Charlie's BaptismCharlie’s baptism was held on Sunday, July 10th, at Sacred Heart Cathedral at 5 pm Mass. Mark and I decided to hold it at 5 pm Mass because we were pretty sure no one in my family would get out of bed for 9:30 am Mass and knew they definitely wouldn’t for 7 am.
The priest who interviewed us insist that we invite as many people as possible to the baptism because it is to celebrate Charlie becoming a member of a community. Since the baptism was planned on a short notice and many of my friends would rather die than go to church, we ended up inviting only our families and my mother’s next door neighbor, Mary. Mary is a cool lady—I’ve practically known her forever. She loves visiting with Charles, so I had to definitely invite her. I knew it would be a big deal for her to come to the baptism since she openly protested the renovations to Sacred heart Cathedral.
My in-laws arrived to the church as we did, about 15 minutes before mass.
About five minutes before Mass, when Fr. Murphy was explaining to Mark and me what would happen during the baptism, Marlene walked in. She stood right in front of Charles and me.
Marlene: What?
Me: Hi to you, too. Jon and Peggy are here. Why don’t you say hi?
Marlene sorta waved at them and took a seat behind them, next to Mary.
As I was holding Charlie, he spit up. His spit did not land on me, nor on him. It landed with a giant “SPLAT” on the stone floor of the cathedral. I was embarrassed. My mother thought this was very funny and laughed. Mark ran to get a rag to clean up the mess as the Mass started.
Charlie was fussy during most of Mass. When it came time for the baptism, Mark, me, Charlie, and the godparents gathered next to the font. Fr. Murphy rushed through most of the ceremony as quickly as possible as Charlie began to crank out. Charlie was almost in full fuss mode when I leaned his head over the font and Fr. Murphy splashed water on the baby’s head. Charlie stopped crying and looked shocked.
We went back to our seats by the altar. Charlie, however, decided he had enough of church and began to fuss. I took him to the vestibule in the back of the church, so I could walk him and hopefully calm him down. From where I was standing, I could see Marlene. Something must have upset her during the offertory, as she started gesticulating wildly to Mary.
At dinner at my house after the ceremony, I found out what happened.
Marlene: (matter-of-factly) Mary and I were protesting, so we didn’t give anything to the collection.
Me: I can see why Mary would protest. What were you protesting?
Marlene: (indignantly) I was just protesting.
Later, I told my husband about this exchange. He was not at the dinner table, as he was putting Charlie to bed.
Me: My mom said she was protesting. What the heck do you think she was protesting?
Mark: She was probably just protesting that she was broke!
Me: Now it all makes sense to me.
