Pope, Peter, and the Sistahs

While all the buff figures of God, Jesus, and the prophets on Sistene's ceiling were quite lovely with all their equally-buff holy attendents painted at their side and St. Peter's million-foot-tall bronze alter with ten-foot-tall cupid-like angels surrounded by over 200 white marble pillars certainly did impress me--sorry Michelangelo-- my FAVORITE view of the church this past week has been at a lesser known more humble location outside of Rome, just out of reach of the last Metro stop.

Highlights at the Sistene Chapel included seeing the infamous Adam & God-Touching-Fingers fresco. While it is one of the best known works of art in one of the best known chapels in the world, Nancy reminded me it was also recently featured on an episode of Arrested Development where characters reenact the scene at a renaissance fair: George Micheal with a body suit posing as Adam and George Senior getting a break from prison in order to be God.

At St. Peter's Basilica (the place where Peter was crucified upside down and buried) what stood out to me was that 1) Peter was the first pope- somehow not emphasized in all my Protestant education 2) the obelisk in St. Peter's square was an Egyptian monument to pagan Gods that the Romans stole and put a cross on top of it. "Roman" artifacts and monuments from conquered people is a theme here.

And my favorite history-making site in the Church this week is here at Suore Della Sacra Famiglia de Nazareth (Convent of the sacred family of Nazareth) where we are living among the first graduating class of a first-of-its-kind masters program developing leadership among the sisters, the women, of the Catholic church around the world.

About 25 sisters from all over the world (Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, etc) are finishing up a masters program they've been working on for a year and a half through my dad's department at Duquesne. They will graduate at the end of June with a Master of Science in Community Leadership . In their home communities they hold management positions in schools, hospitals, HIV clinics and other community institutions.

The fiesty sistahs in permanent residence at this suore are mostly from Poland. It's been a pleasure getting to them as they tease us for locking ourselves out of our room and for liking the Jiffy set out at breakfast. I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday when I saw one of them standing in the midst of a huge billow of smoke conducting some sort of controlled burning on the grounds.

Everyday a new sister extends her arms to Nancy and I first excitedly asking "Are these the friends of 'their Jim'" and then asking when we will be visiting their home country. I'll take this welcome of the up-and-coming Sistahs of the Church over the Pope's marble column embrace anyday.

Naples, the blog

Our one day in Naples is summed up by the back of a guy's T-shirt. As we were leaving the city I passed a man, the back of his shirt said something like "Your heart is free, now all you have to do is follow it." I'm not really sure what it means to "follow your heart" or for me to follow MY heart. But leaving Naples, I couldn't think of anything else.

The day started at with the 8:30am train ride from Rome/Roma to Naples/Napoli. By 11:30 Nancy, my dad, and I were seated at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele on Via Cesare Sersale, claimed to be The Best Pizza in the World by Elizabeth Gilbert in "Eat Pray Love." Nancy has read the book a million times and was the force behind our Naples side trip and our ensuing treasure hunt. Nancy's wild heart has the most beautiful ideas and I love that I get to be let in on them...and sometimes make them happen.
From the pizzeria (which we three agreed did indeed have the best pizza we had ever tasted) we found the first gelateria we could find, sat on a stoop and ate our cones of chocolate and fruit-flavored heaven. Napoli is the birthplace of pizza and ice cream--what else are ya gonna do when you visit? From there we took the Funiculare Centrale to a higher part of the city where we eventually found ourselves on the roof of a 6th century Spanish castle- San Elmo's Castle- looking out at the most amazing view of any city I've ever seen. The Bay of Naples spread out before us, Mt. Vesuvius in the distance, and a 360 degree view of magnificent red, orange, peach flats, apartments, domes speckled with green hillside.
On this epic Napoli journey, we met the liveliest Italians we've encountered thus far on our trip. One of them was a jovial sparsely-toothed man named Giovonni with a cameo factory/shop on the very tippy top of Naples next to San Elmos Castle. He is the third generation to work in the shop and he was so kind to notice our lostness and to lead us right to the castle (and his shop). Who knew Naples is known for their cameos? And who knew Giovonni's brother, a little man that looks like Jack Nicholson, carves them out of conch shells from The Sea of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania?

And if this wasn't adventure enough, the entire day my dad was following his passion, his "heart", taking pictures every other step. His joy is to capture humanity on film and will let no danger, traffic regulation, or faux pas get in the way. Most of the day he was balancing precariously on the skinny traffic medians waiting until the exact moment vespa drivers noticed him taking their picture to click the shutter. This is great even though it makes it a little hard to stay together. Nancy and I walked ahead of him and would glance back at him occasionally- Nancy looking to make sure we didn't lose him and me looking to make sure a native didn't finally run over him or strangle him with his Nikon neck strap.

Like I said, I left Napoli thinking about the art of "following the heart," as the T-shirt said, or how to be in tune with whatever that thing is that whispers "Do this please! Now!" I am glad I do have great examples in the people around me...thanks Nancy, thanks Dad, thanks Napoli!