The Cathedral is a busy place all week long. Recently, Cathedral staff kept a journal of a week in the life of the Cathedral parish.  From the sublime to the semi-ridiculous, there’s a lot going on at St. James Cathedral on the other six days of the week.  Here’s a sampling:
 
MONDAY.  Sacristan John Marquez opens the Cathedral for prayer at 7:30am.  Father Daniel McCarthy OSB, an internationally known liturgist, visits to photograph the interior of the Cathedral for his website on sacred spaces around the world.  Painters begin work in the Cathedral narthex.  Sister Mary Slater and volunteers finish counting the Sunday collection.  Around Noon, Renan Jeffereis takes the Eucharist to Heritage House and conducts a small communion service there.  Volunteers stuff hundreds of Annual Catholic Appeal letters to parishioners.  Our Funeral Hospitality committee hosts a beautiful reception following a funeral Mass in the Cathedral.  In the evening, Father Ryan presides at a special Mass for Cabrini Ministry Training graduates, while a new group of returning Catholics gathers in Cathedral Place for “Welcome Back.” At 8:30pm, Winter Shelter volunteers make the short trip to St. Martin de Porres to pick up the twelve men who will sleep in Cathedral Hall tonight.
 
TUESDAY.  At 7:45am, a faithful handful of parishioners pray the rosary together in the Chapel before the morning Mass.  “Gleaners” pick up the Cathedral vans around 9:00am and take a tour of local grocery stores, collecting crates of vegetables, desserts—even cut flowers!—for the Cathedral Kitchen.  Jim and Tania of St. James ESL attend the in-home citizenship interview of a homebound student.  Theresa Van de Ven and Lita McBride lead Midday Prayer in the Chapel.  It’s Father Ryan’s day off, but he spends the afternoon signing hundreds of Annual Catholic Appeal letters.  Liturgy Director Corinna Laughlin meets with O’Dea High School staff to plan the Baccalaureate Mass.  Larry Brouse and James Savage rearrange the Bishops’ Parlor at the Cathedral Rectory to accommodate a newly framed portrait of Archbishop Sartain.  Beth Rose, Mental Health Nurse, joins the guests at dinner in the Cathedral Kitchen, providing a listening ear, referral information, and other support.  In the evening, the ESL Advisory Board gathers with Chris Koehler to plan their new cookbook. The St. James Conference of St. Vincent de Paul holds its monthly meeting one floor below.
 
WEDNESDAY.  Cathedral seniors take a trip to the Seattle Aquarium and Boehm’s Chocolate Factory, while Larry Brouse heads to Federal Way to attend a two-day workshop on Archdiocesan policies.  Father Dick Ward visits with a troubled young man who drops by the parish office in need of help. Around noon, the O’Dea student body marches down Columbia Street to Cathedral Hall for their school lunch.  Half a dozen visitors to Seattle join our Wednesday 1:00pm tour.  Suzanne Lee spends an hour sorting donated toiletries for the Winter Shelter, while music staff plan the summer residency of the Tallis Scholars.  Representatives from Skyline at First Hill stop by to present a check to the Cathedral Kitchen—the proceeds of their new resident thrift shop.  Father Ryan is interviewed by a reporter from SeattleMet magazine for a feature in their June issue.  A new group of inquirers joins the RCIA group in the evening, while down the hall, Opus 7 rehearses under the direction of Loren Ponten, and in the Pastoral Outreach Center, world-renowned expert on the Middle East and North Africa, Harry Hagopian, gives a riveting lecture.
 
THURSDAY.  When sacristan Brenda Bellamy arrives at seven, Joseph Adam has already been at the organ for an hour, practicing for an upcoming recital.  The Cathedral’s Pastoral Team gathers at 10 for their weekly meeting, spending much of today’s meeting looking ahead to 2013 and doing some long-term planning.  Joanna Snowden arrives at 11 to open up the Cathedral Bookstore.  Meanwhile, Aletha Shackelford scrubs hundreds of votive glasses in the Sacristy.  Patty Bowman drops in on the Solanus Casey Center to visit with director Sister Peggy Kennedy.  Pastoral Care minister John Simpson meets with the family of a deceased parishioner to plan a funeral. At 4:30pm, children of the Youth Music Program gather in the Choir Room for their weekly rehearsal, followed shortly by the seventy-plus members of our Cathedral Choir at 7:30pm.  Upstairs, John Marquez and his team welcome a group of young people and adults preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  St. James ESL hosts a dinner honoring their volunteers and serving desserts from their new dessert cookbook. 
 
FRIDAY.  In the morning, a group of 6th graders from St. Brendan’s Parish in Bothell has a tour of the Cathedral.  Around Noon, Maggie Jordan, otherwise known as “Maggie the Magnificent,” arrives to stuff (single-handedly) all 2,900 bulletins for the coming weekend.  Wedding coordinators Bev Mauser and Louise Mennella conduct rehearsals for Saturday’s weddings in the afternoon. Eleanor Dowson arrives at 4:00pm to begin setting up for Taizé Prayer.  The maintenance team prepares the Pastoral Outreach Center for a Saturday wedding reception.  The Jubilate! Young Women’s Ensemble sets out for Bainbridge Island on a three-day adventure including prayer, fellowship, and a concert.
 
SATURDAY.  Elizabeth Falzone spends a beautiful Saturday morning leading a “Called to Protect” seminar for about thirty parishioners, helping keep the Cathedral a safe place for children. Parishioners Cathy and Sonny DeGuzman celebrate their twenty-first anniversary of marriage.  Several parishioners attend the 100th birthday party of Miss Frances Kelly, a very longtime parishioner of the Cathedral.  Father Ryan and Father Brant hear confessions of eleven children in our Children’s RCIA program.  The 2:30pm wedding concludes with festive bagpipes on the west steps.  Children who will make their First Communion on May 6 participate in an all-day retreat, along with their parents.  Corinna Laughlin puts the finishing touches on an article for In Your Midst about the Liturgical Week at the Seattle World’s Fair.  A young doctoral candidate flies up from California to meet with Jim Savage about congregational singing at St. James.