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I returned to the Seminary about two hours ago, and now that I have most things back in order, I thought I'd finish with a few more thoughts from the 2006 March for Life. You can view pictures from the March by clicking here.

Youth Mass and Rally at MCI Center

After the Mass with Archbishop Burke, many Seminarians went to the MCI Center for the annual Youth Rally, Mass and March leading up to the March for Life later in the day. I was unable to attend, but I was told that many youth groups were turned away due to the whole center being full of youth (reports say over 15,000 youth were present, along with over 700 seminarians). Then entrance procession at the Mass was about fifteen minutes long.

After about five hours of sleep, my brother seminarians and I left for Mass with Archbishop Burke and many St. Louisans (including many who were taking the grueling 'drive to D.C., march, then drive back to STL' trip) at the Mother of the Rosary Shrine. The Church is beautiful as it was last year, and the liturgy was made even better, as the seminarians who were in choir led many prayers while an organist from the parish played on the Shrine's pipe organ.

Archbishop Burke reiterated some of the facts about abortions, and gave us cause to be joyful, while also reminding us that prayer and fasting are the two most effective weapons against great evil such as abortion. Afterwards I was able to meet with a few relatives and other people I knew from around St. Louis.

Today I have a few hours in which to pack, post a few more pictures, and get ready for the March (which begins early this afternoon). I decided I'd share some of my experiences so far with anyone reading my blog (which may only include my Mom, but that's okay with me!).

The Bus

This year, the Seminarians and I rode on our own chartered bus straight to D.C., with only three short stops. This allowed us to not only arrive in Washington about four hours earlier than expected, but also to get to bed earlier than one or two in the morning (if at all) because of the quiet atmosphere during the night. Those who were praying for a safe journey to D.C. may rest assured knowing those prayers were answered; we encountered little more than a slight fog on the way here (unlike last year's large snowstorm!).

Arrival in D.C.

Pictures have been posted from some of my wanderings around Washington, D.C. on my Seminary Website, and I will be uploading more pictures tonight or tomorrow, along with a couple of entries with information about the Vigil Mass tonight and the March tomorrow (which, I've learned, will be about half the length it usually is, starting at 7th street instead of 14th (where the Washington Monument is located).

I've been playing around with iWeb, one of the included applications in Apple's iLife '06 suite of digital media and content creation programs, and I am working on some ideas for 'modernizing' my blog, my homepage, etc. (and possibly consolidating a lot of info into a smaller space). Click here to see those ideas (I especially like the new blog logo and notebook...).

I've encountered a few usability issues with iWeb; I've found it to be an amazingly simple way to create simple, yet beautiful-looking websites, but it lacks a few features that I really need to make it part of my web development kit (right now I use Adobe GoLive for everything but my blog, which I maintain using Thingamablog). I create my graphics in Photoshop (and sometimes Illustrator or something of the like), and iWeb doesn't play nice with them.

I have just learned that Archbishop Raymond Burke will be a guest on EWTN Live this Wednesday (Jan. 18) at 7:00 p.m. This show will be hosted by Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

On an interesting note, I and my brother college seminarians met Fr. Pacwa this past Sunday at St. Raymond Maronite Co-Cathedral in downtown St. Louis (we were there to experience the Maronite liturgical rite of the Catholic Church, and he was a concelebrant). He gave a very inspiring homily on vocations, and I look forward to viewing his interview with Archbishop Burke!