Something for Sunday

This post is appropriate for Sunday since it's church related.

So I’ve always professed to be an irreverent Catholic. Now I’m not really sure what that means, but to me it means, that I'm someone who believes in her faith, but doesn’t necessarily like all the pomp, circumstance, and extra stuff. 

Specifically, I don’t really like going to Mass—although we do it pretty consistently. We enjoy going to Mass in old churches while traveling and often do. But my dislike of going to church comes from going to Catholic school as a child, We had to go to Mass every single day! Actually, we had Saturdays off until the nuns would say on Monday morning, “We didn’t see you at Mass on Saturday”—in the scolding way those mean nuns had of showing their disapproval (in fairness, a few of them were nice). They knew that we lived about 5 houses down from church so we didn’t really have a good excuse not to go. We certainly couldn’t say we were watching cartoons! And, if you didn’t go on Sunday, you were going to HELL so skipping wasn't an option! Outside of Sunday and Holy Days which are obligations, it is hard for me to drag myself to extra Masses. 

That brings me to this past weekend we spent in Richmond, Virginia. We belong to an organization that, frankly, is a little too “churchy” for me, I feel like I’m a kid again with a dress code (black at all times—and dresses only. If I wanted that, I would have become a nun myself)! 

It’s just too much. There are other things I don’t like about it, but the main thing is all this going to church business! Had I known, I would never have joined, to begin with. But, here we are. There are times when I just can’t do it—like this past weekend at our annual meeting. 

I’ve been dreading it so much. Maybe now you will be able to understand me. I had to go to 3 different things at church. On Friday, the first one was a Memorial Mass for the deceased members of this group. It was 2 HOURS—okay, that includes bus time getting there and back. The actual service was an hour and a half.

And then there was Vespers. Vespers is a liturgy of evening prayer in Catholicism. I think it’s just another way to get you to go to church. That was ON THE SAME DAY as the Memorial Mass—and was from 4:15 to 7 p.m! That does include about 40 minutes of bus time. OMGosh! TWO THINGS ON THE SAME DAY IS JUST TOO MUCH! See what I mean? I’m just not that good of a Catholic. I never professed to be!

Prior to Vespers, there was a lecture on the Shroud of Turin. In case you don’t know what that is—it’s the burial cloth that Jesus was wrapped in. It’s a real thing and resides in Turin, Italy, The lecture was interesting with all the facts about how science has been able to authenticate it. Some of it was above my head. I’m mentioning that because I want to get credit for another hour and a half of some sort of “holiness!”

When I got back to the room, I told Butch that I wasn’t going to go to Vespers. He said, “Well it wouldn’t take much for me to skip it either!” Are you kidding me? Now I feel like Eve and influencing my husband to not do something we’re supposed to do. Needless to say, we didn’t go. But, in our defense, this wasn’t over yet.

Saturday was the Mass of the Investiture when new people are invested in the group. That was from 12:30-4:30—okay, that does include bus time and getting ready at the church to process in and pictures after. FOUR HOURS doing church related stuff. It’s just too much, I tell you! Too much. I think it's too much for others too because not everyone goes to every thing. I think I'm the only one willing to admit it.

But I made it through. Well, except for skipping Vespers. At least I’m good for another year now!