Monday, November 5, 2012

Mass and Coffee with Two Bishops/Messe und Kaffee mit zwei Bischöfen


 
Main entrance/Haupteingang 


We drove all the way to St. Joseph's Cathedral to attend a special Mass for our catholic homeschooling group and the armed services (Marines). The church was filled with families with many children (we always feel kind of inadequate with only five children since most of the other families -- there are 120 total -- have more than twice as many) and quite a few Marines. During communion, Veronika and Flora received a blessing from Bishop Malone. Then there was an official picture with the bishop and the attending families from our homeschooling group and a blessing. I hope to receive the picture soon. Afterwards there was coffee and doughnut time with Bishop Malone and Bishop Kmiec, our old bishop, who celebrated 33 years as bishop today. Bishop Malone was very outgoing and talkative. Peter, the bishop, and I were discussing an old picture of the cathedral and tried to figure out when it was taken. His secretary then joined us, but he wasn't quite sure of the date of the picture either. Bishop Kmiec later told me that he lives in the old rectory now and showed me his kitchen. All in all we had a great time with all present. We even met some new homeschooling families we hadn't met because of the size of our homeschool area.

Wir sind bis zu St. Josephs Kathedrale gefahren, um an einer Sondermesse für unsere katholische "Homeschooling" Gruppe (wir sind insgesamt 120 Familien) und der Marine teilzunehmen. Die Kirche war voll mit kinderreichen Familien (wir mit unseren fünf kommen uns dabei immer sehr armselig vor, haben viele doch mindestens doppelt so viele wie wir) und Matrosen in Uniform. Während der Kommunion sind Veronika und Flora von Bischof Malone gesegnet worden. Dann gab es nach der Messe noch ein offizielles Foto mit dem Bischof und den anwesenden Familien und noch einen Segen. Das Foto sollen wir dann auch alle bekommen. Anschließend gab es Kaffee und Kuchen im Untergeschoß mit Bischof Malone und Bischof Kmiec, unserem alten Bischof, dessen 30. Bischofsjubliäum heute gefeiert wurde und der mir erzählte, daß er jetzt dort unten wohne und mir seine Küche zeigte. Bischof Malone war ganz warmherzig und unkompliziert. Peter, der Bischof und ich haben uns zusammen ein altes Foto der Umgebung der Kathedrale angeschaut, um herauszufinden, wann das Foto aufgenommen wurde. Der Sekretär des Bischofs kam auch hinzu, wußte aber das genaue Datum auch nicht. Es war ein schönes Beisammensein, wir haben sogar noch ein paar neue Familien kennengelernt. Weil unser Homeschoolingbezirk so groß ist, kennen wir noch längst nicht alle Familien. 


Bishops Malone (left) and Kmiec (right)/Bischöfe Malone (links) und Kmiec (right)

Bishop Kmiec talking to one of our fellow homeschoolers/Bischof Kmiec im Gespräch mit einer Mutter unserer Gruppe

After the coffee hour we went back up to the cathedral and took a closer look. I don't take pictures during Mass, but I did after everybody had left. Here is what we saw.

Nach der Kaffeestunde haben wir uns dann die Kathedrale in Ruhe ansehen können. Ich mache während einer Messe keine Fotos, aber nachdem alle Leute weg waren, habe ich fotografiert. Das ist dabei herausgekommen. 




Angel windows in the Lady Chapel/Engelfenster in der "Lady Chapel"

We don't know what that was./Wir wissen nicht, was das war.  

Icon from Crete (14th/15th century)/Ikone aus Kreta (14./15. Jahrhundert)

E. & G.G. Hook and Hastings organ from 1876/Orgel von 1876

Stained glass windows from Bavaria, subsidized by King Ludwig around 1854/Kirchenfenster aus Bayern, die von König Ludwig subventioniert worden sind und ungefähr aus dem Jahre 1854 stammen.

Tabernacle/Tabernakel





 Reliquar von St. Therese

Gedenktafel für Bischof John Timon, dem Erbauer der Kathedrale

View of buildings next to the cathedral/Gebäude neben der Kathedrale

Cathedral from behind/Kathedrale von hinten

Steeple/Kirchturm

After church we had dinner at P.F. Chang's. Flora tried to eat with chopsticks and was actually quite successful.

Nach der Kirche waren wir dann bei P.F. Chang's essen. Erinnerst Du Dich, Isa? Flora hat sogar versucht, mit Stäbchen zu essen.








On Saturday we had a pleasant time with our homeschooling friends. The three teenagers including Jonathan enjoyed the experiments during their science afternoon on campus. They even made ice cream. Miriam had a great time with her friend. They played dolls and also outside. We also got our first snowflakes. Ah, yes, on Friday Peter, Jonathan, Charlotte, Miriam, and Peter's honors students went to a concert to listen to Hans Wieland & die 43er from Austria.  Wishing everybody a successful week.

Unser Samstag war auch sehr schön. Unsere Homeschoolingfreunde waren da. Die Teenager haben ja an dem Biologie/Chemiekurs beim College teilgenommen und viele Experimente gemacht. Dabei ist sogar Speiseeis herausgekommen. Miriam hat mit ihrer Freundin mit Puppen gespielt und war auch lange mit ihr draußen. Wir haben sogar den ersten Schnee bekommen. Ach ja, am Freitag haben Peter, Jonathan, Charlotte, Miriam und die "Ehrenstudenten" von Peter ein österreichisches Konzert besucht: Hans Wieland & die 43er.  Eine erfolgreiche Woche wünsche ich allen. 




8 comments:

  1. What a lovely end to the week and two for the price of one re the bishops!!

    Hope you have a lovely day today - the sun is shining at our end and we had frost on the ground this morning.

    San xxx

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    1. Thanks, San. This is hard to believe, that the sun is shining in England, but that it is cold and grey here. We did not go out today, but did get lots of homeschool work done. (Only Jonathan had to go to a make-up art class).

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  2. Wieder mal ein abwechslungsreiches und erfülltes Wochenende bei euch! Wünsche guten Wochenbeginn!

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  3. I love how light and airy the cathedral looks with the white paint/plaster. The cathedral where we worship is lovely but has more grey stone and charcoal granite so it can look colder. The stained glass is lovely also.

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    1. Hello Lucy, so nice you came here to visit! I haven't "seen" you on 4REAL for a while.

      I'm also used to the darker cathedrals from Germany. I guess because these churches are so new over here, they haven't aged so much. They are more inviting and look friendlier, that's true. Some of the stained glass was from Germany, but a few from Austria (the ones in the Lady Chapel were American, though). It's amazing what you can find here when you know the right places to go to. These things never really show up in most travel guides.

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  4. Thanks for sharing. We missed going because our boys were serving Mass at our parish. I'm glad it went well and there was a nice turnout.

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    1. Hello Mary Ann, it was a very nice Mass and intimate get-together with the bishop for coffee afterwards. Too bad you couldn't make it, you would have enjoyed it as well. Updikes had their boys serve at this Mass and I think the boys were very happy about it.

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