Down Under vs Down South (LG vs LB)

Who needs a whole 'nother continent to have a good time? Sure, Lauren G, Briana & Crew are jetsetting around Australia as part of the Pope's peeps. But even better than that - Lauren B, Dave & Company are off on a good ol' fashioned ROAD TRIP. You guessed it, it's time for Charis' Annual Service Trip!

Dave and I are excited to hit the road with Paul, Blair, Karen, Clete, Chris, Dania, Lindsey, Jay, Tim and Brian. Dave is a seasoned veteran of Charis Service Trips, while this will be my inaugural visit to the fine state of Mississippi. We're off to Pontotoc, Mississippi to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. Working with each other by day and staying with our friends at the First Baptist Church of Pontotoc by night, we hope our time away will give us space to reflect on our service, our faith and ourselves.

Aside from the physical and spiritual benefits of laboring for others, I'm hoping for some great food. Bet you can't get good grits in Sydney! Check back for more update and pics as we become "contemplatives in SERIOUS action."

Lauren B.

Safely in Sydney...

As Briana said, we're now safely in Sydney. We said a temporary goodbye to our Indian and Irish friends and hopped a plane from Melbourne to Sydney for the Ignatian Gathering of the Magis08 program at St. Ignatius College, Riverview. While they will arrive at 5am after a 10 hour overnight bus ride, we are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after our flight (thanks to David, our friendly flight attendant). They'll join 1200 other Magis participants from sites around the world for two days of reflection on the service experiences we've had.

Yesterday, some of us went back into the Melbourne city center to see some sights. After some shopping at the Queen Victoria Market and a picture in front of Super Mario, we walked around the town and chatted with pilgrims from France, Chile, Kenya and South Korea before heading back for our final evening with our larger group. The night ended much as the rest of our nights had, with us laughing hysterically while learning Irish expressions, breaking into both Indian and Irish song and dance, and talking with some of the coolest people I've had the opportunity to meet in quite a while.

We're looking forward to Ana, Zulma, Mike, Amina and Jessica joining us here on Monday for the start of World Youth Day!
-Lauren G.

Aboriginal Art and Spirituality

'Allo and good day... greetings from lovely Sydney, Australia! It's hard to believe we're finally here, home of the 2000 Olympics, the great Opera House, and the Harbour Bridge. We have yet to see any kangaroos or koalas outside of souvenir shops and postcards, but we've still managed to experience authentic Australian culture!

One of the best experiences I've had this week, besides sharing in a great love of SERVICE and ART, is to learn about the Aboriginal culture. There are many tribes throughout the nation of Australia, and we were lucky enough to be in Melbourne during NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC (National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee) was created to recognize the unjustice done to the Aboriginal people by the English/Australian government (very similar to the Native American situation in the United States) and to celebrate the culture of those indigenous people. During the week, we experienced this culture in a variety of ways. On Wednesday, Group B went to the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) and saw a variety of authentic Australia paintings, including a large collection of modern representations and reproductions of Aboriginal patterns, themes, and history. We also went to the Royal Botanic Gardens, where they held a 2-hour festivity celebrating Aboriginal heritage. We participated in a smoke circle, authentic music by Aboriginal artists and instruments, ate traditional food, got our faces painted with some of their symbols and signs, and painted pictures with ochre that we made ourselves with clay and water.

On Thursday, many of us also visited the Aboriginal Cultural Center downtown. They had traditional food, music, and dancing as well as a permanent exhibit that shared their long and tumultuous history and 2 separate art exhibits by modern indigenous artists.

All in all, the relationship with the earth and the connection between their spirituality and their art were very profound and inspirational to myself and many members of our group. So much so that our Experiment Group's banner (which will be on display at this weekend's Ignatian Gathering) has many elements of Aboriginal art.


Cheers!
Briana

Oh the Places you Go...

Yesterday some of us were on our day in city where we had the opportunity to be immersed in Australian culture, where you can stop on Collins Street, similar to Michigan Avenue, be able to find as many tacky Australian soveniers as you can possible imagine with kangeroos and koalas on them OR go and visit the art museum and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We opted for choice three.

As part of our experiment with Finding God in Art and Service we have the opportunity to experience some art at the NGV ( National Gallery of Victoria) where we saw some famous Australian paintings, and learned just a a little about Aboriginal art. One of the famous paintings we saw was called Shearing Rams and is represantative of a large part of Australian Culture.

Also in our adventures we had the opportunity to see St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne. It was a beautiful cathedral and there is a program going in on that is called Days in the Diocese and many pilgrims from others countries were there at the Cathedral. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many pilgrims, I can only imagine what World Youth Day will be like. There is even part of the Cathedral that is called Pilgrim's Path.

One never knows where your adventures will lead but as long as God is guiding your footsteps it should turn out alright.

Lori

Discernment Day

Discernment: Day of Prayer and Reflection

On June 21, 2008, a group of about 15 young adults met on the campus of Loyola University to pray and reflect. Led by Dr. John Neafsey, we had an opportunity to prayerfully examine the intimate relationship between personal calling and social conscience in our lives.

Throughout the day Dr. Neafsey offered us ideas to think about. We were sent off to the quiet to prayerfully reflect on the concepts and returned to share in group. The lakefront provided me, and many of the others gathered, the perfect opportunity to come to the quiet and reflect on the rich experiences of Christ in our life. To look at the 'coincidences' that St. Ignatius explains, that move our life forward. To judge whether these internal movements come from Christ's action. A discernment of spirits.

It was difficult for me to put aside a Saturday on my calendar to concentrate on prayer. I often find the time for many other things and think that I can just pray later. I have my entire life to do that. I am glad I put aside this Saturday for prayer. It opened my eyes to reflect daily on the whispers of the Spirit. Do you find time to come to the quiet and listen to the Holy Spirit coming from within? Try it and you will be glad you did!

Peace,
Lou S.

Greetings from Melbourne!

G'day mates! After a VERY long flight complete and lack of sleep, we are now into our third "full" day in Melbourne and have begun our Magis experiment. There are 20 of us from Ireland, India, Croatia, Italy, Korea and Chicago. Today, half of us went to Sacred Heart Mission to serve lunch to the guests and spend time in the elderly hostel. Being on the lunch crew, it was quite amusing to hear people say "you've got a funny accent, where are you from?" The Mission is quite amazing in all the programs it offers and the gourmet 3 course meal it serves to a few hundred people every day.

After lunch, we joined in with some of the visitors for their art group. Some people got into it right away, others (including yours truly), found it a little tougher to get started. After a few failed attempts with pastels and crayons, I discovered that if you use watercolor paints, you can erase things you don't like just by adding more water! The mission now has the artwork of a few errant Americans hanging on its walls.

Tonight we'll take part in the Magis reflection component and have Mass and the chance to see how God was present with us during our activities throughout the day. Tomorrow we get up and start again!

-Lauren G

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

We're almost ready! After months of planning, logistics and prayer, tomorrow is the day that Lori, Lexy, Briana, Melissa and I leave for the Magis'08 program in Melbourne, Australia. Assuming we don't go stir-crazy on our 18 hour plane ride, we are meeting up with Chrissy, who is already in Australia, to take part in an Ignatian "Experiment," or experience, called Finding God in Art and Service. At our site, we will be serving at the Sacred Heart Mission and spending time exploring the art and tradition of Melbourne with two other groups from India and Ireland (yay for fun accents!).

After our week in Melbourne, we'll head to Sydney to spend the weekend with over 1,000 other young adults who did experiments throughout Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines reflecting on our our experiences of having "a faith that does justice."

At the end of our time with the Magis'08 program, we'll be joined by Jessica, Ana, Amina, Zulma, Mike (of bustedhalo.com fame), and a few hundred thousand of our other closest friends to take part in World Youth Day. Check back over the next three weeks for more posts from the Land Down Under!

-Lauren G