Meeting {Archbishop J Peter Sartain}

After the Mass of Installation, we were all invited to the gym at O'Dea High School for a reception welcoming our new Archbishop.

December 1, 2010

Archbishop Sartain with our family

Bishop Joseph Tyson with the boys

The gym was transformed into an elegant and festive environment in which we ate, visited with friends and waited in a long line to meet Archbishop Sartain.  

When we were near the front of the line, we decided that we would ask the archbishop to bless our rosaries.  Some were in pockets, but others were in the car. 

Peter asked for the keys to go and retrieve them.

Being in downtown Seattle, Tim required that the boys all go out to the parking lot together, which they did.  We told them to hurry, since we were nearly at the front of the line.

Archbishop Sartain, despite the fact that he had been standing in the same spot greeting the faithful for over two hours, welcomed us and took time to get to know a little bit about our family.

He blessed our rosaries and posed with us for a group photo to mark the special occasion (thanks Father Scott for being our photographer).

As we began to collect our things to head to the car, we couldn't find......

the car keys!

That's right, the keys had gone missing after the boys' trip to the car.

Our departure time was delayed, but our extra hour at the reception was very pleasant.

The caterers and decorators were busy taking down the tables and decorations, while we sat in a circle visiting with Father Qui Thac (who waited, along with Father Scott to be sure we didn't need a ride home to Bellingham to get a spare set of keys), Zac's friend Louis and his friend Jeff (both in Seminary).

Thanks to AAA...

the lock was hacked, and the key was found, in the car, safe and sound.

Of interest:

As we were waiting in a slow-moving line to get into the O'Dea gym for the reception,

 Joseph had asked, "Mom, are we going to be the last people to leave?  Like when they're taking everything down and asking us, 'are you leaving yet?'"

To this I had replied, "Yes, Joseph, we will be the very last people to leave the reception!"

How did I know??

Zucchetto:
(zū-kĕt'ō, tsūk-kĕt'tō)

The small, round skullcap of the ecclesiastic. The official (Latin) name is pileolus; other designations are: berettino, calotte, subbiretum, submitrale, soli-deo.

We were having a casual discussion with Bishop Tyson about road biking (one of his favorite activities), when the topic of helmets came up.

Zac asked the bishop if he wore his zucchetto under his helmet, and in reply, the bishop mentioned that he's (sadly) not been able to find a magenta helmet.

Zachary offered to help find said helmet, but that he would need the zucchetto to match the color exactly. At this point, the bishop took his zucchetto off and placed it upon Zachary's head! As he did, the color of Zac's face suddenly matched the color of the zucchetto perfectly!


Of course, each of the boys wanted a turn wearing the zucchetto, and thankfully I had slipped my simple point & shoot camera into my pocket before leaving for daily Mass.

After all, "You never know when a little camera might come in handy!"