What a past couple of weeks!

Two weekends ago the Consistory was here.  It was busy here.  We hosted Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Burke here at the NAC.  I got a wonderful experience of being a photographer and have some of my pictures here:

Though I had a ticket to the berretta (hat) ceremony, I wasn’t able to make it in.  Even two hours before the event wasn’t enough time to get a seat.  I got right up to the security gate, and they closed it at 9:50.  The event was at 10:30.  I waited there with a priest from Washington, DC who was excited about Cardinal Wuerl.  We decided to wait.  Around 10, a young man and his grandmother from Equador came up to me and asked if I speak Spanish.  Not thinking about how the Italian has taken its toll, I said “si.”  Sure enough, I could understand, but I could get out the words without great strain.  Luckily he spoke English perfectly.  Turns out his grandmother was first cousin to the new Cardinal from Ecuador.  Though they didn’t let us through, we had a great conversion.  Since it was this guy’s first trip to Rome, he was excited.  He talked  about a need to give something back to the Church for all it’s given to him, resounding a bit of a possible vocation.  We parted ways.

I headed back to the school in the driving rain, and I got camera-d to take pictures of the Cardinals in the Red Room here at the school.  While there were many dignitaries (US Ambassador Diaz), one of the more talked about people, outside of the Cardinals, was the lead actor, Eduardo Verastegui,  from the movie Bella who came.  There were so many people at the school here.  It was rather intense. 

After the guests had left, we got to breath.  That night we headed over to the Apostolic Palace where the Pope and many other important figures live.  The night of the Consistory is only night that the Apostolic Palace is open.  No, the Pope’s apartment isn’t open, but there some very beautiful stairs that lead up from the Bronze Doors to the place where the Pope receives guests.  It was something else to greet Cardinal Burke up there.  Cardinal Wuerl was over in another building.  As we were leaving, we walked by Cardinal Amato’s receiving line.  The name stopped me.  This summer, before coming to Rome, I saw Fr. Albert from Conception Monastery, who has been working on the case for sainthood for Fr. Stanley Rother.  He told me before I left that if I see Archbishop Amato over here that I need to tell him to hurry up the cause of Fr. Stanley.  I knew that this was the same man.  So I got in line with my friends, one of which was a seminarian who attended the same seminary as did Fr. Stanley.  When we got up there, I explained who I was and where I was from.  At hearing that I was from Oklahoma, his eye perked.  At hearing that we were praying for the cause of Fr. Stanley Rother, his eyes perked again.  Cardinal Amato was very pleasant to talk to.  He was kind, forgiving of our Italian, and asked questions about us.  He cared about people; that was clear.   

Sunday instead of going to the Mass of Rings, where the Princes of the Church receive their rings, I headed up to Christ the King parish here in Rome.  It seemed fitting since Sunday was the feast of Christ the King.  It was wonderful to get into a parish with families, and it was even nice to have Mass in Italian.  But truly amazing for me was the walk back.  The trees were golden and the leaves would cascade softly rolling down the breezes as the sunlight would splash through them and bathing the streets in a glow.  And it felt just like that.  What a great weekend! 

Next update…how Thanksgiving is done here.