“God of freedom, all victorious, Give us souls serene and strong, Strength to make the future glorious, Keep the echo of our song; North Dakota, North Dakota, In our hearts forever long.” These are the words of the North Dakota State Hymn which exuberate within the hearts of us seminarians from the Bismarck Diocese.
During our time in the District, we have been blessed to be surrounded by the great priests, seminarians, and lay people of the hustling and bustling Archdiocese of Washington. But at times we grow homesick. We come to miss the wide prairies, the serene silence, and the hearty souls of our motherland.
To compensate for our homesickness, we have Bismarck night once a week so that we can talk about North Dakota stuff. You know… farming, hunting, ice-fishing, buffalo, and the like. But this still did not fully satisfy our North Dakota homesickness. North Dakota night was born.
Knoephla, Kuchen, Lefse, deer jerky… all of these German-Prussian words are foreign to the native seminarians of D.C. – so we decided to give them a little taste of the earthy culture of North Dakota.
“Ope,” “You Betcha,” “Oh for cool,” ”Bag” (Pronunciation – Bayg), were terms plastered over the walls of St. Joseph’s common room at the first annual North Dakota Night of SJPII Seminary. Our good mothers and vocation director sent in the finest cuisine that north Dakota has to offer for the event. From caramel rolls, to Knoeplha Soup, to the deer that our vocation director shot this fall – the seminarians of St. John Paul II seminary did not leave unsatisfied.
To accompany the cultural depths of North Dakota, our talented seminarians provided entertainment for the night. Francis Lyons gave a long list of jokes about North Dakota “If your snow-blower has more miles than your car… than you might be from North Dakota.” Jp3 played a rendition of the West Virginia song, instead with the beloved words “North Dakota,” to the dismay of WV Seminarian Daniel Callahan. Officer Conor Hardy played a humorous jig on his guitar poking fun at the ungentleness of North Dakota Game. And Young Vance and Lil’ Gilmore entertained us with a rap-roast of the North Dakota seminarians.
In short it was a truly blessed night, and we North Dakota seminarians were so tremendously grateful. We North Dakota seminarians living in D.C. are filled with gratitude for the opportunity to be in Washington, D.C. for formation, and the least we could do was share a little bit of our home state with our fellow brothers in Christ Jesus. North Dakota night was a blast and we will forever remember it as a tribute to all of our loved ones in D.C. at St. John Paul II seminary.
Our Lady of the Prairies –
Pray for us!