Daily Archives: May 28, 2022

Christ's ascent to heaven is depicted in a stained-glass window at St. Clotilde Church in Chicago in 2008. The feast of the Ascension celebrates the completion of Christ's mission on earth and his entry into heaven. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

In Bethany, near Jerusalem, there is a small domed Church that commemorates Christs ascension into heaven. Inside, you can see the exact spot, marked as it is by Christs own footprint in the stone floor. This earthly vestige of Christ, seemingly the result of the force required to ascend to heaven, might better represent the questions we ask about the Ascension.

Where did Christ go? And why? (My kids also wonder, How? But this is a question I cannot answer fully, though it has to do more with his glorified body than a supernatural blast upon a stone floor.)

So, where did Christ go? The psalm in the Sunday readings suggests he ascended to his throne, while the other readings tell us that he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father. This imagery is also found in the wording of the Apostles Creed. Now, friends, this language makes it seem like Christ is reposing in heaven, enjoying some respite from the work of salvation for which he was sent by the Father in the first place. But, lets look a little closer.

Lets look at the language in Pauls epistle, where it shows that being at Gods right hand is to be: far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way (Eph 1:21-23).

Aha! So Christ being enthroned and sitting at the right hand of the Father is language that describes Christs reign over the Kingdom of God. Christ is not lounging in heaven, having accomplished our salvation, but he is continuously carrying out our salvation, with power and glory. Christ continuously gives himself to the Church, which is his body, his spouse.

And here we run into the why. Why did Christ ascend to heaven? Why didnt he, the glorified risen Lord, who was victorious over death, stay here with us, his spouse, forever? Because he wanted us to be bound even more intimately to God, and with one another, as the Church. Christ told us about this intimate dwelling-with twice in this Sundays readings: I am sending the promise of the Father upon you and you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts, to dwell interiorly. When Christ ascends such that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, the Church (which we are!) is bound to her spouse by the very love that is God. And, friends, because Christ ascended in his glorified body, our very humanity has been taken up into the life of God! Truly, this is an exchange of love carried out for us by Gods desire to dwell intimately with us.

And so, friends, as we celebrate this ascension of the Lord to the right hand of the Father, perhaps looking intently at the sky, let us also begin to look for the promise of the Father: the Holy Spirit. And so I close with a few beautiful words from a homily by Pope Francis for Pentecost in 2017:

The Holy Spirit is the fire of love burning in the Church and in our hearts, even though we often cover him with the ash of our sins. Let us ask him: Spirit of God, Lord, who dwell in my heart and in the heart of the Church come! Like water, we need you to live. Come down upon us anew teach us to love as you love us, to forgive as you forgive us. Amen.'

Catherine Cavadini, Ph.D., is the assistant chair of the Department of Theology and director of the masters in theology program at the University of Notre Dame.

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Opening the Word: Scripture answers the 'why' of the Ascension - Our Sunday Visitor

A pandemic-inspired pickup game became the locus of the sport on campus while official club play wasn't allowed.

Our coverage of the 2022 College Series is presented by Spin Ultimate. You can get 15% off all college uniforms and swag right now atSpin Ultimate!

You dream about being the first team in your programs history to make Nationals, but actually being in a position to take that giant leap can feel more feverish than a soft slumber. Up 11-6 in the game-to-go to Nationals, the last of three bids in the South Central region up for grabs, and Washington University Contra are within reach of something that has eluded their program through its 35-year history.

Its been a long weekend of hard-won successes and a humbling loss to Texas that knocked Contra into this do-or-die game against Colorado State. One win to cement the program into a new echelon of the sport, or one loss to add to the pile of season-ending Regionals bummers. In these conditions, even a five-point second-half lead feels precarious. You could wake up at any moment and find yourself back in the land of also-rans. So by the time the score narrowed to 12-10, game to 13, a potential nightmare had started to stir.

Another break from Colorado State and the meltdown would truly be on. So in this moment of intense pressure, a legacy-defining moment, who steps up? For Contra, it was a first-year, Cam Freeman, putting the disc into the end zone to sophomore Noah Stovitz and locking up Wash Us first-ever bid to Nationals. A lot of teams making Natties for the first time are led by a golden generation of upperclassmen, often a generation optimized by mortgaging the development of underclassmen. But in this case, its appropriate that it was an underclassman putting the rock in for the winning goal, as this Contra team was propelled over the final hurdle by a swath of first years and sophomores playing huge roles in the biggest moments for the team.

Okay, youre thinking. They must have gotten a bunch of YCC kids. Big recruiting pipeline from some high school powerhouse programs. All of these underclassmen have probably been playing high-level ultimate since they were in braces.

Not exactly.

Contra forged their youth movement through a COVID-era necessitated, team-unaffiliated pickup game facilitated by a Snapchat group, which grew organically out of the pandemic boredom of a bunch of first years and blossomed into the spine of the team that made Nationals for the first time in program history. Not quite Triforce or ATLiens, but for Wash U, it was exactly the thing they needed. The story of how this pickup game came together forever changed the legacy of the Contra program, and the lives of the people involved.

Flash back to fall 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic is still in its pre-vaccine era of unknowns and anxieties, no one feeling sure what the next few months or even weeks could bring. And while some parts of life are suspended on indefinite hiatus, others are moving forward in awkward lurches of not-quite normalcy. Leaves are changing color. Babies are being born. Students are still matriculating into universities.

Two specific first years, Seth Fisher-Olvera and Nic Sprague, arrive on campus at Washington University in St. Louis and are randomly assigned as roommates. Seth is from Vermont and already has the frisbee bug; he started playing ultimate before high school and was excited to have the quintessential college ultimate experience hes dreamed about. Nic is a high school soccer player from New Jersey, planning on trying out for the club soccer team. Hes never played ultimate before. His visions of glory in college involve kicking goals, not catching them. But they, like every other first year in the fall of 2020, were going to be in for a very different reality than what they had been envisioning.

As anyone who has gone through a regular first year of college remembers, the first weeks on campus should be full of random meet-ups, exploring campus, and finding your place in this new environment. Potentially that happens by joining one of the hundreds of clubs on campus all vying for your participation with varying levels of enthusiastic recruiting techniques. But this year, none of that was happening.

During that first fall of the pandemic, Wash U had closed off almost all activities on campus. Classes were all online for the semester, students were not allowed to be in dorm buildings that they didnt live in, seating in dining halls was severely restricted, and everyone was masked all the time. As you can imagine, it was particularly hard on the first years who did not have any of those traditional ways to meet people and make friends as they start their college journeys. Thinking back to those first weeks, it was very hard to socialize, said Sprague, especially in a safe manner.

While varsity sports were allowed to continue under restrictions, club sports were not allowed to organize any regular events. This meant that both the mens and womens ultimate teams at Wash U werent allowed to practice. The teams depend on funding from the school to go to tournaments, and they couldnt risk their good relationship with the administration. So even though they wanted to, none of the guys on Contra were practicing or getting to play regularly.

Against this backdrop, incoming first-years found themselves deprived of many of the opportunities and structures that would normally funnel them into the social and competitive environments college can offer. Instead, they would have to figure out how to create a college experience for themselves.

After dinner on their first day on campus, Nic asked Seth if he wanted to throw a frisbee in one of the central residential quads. While there usually would have been too many mandatory orientation activities, this year there was not a lot else they were even allowed to do.

It may not have been the most exciting experience of all time, but that first night tossing sure beat staring at a dorm wall and contemplating lost youth.

That evening out throwing at Mudd Field provided some semblance of collegiate normalcy, so Nic and Seth continued to throw regularly, making it an almost nightly ritual. A few days later they randomly sat down for lunch next to a fellow first-year named Sam Schwartz. Sam was interested in playing ultimate but had never been able to give it a shot. When he heard that Nic and Seth had been tossing, he wanted in. That weekend, the trio put together a Saturday morning game of 2v2 box with another first-year who had been drawn in by the flight of the disc during Nic and Seths sessions. It went great and became another part of the routine.

Soon, the word got out, and each time they played or were throwing, people would walk by and ask to join. More and more people wanted to get in on the action, and eventually a Snapchat group was created to coordinate the newly forged crew of frisbee obsessives.

The first womens player to join was Casey Ellyson, a first-year from Atlanta who had played ultimate in high school at Paideia, bringing the grand total of people who truly knew how to play the sport to two. At the beginning, Seth and Casey were basically the only ones who knew the rules. But the lack of knowledge did not bely any lack of enthusiasm, and soon the group grew and grew until they were playing 7v7 (and even 8v8 one time when Seth and Casey werent there to explain why that was sacrilege). They played all-gender mini, almost exclusively barefoot and always masked. No one knew what a force was, let alone a stack, and most people could only throw either a forehand or backhand, if that. But that pure, simple thrill of chasing down a disc, of running around with a bunch of peers, more than made up for any deficiencies in skill. It was a group of people who played the games for the sake of having fun and coming together through frisbee in a time when there were not a lot of other ways to make connections.

Before long, the group became the center of gravity for peoples lives, including Seth, Nic, Sam, Casey, and the other mainstays at the pick-up games and throwing sessions. The group forged close friendships just from the organic collection of people who were playing frisbee together. They all met the people who are now their closest friends through playing mini and throwing. For Sprague, It led to me having all of the friends I have now. 95% of the people I know on campus come from frisbee either directly or indirectly.

About two months after the birth of this pick-up group, one of the members of the mens team at Wash U, Rob Slutsky, walked by a mini session. Witnessing the closest thing to real ultimate hed seen on campus since the start of the pandemic, he jumped right in. After working up a nice sweat, Rob put the word out to some Contra players through the teams group chat: theres frisbee happening, and its really fun. Eventually, a bunch of other players from Contra started coming to games; since it wasnt associated with the team and thus was allowed by the school, it was a go.

By early February, there were over 100 people in the pick-up chat (which by that point had switched to a GroupMe to avoid the Snapchat group limit) and there were regularly over 20 people coming out for daily mini on nice days. It wasnt organized with any divining principle beyond enjoyment but through all of these reps, the level of skill had increased substantially over the course of the year. Seth and Casey had been teaching people some of the basic skills and schemes, and when some of the Contra guys started to come, the number of people with frisbee knowledge skyrocketed.

This wasnt how Contras leadership had envisioned their recruitment and player development process playing out, but this pick-up game soon became the locus point of ultimate on campus.

Before the pandemic, Contra would have a fairly conventional recruiting process. Current 5th year player on the team Josh Gabella outlined the traditional steps of shoving flyers about tryouts under the doors of first years dorms, putting posters up in the student center and sending a delegation to student event fairs. That would all lead to about 80-100 guys showing up for tryouts. Wed get a mix of some people with experience at ultimate, some who came from other sports, said Gabella. It would be a quick process of open tryouts and a tryout tournament, and after about three weeks it usually boils down to about 8-10 guys getting rostered.

But shorn of normal recruiting methods, Contra found themselves getting a good look at some promising players in the GroupMe games, and starting to think about how they could make the two worlds come together.

There was some initial hesitation, said Gabella about potentially, like, moving in on their game. We had conversations about it, about not stealing their thing, but the people running the game had no problem with us being there. They were just happy to get more people at the games and we were just happy to be playing. The team and the pickup group integrated seamlessly.

As the Spring 2021 semester wore on, the recruiting brains of the Contra players switched on. At the close of the semester and into the fall, as the school began allowing official club activities again, the Contra returners in the group tried to bring the GroupMe gamers into the Contra fold.

Its hard to recruit athletic sophomores, said captain Ben Reimler. Because usually they have already found their thing, especially zero ultimate experience athletic guys. The mini group had good athletes gain experience that they may normally not have gotten during the normal fall tryout system.

Even despite this experience, the positive athletic upside, and the encouragement of the Contra players, several members of the pickup group had to be convinced that they were good enough to play ultimate at an officially organized level.

A lot of them were initially intimidated, reluctant to tryout, said Gabella. We made it as simple as possible. Told them that we have an A and a B team, let them know that no matter what happens there was a place for them in our community.

It worked. Heading into the 2022 season, Wash U Contra was flush with a strong sophomore class despite not having an official season the year prior, and a strong presence of first-years who had joined up through the continued presence of the pick-up game.

Fast forward to the spring of 2022, and Contra starts out the spring season with an encouraging showing at Santa Barbara Invite in late January. The team kept working through the cold winter weather in St. Louis, with a long stretch until their next tournament at Midwest Throwdown in early March. The contingent of sophomore rookies like Seth and Nic are carving out big roles for themselves, and soon almost the entire starting D-line is made up of new players, many of whom came from the pick-up GroupMe.

After a tough 11-10 universe point loss to Colorado College at Midwest Throwdown, the team doubled down even more on their youth movement, moving talented first years Cam Freeman and Joel Brown to the O-line to solidify Contras offensive firepower. They rolled through the competition at Huck Finn on their final day of the regular season and set themselves up for a run through the Series.

Then came Regionals, and the game-to-go, and Freeman finding Stovitz to seal Contras place in history.

Out of the nine sophomores on Contra who were on campus during 2020, all nine of them were regulars at the GroupMe games, and six of them had never played the sport before seeing it by chance one day in the early fall of 2020. Seth, Nic, and a third member of the pickup group Wilson Tryon are the leaders of the D-line, playing large roles all throughout the season. The contributions brought to the team by the underclassman who never got to play college ultimate before this season have been irreplaceable.

Messaging in the pick-up GroupMe has slowed this year with its core members playing on the organized club teams in a return to so-called normalcy. The empty void of time and in-person interaction that led to the groups creation has been filled with the hectic schedules of college students that are balancing regular practices, schoolwork, social gatherings, all while trying to get enough sleep.

Casey, now a member of WUWU, the Wash U womens team, notes some sadness that no one has the time [for pickup] anymore it was pretty special. As Seth describes the bittersweet feeling of living a more normal college life, he also recognizes how those strange days of pickup stay with him. Its legacy is the friendships and the players on our team who learned how to play frisbee on Mudd. Nic joins in, if I could go back, I wouldnt change a thing.

Its unlikely that Contra will ever get to repeat this formula for building the foundation of a Nationals qualifier. Hopefully, theyll never have to. But as we all reckon with the changes forced upon us by the pandemic, how our expectations and dreams have been shattered and diverted, take a little joy from seeing how Contra made a dream come true by picking up the pieces of how they thought things were, and creating something that should be.

More here:

The GroupMe Game: An Unlikely Aid in Washington University's Ascension to Nationals - Ultiworld

LSU awarded a record 4,603 degrees at the universitys 307th commencement exercises.

Every degree candidates name was called individually at separate ceremonies for each college held at locations on campus Friday, May 20, and Saturday, May 21.

Starting this spring, graduates received a newly redesigned diploma inspired by the diploma awarded to students in 1899. Graduates received a digital version of their diploma on graduation day, along with a diploma cover. Printed diplomas will be shipped to graduates.

Area graduates include:

Karina Ramirez Rodriguez, Gonzales

Carinne Elizabeth Tyrrell, Prairieville

Tyler Shawn Ward, Prairieville

College of the Coast & Environment

Jeremy J. Thompson, Prairieville

College of Agriculture

Anna Marie des Bordes, Prairieville

Brooke Allen Ducote, Prairieville

Currie Flynn Dudley, Prairieville

Danielle Monique Dugas, Prairieville

Meredith Giles, Prairieville

Blake A. Halbert, Gonzales

Sarah E. Lackey, Prairieville

Robert Paul Lemann III, Donaldsonville

Madison A. Marquette, Donaldsonville

Gwyneth Patrice Miller, Gonzales

Ryan Kenneth Moreau, St. Amant

Janice Ranae Neese, Prairieville

Mitchell Allen Reed, Prairieville

Riley Lauren Regira, Gonzales

Tanner Michael Royer, Prairieville

Maci Ann Schexnayder, Donaldsonville

Julie Jace Svec, Gonzales

Caroline E. Tousinau, Prairieville

Mackenzie L. Toussel, Geismar

College of Art & Design

Nnamdi Anyaele, Prairieville

Brennan James Cathey, Geismar

Rylee Ann Martin, Prairieville

William Stephen Stark, Prairieville

Kaileigh Mckenzie Thomas, Gonzales

Lauren Gianna Thompson, Gonzales

E.J. Ourso College of Business

Christine M. Boudreaux, Prairieville

Lauren Marie Delhaye, St. Amant

Madison Leigh Diez, Gonzales

Noah Benjamin Dollar, Gonzales

Aleshia Renia Fefie, Gonzales

Karina Rose Goldthorp, Prairieville

Joshua Michael Johnson, Prairieville

Paige Kimball Johnson, Prairieville

Hector Fransisco Joya, Geismar

Mallory Baker King, Prairieville

Nicholas Jude LeJeune, Gonzales

Matthew Douglas Maier, Prairieville

Jacob P. Marchand, Gonzales

Conley Andre Menard, Prairieville

Joshua Baden Mitchell, Prairieville

Christopher Michael Nicolay, Prairieville

Austin H. Price, Prairieville

Cambrie K. Reed, Donaldsonville

Gabrielle Robert, Darrow

Landon Paul Simoneaux, Geismar

Hayden Robert Utrera, Gonzales

Israel Ulysses Warr, Donaldsonville

College of Engineering

Nicholas John Anderson, Gonzales

Cade Oneal Babin, St. Amant

Gray Allen Bailey, Prairieville

Garrison Martin Beiriger, Gonzales

Colby Cameron Conish, Gonzales

Griffin Theodore Edwards, St. Amant

Tristan Seattle Evans, Geismar

Victoria Leigh Gautreau, St. Amant

Mason Anthony Gonzales, Gonzales

Jordan Andrew Guidry, Gonzales

Joshua Aaron Guitreau, St. Amant

Jordan Shea Hollier, St. Amant

Matthew Trey Jordan, Prairieville

Adam Emile Kardorff, Prairieville

Ava Elidia Landry, Geismar

Brandon Garrett Lara, Geismar

Theodore Sebastien Lecloirec-Swindell, Prairieville

Brock Daniel Lundin, Prairieville

Khoivu Dinh Nguyen, Prairieville

Cody Stafford Nickel, Prairieville

Joshua Michael Poirrier, Gonzales

Lindsey Rae Sassone, Prairieville

Dean Francis Schexnaydre, Gonzales

Lindsey Helen Settoon, Prairieville

Joshua Paul Severin, St. Amant

Zachary James Sherman, Geismar

Haleigh Lynne Stevens, Geismar

Chirsten Jacintha Concepcion Tolentino, Prairieville

Carlie Noelle Turk, Prairieville

College of Human Sciences & Education

Jocelyn Mari Arce Dudley, Gonzales

Lindsey Claire Boudreaux, Gonzales

Landon Timothy Burns, Prairieville

Ian Jacob D'Antoni, Prairieville

Camryn Nicole Green, Geismar

Tyler Neel Gremillion, Gonzales

Tylar Hadleigh Griffin, Prairieville

Carsyn Ann Guitrau, St. Amant

Kennedy Christin Honore, Gonzales

Kristin Dawn Lambert, Prairieville

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LSU Class of 2022 | Ascension | theadvocate.com - The Advocate

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PRAIRIEVILLE - An employee at a restaurant along Airline Highway is on the run from law enforcement after he got into a shootout with another man outside the business.

The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office said deputies are now searching for James Sims of Baton Rouge. The sheriff's office said Sims got into an argument outside a Freddy's restaurant around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday with an acquaintance of his, 29-year-old Justin Boudreaux of Raceland.

Boudreaux was treated at a hospital for injuries he suffered in the gunfight and later booked into the Ascension Parish Jail on charges of attempted second-degree murder, illegal use of weapons, aggravated assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, and disturbing the peace.

Deputies are still looking for Sims, who faces charges of attempted second-degree murder, illegal use of a weapon, disturbing the peace, and seven counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.

Link:

Restaurant worker on the run after gunfight in parking lot of Ascension business - WBRZ