Follow the boys' daily adventures as seen through the eyes of Ian - a 12 year old boy from San Antonio- and Jose - a dad from Houston.
by Ian
Crossey
12 years old
Some of us
helped make beignets and shovel snow off the sidewalk in the morning. We
thought it was good to help the Apostolics because they made all the meals for
us and cleaned up the tables after the meals, therefore the least we could do
was help with chores. It was fun figuring out what the Apostolics do as chores
and then helping them out. After breakfast and Mass we went to Notre Dame for a
tour. It was really awesome! All of their statues have football nicknames, such
as Touchdown Jesus, First Down Moses, and The Holy Handoff. On top of the Main
Campus Building was an 8-foot tall statue of Mary. A thin layer of gold covered
the statue of Mary, but all of the gold together could fit in an average person’s
fist. At the basilica, there was a reliquary and a lot of icons. In the
reliquary were pieces of the true Cross and relics from all 12 Apostles and 780
other saints. We also went to the Grotto, which was a replica of the real grotto
in France, and said the Angelus there.
We then went to the Ice Box Skating Rink
and played hockey. The game was intense and hard to keep upwith at the pace I
was skating. My team lost in the end but we did not care, we do not even have
ice in Texas so why complain?
by Jose
Rodriguez
dad
This morning
some of the boys woke up early to shovel the snow off the front sidewalk. Some of the other boys helped an apostolic
student make beignets for breakfast. I
have been noticing more and more acts of charity from the boys as time passes
by. This is of no surprise to me. Since the start of the trip, we have had
daily mass, confession opportunities, daily rosary, examination of conscience
and daily prayer. Thank you Fathers and
Brothers!
After mass and a delicious breakfast, we headed off to tour
the University of Notre Dame in South Bend,
We then went to the Ice Box skating rink to play ice hockey. Everyone started ice skating. There were some boys that did not know how to
skate, therefore, Brother Jared and Father Michael Picard were assisting these
boys. On the other hand, you could tell
that some of the boys had skated before and were very confident. Within 20 minutes of getting on the ice, the
hockey teams started forming. The
competition was fierce!
After the ice skating and pizza, we headed back to the school. We showered and prayed our rosary. Father Michael Sullivan and Father Darren
held a Q&A session for the boys and dads.
The boys started asking Father Michael questions about the priesthood
and asked Father Darren questions about the requirements on becoming an Apostolic.
He explained that there were some requirements before becoming an Apostolic
student, one being an openness to the priesthood. Another concern was the time commitment. Some of the boys assumed that once you
entered the school, you had to graduate from there. Father Darren clarified that if the boy was
accepted to the school, the boy and the family would commit for only 1
year. When and if the student completes
the year, an evaluation would be done to determine whether a second year would
be an option for the boy and family.
Some of these questions came from boys that I thought were not
interested at all about the apostolic school let alone the priesthood. Indeed the Holy Spirit works in mysterious
ways.
Since we were leaving early the very next morning in order
to make our trip to Chicago, we had to clean up our dorms, bathrooms and pack,
even though it was pretty late and everybody was extremely tired. We all formed
teams and started cleaning, sweeping and mopping the areas. We accomplished all the tasks said good night
to Mary and went to sleep.
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