Hannah was one of only three students to present something during graduation. Her theology teacher chose her to select and read a psalm during the invocation at the beginning of graduation. The boy next to her was chosen to write and read a prayer. They both did a beautiful job and were quite poised. Needless to say, we were so proud that she was chosen and she received many compliments both on her presentation and her psalm choice which I thought was a good reflection on what we must remember throughout life.
The third student? Oh, right, well, there was a valedictorian speech which was excellent as well. But what can I say? I'm partial!
These photos are fuzzy because they are still shots from our video camera taken of the Mega Tron, one of two on which the graduation was shown. Yep. Mega Trons. Graduation took place in a mega-church rented for the occasion. It holds 4,000 people and is probably the most comfortable auditorium I have ever been in.
Almost 300 students graduated with every single one of them having a college announced as they walked across the stage ... except for one student. He was the only student who got everyone's full attention (face it, you can't clap full force for every student when there are so many). What he received was prolonged applause, foot stomping, and cheers of approval. He almost got a standing ovation. That boy was joining the Marines. We saw him afterwards walking out with a relative (perhaps an older brother?) whose arm was around his shoulders. That man was in full dress uniform with rows of medals on his chest. What a proud legacy for that boy to carry on. And I was quite proud to have seen him get such whole hearted approval from the crowd.
Afterwards we went to a party at the home of one of Hannah's best friends. I don't know what the other grown ups did. Tom and Rose and I hung out in the living room where all the graduates and their friends were. And we managed to do it without putting a crimp in the festivities. Not bad eh? They were just so much more fun than the people our age so ... we indulged ourselves.
Now, about this church. I don't know if anyone else saw the King of the Hill episode this season when they were looking for a new church to attend and wound up at a mega-church. I was quite curious to see what this church was like, never having been to a mega-church before. We soon found out that mega-churches must have certain characteristics on common with one another because we felt as if we were walking through the King of the Hill episode. There was an elaborate daycare, a cafe, glossy meeting rooms, and that auditorium where services were held ... wow, it was slick! As we said, we could all be quite happy going to a concert there.
As Catholics it was a bit daunting to imagine worshipping there. Rose said that no kneelers and no pews added up to no church for her. We looked at the shuttle signs for far parking lots and the enormous auditorium and Tom wondered, "How does anyone get a sense of community here?" Thinking of King of the Hill, I thought that maybe people formed smaller communities within their larger ones, really just as we do. Our masses are spread across many times and, depending on which one we attend, we will always see someone we know. But it is our smaller community within the larger one of our parish. No big conclusions about mega-churches ... just what we felt and experienced while we were there.
Back to the graduation, it occurs to me that I didn't say anything about the school itself. I have already pointed out the many excellences of Bishop Lynch. What can I say except that we are grateful that they so vigorously support the "Catholic" in the education they are giving their students. For specific examples you can go here, here, and here. Part of that is due to the generally outstanding calibre of teachers they have. Of course, no place is perfect but it is teachers like this who show our kids that you can have a civil level of discourse and strongly disagree without coming to blows, or even disliking each other later on. It hasn't been necessarily easy to afford but Tom and I agree that our best investment to date has been sending our children to Bishop Lynch High School.
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