Welcome Archbishop Listecki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a wonderful day! Milwaukee installed Archbishop Jerome Listecki our 11th Archbishop in the history of our Archdiocese! The installation took place this afternoon at 1:00 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Last night was also special day because we had the honor of celebrating solemn vespers at the Cathedral in order to pray for Archbishop Listecki. My family and I had the privilege to attend these vespers. I was extremely lucky to be able to sing in the choir for it too!

The service was absolutely beautiful. I just wished I could have been there for the installation today. Unfortunately I was in school.

Something exciting that I wanted to share with you was my brief meeting with Bishop Morlino, the Bishop of Madison, WI. I'm sure that all of you that are reading this have already visited my Mom's blog as she has also posted the same story.

As I was waiting with my brothers and sister Mary, a man came up to me and asked me if I was a seminarian. I had no idea who he was at first. I told him that I was not a seminarian yet but I was thinking about the priesthood. The Cathedral's rector and our long time family friend Fr. Carl Last came from behind me and said to the Bishop, "Well he should be a seminarian for goodness sake, his name is John Paul!"

At this Bishop Morlino promptly shook my hand and then proceeded to ask my brother Justin if he was thinking about the priesthood too! After questioning him, Bishop Morlino took his hat off of his head and stuck it on me so that he could go to the bathroom. I made sure to take a picture of me with the hat on my head. I didn't want to forget that moment.

When Bishop Morlino came back out he told me that he would let me keep the hat but its cold outside and he needed it to keep him warm because he didn't have my thick hair! Then he introduced himself to my mom, my brothers and myself. We were so surprised! This was an exciting moment to meet this great man!

Another exciting thing that happened that night was that my mom was interviewed by several television stations asking for her thoughts on the new archbishop. When they approached her, my Mom was bewildered because they shone bright lights in her face when they asked her the questions. Nevertheless, my Mom asked each question to the best of her ability.

When we got home we watched the news to see if she was on TV. Sure enough she was! She answered every questions professionally. I was so proud of her! I was equally proud of Archbishop Listecki! I am so excited to meet and talk with him in the future.

Below is the Youtube video with my mom on WISN TV. It is the news story of the vespers service at the Cathedral. My mom is with my sister Mary who is standing beside my her and my brothers Justin (the taller one with black hair) and Jack (the shorter boy with the red jacket on) are standing in the background. They come on the screen at about 1:37 into the video. Enjoy:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LlYe1jVs3M