Aftermath, or After Mass

St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Oregon.

Warning to the Devout:
I am a self-proclaimed "bad Catholic" who thinks that the one holy catholic and apostolic church includes everybody. I am also, by birth, a Jew who thinks that God's chosen people includes everybody. I have great respect for the Dalai Lama, have studied Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, and am guaranteed to rile you if your religious views are more restrictive.
Best, in that case, not to read further.

This image reveals that the priest in his finery has departed and the ladies are left to do the cleanup. The altar girl has snuffed out the candles, and an altar guild member is preparing to do the washing up. Plus ça change....

There's hope, though. Last week the cathedral pastor referred in his homily to "our beloved Pope John XXIII," the great 20th century reformer of the Catholic Church. And our new pope shocked the traditionalists on Holy Thursday by washing the feet of young offenders in juvenile detention (instead of priests), two of whom were female, and one of those was Muslim! As we often say during Eastertide, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.