(rubbing eyes) is that me going to a catholic church on sunday morning?
why yes. accompanied by the one the only kwan this morning, i attended a catholic service, which consisted of basically a "massive" (pun definately intended) gathering for the pope.

it was definately a cool experience, and very different from what i experience most sunday mornings. i did want to point out a couple things that stood out for me:

1. there was a lot more...interaction, between the ppl leading the service, and the general congregation. like a lot more of the "response" type thing. we all know the traditional "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" hand gesture, but apparantly there is a hand gesture for "the gospel according to John" (not sure, but a lot of ppl started moving their hands when this was said out loud). i said "amen" quite a few times today, as well as "and the grace of God be with you too", and i stood up/sat down/knelt a lot. its a good thing..keeps u on ur toes (or knees, or bum...) so that u dont fall asleep.

2. the stain glass windows. they were very impressive on the inside of the church, adding a lot of color and what not. but the thing was, they werent that colorful when on the outside looking in! it was very weird to me! (ok, not interesting for anyone else ... too bad this is my blog)

3. communion. i really want to know if they do it every week, cuz kwan told me they did it two weeks ago as well. so here's how it played out. the general congregation was kneeling (on those wicked cushioned kneeling ... planks i guess). then the ppl in robes got broke the bread, and they served one another. at this point i was thinking "great...did i just get shafted of taking part in communion because i dont have a robe AND i have to kneel down and WATCH ppl take part?" of course i was wrong, and in the end, the congregation lined up and got the bread, and if u wanted, drank for a common cup...which i did not do, even if the dude holding the cup wiped it after every person (he also downed the rest of whatever was in the cup after...which kinda grossed me out just a bit)

4. there were two boys, i'm not sure if they were the altar boys or whatever, but their main role was to hold candles. they had to hold the candle while one of the priests read the scripture, one on each side of the priest, as if they were providing light for the priest to read. luckily for the priest, the church was pretty darn well lit, cuz i dont know how much light would've actually come from the candle... but i think the boys did a fantabulous job

5. the church was DECKED OUT! i'm talking PIMPAGE here! anything from the banners that have been hung up, to the wicked stain glass windows, to the golden bowls and chalices (which looked like the pimp chalice lil jon carries around), everything seemed to sparkle. except for the hymn books which are just as ghetto as any other hymn book u will find in any other church.

6. there was no sermon/teaching. the priest spoke briefly as if he were teaching, but he basically gave us an overview of the pope's life. NOW for some my never implemented DID YOU KNOW section of the blog
- the Pope had a truck hit him once upon a time, it broke his back, but he survived
- the Pope's apartment building (when he was younger) was searched by Nazi soldiers, who took all the men from the building...mysteriously, the Pope's apartment was the only one not searched
- the Pope has been shot. THATS INCREDIBLE! i dont see the pope writing rap songs about how he was shot up (*cough cough 50 cough*).
seems like the Pope was one tough cookie.

7. the pamphlet that they handed to me as i walked in contained some interesting sections. they had a HUMOUR section, where it contained a semi-religious joke. but i first noticed the ADS for things like "no frills" and "food basics" and "amey's taxi" that was plastered all over this pamplet. since when did the catholic church sell out!!! WHAT THE HECK! "Ben's PUB"? you have an add for a PUB in ur church bulletin!? (a**** shakes head)

ne ways, i'm out everybody! i hope ya'll remembered to switch your clocks forward an hour, and if you didnt and your reading this, from now on you cant say my blog has never done anything for you.