflect on the Gospel for the next Sunday every time we gather together either as a staff, in RCIA, in Christian Formation classes or a variety of other ways. I thought I'd share this with you, not for this week, but for next week Gospel:

What happens to Jesus here is what happens to us frequently. People try and trap us in our words, even and maybe even especially when faith matters come into play. The Herodians are trying to do that here with Jesus. Jesus, of course, knows what’s going on, and responds with some slick words of give to Caesar what is Caesars.

Jesus’ wit is just a funny little subtlety compared to the message of the Gospel. I think these words are especially powerful in today’s world, where the financial situation for the country and the world is very unstable. Money is not the most important thing in life. A job that makes a ton of money is not that important, because ultimately, money is meant to be spent. Money is a means to an end, and not an end itself. Money helps us get by, allows us to buy food and necessities—even some things that are not necessities. Currency is helpful, but ultimately is used to get other things that we need. On top of that, in the US, money is not even ours. It belongs to the government. That’s why it’s illegal to deface money. So give to the government what is the government’s—money.

The interesting part is the second half of the sentence though. Jesus could have left it at just that, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Instead, he calls us to give to God what belongs to God. This brings up the question, what belongs to God? Only the most important stuff of life: our time, our energy, and most importantly ourselves. For in God we live, and move, and have our being. While our money is stamped with the seal of the US government, we were stamped with a mark at baptism that claims us as God’s. But just how do we give to God’s what is God’s? How do we give God ourselves?

That’s the question for today’s Gospel. We are faced with the dilemma of giving of ourselves. Where and to whom do we give ourselves? To our job? To an addiction? To money? To our school? To ourselves? To our family? To our friends? To God?

Where are the priorities in your life? And are you faithfully repaying to God what belongs to God?

Most VAIN blog post... ever.

Per the request of another Echo-cincoer, I'm putting pictures of my new haircut on the blog. The first picture is semi-hideous, but I like the second one!

Say goodbye to six inches of my hair!!

DJI

Fact: Since we began at our parishes on August 19th, the Down Jones Industrial Average has dropped over 17%.
Conclusion: Echo 5 is bad for the economy.

Jerry visits SPFL

Famous Quote from Jerry Baumbach for the night

We are at dinner and he is fiddling with his camera trying to figure out how to zoom and he says.... "I know more about mystagogy than cameras." We died laughing. Sooooo funny!

Please Check for Heresy

So I am leading my first Echoes of Faith session-which is a catechesis program for school teachers and first time catechists. It's on Scripture. To help them, I came up with this.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Handy-Dandy Method to Reading and Understanding Scripture
By Tae Kang

Article 1: Is Scripture meant to be read and understood solely literally?
Objection 1: It seems that Scripture is meant to be read completely as a literal translation. It is, after all, the Holy Book that all should follow down to the last comma and period.
Objection 2: God inspired the authors of the Bible with His Spirit. God does not make mistakes with His intentions, so thus the Scriptures are meant to be read literally as to grasp God’s intentions.
Objection 3: If I do not read and believe everything in the Bible literally, I will lose my faith for how will I know what to believe?
Objection 4: Sarah Palin understands the Bible literally. Shouldn’t I? (not trying to make a political statement here-solely a statement of fact)

On the Contrary: The Holy Scriptures are not meant to be solely read and understood in the literal translation. To read it only literally loses the great, deep treasures that Scripture has to offer.

I answer that: There is more than one way to read Scripture.
1. Literal
2. Allegorical
3. Moral
4. Eschatological/Anagogical

(Yes it spells out LAME)

For example, read Gospel of Matthew 25: 33-Separating the Sheep from the Goats

I do not have time nor care to reply to the objections stated above.

Work Foul!

Today I spilled my coffee. I'm a bit tired and... the mug was a little hot. Oops! The only thing it got on was my big huge thing of paper. No idea what it is called. I'm sure my office will have a pleasant aroma of coffee now. We'll see!

That reminded me of another story. Paola, Angela, and I went downtown to this Musicarte thing (that is what it was called). There were vendors and musicians all celebrating Latino heritage. Angela and I had gotten a margarita (which was probably the best margarita I've had in my life!) and the three of us went to go sit down on a bench. Well, Angela spilled some of her's before we even sat down! We also wanted our picture taken and there were some officers on the corner, so I went to get one of them to take the picture. This guy was a little older, at least in his 40's, if not his 50's. He saw Angela's spilt margarita and goes "that's a party foul!" Oh my goodness, we couldn't believe he said that! Oh the fun times in Fort Worth.

Ok, I should get working on stuff for my Confirmation class this Sunday. These kids are great. Rowdy at times... but what do you expect with 40-50 kids in one area together? They're also attentive, which is great!

ps: it's actually raining here. First time since Ike.

So I am sitting here in the living room reading the blog, as I check it almost everyday, and I mention to Katie, "I never know what to post on the blog. I am just not random and not good at it like everyone else." Everytime I read the blog I'm like, "I'm going to post today," but then nothing comes. lol. yeah that's me. So this is it. Ellen's blog post. Enjoy.

When is a Man Educated?

(Ugh. I tried to edit it, and - like Sarah - I accidentally deleted it. Oops! Let's try this again...)

"When he can look out upon the universe, now lucid and lovely, now dark and terrible, with a sense of his own littleness in the great scheme of things, and yet have faith and courage.

When he knows how to make friends and keep them, and above all, when he can keep friends with himself.

When he can be happy alone and high-minded amid the drudgeries of life. When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something besides mud, and into the face of the most forlorn mortal and see something divine.

When he knows how to live, how to love, how to hope, how to pray--is glad to live... and has in his heart a bit of song."

-Joseph Fort Newton

We found this on a box of tea. I thought it was great, so I wanted to share it with ya'll.

BUT you should know that a few people (women) in the office who read this saw the opening question and their first response was, "Never." Funny cuz it's true... :)

Have a fantastic weekend!!

The Rosary and Knute Rockne...who knew they went together

Today in my pursuit of finding resources to teach the rosary because the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on Tuesday's class, I came across the following. It was listed as an activity in a saints resource book under a section titled Our Lady of the Rosary.

Share an Anecdote: Tell the students the story of Knute Rockne, who was one of the greatest college football coaches and a convert to Catholicism. Rockne, who made the forward pass popular, was well known for giving Notre Dame University football teams the ideals of sportsmanship and fortitude. He was killed in a plane crash in Kansas on March 31, 1931. When the rescuers found his body, he had a Rosary still clutched in his hand.

Wow, not what I was expecting to find as an activity to teach the rosary, but definitely an incident that brightened my day! Even catechetical resources share the enthusiasm for Notre Dame football! GO IRISH!

First house to turn on their heat

Milwaukee House. Tuesday, September 30th, 2008, approximately 11:10pm.

Note: we attempted, unsuccessfully, to turn the heat on about 2 weeks ago, but then we realized we had to go downstairs to flick the switch on the Carrier Weathermaker. Post Note: The model in the picture may or may not be the model the the Milwaukee House. However, the device is a Carrier Weathermaker and it does look like the one in the picture.

Echo Milwaukee -- so crazy, not even three towns can contain us.