The floodwaters receded quickly and I-5 was opened much sooner than expected, a little after noon on Friday. So I was able to make it to Seattle after all for a priestly ordination at St. James Cathedral.
Fr. Tom McMichael was ordained today by Archbishop Alex Brunett of Seattle. Fr. Tom, his wife and two adult sons converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism several years ago. Since Tom was a Lutheran minister, the Holy Father granted a dispensation from the promise of clerical celibacy so that Tom could be ordained a priest.
When Tom was completing his theological studies at Mt. Angel Seminary he assisted here at Holy Redeemer on Sunday afternoons. It was a pleasure having him here and I was honored to concelebrate his ordination today. Thanks be to God for the gift of another priest, and may He bless Fr. Tom's new ministry!
The Cathedral of St. James has been beautifully renovated and the Liturgy was reverently celebrated. One of the great surprises of the day, however, was that the Archbishop presided ad orientem - that is, toward the east.
In the picture above, the presider is facing the congregation, which happens to be south. Today, when the Archbishop presided he stood on what would be the left of the altar in this picture, facing to the right, or east. This meant he was not facing the majority of the congregation as is typical today in most parish churches.
This was my first experience of this particular form of ad orientem Liturgy and I was most impressed. It honestly seemed to be the most natural thing in the world, though I am sure to the uninitiated it would have seemed slightly odd.
[UPDATE - A priest source informs me that actually, the Cathedral apse faces true east, so the Archbishop was really facing south when he presided. This makes less sense to me liturgically, but in a certain sense the point remains the same: it is not necessary for the presiding priest to face the people, as together all present truly face the Lord for the Eucharist.]
There was also a most exciting moment as the Liturgy began. I was seated with the concelebrating priests directly next to the Cathedral's magnificent Marian shrine, when a candle fell into the poinsettias below. We heard the crackling of burning leaves and then saw an entire plant turn into a "burning bush."
A quick thinking and acting usher saved the day by stomping the fire out - but for a minute I thought things might get out of hand. After Mass, when I paid a visit to the shrine to light a candle, as requested by Ken Hallenius, everything seemed to be in fine order.
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