Today was the big day, the 100th year celebration for the
Archdiocese. The preparation for this
event was like no other. There have been
20-30 men a day working on the grounds for the past month. The big deal was a Cardinal and Bishop from
Rome came. It has been interesting to
see the progression of the work and the final product. I will say I was pretty nervous that the
event would have plenty of mix ups and unprepared happenings but the
celebration went perfectly and the weather was good (it was outside). 9 deacons and 9 priests were ordained along
with the anniversary celebration.
We knew in order to get seats we would have to go save
seats very early-6 am. I did not feel
like getting to a 5 hour event 3 hours early to save seats but I was also
concerned we would not be able to see anything.
Around 7 am I thought I would walk around the grounds while Maura made
breakfast. It appeared there were
several open seats so I was more relaxed.
Then I ran into a neighbor who asked if we had gotten seats and said I
better get them quick or there would be none.
I went to the giant pile of plastic chairs and got some down. As I went to get more down my initial chairs
were taken. I could not remove the
chairs and keep people from taking the others.
Finally I managed to get 7 chairs-we had 15 people coming but I knew I
could not save 15 seats. Fortunately my
neighbor helped me save the seats while I called for help from Joy
Newburn. People were getting very
aggressive and insistent about getting our seats. After about 40 minutes of struggling with
people and with Joys help we were able to maintain our seats and get her and my
family seated. Then I left to go get
breakfast, hats, sunscreen and water.
After eating and coming back I ran into the other family
that was to sit with us, the Hamms. The
only problem was the aisle I used to get out was blocked with people sitting so
I could not get back to Maura and the kids.
After awhile I got brave and decided to push my way through to the
seats. I am not a fan of crowded events,
saving seats and being trapped in by people everywhere. There were probably over 3000 people crammed into
a relative small area. Once I sat it
wasn’t so bad. After a little while Joy
took 2 of our kids, Hamm’s 3 kids and 2 of hers to her house. We stayed until the offertory which was 2 hours and then we
figured after sitting in the sun that long it was time to rest a bit. The mass ended up being 5 1/2 hours long. The
picture is of the men being ordained as deacons and priests. The white guy sitting down under the yellow
tent is the cardinal from Rome.
It was powerful being with that many people so excited
about being at a mass. Everywhere we
looked we could see people. They were
sitting and standing in any place possible.
The best part was how it brings the community together for such a
wonderful event. I went back for the
final 15 minutes of mass and walked around after it was finished. It was fun visiting with people and everyone
was fed which is amazing. I was told to
go to CATUC to eat with my coworkers.
Even though I had lunch I thought it would be good to visit. Mostly I sat and listened to the conversation
in pidgin. Pidgin is still very
difficult for me to understand.
The rest of the day was spent at our house with constant
visitors. People kept coming over which
means Maura had to offer them food.
Thankfully we had leftovers we could heat up. The day really seemed like a celebration with
people talking with one another and sharing food. I must say we are all pretty tired tonight so
we are headed to bed early.
-Ryan
