Monday, February 18, 2013

Rite of Election

So this past weekend was the Rite of Election to the Catholic church. A solemn event with a little pomp, circumstance, and reflection. It was a really special experience doing it as a family though.


First off, the visit to the Cathedral was the first for everyone but my wife. Having graduated from St. Mary's in Independence, she'd actually been there before. "Sadly" our parish was designated to the far back of the Cathedral. This proved to be both a hindrance and actually a blessing.

At this point I'd like to note that much like every Cathedral that I've seen in pictures, movies, and the funeral of my father-in-law, this one was just as beautiful. My three step (prefab) children were taking the first step in a journey -- they are to be soon baptized as we are all welcomed into the church. There was a lot of music and the usual coming and goings we are starting to get used to in the Catholic church. The kids were laser eyed on the coming and goings. Me, I was contemplative and listening/reading what was going on.

After a while the big moment came -- the kids were to sign the book of life while my wife and I would not be participating (having been baptized previously). Then afterwards we all five got to greet Bishop Finn. Now I'm not going to go into the controversy of Bishop Finn. Suffice it to say that there are many, many forces that are at work here so it's really hard to decide whom to blame. I'll have to leave that for a later post. In this particular instance, it was more meeting the "Office" than the man I think.

My RCIA advisor, was giggling when we finally returned to our seats. It turns out that while we were gone that one of the children (whose mother had gone up with us to greet the Bishop), was told "See the man in the hat?" Her response was "Where is the Cat in the Hat?" We all had a great laugh at the time. Unfortunately, I took it a step further. See, there are two Priests (?) that accompany the Bishop to the dias. I was immediately thinking "Thing 1 and Thing 2."  I did mention that on Sunday during our RCIA class and we all laughed about the funny instance from the child.

With a childlike wonder my family and I continue our voyage through the Church. There have been some neat and funny times (like the Rite of Election) and there have also been some really hard ones (Annulment documentation). Regardless we are very happy and encouraged in our new faith community and proudly became the Elect this past Saturday.

Pray for us, and Lord we ask for your continued blessing on our journey.

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