Our Last Days at Notre Dame

It’s Thursday night in South Bend and our week at ND Vision is almost over. My son and the other teens that came with us have had a fantastic time…and so have we adults. Here are some more highlights of the past few days:

  • Sitting awestruck as 225 teens spent an hour together in Eucharistic adoration
  • Praying/chanting morning prayer and Vespers in the lady chapel at the Notre Dame basilica
  • Gazing open-mouthed at all the beautiful works of art that decorate the campus and its buildings
  • Praying the rosary with over 225 teenagers at the Notre Dame grotto
  • Enjoying the presence so many young, enthusiastic, spirit-filled Holy Cross priests
  • Eating some of the best food in the world each and every meal
  • Talking over lunch with Kevin, a young seminarian who has just finished his freshman year and has given up a month of his summer to mentor the young ND Vision participants
  • Visiting the Notre Dame bookstore six or seven times, wishing I could just bring a tent and camp out there for a few days
  • Trying unsuccessfully to find and shake hands with Ralph McInerney, Notre Dame professor and author of the Fr. Dowling mysteries
  • Visiting the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend
  • And most important, getting to spend some quality time with people who have an intense love of working with Catholic teens

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Trip to Notre Dame, Day 1

I woke up this morning in Sheridan, Wyoming, after driving about 660 miles from Spokane, Washington yesterday with 13 teenagers, and 7 chaperones. Highlights of our first day of travel:

  • Stopping at Lincoln, Montana’s 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar
  • Attending Mass in Billings, MT with my parents. The young priest at St. Pius X Parish went to school with the deacon I wrote about a couple of months ago.
  • Chasing a huge electrical storm across southern Montana. I really enjoy watching Montana thunder storms, but not while driving through them. One of the minivans in our group was struck by lightning. Everyone was fine, but they were a bit shaken up.

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Caravan to Notre Dame!

Notre DameMy son and I will be heading to Notre Dame next week for a 5-day conference called ND Vision. We’re driving across the country in 4 rented minivans with 13 teenagers (yes, 13!). We leave Spokane, Washington at 5:00 in the morning and for the next three days I’ll be trapped inside a moving snack zone. The cars that drive beside us will see the vans surrounded by a cloud of orange BHT fumes. I won’t even begin to describe what it will smell like.

What is ND Vision? Here’s how the people of ND Vision describe themselves: Continue reading