Current Correspondents

 In honor of the journalism tradition in England, our journalism class has been meeting in the coffee shop here at Mount Angel Seminary.  According to one of our texts for the class, The Elements of Journalism, the first English newspapers developed through coffeehouses.  The conversations in the coffeehouses were so numerous and energetic that each coffeehouse developed its own specialty in terms of the information it provided.

Below are some comments about our class from our current journalism students.  Their comments are drawn from a recent article about the journalism class in the Catholic Sentinel.  If you would like to learn more about our work, please contact any of the students or Sister Hilda.

"This class has given me an appreciation of the process that goes into journalism."

Brian Perez, College III - Sacramento

Quyen has found that the journalism course gives him "a better understanding of information and the responsibility of those who convey it."

Quyen Truong, Pre-Theology 2 - Orange

 "Not only does it [the journalism class] help teach us to communicate better, but it gives us an understanding of how journalists work and think.  Too often journalists and the Church fail to understand one another."

Brother Peter Tynan, Theology 4 - St. Martin's Abbey

Music at Mount Angel Seminary

The Mexican Minstrels of Mount Angel Seminary
by Brian Perez

If I told you men in long black robes were going to perform a musical act at Mount Angel Seminary, you would probably think I mean men in black cassocks, and you would probably think they were going to sing hymns,  maybe in Latin.

However, I would be describing the members of La Tuna, a musical group that has is origins in Spain around the 10th century and that has found its way to Mount Angel Seminary a thousand years later.  Moreover, the songs would not be in Latin but in Spanish.

"I was one of the founding members [at Mount Angel Seminary] in 2007," said Guadalupe Vargas.  "There were twelve of us; we are the first La Tuna in America."  According to T.J. Pearson, the current head of La Tuna, La Tuna was originally formed to entertain the king and then spread to universities where La Tuna would perform for food and money to pay for their studies.  Today the original spirit still exists; the members do not necessarily have any political message.  They just want to entertain.  The original spirit of La Tuna moves each member to treat the audience as if they were royalty, and entertaining the audience is like entertaining a royal court.

The Washington Post

I have added a link for The Washington Post under the list of news organizations on the right.  Tonight at 6:45 in Anselm 125 the journalism class will be viewing All the President's Men, the famous 1976 film of the Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal.  See the previous post on this film for more background information on the film.

All are welcome to join us this evening!

Hitting the Trail

Below is another story about a recent event at Mount Angel Seminary:

Father Recker Invites Seminarians to Find God in Nature

Story and Photos by Brother Peter Tynan, OSB

Local backpackers like to say that any hike in the Columbia River Gorge will involve a fair amount of climbing. Fr. Ralph Recker, OSB, and the four seminarians that were accompanying him were finding out just how true this is.  We were slowly climbing our way up 600 feet from the base of Waukeena Falls to the Lemmon’s viewpoint high above.

“Does this trail ever stop climbing?” Ricardo Ruesga asked.

Soon our Mount Angel Seminary group reached Lemmon’s viewpoint, a promontory that overlooks the Gorge below.  The view was so spectacular it made the whole climb worthwhile.

“You can see the whole river from Vista House to Beacon Rock!” Jesus Mariscal exclaimed.

 Father Ralph Recker (second from the right) and his seminarians on their recent hike.

The Annual Walk for Life

The journalism class had completed another set of stories covering events in which our seminarians have participated in recently.  See below for more details!

Seminarians - A Witness for Life

Story and Photos by Quyen Truong

In recent years, seminarians of Mount Angel Seminary have been participating in the annual Walk for Life in San Francisco. This event is an opportunity for seminarians to tell people who respect life that they are united with the people in their prayers for life.  The seminarians also share in the people’s witness to life.

Seminarians participating in the 6th Walk for Life.

Forty-six seminarians of Mount Angel Seminary attended the 6^th Walk for Life in the Bay Area with thousands of participants and raised banners for life. “It is a golden opportunity for me to stand up with pro-lifers to save the right of life for many unborn babies,” said Tuan Pham, a pre-theology seminarian. “The Walk was an invaluable experience for my vocational ministry, God willing, because I could walk the teachings of our Good Lord and the doctrine of the Church,” Pham continued.

Russian Journalists Attacked

Today in class we discussed the next to last chapter of The Elements of Journalism, the chapter on the responsibility of the journalist to exercise his or her conscience.  Every act of journalism - every report, every interview, every story - has a moral character, and when a journalist discerns that his or her conscience may be violated by taking part or refraining from a particular act, he or she must say so.

This afternoon the radio program The World aired a story on journalists in Russia who were attacked for negative reports on the activities of the state.  You can listen to the story here.  The story includes statements from some students from one of the largest schools of journalism in Russia, and they do not necessarily support the actions of the journalists who were attacked.

How does this story connect with or illustrate our discussion of conscience in class today?  How might it shape your own choices concerning an act of conscience as a journalist?

All the President's Men Showing November 16th

Next Tuesday the journalism course is hosting a showing of All the President's Men.  This famous film covers the investigative work of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.  Their work exposed the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon in August of 1974.

All members of the seminary community are welcome to join us!

Who: Your local journalism class
What: A showing of All the President's Men
When: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 6:45 p.m. 
Where: Anslem 125
Why: To share with the community part of our journalism studies this semester!

For more information about the film and the work behind it, visit an article from washingtonpost.com here.  This article contains great background information about the making of the film, as well as links to the original work of Woodward and Bernstein that was published in the Washington Post.