Servants of Jesus Fall Fest.

Tonight I and seven other primi attended a benefit for the Servants of Jesus (a.k.a., "the other S.J.'s"), a Michigan-based community of religious women whose president, Sister Barbara, lives across the street from the novitiate. (This is the same Sister Barbara whose generosity enabled me to attend the ND-MSU game and the Detroit Symphony last month - many thanks yet again, Sister!) Apparently this benefit takes place every fall, but this one was particularly noteworthy because the Servants are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary this year; to mark this milestone they showed a special video (which included footage of Jonathan's home parish, where one of the Servants works) and raffled off a bunch of stuff, some of which we won. The event was held at St. John's Golf & Conference Center, a really lovely facility that used to be a diocesan seminary - if you ever have to put on a conference in Detroit, this would be a great place to have it. All in all, another great evening out - a wonderful opportunity to meet some interesting people, make new friends and celebrate the work of some outstanding women religious.

At this point, you may be thinking that all we novices do is attend lavish banquets. Well, that's not true. The last few weeks we've been having classes on the vows, Jesuit history, homiletics, and Institute (i.e., the documents of the Society). On Monday, we also start our first real apostolic activity, the "hospital experiment." I could talk more about what this is, but I think I'll keep you all in suspense until I get into it. Details to follow next week. AMDG.