Week 10: New Bishop at Praga Cathedral

Yesterday we had a really important event at the Praga Cathedral. The Dean, or maybe he was the head priest, I'm not sure, was promoted to be a bishop.

There was a very huge Mass for him that lasted almost 3 hours. The cathedral was completely packed with people standing on every available bit of floor. Our choir sang 6 numbers during the service. There were 4 cardinals, at least 5 arch-bishops, several dozen bishops, and hundreds of other priests. When they all got up to take communion, the line of priests was never ending. It was quite an honor to be involved and see how things work in Catholicism. The service was on national television and radio. You can see our choir on this youtube video. It's the telecast of the whole service. But right at the beginning, after the announcer speaks a bit, there is a shot of the choir and you see me right before the shot changes on the far right. A few minutes later, after the long procession of priests enters, the choir sings its first number and you see me behind the archbishop as he kisses the alter. It's not a very good recording. The TV people don't make us sound very good at all and it's hard to hear the organ most of the time. But, there we are.

After the ceremony, we were invited to the caves under the cathedral for a very nice catered lunch. It was like attending a wedding. There was a huge line waiting to greet and congratulate the new bishop. The choir all went up together to congratulate him with a little song. Then everyone shook his hand. I decided I would stay out of the way because there were so many people. But at the last minute, after everyone had finished, my teacher called me over to shake his hand. It was very cool, but I felt a little out of place; the lone Mormon eating lunch with cardinals, arch-bishops, and bishops.

After the whole event, my teacher and his wife invited me to their home. We had a very nice time eating cheesecake, listening to favorite classical pieces, and hanging out in his office. I was sent home with about 30 CDs of Polish classical music in addition to several others of my teacher's music from his Musica Sacra label. They have 2 little boys, 10 and 6 who highly resemble their father. It was a really fun time.

As far as my composition efforts are going, I'm feeling very good about my progress. I have many exciting projects going on and am learning a ton from Pawel. I'm very glad I've come to study with him.