At Mass

Sometimes when I go to the later morning Mass these 3 boys, looking for all the world like they are throwbacks to my 1964 3rd grade class, show up looking bright as pennies to sit in the front row next to me.

And "they" tell me kids won't put up with the latin Mass.

I don't know if they had fun playing "Spot the error" the other morning. I did also note that 5 mothers had brought their infants in arms...which will make in future for an expanding and sustainable parish.

Halloween 2

This afternoon there was a sung Mass in the church, attended by the younger kids of the parish. Each dressed as a favorite saint. After Mass there was a procession around the block, and a nice party was held in the hall with games for the kids I managed to snap *most* of then (you know how there's always those one or two kids running around or gone to ground hiding from "shyness."

Here's a bit of video of the procession which went around the block.

Can't say the kids seem overenthused about hiking around the block, but the had some fun with the games, and the holiday goodies, and getting fussed over a bit.


Big kids enjoyed the games too.



There was a nice variety of saints too, anything from Dominic Savio to St. Rita to St. Cecelia, Thomas Acquinas, St. Patrick, Michael the Archangel, etc. Had to laugh a bit at one kid's costume, papa put a bit of "gory" red daubings on Stephen the Martyr's white robe. It was sort of undercut by his green Krocs.

Nice timing on this event, because it gave the kids a chance to later go home andl likely dress up as "princess" or "pirate" or whatever, and hit their own neighborhood for more candy, and break out the pumpkin pies, pizza, scarey movies, apple cider, and "haunted" houses.

[I have to say, to my readers abroad that this "dress up as a saint" business has only been happening in the last 5-10 years, in reaction to evangelical protestants who claim halloween is "Satanic."

When I was young, the occasional kid WOULD dress up as a nun or priest or angel -- the costumes tended to run to what you might want to be when you grew up, or a fantasy character that you'd planned for weeks. Topic "A" among 5-13 year olds was "what are you going to be?" for.

Trust me, in the 40s-90s, it was ALL about the costume, candy, and inducing a bit of harmless fright by making things go "boo" in the night. It STILL is, for 95% of the people, save the weridos in SF and elsewhere who have perverted this who seem to have garnered all the attention away from a bit of innocent fun.]

I think this extra party is a nice addition to all the other things [the harmless ones!] typically done on halloween.

Check out this post, by Digihairshirt to see the best Halloween costume "evah."
[Halloween is all about creativity too!