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Hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter. I did. Sun out. Family over for Easter turkey. It was a nice quiet day here.

Went to the Easter Vigil mass last night at St. William with Mom and Sis. It was Father Jason's first leading of the Easter Triduum, and from what I saw last evening he did a great job. During the 2-1/4 hour service he blessed fire, water, oil, the Easter Candle, the congregation, altar and catechumens, bread and wine. He baptized four people, distributed first communion to several others and welcomed still more into adulthood in the church through confirmation. Michael played the pipe organ and piano to a full house and the choir sounded great. It was a good experience made even better by seeing so many familiar faces. One familiar face was missing though; Father Leonard isn't feeling well, wasn't there. Prayers for Father.

Note: The confirmation I mentioned above is not the same service my small group and the 80 or so other Waukesha Catholic kids have been preparing for. They will have their own special mass one week from today with Archbishop Timothy Dolan presiding. To say I'm looking forward to it is an understatement. 

I share this machine with two teenagers and a cat, so that could explain why I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately. Fortunately, Pepi just stays put where it's warm atop the monitor, or I'd still be waiting. Now that I have the time though, thought I'd talk about what I did last weekend.

Much of what I do on weekends I hear about first on WaukeshaNOW, and last week was no exception. I find that the site's community events description is a little more in depth and easier to access than the alternative.

I went to the UWW play God Willing: A Twology not because I'd heard it was good or even because I'd heard of it before. I checked it out because it promised to be different. Two avante-garde plays in one with seating on the stage for the audience. I won't try to describe it because I can't. I can't relate it to anything I've seen before. It was entertaining, serious and thought-provoking. It was intimate and dark, quiet and loud. I guess you could say it was a good play for the university because they tried something outside "normal" and it was a good experiment. 

Saturday morning I joined my confirmation group for a service project at Jeremy House, a homeless shelter for individuals with mental issues on Moreland Blvd. We prepared breakfast for the guests and learned more about the facility. It was a worthwhile experience for all of us, and fun too.

After mass last Sunday I interviewed candidates for confirmation to see if they had any thoughts, good or bad, on the whole process and to make sure they grew spiritually in this last year of preparation. Tomorrow is confirmation rehearsal.

Later Sunday I attended Waukesha Choral Union's production of Handel's Messiah while not realizing what I came to see and hear. I penciled the Carroll College event on my calendar because WaukeshaNOW made it sound good and, the best part, it was free. I arrived after the last of the programs had been handed out and, because I've never been to "Messiah" before, didn't recognize it. Bumping into a friend at intermission, I mentioned how religious all the pieces were. "Well, it is Messiah. The whole concert is related to the bible, starting with the Old Testament and ending with the New." She showed me the program and every aria, recitation and chorus was straight from a bible verse or psalm. Up to this point the one thing I knew about "Messiah" was the Hallelujah Chorus. Two and a half hours after the start of this concert I was much better informed. It's a monumental production with orchestra, pipe organ, soloists with community members joining the chorus. The concert was fully funded by donations from individuals and businesses. It was director Gregory Carpenter's last production of Messiah. His last production with the Choral Union will be in celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday: Mozart's Requiem at St. Joe's Church in Waukesha, May 4th, with orchestra and soloist. I'm going to pencil this one in too, and hope I don't forget why.  

By now Mrs. Lee is wondering if I'm seeing someone because of being gone so much last weekend. (The family is always invited, but my tastes often differ from theirs.) I later attended Vespers, or evening prayer, at St. William. It's something I've not done before and my family wouldn't have enjoyed either. It was an interesting mix of hymns, readings, reflection and incense. All the prayer without the hassle.

After Vespers I joined 80 to 90 others from my parish to learn about Judaism and Jewish traditions in a Seder meal, something I've wanted to try but never had the chance. I felt this Lent was a good time to understand the roots of my own faith and this was a wonderful way to do it. The nicest Jewish couple, Sherry and David, led us on this trip to the past. Seder, the Passover meal, is full of lessons and history, details, ancestors, special diet and ways of preparation. I'd have to say everything had meaning and relevance and the meal was history come to life. Everything was performed in order, involved the oldest to the youngest, was entertaining and lasted about 2-1/2 hours. The education we received and meeting Sherry and David was wonderful. This meal was far more involved than any other meal I've shared, and I would happily do it again.  

The theme of the weekend seemed to lean toward religion. Not a bad thing with Holy Week beginning tomorrow.

I suspect churches are at their most crowded this time of year, Christmas only a couple days off. If you plan on going to the 10:45 mass at St. William, 440 N. Moreland Blvd., this Sunday morning the 23rd, make sure to leave plenty early if you want to find a seat. Milwaukee Archdiocese's newest auxiliary bishop, Bishop-elect William P. Callahan, was ordained yesterday and will celebrate his first mass as bishop at St. William. As the new bishop's name is William and ours is the only parish in the Archdiocese named St. William, Father Leonard invited him and he accepted.

I'm not kidding. If you want to find parking or a seat don't leave home a couple minutes before mass like I usually do. And that goes for Christmas also.

Christmas schedule at St. William:  Monday 12/24  -  3:00 Children's Choir concert. 3:30 and 5:30 Christmas Vigil masses. 9:30 p.m. Adult Choir concert and 10:00 p.m. Midnight Mass.          Christmas day  -  9:00 and 10:45 a.m. masses.

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There's always something happening at St. William's, my home parish at 440 N. Moreland. Last weekend was the rummage sale. Today we hosted the St. Matthias meal for the needy and tomorrow is blessing of animals in observance of the Feast Day of St. Francis. This Sat. at 6:00 p.m. is wine and cheese and Sunday is a pancake breakfast from 7:30 to noon -- both in the Parish Hall, and both a fundraiser for Cooperating Congregations of Waukesha County's new kitchen.

I'll be helping out in the kitchen Sunday for a couple hours, but may have to miss linking with fellow parishioners for the Life Chain on Bluemound between 2:00 and 3:00.

The following Sunday, the fourteenth, should be interesting. J. Christ will be in the Parish Hall and the Packers will be in the gym! Jennifer Christ will be talking about the rosary at 10:00 a.m. and the Packer game will be shown in the gym at noon. Tickets for the game are only $5.00 at the door and include a brat or hot dog, chips, soda, etc. There's a movie and sitter for the kiddies and raffle for the big people. The game is a Home and School fundraiser for Waukesha Catholic. Meeting J. Christ is free. As it should be.

 

 

We all make sacrifices, especially the military, so it's not surprising that groups of three Roman soldiers spent 39 straight hours this weekend guarding Jesus' tomb at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in freezing temperatures. It was in the 20s when we visited during the day Saturday and I'm afraid to think what the nights were like, even with the small fire they had.

This was the second year males of the congregation have come down the hill to Madison Street for two to three hour shifts during the reinactment. The person in charge of the arrangements? None other than Officer Bill Beglinger. Officer Beglinger has strong community ties and our paths cross often, fortunately not from the back seat of his squad! When Bill isn't running for mayor or teaching my son about D.A.R.E., he can be found at Waukesha North as the resource officer or, as in this case, doing other nice things for the community and his church.

Finding a church service on Friday was easy because many Christian churches commemorate the Lord's Passion around 1:00 p.m. I left work around noon and drove a short distance south on Sixth St. in Milwaukee to the Basilica of St. Josephat where the service was well under way. I ended up staying later than most because I planned on the service lasting until 3:00. It was still early when I left so when I approached Lapham Blvd. heading back north I turned left to see if anyone was still at the Congregation of the Great Spirit four blocks up, and they were. The service was still going strong because they incorporate many Native traditions which takes longer, and they don't usually start mass until everyone has arrived.

There's obvious differences between the two churches. The highlight of the Basilica was the solemnity of the procedings and music and the beauty of the art and architecture. The Congregation of the Great Spirit is more relaxed and unassuming. We didn't share a sign of peace or join hands for the Lord's Prayer at the Basilica, but at the Congregation of the Great Spirit it's possible to shake hands with everyone during the several minute sign of peace. Also, at the Congregation it's important to form a complete and unbroken chain during the Lord's Prayer.

Easter mass at my home parish was nothing special. We arrived plenty early because we knew we'd have to stand if we didn't. We found as many cars exiting from the previous mass as entering for the next, a real traffic jam, and we were lucky to get in and parked. Just as we left our car we saw an ambulance trying to work it's way into the one lane driveway clogged with cars. As soon as it got in we saw one, then another, fire engine trying the same thing, and one actually made it. Right about now I'm hoping the cars are leaving because mass was over and not because something's burning! It turns out an elderly woman had passed out in the long, crowded mass. I'm praying she's going to be OK.