JOSEPH DE ORBEGOZO: So first of all you have to know that the student body here is very diverse. We have people from Kenya. We have people from Togo in Africa. We have people from Korea and Vietnam in Asia. We have people who have lineage from Peru, from South America, from Central America, Mexico, Nicaragua, even New Zealand. Just all these different places around the world, plus all of the different ethnicities and all the different cultural backgrounds in the United States.
[Music comes in.]
BR. KOLBE: This is Echoes from the Bell Tower.
BR. JOEL: Stories of wit and wisdom from Benedictine monks who live, work and pray in Southern Indiana.
BR. JOEL: I'm Br. Joel Blaize.
BR. KOLBE: And I'm Br. Kolbe Wolniakowski. You may remember me from last season as Novice Tony, but in August I made first vows and received the name Kolbe after St. Maximilian Kolbe.
BR. JOEL: We are working on Season Two of the podcast and wanted to give you a glimpse into what to expect.
BR. JOEL: Last season we mainly focused on the monastic community at Saint Meinrad. Well, this season we're also going to focus on stories from the seminary community, as well as stories from the monastery.
BR. KOLBE: We wanted to give you a sneak peek into the seminarians' Around the World Party.
BR. JOEL: A seminarian is a student studying for the priesthood.
BR. JOEL: The Around the World Party is a bi-annual event where we celebrate the diversity of cultures at Saint Meinrad. Seminarians cook food or serve drinks from their home countries.
BR. KOLBE: You may remember Br. William from Season One. He actually went to the Around the World Party to visit the different booths and interview the seminarians.
BR. JOEL: This is seminarian Jay Cartwright from the Archdiocese of Nassau, Bahamas.
JAY: The Around the World party really allows us international seminarians, in particular, to showcase our culture, to share another aspect of who we are with the rest of the seminarian community, um to show a little bit of where we've come from, to tell a little bit of our story. So it helps build a fraternity among us brothers and it helps us understand each other a little bit better too.
JAY: Our theme this year is coconut and so we've made a Bahamian beans and rice with coconut milk. We've also made bajan. That's Barbados curry with coconut milk. We have a coconut tart and we have a drink called sky juice from the Bahamas and it's gin and coconut water and with sweetened condensed milk and coconut rum.
VIC: My original name is Vuong Luong is long, but I go by Vic.
BR. KOLBE: Vic is originally from Vietnam, but he is studying for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
VIC: Today we've got two kinds of rolls and the first one is egg rolls, is right there, the other's spring rolls. One is fried and the other is un-fried rolls. So at Saint Meinrad, I have been here for - this is my fifth year - and I can tell for every Around the World Party we, you know, present and we contribute a little bit to the community. So hopefully Vietnamese food are going to help the community and make them feel happy.
JOHN HERRERA: This is the Arch OKC table and I've got some peach cobbler.
BR. KOLBE: This is John Herrera. And Arch OKC means Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
JOHN HERRERA: And in addition to that, we've got homemade ice cream which we whipped up over the past couple days and then a few hours ago as well.
BR. WILLIAM: So this is like the American table?
JOHN HERRERA: Yeah, it's about as American as you can get, I think. It's great; I think this is my favorite dish of all American foods.
BR. WILLIAM: Peach cobbler?
JOHN HERRERA: Yeah, desserts anyway.
BR. WILLIAM: And tell me what you're making here, what is this?
EMMANUEL TORRES: It's called Horchata. It's a rice water. We blend ah the rice with some cinnamon and then we just ah add some um condensed milk and sugar. It's very traditional in Mexico. You can find it in almost all Mexican restaurants. Ah it tastes good. I just tried it, it's good.
BR. WILLIAM: May I try some? Alright. That is very, very good. It's not too sweet, it's not too sweet.
EMMANUEL: Oh that's perfect.
BR. WILLIAM: I think that's delicious.
BR. JOEL: That was Emmanuel Torres from Mexico making Horchata. Next up is Daniel Velasco. He's from Pueblo, Mexico, and he helped organize both the Arkansas and Latin American tables.
DANIEL VELASCO: So we start with some cheese quesadillas. We have some barbeque from Arkansas, so you can put some barbeque on your quesadilla. We have three different kinds of hot sauces and then we'll have some tequila shots.
BR. WILLIAM: Oh wow, for dessert.
DANIEL: For dessert, yes sir. If you're getting too cold, you can get some tequila.
RICHARD TOBOSO: Today we prepared the three main meals.
BR. KOLBE: Richard Toboso is originally from Kenya, in East Africa.
RICHARD TOBOSO: We have chapatti, which we make from wheat flour. You have to make a dough out of it to look like a tortilla and you have to fry it using olive oil. And then we have beef stew. I had to buy enough beef, then use fresh tomatoes, onions and some spices to make it. Then we have the kale, which is so nutritious, and I just used oil, fresh onions and tomatoes to make it look like that.
RICHARD TOBOSO: One thing I love about Around the World Party, first of all you get socialized from different cultures, you get different meals from different cultures and also it helps the seminarians and other staff members to give their hospitality to the entire community. Then you just enjoy walking from one table to another, even you may not know what you're eating, but you enjoy it. That's the beauty of Around the World Party and I love it!
BR. JOEL: Diversity is an important aspect of the Around the World Party, and an important aspect to the life of the seminary community. More importantly, the Around the World Party shows us that the Church isuniversal. Christ reaches to all the ends of the earth, and the Around the World Party can be seen as a heavenly image where we will all banquet together with the Lamb.
BR. JOEL: Thank you for listening to this mini episode. We hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit about the community and the Around the World Party. We'll be back in December for another mini episode about the music that we sing during Advent. Then in March we'll kick off the second season with more full episodes.
BR. KOLBE: This podcast was produced today by Krista Hall, with help by Br. Joel Blaize, Br. Kolbe Wolniakowski, Br. William Sprauer, Mary Jeanne Schumacher, Jim Paquette, Tammy Schuetter and Christian Mocek. The music for this podcast was written and produced by Br. Joel.
BR. JOEL: We want to give a special thanks to Jay Cartwright, Emmanuel Torres, Vic Luong, John Herrera, Daniel Velasco and Richard Toboso.
BR. KOLBE: Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the official Season Two launch of Echoes from the Bell Tower.
BR. JOEL: And if you liked this episode, next time you're on iTunes, be sure to take a moment to share it with a friend or submit a quick review.
BR. KOLBE: We have some pictures from this year's Around the World party and all the past podcast episodes are on our blog at saintmeinrad.edu/echoes.
Blooper
FR JACK BENDIK: They see my size and they think, "Well, this guy will eat about anything," and I have. And some of the things I've eaten probably most people would not want to eat and that's brain. They had made pig brain the last time I was here. I loved it; I had two helpings of it.
I love the wings, the people who make the wings, some make these little meatballs that are very, very tasty. Sometimes they just give me things and I have no idea what I'm eating. I couldn't describe to you even right now what they were. (FADE OUT)