Institute for Pastoral Initiatives News

By Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP, D.Min.

I feel so honored to be a University of Dayton facilitator for the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation.

I will be facilitating the online course, Collaboration and Community from Italy in September. I’m on a temporary assignment in Italy, including serving on the Catholic jury at the Venice Film Festival.

I arrived in Rome on Aug. 14, and I was greeted with a gift. For my 50th Jubilee, I received a papal blessing. This is a first for me. I also found out the blessing can fit in my prayer book.

After spending four days in quarantine, I was finally able to do some sightseeing in Rome.

First, roadside shrines tucked in little nooks. Then, the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (across the Tiber River). Amazing! The history of the church goes back to the second century. Beautiful and inspiring. 

The next day, we took a bus ride from the Via Della Pisana to the Piazza Navona. I met up with Sr. Bernadette Reis, who often comments and translates the talks and homilies of Pope Francis.

Along the way I love seeing the Marian Shrines as we walked from the bus to the restaurant. It’s like you know Mary is watching over all of us.

As we approached the city center, I was able to record some video of the Vatican.

Stay tuned for more blogs!

Sister Rose is an award winning author. Her most recent book is “Martin Sheen: Pilgrim on the Way” (2015). She is a film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger and the National Catholic Reporter and also the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Culver City, Calif. Sr. Rose's class and other VLCFF online classes in English, Spanish and Arabic start Sept. 5. See the list of courses. To register, simply create a profile.