Happy Sunday blog readers. Today I attended a special mass at the newly dedicated Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral here in Houston. The mass was for St. Catherine. Special guests included the President of Xavier University, its local alumni and members from St. Francis of Xavier Catholic Church and of course, the rest of us commoners.  St. Catherine, originally Katherine Drexel, was born into a wealthy family in Philadelphia in 1855. She was vocal about racism and injustice when it wasn't vogue. An heir to millions, she gave up her inheritance and dedicated all of her wealth and efforts to providing schools to Blacks and Native Americans mainly located in the southwest. One of her most well known accomplishments is Xavier University, hence their attendance at the speical mass. She died in 1955 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in  2000.

As I mentioned Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral was dedicated earlier this month. It was my first since the dedication. We decided to head to the church a little early to listen to Father Troy discuss the construction of the cathedral and its contents. Above are a couple of shots of the inside.  The mass was nice traditional - no short cuts. Very similar to when I was a kid. Because of where we were sitting, we took communion from the newly elevated Cardinal, Daniel Di Nardo. That was pretty cool, if I could use those words. Don't ask me why that was important but it was. I wanted to get a picture with Cardinal Di Nardo but my mom was NOT having it. She looked at me as if I was mad when I asked her to take my picture. She was like, "Well I want you to take MY picture"! So I guess you know where this short story is going- She got the picture.  She seemed rather pleased with herself.