Well, I Got To Shake The Bishop's Hand Today!

[Ed Normile]

Well today at 11:30 mass at Mary Queen of the Universe Basilica in Orlando Fl. I was walking in with my wife and my 13 year old son joe and his best friend my cousin joe's boy joe when I looked up and there standing at the entrance was Bishop Wenski! We walked over and waited till he finished talking with two old ladies and got to shake his hand. the whole time I was going over in my head how I address him, I settlled on your Excellency in my head, my wife shook his hand first and then the two joe's shook his hand and he asked where they were from, as this is a church that was started to minister to the needs of tourists and is not a parish church he assumed we were from out of town, my son joe said Ohio, and he said with a smile on his face that is a big state so my wife said Lebanon which is between Cincinnati and Columbus. Now its my turn and I reach for his hand, choked, and blurted out hi father! totally embarrassed and wondering whether I was going to go to hell for disrespect I stumbled by and near ran into church, he seemed not to mind at all. I was leaving church after mass and there he was again shaking hands so I decided to redeem myself and waited through about ten others and got my turn to shake his hand and managed to utter "hello your father"! feeling like a cross between Jethro from the Beverly Hillbilly's amd a circus clown I walked out the door. I bet he is thinking he met a mentally retarded person today.

ed

[KeenanParkerII]

LOL!

He may be praying for that poor poor man with the disability right now. Bishops are pretty understanding, I'm sure he got the general idea.

[Mark of the Cross]

[quote name='Ed Normile' date='15 March 2010 - 11:11 AM' timestamp='1268611891' post='2073170']
I settlled on your Excellency in my head
[/quote]

We address our Bishop as Bishop. However I really couldn't imagine him minding if we used Father, because he is that also. And never mind, anybody who thinks that 2 million East Timorese were murdered by Muslims should be excused.

[Vincent Vega]

As long as you kissed his ring, you won't go to Hell.




YOU DIDN'T FORGET TO KISS HIS RING, DID YOU!?

[BG45]

If it helps at all Ed, during the Rites when I was in the RCIA process last year, we had to put our placeholder for a baptismal certificate into a binder. I managed to fail to do so 3 times and my Bishop was doing his best to hold back laughter...

So I know the feeling. Sorry you were embarrassed, but at least you got to meet him!

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' date='14 March 2010 - 07:31 PM' timestamp='1268613069' post='2073183']
As long as you kissed his ring, you won't go to Hell.




YOU DIDN'T FORGET TO KISS HIS RING, DID YOU!?
[/quote]


Oh yeah, a total mess up, it was not like I was expecting to meet him, and I was nervous too.

ed

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='Mark of the Cross' date='14 March 2010 - 07:22 PM' timestamp='1268612540' post='2073177']
We address our Bishop as Bishop. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif[/img] However I really couldn't imagine him minding if we used Father, because he is that also. And never mind, anybody who thinks that 2 million East Timorese were murdered by Muslims should be excused. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/lol.gif[/img]
[/quote]


Thank you, could you relay this to Bishop wenski for me?

The estimated up to 200,000 killed in e. Timor since the war began in '75 till it was over in '99 was added to the estimated whole in the region which was supposed to be 2 million, I should have clarified this, as it included rwandans and others in that nations genocide. Thanks for pointing this out in such a decent manner.

ed

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Ed Normile' date='14 March 2010 - 08:53 PM' timestamp='1268614390' post='2073201']
Oh yeah, a total mess up, it was not like I was expecting to meet him, and I was nervous too.

ed
[/quote]
Haha I've always wanted to kiss my Bishops ring on the multiple occasions that I've met him, but I have never been able to work up the gall.

[Mark of the Cross]

[quote name='Ed Normile' date='15 March 2010 - 11:58 AM' timestamp='1268614722' post='2073204']
Thank you, could you relay this to Bishop wenski for me?

The estimated up to 200,000 killed in e. Timor since the war began in '75 till it was over in '99 was added to the estimated whole in the region which was supposed to be 2 million, I should have clarified this, as it included rwandans and others in that nations genocide. Thanks for pointing this out in such a decent manner.

ed
[/quote]

I think you also did clarify that the East Timorese were murdered by militia thugs who although were representatives of a Muslim state did not represent Islam. The shameful part was when Portugal decided to abandon ET. America was paranoid about ET's governments communist tendency and Australia had it's eyes on The Timor gas and oil. So they both agreed to turn a blind eye while Indonesia annexed ET. Both countries are considered Christian however I would refrain from saying they represented Christianity in this case. In fact I would be inclined to jump sides regarding that when the UN gave ET a mandate to have an election for independence and the thugs went on a rampage. I would have liked to see political niceties dropped and send in the peace keeping forces immediately. But still when you have the largest Muslim population in the world living next door I suppose you have to be careful and observe all the pleasantries. When I was there our priest from my parish visited their Bishop and offered to kiss his ring, which he declined. This Bishop also lives in a mansion while his priests and subjects starve in grass thatched huts. I would have told him what he could do with his ring.
Was that last sentence a dig or genuine. My apologies to you if I offended. I certainly would not wish to offend someone as caring and spiritual as you. Yes I've noticed!

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='Mark of the Cross' date='14 March 2010 - 08:32 PM' timestamp='1268616740' post='2073221']
I think you also did clarify that the East Timorese were murdered by militia thugs who although were representatives of a Muslim state did not represent Islam. The shameful part was when Portugal decided to abandon ET. America was paranoid about ET's governments communist tendency and Australia had it's eyes on The Timor gas and oil. So they both agreed to turn a blind eye while Indonesia annexed ET. Both countries are considered Christian however I would refrain from saying they represented Christianity in this case. In fact I would be inclined to jump sides regarding that when the UN gave ET a mandate to have an election for independence and the thugs went on a rampage. I would have liked to see political niceties dropped and send in the peace keeping forces immediately. But still when you have the largest Muslim population in the world living next door I suppose you have to be careful and observe all the pleasantries. When I was there our priest from my parish visited their Bishop and offered to kiss his ring, which he declined. This Bishop also lives in a mansion while his priests and subjects starve in grass thatched huts. I would have told him what he could do with his ring.
Was that last sentence a dig or genuine. My apologies to you if I offended. I certainly would not wish to offend someone as caring and spiritual as you. Yes I've noticed! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]
[/quote]


It was genuine, I only write things that are genuine, unless I add a smiley or am using the lame thread, I get in to too much trouble here just trying to communicate anyway.

ed

[sacredheartandbloodofjesus]

I got to kiss Bishop Olmsted's ring and tell him Happy birthday, and it was his birthday.

[zunshynn]

One time when I was a postulant Bishop Foley was visiting the monastery and he happened to be leaving the parlor hallway right behind me. So I started to hold the door open for him, and then I panicked because I couldn't remember how to address him, and didn't want to embarrass myself by doing/saying something wrong, so I pretended I hadn't seen him and kept going. Then I felt terrible for being rude to a bishop and mentioned it in confession, which the priest found rather amusing. He told me I didn't need to worry that much though.

Edited March 15, 2010 by zunshynn

[Tridenteen]

JMJ
It is my experience that most Bishops look like they want to retch when I kneel, osculate the ring, and address the as My Lord, or Mr Lord Bishop. Father told us to do that, but he never told us about the guys who yank the ring away from you, and, oh, uh, wipe it on their jackets. I must confess, I really want to hand sanitizer the rings sometimes (with my hand sanitizer that has been banned from the choirloft, due to it's nose burning stench) and also when I kiss the hands of a newly ordained priest. Does anyone else ever feel like that?

[Marie-Therese]

I am meeting my bishop on Tuesday and I was wondering whether to kiss his ring. I am going to see how he interacts with others before I act. Some hate to stand on ceremony, so to speak, but I think our Catholic traditions are beautiful and his office is so vital. I will call him Excellency, though, whether he likes it or not. He is coming to do our parish confirmations on Tuesday, since last year's were left to Father to do at the Vigil. Our bishop has a lot of ground to cover during the Lenten/Easter season.

Ed, don't feel too bad. A friend of mine met a celebrity once and fumbled the intro badly, so later in the day when she saw him approaching from a different direction she tried to hide herself behind a potted palm. Needless to say we never let her live that down.

[Brother Adam]

Ed, God bless you for having a respectable fear of your bishop, enough that you would get tongue tied. That is a virtue that is mostly absent today, many people acting as if your bishop is "no one special, just another person."