May The Force be With Him

If you notice a disturbance in the force this afternoon, there will be a very good reason.

Catholics prepare for installation ceremony

The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge will be installed as the Fifth Bishop of Raleigh during a solemn liturgy Friday, August 4, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the Meymandi Concert Hall for the Center for Performing Arts, located on East Street in Raleigh. Taking part in the ceremony will be four cardinals, four archbishops and approximately 30 bishops. The ceremony is being held at the Meymandi Concert Hall to accommodate a larger gathering. Sacred Heart Cathedral, the smallest Catholic cathedral in the contiguous 48 states, can seat approximately 350 people. Meymandi can seat approximately 1,750 people. Attendance is by invitation only, with each parish receiving a ticket allotment. Only individuals with tickets will be admitted.

I was all set to wear a skirt to work and maybe duck out early to go to this shindig until I got to the “ Only individuals with tickets will be admitted” part. I’m a big fan of big ceremonies and as a Catholic, I know from big ceremonies after 30-something years in the Church I’m a connoisseur. We do “big” really, really well. Did ya’ll see The Popes’ funeral? We did that. Sadly, I don’t have a ticket and I have a feeling it may be too late to call the church office to see about getting one. I would go just for the atmosphere but the atmosphere is outside. What are the chances that there would be scalpers there so that I might enjoy the inside?

I didn’t like or dislike the last Bishop. I had no opinion one way or the other. I was glad to see that he as not one of the wingnuts who decided to refuse communion to pols that didn’t mouth along with the neocon talking points. The man kept his Church out of the State. I respected that.

But then The Pope died, the Bishop aged out - they can do that, I didn’t know. It turns out that at age 75 they get a gold rosary and shown the door.

Exit stage Left. Well, leftish, there is only so "left" the Church gets. Liberation theology non-withstanding.

Enter Stage Rightwing. If what little I have read is accurate. The new Bishop. I will absolutely go to hell for this but, He’s a child! He’s Doogie Howser gone to the seminary! My Priest is older! Bishop New Guy is twelve years old and will be the Bishop of Raleigh for the rest of my life time. Hell, the last Bishop lasted 35 years. The new guy doesn’t remember life prior to Vatican II!

From the Raleigh, News and Observer, Though the two men were nurtured in the same faith, they were shaped by vastly different historical forces. While Gossman was made bishop in the 1960s, during the era of the Second Vatican Council reforms, Burbidge's priestly life took shape in the early 1980s, an era characterized by a resurgence of traditional practices.

Super. Did you know I was an alter server. A girl alter server? Did you know The Vatican didn’t approve? Do you know how Catholic women fare under “traditional practices”? They don’t act as alter servers, that's for sure. You can tell a lot about a parish my checking out the gender of the alter servers. If they still have “alter boys”, you are back in Kansas. We are never going to go back to the Latin Mass ( Thank God) but...

The new bishop comes to the job from a bastion of American Catholicism. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has 1.4 million Catholics -- more than the total Triangle population. Across its five counties, the archdiocese includes 274 parishes, 194 elementary schools, and 11 colleges and universities. In recent years the archdiocese has struggled to respond to clergy sex-abuse scandals, but it remains a place rich in history, formal in liturgy and orthodox in theology.

“Formal in liturgy and orthodox in theology”. He’s saying the noon gospel Mass on Sunday, we’ll see how “formal and orthodox” he finds our gospel choir and our alter girls.