It's so coincidental that today is Divine Mercy Sunday in the Catholic Church. Many of my friends are so distraught over the loss of the Holy Father yesterday. This morning, Mass was packed, and the church I attended is huge. I went to the 10 o'clock at St. Matthew's, and it was standing room only, with hundreds of people standing in the side aisles and chapels, to hear the cardinal archbishop of Washington, the auxilliary bishop of Washington, and the cathedral rector concelebrate Mass. The press was everywhere, both in and out of the cathedral, and I saw television cameras from CNN, Fox, the local ABC affilliate, and several more, plus dozens of still photographers.
In the congregation were the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson and Mrs. Nicholson (prior to his current appointment, Secretary Nicholson was ambassador to the Vatican), and Senator Ted Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy. The senator has lost weight since last I saw him. I also saw Senator Kennedy's sister, Eunice Shriver, sitting near him. Secretary Rice was seated on the end of the front row to the left of the center aisle, and nodded at me, but I couldn't get close enough to say hello. Senator Kennedy was opposite her on the right side of the center aisle. That must be a poignant seat for the senator, since there is a huge monument on the floor of the cathedral between the front row and the chancel step marking the site where President Kennedy's casket rested during his requiem Mass there at the cathedral in 1963.
At the end of the service, his Eminence and his Excellency escorted the dignitaries out and down the center aisle before the rest of the altar party left the sanctuary for the recessional. It took forever for me to leave the church, since the Cardinal had to conduct a press conference on the steps of the cathedral, and the doors were clogged with people no doubt wanting to shake the Cardinal's hand before he leaves for Rome this afternoon at 3. He's very highly respected in the College of Cardinals, but of course no American stands a chance of becoming pope. I'm not sure if it means anything or not, but in the several previous Masses I've attended which have been celebrated by Cardinal McCarrick, he never carried his crosier; today, he carried it. For you non-Catholic or Anglican readers, a crosier is a bishop's pastoral staff and symbol of office that looks somewhat like a shepherd's crook.
His Eminence is a wonderful preacher, and today was no exception. His homily was very comforting, sounding much like the eulogy at a funeral, as he recalled his many personal encounters with the Holy Father. The choir was in fine form today, singing quite a number of a capella Gregorian chants and choral works, including Marenzio's "Quia vidisti me, Thoma" for the offertory. At communion, one of their unindentified choristers sang the Handel's Messiah recit and aria "The trumpet shall sound".....since I'm a baritone and I sing that song a lot myself, I'll be nice and refrain from comment. I noticed about three dozen seminarians in the congregation looking lost, and there were several gaggles of nuns in their formal habits and capes.
Here are a few photos I snapped at the cathedral. Above is a picture of the main doors to the cathedral, draped in mourning. This is the sanctuary of the cathedral:
Cardinal McCarrick censing the altar during the Preparation and the congregation after the service with a shot of the organ in the south transcept of the church:
This is the sanctuary of the cathedral, taken from the left side:
Throngs of press congregated outside the cathedral after the service (there were still a bunch of them inside):
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