Ben and I went to the Bishop's Dinner last night. The Cathedral of the Madeleine commemorated its 100th year with this and other events during the week. Mayor Becker couldn't attend the dinner, so Ben (and I) went in his place.We happened to be socializing near the entrance when Cardinal Levada entered. The Cardinal is the highest ranking American at the Vatican and, I was told, is one of the highest ranking leaders in the entire Catholic church.
Shaking his hand wasn't my only encounter with the Cardinal. As it happened, I sat back to back with him at the dinner. Prior to things getting underway, the two of us were both standing near our chairs with no one else to talk to, except, as it turned out, each other. I probably spoke to him for 4 or 5 minutes. While he was extremely warm and kind, I was pretty nervous. What does one (anyone, but especially a non-Catholic) converse with a Cardinal about? We chatted a bit about the beautiful cathedral. Then I remembered I'd seen something about a student processional that took place earlier in the week and had received a snippet of news coverage that I happened to hear, so I told him about the great events that had been going on all week. Blah, blah, blah. It was awkward, but not embarrassingly so. It was cool.
Senator Orin Hatch was sitting next to the Cardinal, and almost back to back with me. He and I didn't exchange any words. I guess he had plenty of people to chat with prior to dinner and didn't find his way to his chair until it was time to sit. I think I would have had a harder time coming up with something to chat with him about.
3 comments:
Pretty cool!
I like your dress!
You lead a very interesting and full life, don't you?
I wore that dress at my Wedding Breakfast. I don't know which is more remarkable -- that it still fits or that it's still stylish.
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