Italy Tour

This will be my last blog entry for a couple of weeks.  Beginning on Thursday, my wife and I will be leading an Ohio Dominican Tour of Italy.  Faculty, staff, trustees, alumni and friends of the University will be joining us for an eleven-day tour which will take us to Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, Florence, Bologna and Venice.
 
These tours provide a wonderful opportunity for our travelers to experience the history, culture, art and natural beauty of an extraordinary country.  But the reason Ohio Dominican sponsors these tours is to help our community better experience our Catholic and Dominican heritage.
 
As part of our tour, we will visit the Vatican and experience the rich and meaningful history of the Catholic Church through a tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica.  We will celebrate our Catholic faith by sharing the experience of liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica next Sunday morning and joining 50,000 other pilgrims for the Sunday Blessing by Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Square.  Our tour will end with Mass in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on the last day of our trip.  Throughout the tour, participants will have the opportunity to walk the spiritual journey of Lent.
 
As a Dominican university, we celebrate a special history and connection with St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena.  Our trip will take us to many historic and important Dominican centers and allow us to experience the extraordinary art of Fra Angelico.  In Siena, we will visit the birthplace and home of Catherine.  In Bologna, we will pay our respects at the burial place of Dominic.
 
I am sure that this trip will create many special memories for our travelers.  They will enjoy the myriad of sights, sounds and tastes of Italy.  Ancient Rome, Michelangelo’s David, gondola rides through the canals of Venice, pasta and gelati will be memorable experiences.  But I know that our travelers will arrive back at Ohio Dominican with a deeper and richer understanding and appreciation of what it means to be a Catholic and Dominican University.  We share in a 2,000-year heritage of faith and values that guided the early Church, were promoted in the 13th century by Dominic, and continue to guide our University today.