Siegfried Hall on NFL Films

David Ruffer is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.  Like me, he's a Siegfried Rambler. He's also originally from the Washington D.C. area and in high school he attended Gonzaga Prep. which boasts a number of students and alums from Little Flower Parish where I currently reside.

David is finishing up his last season as the place kicker for Notre Dame's football team. But before he walked-on to the varsity squad, he played for Siegfried Hall's inter-hall football team. I knew David's fabulous story from some of the coverage it received when he was first recruited and ultimately given a scholarship.  NBC did a halftime spot on him as I recall.  But I had never seen this fantastic video from NFL Films:



I was thrilled to see the coverage that Siegfried Hall received, including its wonderful rector, my friend and brother, Fr. John Conley, C.S.C., the "Hall of Champions" banner above the front doors, and especially the hall's first ever inter-hall championship trophy. That trophy was won, for bowling, by my section mates way back in 1998!

Move - Learn - Eat

Thanks to a Facebook post by my cousin, Tim, I came across these videos today:

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

How cool are these videos! Don't they beautifully capture the adventure and wonder of the world around us? They certainly give me a bad case of wanderlust!!

Visit Stumptown!

A couple of Portland friends just posted this video to their Facebook pages and I just had to share it here. It is AWESOME, and makes me homesick for the Rose City!! I'm proud to say that I've been to most of the sites and events featured in this video. Obviously you can't cover everything in such a short spot, but as far as I'm concerned, the only things that are missing in this video are the smiling faces of all my friends in the great Northwest! Enjoy!!

Famous . . . or Infamous?

Fr. Andrew Hofer, OP and my classmate Fr. Jim Gallagher, CSC recently alerted me to the fact that the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome has been watching me!

Thankfully, it doesn't seem that I have run-afoul of the powers that be. Rather, video of a Mass I celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, was briefly used in a video on the priesthood produced by the Congregation for the Clergy. Take a look - I appear ever so briefly at the 9:20 mark:

Homily Video

As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend I presided and preached at all of the Basilica Masses. The 10 am Liturgy is broadcast live on the Catholic Channel and taped for the internet. Here's a look:

Timely Message

In this week of an historic Presidential Inauguration, the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, and the annual March for Life in Washington DC, CatholicVote.com has released this powerful video:



Let's pray for our new President and all legislators - that they may have a change of heart and mind and seek to defend the human rights of all, including innocent life in the womb. Let's pray for women in crisis pregnancies and work together to help them as they strive to choose life. Let's pray for women who have had abortions and work to help them recover from the violence they too have suffered.

Ave Maria

A tip of the biretta to The Anchoress for posting this video of a men's schola from Goshen College singing my single favorite piece of classical music: Franz Biebl's Ave Marie. Beautiful!

Peanut Goodfellas

I'm normally very reverent in my devotion to Charles Schulz's characters . . . but this is hilarious!!