Ft. Knox and St. Charles Borromeo

Anthony was asked to write an appeal speech as a class assignment.
This is a rough draft because he had to do a complete rewrite,
but we all thought it was excellent!

Luke, Dominic, Declan, Terrance, Griffen, Thomas. These are the newest seminarians at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Montgomery County, of whom you are most likely aware. They come from your archdiocese and they will hopefully serve your parish and others here in the next nine years.

I am part of this group of new seminarians. My name is Anthony May, I come from the Diocese of Raleigh, but I live on the military base of Fort Knox in the middle of Kentucky. I’m sure that many of you know that Fort Knox is the location of our nation’s gold depository. Every time I want to go through the main gate at Fort Knox, I have to pass by and see the fortress-like building that guards the precious wealth. After the first thirty times of passing it, the gold depository becomes a common characteristic on the land scape. There’s no gold to be sighted; not even soldiers or guards are visible patrolling. There is no way to enter and see the treasure of our nation. So I’ll almost forget that the field next to me holds this trove. But the citadel is still there. Underneath is the hollow tomb of wealth.

On the front of it, St. Charles Seminary seems like that. Over a hundred men are taught there, coming out seldom. Studying and learning, these men are almost cloistered away for eight or nine years. Who knows or sees many of the students who are even being taught there?

Anthony, Andrew, Adam, Rob, Andrew, Danny, Anthony: These are the newest seminarians whom you may not know of, yet. These are the seminarians from different dioceses who are attempting to do the same thing as the Philadelphian seminarians. They want to be ordained and turn their lives over to God for service and love.

Like the depository on Fort Knox, St. Charles contains many men who are asked to remove themselves from the daily life of their dioceses and families. Here is where Fort Knox and St. Charles differ: Fort Knox never gives out gold. It never enriches the parishes, neighborhoods, or families on or off the base. It will not be emptied for the inhabitant’s welfare. On the other hand, St. Charles is in place so that priests will be ordained so that in eight or nine years, they can help their diocese much better than now. St. Charles exists for the express cause of teaching the coming generation of priests to instruct, bless, and guide the generations now. St. Charles is asked to take so many sons so that it can give so many priests.  

However, the seminary is not able to maintain its resources unless the Catholic people bless it with support, prayers and love. So I ask that you help us with each of these. I came so far from my old Kentucky home so that I could return to the home I have in the Diocese of Raleigh and hopefully in the Archdiocese of Military Services with a reservoir of sacraments and grace contained in me. I came to St. Charles so that the Catholic individuals and families I meet, the non-Catholic adults and children I find, the anti-Catholic men and women who I can open this beautiful religion to, would all be able to reach Heaven. I want to be anointing the dying man and giving him the theological hope that he will be happy forever. I want to instill the newly living child with the theological faith that he will be able to be joyful always. I want to bless and save as many souls as God asks, and I believe that every seminarian in St. Charles Seminary wants this as well. So I beg you to beseech the saints for me and my seminarian brothers, and I beg you to bestow St. Charles with your support. Please, give even a little of your blessings to us, either by donating something today or by giving something at a future date.

Remember, the priest is the gold that will be returned bountifully. He is the account that will yield an unimaginable interest for this archdiocese, for the Catholics in America, for the Catholic Church universally, and for other souls in places, both currently familiar and now unimaginable.  
***************
After I shared this on Facebook and here, I had a few friends who asked where to send a donation. If you would like to support the seminarians, here is the address:
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
100 Wynnewood Rd 
Wynnewood, PA 19096

The twins go to college

Dear World, We, with the help and intercession of many people, have done our best with this soul, and today we share him with you. May God bless him and keep him, may His Face shine upon him and be gracious to him. 

In a few hours Thomas will leave for his freshman year at Thomas Aquinas College. 

Dear World, 

Today we launch another soul into you. He again is our very best, formed with grace and the prayers of our family and friends. May God, the Father of all mercies, enlighten his heart and fill him with every grace and blessing. 

This morning Anthony left for St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Diocese of Raleigh. 

A baby story: Georgia Grace

The Summary

At 9 pm my mom told me not to go into labor, so of course, I did. Because I'm contrary-wise, I guess. 

By 10:45 pm the midwife had arrived and I was in the birth tub.

At 12:50 am my water broke and I pushed out a baby by 12:55am, June 10. 



The Baby Story

Every baby is a twinkle in God's eye before her parents ever think of her.  

Last June, since we had only retirement, a new job, a damaged house, a move, a larger homeschool, triathlon training, new extra-curriculars and preparing the twins for college to occupy us, we realized it was the perfect time to be open to life, and in our Christmas letter we joyfully shared that, God willing, the newest May baby would be born at home in early June.

This pregnancy was about us being open to God's plan for us which became a running joke during the final months. Whenever the pain of my huge belly became overwhelming and I allowed myself to ask with a note of unhappiness, "Who thought this was a good idea?", Bill would mischievously say, "I thought we were being open to God's will?" to which I would respond, "Blah, blah, blah, I'm over that now."  

When did labor begin? It's hard to say. If you are a clock-her-contractions-because-5-an-hour-means-labor person, I was never in labor. But, for a few weeks before Georgia was born, I was woken up in the night by stomach upset, shakes, hot flashes, and occasionally a contraction. That was pre-labor.

A few days before Georgia was born, the midwife came over and did my first cervical check, and I was at 5-6 cm dilated. Hooray! And that was it for the next few days. I might have a few hard contractions in the late afternoon, text the midwife to which she always responded, "I'm ready!", and then at bedtime, I would text again, "Everything stopped. I'm going to bed." 

On Friday, the night of Game 4 of the NBA final, the twins were at work and the rest of us were excited to watch the game. At 9pm, I settled onto the birth ball in hope that it would help. As soon as the Star Spangled Banner was over my mom said, "OK, you can't go into labor now because it's time for basketball." Pretty much immediately I had a contraction where I felt like my bag of waters bulged out to my knees. I quietly got up and texted the midwife. 

I thought it was going to be another false alarm but at the same time was really nervous about going to the bathroom, so she came over to check on me. Somehow, that made it all feel really real, so Bill and I bumbled through putting the car seat in the car and pulling out the birth tub. I remember telling him, "It's not too bad, don't worry about it yet" and him ignoring me, thank God, because by the time it was set up I was more than ready to get in. 

There weren't many contractions really, I feel like about 10 total but can only remember having 4. When I climbed into the tub, my body immediately relaxed and the tightness in my lower body eased. I bopped around for a while and then had one memorable contraction. At some point I asked where Maria was and Bill went to get her. Later, I felt a pop high in my abdomen. Was this my water breaking? There was no instant relief from the release of pressure like usual, but we could see discharge in the tub water, so yes it was. 

The next contraction was incredibly painful. On my hands and knees I gripped Bill's hands and pushed as hard as I could, but I knew it wasn't enough. I could feel that the head had not moved to the widest point which would allow the baby to slide out. As the contraction faded, I could feel the head begin to slide back up, so I quickly pushed just enough to hold it in place. I didn't want to lose any ground I had gained. 

The next, the final contraction hurt worse than the one before. It wasn't the achy pain of the contraction that I felt, it was the sharp pain of the head stretching me that hurt so much. I pushed and clawed my way up Bill's arm and begged, "Help me, Jesus!" until I finally felt the widest point of the head push through, but there was no relief that I had come to expect. The baby's head was delivered, but the pain had not subsided. I moved backward into a sitting position and begged the midwife Mary Carol to deliver the baby. She says she used the techniques to deliver a baby with shoulder dystocia, but it was hardly necessary. With gentle manipulation on her part, the baby was finally delivered. And the pain continued. 

As I asked, "What is it?", Mary Carol announced we had a girl, lifted her onto my arm, and despite the pain, I chose to tell our sweet new baby, "Oh, little one, I love you!" 

Then I started to beg for Mary Carol to get the placenta out. And where was my mom? 

Bill woke my mom and brought her in, Mary Carol gave me a shot of pitocin, and the enormous placenta was finally delivered. 

As planned, Bill held Georgia while Mary Carol helped me move to the bed to make mananging a post partum hemorrhage easier. But there wasn't one. We were able to simply rest and recover. 

"Rest and recover". That sounds so peaceful, but I'll be honest. The pain of uterine massage and the pain of having delivered a 10 lb 3 oz baby lasted a long time! I told Bill, "Let's never do this again." 

But really, she's so worth it. 

When all was quiet, Georgia was gently nursing at my breast, and we were all ready to wind down for bed, I asked if we could pray a rosary. I wish I had a picture of that moment. Each of us finding a rosary close at hand. My mom starting us with a prayer of gratitude for a safe birth. Mary Carol sitting at the foot of my bed, her well-used rosary in her hands. Bill leading us in prayer. That was a perfect moment where we all were able to pause together and appreciate God's plan and His goodness.