MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE SACRIFICE

So last week was eighth grade graduation at St. Sebastian Parish School.  The church was packed with students, proud parents, and admiring relatives and friends.  First we celebrated Mass and when it was over we had a graduation ceremony.

THIS IS THE WAY I ALWAYS THINK IT IS GOING TO BE:

THIS IS THE WAY IT ALWAYS IS:

Following that local area Catholic high schools come out to announce scholarships.  This year's class earned approximately $200,000 in high school scholarships!  That is pretty amazing.

Afterwords we walk down to Zwisler Hall for an after graduation party.  I like to walk around and congratulate students and parents alike.  But there is that point when the lights are turned off, the screen comes down out of the ceiling and they show the 8th grade slide show or whatever those things are called these days.  14 years of 8th grade slide shows are enough I would say.  Actually 8 years was enough.  So I take that time to slowly fade off into the distance.

It was a warm night so I put on shorts and a T-shirt to take Sebastian for a walk.  Fr. P. braved the show longer than I did and so joined for the walk in his cassock.  (This is an awful picture of him.)

It was 11PM and we could not believe that THEY WERE STILL CELEBRATING in the hall.  We came across a dad who told us they were having a dance and that it was going to last another half an hour.  "They have plenty of pizza in there go in and get a slice," he offered us.

Being so dressed down I had no desire to go in there.  It seems the more sneaky you try to be, the more you just draw attention to yourself.  Something would happen and in the middle of everybody being dressed up to the nines, somehow the fact that I walked in looking like a homeless man would be broadcast far and wide.

And that is the joy of having a parochial vicar to sacrifice.