Fun and Frustration

First, the fun!

This afternoon, St. Anthony's Cathedral celebrated their 100th Anniversary and several other significant events in the life of the local Catholic diocese. The bishop invited local clergy of all faiths to attend and be part of the processional, wearing the traditional garb of their faith. It was really cool!

In addition to five Christian denominations being represented (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Presbyterian), the Jewish, Bhuddist, and Hindu faiths were present. As the Honorably Retired Presbyterian minister serving the Lutheran church as interim stated, "Leave it to the Catholics to do a celebration up right!"

I'd never realized that there were so many lay organizations within the Catholic church. The honor guard was made up of members of the Knights of Columbus and another group called the Knights of Peter Clavel (I think that's his name. I left the bulletin in the car and am too lazy to get it.) The order on the processional put the interfaith leaders right behind a group called the Knights and Ladies of the Sepulchre. Each of these groups were absolutely decked out in some incredible "uniform" finery. Tricorn-ish hats with bright feathers in them, colorful sashes, various kinds of crosses, and the honor guard came equipped with swords. And that was just the laity! Pageantry to the max!

This particular celebration included the designation of the Cathedral as a minor basillica, so there were some additional pieces that are particularly identified with basillicas - a special type of umbrella and a special bell (a tintinabulum - I think that's what it's called). Of course, there were various Catholic clergy present and involved: 3 archbishops (one who's just been designated as a cardinal) and 7 bishops, plus about 10-15 priests and deacons. Altar boys and girls, attendants from the various ethnic groups represented in the area, and music abounded.

All in all, it was an honor to be invited and I had a grand time. It was my first high mass, and, while there were things that would obviously be different, it was intriguing to see how much of what we Presbyterians do that are the same. We aren't quite as far apart as it sometimes seems. Well, except for the hierarchy and no women, and few married, priests and all that bowing and kneeling and a bit of a different understanding of just what happens when you celebrate Communion and "trespassers and those who trespass against us" instead of "debts and debtors" and, what is it about all those sacraments? *sigh* Ok - maybe a bit more than it looked on the surface, but still ...

So now for the frustration:

I just got my Roadrunner set up yesterday. All is good. It does work ... as long as I'm tethered to the cable connection. My gameplan was to set up the system for wireless. I have the router. I have the installation CD. I have very carefully followed the instructions, Oh!, 10 or so times. Is the router hooked up to the system and letting me get to the internet? NO!! Of course not!!

It seems I need a username and password. The cd doesn't tell you that the router needs to be registered before you install it. I now have a username and password. Do they work? Of course not!! I tend to be an idiot when it comes to computer hardware stuff, but this appears to be such a simple thing. Plug in, let the computer make sure it's working right, unplug this, swap out that, replug in this, hook that to the powersource, and Voila! wireless internet! Right? You'd think. So, of course, my computer guru, who understands that I'm absolute hell on working computers, isn't available to talk me through it and probably won't be in town before next weekend. *very deep sigh*

At least I had a good time this afternoon!