Churched out

There are things I hate about my job, and things I love. One of the things I love, as a curious person, is that it gives me a chance to learn something new with every assignment – and often enough, I learn things that had never even crossed my mind before the job. Such as cigarette filter production, cilia-related diseases, trunked radio networks, the feeding behaviour of penguins, or Franciscan spirituality.  But I can assure you: All of these matters are utterly fascinating once you give them a closer look.

Working for Franciscan (and other) Sisters and Brothers has been one of the most inspiring experiences of all of these, especially when a Sister generously shares her seemingly infinite knowledge of Popes, Saints and religious art as she walks us around Rome. Which is what I got to enjoy today. My original plan had been to steal myself away from the group and sit quietly with my book, soaking up the early autumn sun and busy atmosphere of Rome to give myself a day of much-needed rest.

But Sister Katharina’s stories were way too exciting to miss, so I stayed with our little group of Sisters, soaking up stories of square halos (historians’ delight!) and the Pope who was accused of witchcraft (Sylvester!) rather than rays of sun, always looking forward to the next basilica, memorial or other Catholic site we would be visiting – until I was eventually “churched out”.

However, if being churched out is always as enjoyable as it was today, I can’t wait to be churched out again soon.