The Ordination of a Bishop, Part II

Anthony and Dan with Bishop-elect John Balthasar Brungardt

The day of the ordination was a very long and busy one.  We did not sleep in (imagine that, with kids in a hotel room!).  We ate breakfast at the hotel, and then it was back to our rooms to get everyone dressed in their Sunday best and pack up. 



"Anne might be smiling, but all I want to know is when do we get to eat?"

  After we were all dressed and the car was packed, we checked out of our hotel room and drove to the Knights of Columbus Hall for the Luncheon.   They were smart and seated us at the back of the hall, along with Dan's brother and his family.  Farthest from the bishops, closest to the bathrooms.  :)  I think we were the only families there with little kids.  When they brought us our plates of food, there in front of each of us, including the kids, was a large portion of prime rib, along with side dishes.  Let's just say, Dan ate a lot of prime rib!   Someone donated the prime rib and it was delicious. 



Anthony walked up and down the pew for the first hour or so that we were in it, moving the missalettes about and throwing them on the floor.  At least he did not figure out that he could open them up and rip pages.


The ordination started at 2:00, which, as any parent of little ones knows, is not a good time of day to sit in a pew for a long time.  We had to get there early so we could sit in the family section, so our total pew time was almost 4 hours!  The older kids did amazingly well.  Anthony slept for the middle two hours in my arms and had to be taken out a couple of times, including the last 30 minutes.  I would never have said we could pull that off, but it worked. 



Bishop-elect Brungardt processing in. 

There was a long procession coming in.  They had four entrance songs, if that tells you anything!  We were lucky to have seats on the main aisle, only 4 rows from the front, so we had an excellent view.




The laying on of hands by the other bishops.




Newly ordained Bishop John B. Brungardt sits in his episcopal chair.




The new bishop stops to bless his family.

What a wonderful experience!  We were blessed to be able to be there. 

Not too long after the ordination was over, we had to load everyone into the car and head back home.  Let's just say it was a loooooonnnng trip.  Poor Anthony had just about had it and he let us know for a lot of the way back.  We had to stop twice, but at least the roads were fine until we got to our local dirt roads, which were covered with snow.  We finally pulled into our driveway at 9:30pm, happy to be home.

Overall, we had a good trip.

Congratulations to Bishop John B. Brungardt, the new bishop of the Dodge City Diocese!