3rd Annual YAG Thanksgiving (11/20)

3rd Annual YAG Thanksgiving

Tue, November 20, 6pm – 9pm

Where: Roetter Hall

This is a reminder that YAG Thanksgiving is next Tuesday starting at 6pm. If you'd like to bring something, please fill out this spreadsheet. David Vacchi has generously offered to make the turkey this year, and so all of the three things required for for a GREAT 3rd Annual YAG Thanksgiving are in place (see previous emails).

I almost never go home for Thanksgiving since I've had such bad experiences traveling during this time. But here are the Top 10 ways I keep myself from getting depressed while getting text messages from my siblings about how much fun they are having without me.

1. I go to YAG Thanksgiving duh! Why do you think we started this tradition? It's to make me less depressed about not going home for the holidays, and I still get to eat turkey.
2. I eat a lot of mashed potatoes and gravy. And pumpkin cheesecake. Yummy. Someone bring that!
3. I go to Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesdays before Thanksgiving. Did you know there was one? I do because the staff told me to move the first YAG Thanksgiving to Tuesday when we had it originally planned for Wednesday.
4. I hide in my house and watch the news about who got trampled, at what store, and for what toy on Black Friday. Then I giggle a little if no one was seriously hurt.
5. I watch a lot of football. There is a game every day during Thanksgiving break. What's your flavor? College, pros, we got it.
6. I take pictures of myself outside in the sun, by the beach, on hiking trails, and send them home to rainy, cold Portland.
7. I just saved hundreds of dollars and much aggravation by not flying back!
8. I get adopted by other families who feel sorry for me.
9. I sleep a lot and don't have to work!
10. I spend time with my friends in San Diego who are like family to me. Thank God for you and all our blessings. Happy Thanksgiving.

Beach Camping Trip 2012

Beach Camping Trip 2012, Ben Horne Memorial

The Summer of 2012 was the third year in which the Young Adult Group at UCSD Newman Center Catholic Community has put on a beach camping trip. Previously, they had been ways to camp out by the beach, surf, eat a lot, and hang out toward the end of Summer before the school year started up again. Ben had planned the previous two, and he had reserved the campsites for this Summer also.

Ben's cousin Crescent, his wife, and two kids came. On the way there, their surfboards flew off the car and disappeared somewhere along I5 freeway! They were driving Ben's old, blue, Subaru Wagon with those distinct bumper stickers - KTRU, "Anti Popo, Pro Papa", etc.

I rode my bike there from work. I had to ride through Camp Pendleton in the dark, lost my way a few times, but I ultimately found our camping spot. By the time I got there, people had eaten already but they were sitting around the campfire talking with Crescent about Ben - a different side a Ben that most of us had never heard about. Cousin Ben.

In the morning, we snapped a picture, and headed back. I rode back to Carlsbad. It was in the 90s even near the ocean, and over 100 when I was on the base and inland a little. Sitting around the fire with Ben's cousin sharing memories was fun. Continuing a tradition that Ben started two years ago felt like we were Maintaining the Light in our own small way.

Memorial Service for Ben Horne (8/13 and 8/14)

 Information about the services for Ben Horne.

All are welcome!

Memorial Mass

Monday, Aug 13 @ 7pm

Good Samaritan Church (4321 Eastgate Mail, San Diego, CA)

Memorial Service (followed by reception and watching the sunset)

Tuesday, Aug 14 @ 3pm

Good Samaritan Church

The Sunset Viewing will happen at Scripts Institute of Oceanography (SIO) Surfside Lounge. Directions and details will be presented at the memorial service.

                                "Maintain the Light" 

Memorial contributions in Ben Horne's name may be made to:

A Simple House (a Catholic charity aiding the poor in D.C.): P.O. Box 312519, Washington, DC 20030 or asimplehouse.org;

or to Heartfelt Cardiac Projects (a charity to screen children for heart problems): 1728 Glenneyre St., No. 244, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 or heartfeltcardiacprojects.org

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If you would like to say something during Tuesday's Memorial Service, perform a song, recite a poem, etc, let Huy know by Friday 8/10/12, and we will try to include it in the program. Also, there will be time for people to speak or do something spontaneously during this service if you would rather do things that way.

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Ben will be remembered for many things; his friendship, his membership on the YAG core team, his participation in Small Church Community (SCC), and his ability to organize retreats and camping trips. He was a real blessing to the UCSD community....

“He was just a true seeker,” said Dominican Father John Paul Forte, director of the UCSD Newman Center.

 “Ben's love of ideas permeated into all aspects of his life,” added his mother. He “loved discussing ideas of philosophers, economists, scientists … as they applied in the real-world situations he had been in with his travels.”

Second Sunday Supper- May 13th


                         Topic: Social Justice: Human Trafficking and Prisons





Tonight Anne Chmilewski lead a social justice talk on the realities of Human Trafficking and the Prison system in the America. Her presentation invited YAG's to reflect on how we as Catholics can react to these injustices.


 She opened the discussion with some quotes from John Paul II.  Here is a brief glimpse at his thoughts on the issue:


The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offence against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. Already the Second Vatican Council had pointed to "slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, and disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain rather than free and responsible persons" as "infamies" which "poison human society, debase their perpetrators" and constitute "a supreme dishonour to the Creator" (Gaudium et Spes, 27). Such situations are an affront to fundamental values which are shared by all cultures and peoples, values rooted in the very nature of the human person.


Anne lead the group in a discussion about how human trafficking is still prevalent and urged us to stand up for what we believe is right and just. Small groups discussed questions like "How can we create change or heighten awareness?" "How can we take a stand against violations of human rights like strip clubs?"

                      Be the change you want to see in the world.  -- Ghandi


Here is a link to a brief video that sheds a light on the realities of human trafficking :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XAMcgxLC8

Anne also raised issues about the US prison system. She referenced a site that gives a voice to the feelings of inmates across the nation:

http://www.thousandkites.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=196&Itemid=103