All good things come in threes: March 11, 2012

By Teresa Mahoney

ROME — Three notable things from day three.

1. It’s true what they say. J-Schoolers are everywhere. Even in Rome.

We started our morning at the Pontifical North American College (somewhat of an Ivy League for soon-to-be priests) and met a current seminarian and Columbia Journalism School grad named John Paul Mitchell. He recalled that he had applied for and was admitted to Professor Goldman’s Covering Religion class in 2007, but chose Judith Crist’s Personal and Professional Style seminar instead (note the irony of the professor’s last name…)

Mitchell reassured us that the skills we acquire at the J-School are transferable—John is now the magazine editor of the magazine of the North American College. Lesson: you can’t escape journalism, even in a seminary.

Mitchell gave us a brief tour of the college and mentioned that though the priesthood has been in decline for many years, the seminary is at capacity for the first time since the 1960s, with about 250 seminarians, he said.

We attended mass with the seminarians in the morning and then got a tour of the college, ending with the roof of the building, which showcases a great view of Rome and its surroundings. Brandon Gates said he found his dream stand-up spot for his broadcast story.

2. (Sort of) Close and Personal with the Pope

After getting caught up in the beauty of the view, we realized we were running late for our viewing of the Angelus — the Pope’s multilingual blessing of the people in the Basilica. Since it’s only a 15-minute prayer, we didn’t want to be late. When we arrived, it seemed more like a Ramones revival concert than a Roman blessing. The Pope had a list of groups visiting that he made a special announcement for and segments of the crowd screamed (Columbia J-Schoolers didn’t not hear our name on the list).

Our classmate, Michael Wilner, described the scene as something from the Wizard of Oz: Big building. Small man. Loud echoing voice coming from an indistinct source. However, it was amazing to be so close to a man of authority for over a billion people.

Quotes from the moment:

If I were Pope…with Brandon Gates:

“If was the Pope, I kind of like Anthony as a name,” Brandon said.

“I could see Pious,” Sarah said.

“I was going to say that,” Anne said.

“Well, I wanted to say that but I was trying to be humble,” Brandon said.

“We’ve­ had a black president, it’s time for a black Pope,” Sarah said.

After the Pope, we went to see the “pope” to the Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. He spoke on, “Monastic Virtues and Ecumenical Goals — ” a talk that seemed to interest the assembled monks and clergy but had little value to journalists. We headed to dinner at La Pilotta for another pasta dinner. The Rev. John Wauck, professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and the Rev. Owen Keenan, Official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, joined us.

3) Pizza: Rome v. New York

Tonight my classmates Brandon, Anne, Michael, Aby and I decided to get a late night snack near Campo di Fiore and had an experience at VIP pizza, aka Very Italian Pizza. Italians are witty.

Having now experienced both New York and Rome pizza, I would like to share some observations.

 1. Quantity

1.  Roman pizza can be bought by the pound. New York pizza is always the size of your face.

2. Cheese

Roman pizza has less cheese, more of a sauce emphasis. New York pizza has loads of cheese.

3. Crust

Roman pizza has a crunchier crust. New York pizza tends to be thin crust and chewy.

Who wins? The verdict is not in yet. More experiments necessary.

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2012 at 12:58 am. It is filed under Daily Dispatches, Our Journey, Teresa Mahoney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.