Baby got back.

What I'm doing for Easter.

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Why is that funny? Baby got back? I dunno - but it always makes me laugh.

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I haven't opened all of my emails - but happy Easter to all of you. Note to Cath - I think Fr. Dolan died. Note to Ray - I think he lived at St. Mary's before he died. If he is not dead, maybe he moved to Little Sisters.

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I went to the Cathedral for Good Friday - it was absolutely wonderful. The Archbishop officiated - he is absolutely wonderful. What can I say?

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Then I went to Easter Mass at St. Agnes, 6:30 AM. Fr. Ubel was the celebrant. He looked genuinely happy - he smiled a lot. The atmosphere has definitely come alive at St. Agnes - a woman I did not know even spoke to me and wished me happy Easter, and we talked about the weather on the way down the stairs. I only noticed one dour face beneath a chapel veil as I returned to my pew after communion. I looked up after noticing that the woman blocking my entrance to my pew was wearing a huge prairie skirt to the floor, with some sort of combat looking shoes. I panicked momentarily, thinking it might be the same woman I once worked with at a Catholic bookstore. It wasn't, although she seemed to have a similar scowl on her face.

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Those somber, dour, sour, long-skirted Catholic puritans no longer do anything for me - I'm not edified or the least bit impressed by their piety. I realized yesterday morning how happy I'd become since leaving employment at that Catholic bookstore, no longer under the influence of such doomsayers, defaming those who who disagree with them, claiming such people are on the fast track to perdition, while arguing that Latin is the only language heaven understands. I will never forget how a fellow I once worked with told another employee that her mother was most likely in hell since she died a Lutheran. Of course, not all the employees were like that, and certainly not everyone at St. Agnes was either, yet a distinct parochialism pervaded the culture, often manifested by pessimism and suspicion with regard to outsiders.

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It has been well over a year that I've gone to St. Agnes, and I was pleasantly surprised by the joy and freedom of spirit I sensed there.

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I've enjoyed being offline as well. One seems to acquire a certain tunnel vision online. Blog culture also tends to focus upon the negative - constant harping about liturgical abuses, what people wear, public scandal, evil politicians, negligent priests and bishops, and on and on. So many words. So much clamor.

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Anyway, I finished a painting this Lent.

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Have a wonderful Easter.