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| HOSTED BY SAINT JOHN'S ABBEY AND UNIVERSITY |
| Collegeville, Minnesota |
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| June 11, 2000 |
| We all rolled out of bed in time and were out on the lawn at 7:30 sharp for a quick prayer before breakfast. |
| Today is Pentecost, a big day in the Catholic church year, the 50th and last day of Easter season. We learned about all of this (and then went to church a lot) today. |
| More music rehearsal. It is exciting learning a piece of music just written especially for the NCYC -- "Doxology" by Kevin Vogt. Dr. Theimer works us hard and has a lot of fun at the same time. |
| Mass in the abbey was a splash of incense, being sprinkled with holy water, loud organ music and a church full of people really singing away. Dr. Theimer was cantor for the responsorial psalm, and Ms. Plombon read one of the readings. Fr. Anthony (our chaplain) played organ, and a group of monks and some of our staff sang in the choir. Then we toured the church. |
| Walking tour of campus --this is really a pretty place! |
| Evening Prayer (Vespers) in church with the monks and guests. We learned a bit about how there is "Liturgy of the Hours" in the Catholic church which isn't Mass and doesn't have Communion. Monks (and other Christians) do this several times every day. We chanted the psalms with the monks and guests. More incense -- but this liturgy only lasted 35 minutes, shorter than Mass. |
| Swimming and gym play, then Compline (more Liturgy of the Hours -- but this one lasts only 10 minutes) before bed. Day 1 successfully ended! |
| Pictures from Today |
 Waiting for breakfast in the "refectory" (cafeteria) before rehearsal. |
 The first rehearsal of the morning. |
 Break time. During breaks in rehearsal the choristers always manage to find something to do. |
 One of the popular break-time activities is swing dancing. |
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