I cannot say that the last two days of issuing keys to returning students has improved my opinion of adolescents any, nor of their parents. I *can* say that I need to start a Parish parents' group, to discuss how we might persuade our children that recreational equipment comes from a store, not from your body.

Also, I have to say that, in spite of the "Gather" hymnal, full of Haugen and Haas and Schutte, and all things hideous in modern liturgical music, the Freshman welcome Mass last night (at 10pm, for all love) was less bad than I had feared. Yes, I was instructed to greet my neighbors at the time I should be reflecting (but the congregation was quiet and respectful, not chatty and boisterous as it had been in my day). Yes, I was instructed to hold hands during the singing of the Lord's Prayer (but non-Catholics were invited to join the Communion line with their arms crossed to receive a blessing, not the Eucharist). And even though the hymns mostly suck, the student choir/musical group had not a single guitar to its name, and the arrangements and inclusion of a flute and trumpet were nicely done, and actually improved some of the musical dreck.

I'm still skeptical, however, that the Chaplain is going to follow the new GIRM, and abolish some of the do-it-yourselfiness of the campus liturgy. I hope, genuinely hope, I am shown to have been unduly skeptical, but hope and optimism are not quite synonymous.