Hello Notre Dame

Wow, what a long time since my last post! It is now the second week of classes at Notre Dame and things are finally starting to fall into place. I still feel a bit lost here though. It sounds strange because this is a Catholic school but I haven't really found a group of Catholic buddies to socialize with. I think about Starkville and St. Joe and I miss it so much! I suppose in the Bible Belt we Catholics have to band together. The undergrads here are mostly Catholic, of course, but I believe most grad students are not. And of course, other grad students are the group I'm interacting with the most. Campus Ministry offers so many activities but they all look overwhelmingly undergraduate-focused. I'm not averse to socializing with undergrads, but truthfully I'm at a very different place in my life, being married and such.

I did sign up for a class that's being offered by the diocese on the Theology of the Body. I'm really looking forward to it. On one hand, I worry that it will take up too much time since it meets for 2 hours a week for six weeks. I am on campus most of the day and try to limit activities during the evening so I can spend time with Matt. On the other hand, I think it is a great opportunity to learn more about TOB and meet some like-minded folks. It is a shame there isn't anything like that on campus. (In fact, there was actually a letter in the student paper today extolling the wonders of contraception, which I mean to blog about shortly.)

I know there must be some serious, practicing Catholics around here...I'm just not sure where to find them. It's not like I can really go up to random people after Mass at the Basilica and say, "Hi, I noticed you took communion on the tongue, want to be friends?" Ugh, no, won't be doing that any time soon. Notre Dame so far seems like any other college, just with "Catholic frosting." I find the social climate to be very different from the South in that people are less willing to share their faith. I think maybe I need to hit up the Extraordinary Form Mass on campus. I don't really consider myself a traditionalist but that might at least help with the "meeting other practicing Catholics" part.

So my prayer these days is for God to guide me to make new friends who can support me spiritually. I hope it happens soon!