Yesterday, Jan 20 2026

No class on this first day of the Spring semester at San Diego State University.  I arrived AT campus by 9:30am, but I didn't find out where I could park for about 30 minutes.  I would have definitely been late for class.  However, the young lady that told me which of the 16 garages on the campus were for student parking (3 in all of those 16).  I went to the one that would be closest to the building my class will be held.  It was totally full!  The young lady had warned me that Tuesday and Thursday are the days of the week that are the most busy on campus.  Lucky for me that my class is on Monday and Wednesday.  I finally parked in a garage which is attached to the campus by a bridge that goes over the main street.

Once parked, I started out by going across that bridge and was immediately greeted by a set of stairs to climb.  For young people, these would be very easy as I remember how I could navigate stairs when I was a college student.  My eyes were just in awe and shock at the amount of activity happening around me.  One of my first orders of business was to find the campus bookstore to find out what textbooks I was going to need for the class.  To my surprise, there were no books assigned to us.  I would guess that means that anything we are going to be reading will either be handed out to us by the professor, or maybe something we will need to find online for reading.  I may be entirely wrong.'

On the subject of the bookstore, the oddity I found with the layout is that the books are on the second floor of the store, the first floor is all merchandise for the university -- sweatshirts, caps, water bottles, magnets, and more.  Then I decided to try to find the building where my class will be held and go up to the room.  It took a while.  You see, it's a huge campus.  It actually has about 5-7 of those maps with the star that says "you are here."  Then the hunt for the building began.  By the time my day had ended, and after lunch, I went to the library for a little rest before going home.  My mind was fried already.  Just too much new input.  It'll be fine.

The few people I have spoken to so far are friendly.  I will find a few students who I feel I will be able to work with.  Praying that the professor is cool too.

This is going to be strange, however.  I truly am looking forward to tomorrow's first day of class, but still the concept of class time worries me just a little bit .  People often tell me that I make friends pretty easily.  I am a little hesitant at this point because I don't know how 18-22 year-olds will accept having a 58 year old in class with them.  Secondly, a Catholic priest.  How much will they be trusting in a world where anything I say could be offensive to someone or make them feel like I am overstepping my authority?  How many of them have faith?

The whole premise to the class is I believe to be crucial to my own future as a priest.  I am not looking for the answer to "are you afraid of death?"  I want to try to listen to the views of the professor but more the views of the students regarding their understanding of grieving, what happens to the soul, how do they view the body...is it sacred or not?

My experience of young people and grieving is that many don't know how to process for various reasons -- their parents shielded them from experiencing wakes and funerals, or maybe they have been numbed to death via the advanced video games they play.  If your character dies, there is always a reset and another opportunity to "live."  Take the game "Donkey Kong" (a classic from the early days of video games).  You, MARIO, are to rescue the princess from Kong, but along the way, Kong is throwing obstacles toward you that you need to avoid by jumping over them.  If you get hit by an object, your character dies and you can just start over.  Life is not like that unless someone believes in re-incarnation.  It's not what Catholics/Christians believe, but should it be?  Consider a baby that dies in the womb - a spontaneous miscarriage.  What was the purpose of that soul?  I'm not asking the question because we remember Roe v. Wade this week.  We believe that every person has value - everyone has a God-given mission and purpose.  So if a pre-born dies, what was their purpose?

To look a little bit deeper, here are a couple of scenarios.

A couple was married in late 1964 and became pregnant soon after.  They were carrying twins that should have been born in 1965, but the twins never saw the light of day.  Another couple was married in 1993.  They had two beautiful children and had a third on the way.  That child, again, never saw daylight.  These two tragedies had different ways of being dealt with because of the generations they were living in.

By 1965, the Church was not pressing the understanding of "pro-life" where life begins AT conception.  The first couple's upbringing in the Church likely did not play into how their twins "bodies" would be disposed of.  They died early in the pregnancy and their bodies were not formed as yet.  No names were given.

On the other hand, the second couple grew up in a world that had seen a pope write two great encyclicals "Humanae Vitae" and "Evangelium Vitae."  We were all seeing new life from the time of a child's conception.  The child was named and given a proper burial even though they were never baptized.  The Church was still dealing with the concept of "limbo" (what happens to the souls of the unbaptized).  But we were beginning to go farther with God's mercy.  The cemetery service for the child was cold, damp, and rainy; however, the couple's other two children of toddler age were present.