Almost Summer!!!
The semester is quickly drawing to a close. I would like to congratulate all of my friends that recently graduated from Conception Seminary College on Sunday, May 9, 2010. Specifically, I would like to congratulate the seminarians from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City: Danny, Cristobal, Timothy, Christopher, and Linh. I hope you all have a wonderful summer assignment in preparation for your first year of theological studies!
To all of my other diocesan brothers, I hope you have a great summer as we all attempt to draw closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. I really wish I could return home to spend time with all of you, but I am required to remain in Europe for two years. Therefore, I will make the most of it by volunteering as a seminarian at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France. I will also be part of the Early Orientation Staff at the Pontifical North American College to welcome the “New Men,” first-year seminarians at the seminary in Rome. I am especially looking forward to the arrival of my diocesan brother from OKC, Christopher Brashears. Following the two weeks of Early Orientation, I will be studying Italian for three weeks in Verbania, Italy again. It was a wonderful language school last summer and I am looking forward to expanding my speaking abilities… exponentially!
For now I need to focus on my classes and begin preparing for the month-long exam schedule in June. My final exam is on June 24th, so please keep me in your prayers throughout the month.
This weekend is a “travel weekend” at the NAC. My plan is to relax and maybe take a day trip to a nearby town. The weekend will be a wonderful opportunity to rest and relax before finishing up the semester.
In addition to thanking all of the people that have supported me this year with their prayers and financial support, I would especially like to thank the Fifth grade classes at All Saints Catholic School in Norman, Oklahoma. Their teachers, Mrs. Wynn and Mrs. Cox, have been so supporting of my vocation to the priesthood and have given their students an opportunity to follow my progress throughout the year through letters, cards, and also video chats (thanks to Skype!) Getting to know these great kids have allowed me to stay connected with Catholics within the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City on a regular basis. The have also served as a reminder of how I will be called to minister the Sacraments to their generation and of my responsibility and divine call to help them grow in their Catholic faith in the hopes that they will respond to God’s call in their own lives. This morning, donuts and juice were delivered to their classes to show, in a very small way, of my thanks for their prayers and support throughout the year. They are a great inspiration to me of their faithfulness and charity and I will continue to keep each of them and their families in my prayers.
Finally, I ask for your continued prayers for Fr. Kirk Larkin, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He recently discovered that he has a brain tumor and is currently being treated by some of the best doctors in the state. If you are reading this, please say a prayer for Fr. Larkin and for the intercession of Fr. Stanley Rother, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who is currently being investigated as a Martyr and Saint of the Universal Church.
From the Seminary
When I started the seminary in 2007, I wanted to make sure that I could stay connected with the people from my home parish, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Fortunately, my pastor, Fr. Thomas Boyer, allowed me to periodically put a short letter in the Sunday Bulletin in order to keep everyone up-to-date with how I was doing in the seminary and with priestly formation. While I wanted to stay connected with the many great parishioners from St. Mark’s, I also wanted young men and families to see the steps that men go through on the way to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. I did not have any idea of what really happened at a seminary and I want to help others realize what great places a seminary can be for a young man to consider God’s call for them as a Catholic priest. I am so fortunate to have been open to this vocation and I want to help other young men possibly realize their own vocation as a priest.
To that end, I have continued to write letters for the Sunday Bulletin at St. Mark’s Catholic Church. I will try to post the letters on this site as I send them to St. Mark’s. It is such a wonderful journey that I am on right now and I am so happy to share it with others.
Here is my first letter to St.Mark’s since arriving in Italy.
My home parish is St. Mark's in Norman, Oklahoma.
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Dear Fellow Parishioners,
Greetings from the “Eternal City” of Rome! It is hard to believe that I have already been in Italy for seven weeks. I have been blessed with so many wonderful experiences that have drawn me closer to Jesus Christ, the High Priest. Most of my time has been occupied with learning the Italian language because I have to pass an Italian proficiency exam in one week and all of my classes will be in Italian. While learning a new language is difficult, knowing that I am not doing all of this for me, but that I am doing it for God and His people, strengthens me. You have all been in my prayers since I started this new chapter in my priestly formation. Specifically, I was blessed to pray for our pastor, Fr. Thomas Boyer, and all of the parishioners of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church at the tomb of our patron, St. Mark, within the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, Italy on August 15th (The Feast of the Assumption of Mary). In fact, I have been keeping an online journal of my experiences in Italy in which you can access atwww.brianbcatholic.org. You will all continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Brian Buettner
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
brian@stmarkscatholic.org
Being “Over There”
Things have been busy here at the college this week. All of us “New Men” have started with our second set of Italian classes in-house. While it is important to be able to speak the language of the country you are surrounded by, the more immediate reason for cramming the language into my head is for the Italian Proficiency Exam administered by the university in which I will be studying in the coming years. The language has been tough to learn, but I have put a lot of work into it. I still have a long way to go, but I am happy with how much I have learned in the last six weeks. I have about two and half weeks before the exam, so I will be studying hard until then. However, that doesn’t mean that I will not be doing anything interesting.
Tomorrow we are traveling to Assisi for a quasi-retreat that will last from Friday until Sunday. I have never been to Assisi and I am eagerly looking forward to experience the place where St. Francis and St. Clare lived, prayed, and worked. I am looking forward to having some time to relax a little. Things have been so busy here that I already feel like I am playing catch-up. Specifically with the language, I was able to spend plenty of time working on Italian outside of class, but that is not as possible now. This is the first time I have had some free time in the last four days and I thought I should at least post a little something about what has been going on here. However, after I am finished posting this, I will jump back into the books and learn some new words, practice conjugating some verbs, and remind myself that anything is possible with God’s grace.
This evening is the official Welcome Banquet at the Pontifical North American College. We will celebrate Mass at 5:30pm and then appetizers will be served in the faculty dining hall. We will then migrate out into the cortile in front of the main chapel doors and we will have dinner. I believe there are a few toasts and speeches, but it should really be a time to relax and enjoy the company of my classmates and the seminary faculty.
Many people have been asking me what it is like to be “over there.” These first weeks have been challenging because I left EVERYTHING behind. Sure, I brought some stuff with me to make my room feel like home, but I left my family, friends, and all of the little things that I used to take for granted. While I was studying Pre-Theology at Conception Seminary College, we were living in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. However, we still took advantage of our cars in order to drive to Maryville or St. Joseph in order to go out to eat at a restaurant or make a “Wal-mart run.” Now we walk just walk everywhere and even the idea of Wal-mart is a foreign to Italy (literally). Ultimately, there are many challenges with moving to a new country, but I firmly believe that God does not give us anything that we cannot handle. Even though I miss my family immensely, I know that this is part of the sacrifice I am making to God. I am giving my entire life to the Jesus Christ and placing all of my trust into Him. It is difficult to give up things that are comfortable, but I am trying to look at this experience as something that will stretch me in new ways in order to become a better priest for the people of Oklahoma City. This mindset also makes life not as stressful. I know that I am not in control, but I am ready to face the challenges and obstacles that I am (and will) encounter in the future. I have also been able to grow in prayer by praising God for all of the great things He has blessed me with, as well as thanking him for the challenges before me now. I am confident that these will be beneficial to me in the future and for the people that I hope to serve someday as a priest.
Getting Ready for a Change
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. My name is Brian Buettner and I am a Catholic seminarian from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Zoology – Biomedical Science in 2006, and then attended Conception Seminary College where I obtained a Bachelor’s of Philosophical and Theological Studies. It seems like I have been in school forever, but this next step is going to be completely different from anything I have every done. I have been assigned to study Theology in Rome, Italy! I will be living at the Pontifical North American College and will attend classes at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
I began the completing the application packet and visa process in February and finished my last preparatory step two weeks ago when I shipped my personal affects to the Eternal City. I am now living out of just two suitcases. It is hard to describe what it feels like to prepare to leave the country with a one-way plane ticket. It is exciting because of the wonderful experience that I know is waiting for me in Rome, but it is so hard to leave my family, friends, and even my hometown. I will not be able to come back home to visit for two years. So many things have been swirling through my mind about what things will be like when I return. However, I am happy to know that I will be able to still be connected to everyone with today’s technology. I think e-mail and Skype will be a huge asset!
I wanted this first blog entry to be a very general introduction and I look forward to keeping this blog up-to-date.
