Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Wedding

I completely forgot to give you a re-cap of the wedding! Here goes:

I arrived on the Thursday evening to find my ride had not shown up. So I waited three hours in the tiny Charlottetown airport until finally Peter's brother John could drive the hour-twenty-minute drive to pick me up. Needless to say I was late for the pre-wedding bash which was excellent none the less.

The next day, Friday, I was able to finally take in my lodging, which was a little cottage-by-the-red-sanded-sea.















We helped to set up the decorations in the reception hall and then we participated in a holy hour with Peter and Angie. Around five we had dinner - fried fish a la Roskelley - in the cottage. ( I forgot to mention who else I was staying with - fellow ex-seminarians Pablo, John and Mike, along with Fr. Nicholas, aka Tumba, with whom I was in school for three years.) The evening ended with another party hosted at our place. Four people showed up, a good number considering we weren't expecting any at all. (Word travels fast around the Island - Mike and John were mini-celebrities for the week, due to their good-natured slightly-enebriated-extrovert personalities.) I counted about 26 empty beer bottles the next morning during clean-up. A good time.

















The time of the wedding came quickly, and Peter and Angie looked the perfect couple. It was very well attended - about half the island showed up. Vancouver was well represented, as were Peter's Japanese relatives. After the wedding there were photos back at Angie's parents' house. Everything was perfect except the weather - it had been raining since early morning, and didn't let up until the next day.
















Then the long-expected wedding reception. Such functions always bring out the best of the Maritimes. There was a live band (Outstanding live band - playing everything from ACDC to Spirit of the West ( they played Home For a Rest twice, the second time being the opportunity for the bride and groom to slip away. Everyone formed a circle around them, and when someone else took center stage they took off.) Other than that, the speeches were funny, especially John (above) as one of the MCs. Copious amounts of Joe's punch (basically orange slices in moonshine) were consumed and a good time was had by all.


Peter and Angie are now off to Rome (actually, since this post is a month late, I think they're already back) for their honeymoon, and will then settle in Halifax, which is already home to both.

Good luck and God Bless with your life together.

Bernini's Corpus & a new Dominican

The other day I had the opportunity to see Bernini's Corpus which is on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The Corpus is a bronze-cast life-size crucified Jesus, minus the cross. I went with my friend and soon-to-be-Dominican Jason who is a art-history expert, having taught it in high school for three years now. The exhibit is on until October 7th.

What I was told to look for in this piece is the focus on humanity and the hope for resurrection. Whereas German and Spanish artists would focus on the suffering of Jesus, Italian renaissance artists such as Bernini focused on his humanity.

Also on display were busts that Bernini made of two of his Papal commissioners. It was all part of an exhibit of Medieval and Renaissance treasures.




***Later***

Anyway, Jason is now Brother Jason of the Order of Preachers, having joined yesterday. He told me that it was a long journey to this decision, having first considered the Fraternity of St. Peter. I think I'm using too many ablative absolutes, but that's just my grammar style. (Thank you Fr Alban!)