Going Forward in Rome

Sunday, October 6, 2024

 
This morning, I set my alarm, got up and out at 8 am to attend Sunday mass.  In Polish.
 
The Resurrectionist house is managed by two Polish priests and cared for by three Polish women religious in habit.  At the moment there’s a good crowd of Polish pilgrims staying here.  And, considering what the readings were this Sunday, I didn’t mind hearing them in a language of which I know only some 30 words, 25 of them about food.
 
After breakfast somehow I ended up on the rooftop terrace, in an extended and animated conversation with several of the Polish guests: a journalist who comes to Rome several times a year, his sister, his brother-in-law who’s an English-language text editor in Poland, and his nephew, along with our CNWE partners in crime, Rhiannon and Geoffrey.  We ranged over Brexit, conditions in Poland during the Cold War, the survival of indigenous languages, and a raft of related subjects.  We found out to our delight how much we had in common from different perspectives — if that’s not a contradiction in terms.  It was a fine experience of travel broadening horizons.
 
I slept hard during a nap in the afternoon, then Rosemary and I started out walking in search of a restaurant.  In Italy it’s the custom to go out walking on a Sunday afternoon or in the early evening, as a family or with friends, in a leisurely way, just to be out in street life.  It’s called “fare la passegiata,” making the walk.  We walked across the bridge and ended up in a Dutch-but-British-themed restaurant, The Bulldog.  I particularly enjoyed the 1960’s and ’70’s pop music played rather too loud… it reminded me of my first experience of Europe in 1975 and how exciting it was.
 

Monday, October 7, 2024

 
I pryed myself out of bed to get to the 7:30 daily Mass followed by Morning Prayer, in Italian this time, in response to the house director’s invitation.  Then I spent the morning working down the online backlog.  At noon Rosemary and I started out for a small but popular restaurant close to the Vatican, “Penitenzieri” (there must be a story behind that name…)  We met with my friend and former Saint Paul colleague Prof. Catherine Clifford, a well-respected systematic theologian, ecumenist, and specialist on Vatican II, one of our Canadian voting members of the Synod.  Cathy gave us some general background on the Synod to date, and we visited for some two hours, chatting on a wide range of topics. 
 
Rosemary and I had each bought a ticket on the “Pink Bus” hop-on-hop-off tour of Rome, and that’s how we spent two hours that afternoon.  We didn’t “hop off” anywhere, we just settled into the bus and let it show us the major sights of Rome from the top deck.  This is my sixth visit to Rome, and I never did that before.
 
That evening was another engaging dinner conversation of a different nature — the five of us on the roof at the Resurrectionists, pooling our food resources and chatting animatedly into the evening… mostly about our hopes and fears for the church… well OK, mostly fears…  We popped the cork on the Prosecco bottle but it dropped limply to the floor (the CNWE crowd who came last year will know what this is!)
 

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

 
This morning after breakfast Rosemary and I gave brief recorded interviews to Rhiannon who was departing for the U.K. with Geoffrey after dealing with the frustration and trauma of having her purse stolen along with her passport.  We then taxied to the “Castello San Callisto,” a spot in Trastevere almost invisible on the map, with a driver who took us down narrow alleys to the point where I was sure we were being taken for a ride in more ways than one.  Then he deposited us safely at the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
 
This Vatican department, headed by Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, was formed in 2016 by fusing four separate pontifical councils into a governmental branch with a vision: to serve as a liaison- and networking body among church-related social justice projects and initiatives in countries all over the world: to bring them into dialogue, to share best practices, and to support their work.
 
Hearing about the work was an unexpected pleasure — even more so, because we were four women sitting around the table.  We were hosted by the Secretary, Sr. Alessandra, and her young assistant.  As the conversation developed, we were able to discuss in more detail the Indigenous peoples of Canada, and the outcome of Pope Francis’ visit to ask forgiveness.  Rosemary got an honest answer to the question of what happened to certain Canadian indigenous artifacts that went missing.  I was able to describe an initiative I was honoured to take part in, some years ago:  our Saint Paul University summer program in Indigenous liturgical and religious education, in cooperation with Kateri Native Ministries of Ottawa.
 
Then we snarfed some Italian ice cream and set off on what turned out to be a v-e-r-y long walk through the backstreets of Rome and along the Tevere river, back to the site of WOW’s street events last week — and a taxi stand.  Once back in our own section of town we discovered an attractive local restaurant that emphasized whole foods and healthy eating.  In the restaurant’s attached grocery shop we picked up some additions to our pooled supper resources (though I passed on the bottle of wine priced at 340 Euros.)  I slept two hours out of exhaustion, then the three of us had a fine little supper on the rooftop terrace with a stunning red swath spread across the western sky at sunset, right behind … the Vatican.  Can’t imagine what that means. 
 
We haven’t heard from any more journalists.  But tomorrow we have two meetings involving meals, and quite likely a third meeting… this one not involving food… maybe we can snarf another ice cream…