Spaghetti and Scrutinies

Today was a big day at our church: The day of my 1st of 3 scrutinies, followed by our spaghetti lunch! During the ceremony, there was a dispute about whether the Elect should stand up or continue to kneal in front of Fr. Andrew....we unfortunatley settled on the latter, and all wound up with very sore knees. I, of course looked stunning in my blue pants, over-ripe lime green blouse and orange sweater - especially while surrounded by all that lenten purple and the red carpets...

After mass (and the blood re-entered the bottom half of my legs), we all went downstairs for our fundraising Spaghetti lunch - which was fun! It became sorely evident that I was not in a very Italian parish (the meaning of the word "Al Dente" was kind of lost on the kitchen volunteers), but hey, when your main ingredients are Love and Ketchup, you can't be too picky! I'll be honest, it was still better than anything I could make!

I was amazed at the amout of food they gave us for $5.00 - we got a huge plate of spaghetti with meatballs and sauce, PLUS a salad (I overdid it on the Thousand Island dressing), a homemade pretzel, a juice box and dessert afterwards! The pretzels were hand made by the little kids during sunday school - and they tasted wonderful! (They didn't quite look like pretzels - mine was shaped like a Q, but the flavour was all there!) Plus, the dessert was a big bowl of Neapolotain Icecream with chocolate syrup! What could be better!?!?

I had a great time and I'm looking forward to learning the stations of the cross next wednesday...and aparently performing them the following friday!

The Week That Was

Well, Ash Wednesday was a bust. Toronto suffered the 2nd snowstorm in the past 4 days, adding another foot to the foot-and-a-half of snow we'd already gotten. AND, because I chose a church and the other end of town (it's exactly 5 parishes over from mine!) I arrived exactly 10 minutes after mass had ended. So, I had to turn around and wait another 1/2 hour for cab to take me home. I did, however, give my umbrella to a lady who was WALKING home (when it's 20 below I don't care if cars aren't "eco-friendly") as a penance for missing the occasion.

But! I did manage to make it to the retreat the following Saturday! It did take place in the church basement (er..."large hall" as I am required to call it!) It was a great time - we all sat around in circles reading Bible passages and explaining why God called that person to do whatever he wanted them to do. It was going quite well until one of the other students showed up with her newborn baby and Fr. Andrew's cat Tigger decided to crash the party. We had to break because there was far too much adorable in the room to continue studying!

The next day was the Sunday (for all of those who can't read a calendar!), which marked the Rite of Election ceremony at the church. I showed up for mass at 10, and was treated to something called the "sending of the catechumen to the Bishop" or something similar. Fr. Andrew called us all up to the front, and basically told everyone that we were going to another church to do another similar ceremony! It was freezing cold that day - the wind chill was -30c. (around 1 F.)

After mass, I had some time to kill, so I (stupidly) walked 5 blocks to enjoy a hamburger at one of my favourite restaurants (Wimpy's!)...completely forgetting that the wind WOULD NOT be at my back when I returned to the church!! It took all the coffee in the world to get me just to stick my head back out the door! I finally made it back to the church parking lot, where I was to meet my ride out to St. Rose of Lima church - yet another 5 parishes over.

It was a really nice church and a wonderful ceremony, lead by Bishop Grecco. All the catecumens from about 15 different parishes were all called up to sign their names in the Book of the Elect (that's right! I'm an elect now!!!) After the ceremony, they took us all downstairs to the "Large Hall", where they fed us finger-sandwiches, lemon squares and kool-aid! I also got to have my picture taken with the Bishop (and one of the other "Elect" from Holy Name! I'm on the right...wearing the fabulous rosary-pocket-included purse!)

And so, after the all the finger-sandwiches and lemon squares had been eaten, it was time to go home. It was a fantastic beginning to what I am assuming will be an equally as wonderful lenten season!

Explosive Religion!

So, I talked to my boss, re-arranged my work schedual, and am now able to happily trot off to mass on sundays and RCIA on wednesdays once again! I talked to Fr. Andrew, who said he's happy to see me back again (had I missed one more day, they would have had to kick me out of the program! THEN what would I have to blog about!)

I guess it was good that I missed a few weeks, because the boiler in the church apparently exploded during one of our classes. (Now it's ironically hot for a house of God!) But, I am excited to say that we're holding a spaghetti lunch to raise funds for repairs at the end of the month! I always wanted to be a part of some fun food-oriented church event! I even get to bring supplies for a salad! I'm very looking forward to that event!

However, before we get to tasty italian food, I have to go through my rite of uh....Election! That's it! I have a big week coming up! This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of my first lent! (Not to be confused with "Lint" - where you give up doing laundry for 40 days....) Then, on Saturday, I get to go on some sort of retreat for 5 hours. I'm kind of dissappointed - when they said "retreat," I assumed that there would be school busses and nature involved. But, I think we're just meeting in the church basement.

Finally, after our trip to the basement, 1/2 the class goes through their little ceremony on the saturday. I have mine on the Sunday - at yet another church that I've never been to before. St. Rose of Lima in Scarborough, ON. I'm assuming that all RCIA classes for 2008 will be involved, or else why would they hold it at such an odd location? I mean, they aren't even bothering to take us anywhere for a "retreat" - so why all the fuss for the rite of election?! Oh well - a good reason to wear my nice shoes.

It'll be a busy week - I'll let you know how it all goes!