Coffee

A small group of us went out for coffee this morning, to a coffee shop across from the Roman Catholic cathedral.

The cathedral bells were ringing merrily.  And at length. The sun was shining. It was a lovely morning.  We sat at a table outside the coffee shop.

There were lots of people milling about, dressed in their party clothes.  Too much black for it to be a wedding.  Not enough for it to be a funeral.

There were nuns.

The cathedral bells continued to peal.

Then there were loads of priests, dressed in the Easter vestments.  They formed an orderly procession and went in by a side door.

The church bells silenced - and the organ burst into triumphant sound which we could hear clearly from our place across the road

A procession of bishops went past, wearing Easter vestments and beautiful mitres.  Apart from the one who was wearing a gold crown!


And finally, the liturgical procession went past, with lay people, priests and a cardinal. And the bells burst forth again in jubilation.

Clearly something very important was afoot.

We had stumbled across the enthronement of the new RC Bishop of Hallam!

We don't go out for coffee all that often, and if we do, we usually stay on campus.  It was the lure of the sunshine that drew us outside and across the road.  But if it were always that exciting - we would possibly go out more often!