Orientation - Day 1

     The full group of 33 Amate Volunteers plus Program Staff

"This is Church."

Tonight was an incredible night for my community, in the most unexpected of ways.

As I mentioned previously, my community has been bonding through laughter very much over the past few days.  Today was no exception – after a long day of training we were all pretty tired and getting progressively goofier by the moment.  Around 5 I convinced my housemates to walk a few blocks to get an iced coffee (they were on sale – any size for $1!) to wake us up and keep us from eating dinner too early.  In the midst of a conversation on the walk back home, we somehow got to talking about what feminism is and how it is interpreted in today’s culture.

The conversation became lively and spanned throughout the early evening as a few people stepped to the kitchen to make dinner.  While topics rotated throughout dinner, we continually came back to major issues such as racism and sexism, among other more lighthearted stories.  We sat around the dinner table for two hours chatting and enjoying one another’s company before finally deciding to have a movie night.  Since we had discussed feminism and the role of women so much, we settled on the one hour documentary MissRepresentation (which I recommend everyone watch).  We headed to the basement and settled into the couches and watched the film.

While the film was extremely powerful and informative, it was the time that followed that was truly incredible.  The housemate who had brought the film casually asked if anyone had initial reactions.  Slowly but surely, people began sharing their thoughts and opinions.  One way or another, the conversation shifted to a discussion on Mary and the role of feminism and women in the Church.  This then evolved into a general discussion of faith and beliefs that I cannot even attempt to summarize in this small of a format.  For nearly 3 hours a group of twelve people in their twenties comprised of theology majors, devout Catholics, non-practicing Catholics, questioning people of faith, an Evangelical Christian and a non-practicing Buddhist had a dialogue that would be envied by religious leaders.  Not only was the conversation deep and thought provoking, but almost more importantly it took place in a natural and unstructured way, in a loving and open manner, and contained no yelling, anger, or hurt feelings despite a wide spectrum of beliefs.  Amidst the conversation, as we discussed the many sects of Christianity and ways of practicing the faith, one of my housemates astutely said, “This is Church.”  Amen, sister, Amen. 

Coming into my Amate year, I was hopeful I would have a chance to talk about faith and spirituality in order to grow and shape my own beliefs.  I envisioned this happening on organized retreats, at weekly community nights, and through discussions with my spiritual companion.  Never did I imagine such a beautiful and enriching conversation would happen so naturally, and especially so soon.  This night gave me such reassurance that I am in the right place, and God is here.

Towards the end of the conversation, we all stated how grateful we were that we had a safe space and a solid foundation for our community.  As tough as it was to think about, we acknowledged that we knew it would not always be this easy.  There would be times we would disagree – whether over how to spend house money, how to best keep cohesion, how to structure community nights.  But we all shared the hope that no matter what, we’d always remember this night and this feeling, and no matter how frustrated we might sometimes get with one another, we’d always try to keep in mind the loving foundation we build tonight.

This is Church.

"Today, I Pray for Laughter."

This morning signaled our official start to the two week orientation program for Amate.  We began as just a small house community, opening the day in prayer before moving onto logistical information.  To close morning prayer, our house coordinator/staff member asked us all to think of one word or phrase to share with the group that described what we hoped to get out of the day.  Naturally, I panicked – partially because I am still nervous speaking in front of the group, and partially because I felt like I was going in with no expectations.  We had not received an outline of the training for the weeks, never mind the specific day’s tasks and discussions.  Racking my brain I silently fumbled over words preparing for my turn – Guidance?  Information?  Peace of mind?  Comfort?  Friendship?  What was the right answer?  What was I supposed to want?

The house coordinator volunteered to go first.  “Today,” he said, “I pray for laughter.  I pray that we all will share smiles and laughs throughout the day.”  I was totally thrown off by his prayer.  Laughter?  Was that on the list of objectives?  But as I thought on it for the rest of the day, it made so much sense.

Since the night I arrived, my house has shared many laughs.  We’ve played board games that made us laugh until we almost cried, laughed at ourselves, laughed with each other, laughed for the sake of laughing.  As these times transpired, I initially saw them as superficial – enjoyable, for sure, but superficial.  It’s easy to laugh and make others laugh.  It wasn’t until after reflecting on this morning’s prayer that I realized how much our laughter was bringing us together.  It was allowing us to break down walls we all naturally put up around ourselves.  It was giving us the space to be our authentic selves.

I think what sealed my confidence in this was this afternoon.  We were sitting around on the living room couches, and at a lull in the conversation one housemate looked at me and simply said, “you’re really satirical.  I like it.”  A small comment/compliment that may seem trivial boosted my confidence in myself and my place in the community because I know that being sarcastic and a jokester is my authentic self.  My friends that know me well encouraged me to be that self at Amate and not put up my guard, and I honestly didn’t think that would be possible.  Sure enough, after a few short days I am finding other people appreciating me for the person I know I authentically am and not the shy, reserved person I often come off as.

Today,  I am grateful for laughter.

My Room!

Here are some pictures of my new room.  Everyone who arrived before me avoided the room because of its "neon green" color.  To me, it's more of a mint green, and I think it suits me perfectly :)

And So It Begins

It's finally here and really happening - I have made it to Chicago to begin my year of service with Amate House!  After just over 24 hours, I am beginning to settle and already feel the transition from a house to a home.

Last night I spent a little time alone making my bed and arranging my room (God bless my sister for shipping me a fan - I don't think I could have survived without it!).  After the basics were in place, I joined 10 of my housemates who had arrived earlier in the day in watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  We were all pretty beat by the end, so we went to bed early.  Today has been relaxing - I finished setting up my room and then spent a lot of time with my housemates.  We chatted about everything from our communal reading experience (Community and Growth by Jean Varnier) to people's food preferences to embarrassing stories and more.  We enjoyed some time outside in our courtyard while the weather was nice, and then walked to get dinner together at a local diner/ice cream parlor.  After dinner we walked through our neighborhood park - it was really pretty and looks like it will be a great place for us to spend time for the rest of the summer and again in the spring.

I am most certainly missing home, my family, my pets, and my friends, but I am growing to appreciate my housemates and am looking forward to the year ahead.  Tomorrow is our Opening Mass to kick off the week of orientation when I will meet all of the other Amates.  Hopefully I will have more updates soon (and hopefully they'll be more exciting than just a play-by-play of an average day :) ).