Disclaimer: I did not support this (or stop it) in any way.
For Pman's first Christmas we went to this small little church near my parents' house. We are Catholic, the church is Episcopal. We are not overly religious, so we are mostly okay with blurring the line a bit. Including my family and Wee-P and the priest and his wife, there were maybe 8 people in attendance. We sat in the choir pews.
Here is a little bit of background information. When a child is born Catholic they are Baptised shortly after their birth. Then they typically go to Sunday school or CCD or something similar to learn about God and prepare to receive their First Communion (Body and Blood of Christ) around age 7.
Parker is 3 and a half, as you will note from a recent post.
This past Christmas, we found ourselves at that same church from our first Christmas as a family of 3. This time, including our family of now 4, there were maybe 15 people. Again, we sat in the choir pews and had actual input as to what songs we sang and when we sang them. It made for an informal, homey service.
When the priest got to the part where he blessed the Body and Blood of Christ, he called all 15 of us to come stand with him at the alter.
The priest pulled out a little step stool and asked Pman to join him on the raised platform, through the prayer and blessing. P went up and made me stand (awkwardly) on the steps around their heightened area.
The priest blessed the Body (bland pressed wafer) and Blood (cheap sherry). Then he dipped the Body in the Blood and handed it to P.
My sweet son put it in his mouth, and promptly pulled out half of it and placed it quietly and lightly on the table in front of him.
A beat or two later, the priest dipped ANOTHER wafer into the sherry and this time P took a bite and handed the dry part to me saying, "I don't like this part."
Indeed, I'm sure you don't.
In a incident that can only be described as sheer insanity, the priest once again dipped a third blessed wafer into the alcohol and handed it to P.
He happily ate the whole thing.
Have you ever seen the Vitameatavegamen episode of "I Love Lucy"? This chain of events mimicked Lucy's commercial.. I fully expected P to grab the cup from the priest and toss back a large gulp- thankfully that did not happen.
Then the priest said, "Somewhere my [priest teacher] is rolling over in his grave. No wait, I can't say that because as far as I know he is still alive."
Well now, this is one church service I will never forget. I think Parker will be begging to go to church from now on. Jokes on him when the next priest is not so willy nilly with the Eucharist.
