An interesting day

This morning we went to Mass at St. Michael’s, the local parish church. Since last year, the church has been damaged in the recent earthquake, and is now condemned until repaired. Normally, it is a fairly unremarkable 1950’s style building with nice windows depicting historic events in the Hawaiian church – such as St. Damian caring for the lepers. For the time being, however, Mass is held outside in a tent. As you can see, the effect was quite charming, and one of the more pleasant Mass ambiences I have experienced. In previous years, we heard the world’s most awful choir. This choir was so bad, that they transcended awful, and rose to something almost wonderful. The voices all seemed as though they might blend if only one person were not there. She had a most distinct Mother Maybelle Carter sound - but this morning only another Mother Maybelle was there to lead the singing. I was sitting there, dully listening to someone drone on, thinking, “This is certainly not St. James!” No ecstatic Bach, no soaring Mozart, no frisky Britten, no brilliant sermons from Father Ryan. Suddenly I was fully alert! There was a little mongoose sitting at the edge of the altar! Now there is something that St. James can’t beat!
If you look carefully, you can see her disappearing behind the post. She was lurking about at Mass for quite a while, but as soon as she saw my camera, she scooted off, only to make several more quick reappearances.