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The following entries were made by sophomore Mary DeGoede.

July 12, 2010       

Did you ever wonder where exactly these blogs come from? Let me introduce you to the Mater Ecclesiae Publications Office! As you open the door to this seventeen-by-seventeen-foot room, you’ll notice the three large filing cabinets on the opposite wall, together with a sort of rolling chest of drawers. To the left you see a long table, covered with various projects, and to the right, two computer desks with two computers each.  You will probably be struck by the sheer amount of paper in this room: books, magazines, drafts of…something or other, blank colored paper in neat stacks, sketches, paintings…any project you can imagine involving paper and paper accessories seems to be in progress in this room.

Now that you’ve had a tour, why don’t you take a seat at the table in the center of the room and observe the action? Some people think that Publications has to be the most boring fieldwork imaginable – but that’s only because they haven’t been in the Publications Office on a Friday afternoon. A few minutes after the bell rings for the end of 2:00 study hall, this little room is one of the busiest in the house. It's not uncommon to open the door and find eleven people filling almost every last inch of available floor space, and every one busily - and slightly vociferously - occupied with some task.

I remember one day when one of my fellow sophomores wass engaged in an earnest telephone conversation – something about pizza for tomorrow’s outing, I think. Two more sophomores were at the table, busily planning the next academic contest: Spanish! (¿¿Como se dice, “I’d better brush up on my verb tenses”??). On the far right computer, two juniors were updating the MEC website and discussing plans for adjusting some of the pictures, while a senior using the paper cutter on the other side of the room provided her opinion on the project. Next to the “webmasters,” as we call them, a pair of freshman were investigating music for a video for a visitors event, alternately eliciting cries of joy and groans of pain from the rest of us, as we hear familiar songs. A few feet to the left of them, two more juniors painstakingly made the final changes to the latest Digest (“is this really how you spell ‘retrogression’?!”), and at the last computer…me; with one eye on the computer and the other viewing all of the activity, marveling that so much can be happening in such a small space!

I know: you wish you could come by more often. But at least you were abelt to experience an exciting time of the week with the “Publications People,” although there is sure to be something happening in this room at any given time. I hoped you enjoyed your tour of the place where everything (OK, not everything, but a lot of things) happens; come back soon!

March 20, 2010

Some time after Christmas, one of my friends asked if anyone had come to spend Christmas with us at Mater Ecclesiae. “Oh no,” I told her, “It was just us this year.” She laughed and pointed out that “just us” actually refers to more than one hundred people. “Just a little family event, right?” she teased me. It left me wondering, what is the definition of a “large family”? Five people? Ten? How about more than one hundred?

I originally come from a family of eight children, and when I was growing up people would often comment on our big family, leading me to think that mine must have been one of the largest families possible. I remember that once when I was little I met a family with ten children, and felt rather indignant (and a little jealous) that they had “beat us.” Then I arrived to Mater Ecclesiae College, and learned a whole new dimension of “large family life.”

Living all together as a family at Matter Ecclesiae is quite the adventure. Sure, it has its difficulties (“which of the other hundred people in this house did I lend my toothpaste to, and when was she going to give it back?!”), just like life in any family, but most of all it’s an enriching experience. Whether I need someone to sing four-part harmony with in the van on the way to an outing or to think through that last Philosophical Anthropology class with me or to help me perfect my layup in basketball, there is always someone up to the task.

Another dimension of this family is the many cultures that make it up. Thanks to the influence of the Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans among us, I think that we are probably one of the very few colleges in this country that has the experience of playing cricket (or at least trying).  And we would be lacking a great element of humor without our frequent Spanish-English mix-ups, such as when one English-speaker was practicing her Spanish and attempted to tell one of the Spanish-speakers to set cucharas (spoons) for desert in the cafeteria. What she actually told her was to set cuchillos (knives), so we ended up with bowls and knives for our jello (that was an interesting meal!).

Life in this really big family is sometimes challenging, many times hilarious, generally inspiring, and never boring. I’m grateful to my own slightly less big family for preparing me to cope with the challenges and enjoy the beauty of “VERY large family life.”

December 12, 2009 

We have finally had our first snowfall in Rhode Island, which makes it feel like Christmas at last. But even before this momentous event (particularly for the Mexicans, who are seeing snow for the first time), Christmas preparations were well underway. My main contribution to the ambiance is flowers (basically filling the chapel and the rest of the house with poinsettias) and music – organ in the chapel, and choir, and well, everywhere else. If we’re not singing for visitors to the house, then we’re going to concerts and pageants around the area.

So despite some misadventures - a sudden and rather aggressive outbreak of the flu, the chapel organ getting set on a permanent vibrato setting (who knew that O Come, O Come Emmanuel could sound so eerie?) and the Christmas tree collapsing just minutes before the Faculty Christmas Dinner, to name a few - our house is humming with cooking, wrapping, decorating, singing, and so forth. As our classes wind down, the pace of everything else picks up!

In the midst of all the busy-ness, I sometimes have to pause to take a breath and remember why we’re doing all of this in the first place. I’m lucky to spend so much of my time practicing the organ for Mass, because the Advent songs remind me of who it’s all about! Otherwise it’s too easy to get caught up in the fun and excitement of all of the preparations; I want to make sure that I actually notice Christmas when it arrives!

November 20 , 2009        

Early on the morning of November 13, eleven members of the Mater Ecclesiae College choir piled into our tour bus (alright, it’s a nondescript, white twelve-passenger van), sharing the limited space with suitcases, winter coats, guitars, and a piano and amp. Our destination? Michigan!

I had just found out about this trip two days before, and it didn’t seem real yet that we were actually starting out on the long drive (something in the way of thirteen hours) to Michigan. After a few adventures (such as our shortcut through Canada turning into a lengthy detour through the customs office; they liked our singing), we arrived at the town of Oxford, Michigan.

The purpose of our trip was to sing for a benefit dinner taking place the next night, and after spending a good part of that afternoon (not to mention most of the drive the day before) practicing, we were ready! That night we sang for the crowd of 260 people attending the dinner, which took place at a local country club. The audience was very moved by the songs, especially our performance of You Raise Me Up, which is always a favorite! We ended with a beautiful version of Ave Maria, and received a standing ovation.

Besides being a great bonding experience for the choir members who went (the other two altos and I agree that the hours of practice together have certainly cemented our friendship), this trip was a great opportunity to share Mater Ecclesiae College’s mission with others. It was also a chance to meet and spend time with Mater Ecclesiae College alumni who are already at work in Michigan. I’m definitely looking forward to the choir’s next “tour”!

October 23, 2009        

Every year, Mater Ecclesiae dedicates the 20^th of October to honor our Deans of Students.  The rest of the faculty, as well as all of us students, spend weeks beforehand preparing special surprises for Dean of Students day – all kept a careful secret from the deans themselves, of course! This year, I helped to prepare a little flower arrangement for each of the deans’ offices, after attempting to find out their favorite flowers by casual questions dropped in conversations. They were very happy with the results, as well as with their favorite foods, an afternoon of recreation with the students, and the many other surprises that appeared throughout the day. 

It is a unique practice at Mater Ecclesiae College to spend a day each year honoring different members of our faculty, and one that I enjoy and look forward to! Dean of Students Day was a great opportunity to thank our deans for all of their hard work and dedication to our formation, and a day we enjoyed all together as a family.

August 3 , 2009
New School Year

A beautiful New England autumn is turning the Mater Ecclesiae College campus red and orange, and inside the college, students are back at their desks and teachers have their syllabi at the ready. As a sophomore, I am free from much of the bewilderment that besets new students, and I am heading full-tilt into my classes – mostly humanities. Last week I took a break from Plato and ancient Judaism to attend a conference by Father Roger Landry, a parish priest from New Bedford. Father Landry spoke to us about the daily life of a parish priest, and motivated us all for our mission of helping priests like him! His visit was followed by Monsignor Evans, a pastor from St. Phillips Parish here in Greenville. Monsignor Evans officially began our school year by celebrating the Inauguration Mass – some of us wish that we could have waited to start classes until this Mass, but we had to get a head start! We joined Monsignor Evans in asking the Holy Spirit to guide us in this new year, and I think that the sophomores may have prayed just a little harder for some extra help with metaphysics!

We are very excited to welcome the freshmen for their first year at Mater Ecclesiae College. The freshman class is a colorful one, made up of Americans, Mexicans, Colombians, Spaniards and El Salvadorians. They are excitedly beginning their studies, and we are thrilled to have them as the newest members of the Mater Ecclesiae family! All of us are eager to begin another (or our first) year here at Mater Ecclesiae, and we are looking forward to a year packed with activities on and off campus.