Clericals and a Chocolate Shake

We are off to St. Stephen's early tomorrow morning. St. Stephen's is where I did two semesters of field education, while serving as a deacon, for about nine months last year. I would have remained there as a priest if I could have, but alas, it is now much too far away. Karen and I will rise at about 5:15am to hit the road at 6am and be in Belvedere at 7:30am. We will do three hours of driving altogether. Ok for the occasional visit, but as a regular gig? It's not worth that kind of commute.

We do get a treat when we go to St. Stephen's, though. We go to In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Well, perhaps not exactly true . . . I go to In-N-Out, Karen gets a bagel at the deli.

For me I get a kind of perverse satisfaction out of wearing my collar in places where it might not be expected. I am not one of those priests for whom ordering that set of clerical collar pajamas almost seems appropriate, but I will wear the gear out in public. I remember one of the first times I was out it in public in the collar, I was shopping for a suit jacket for Sunday mornings. I went to get a burrito at a restaurant near the clothing store. When I went up to get some salsa, I could feel the distraction of me in the clericals. The eyes followed me across the restaurant floor. Another patron at the salsa bar did not just do a double take, but a triple take. First look, a dude getting salsa. Second look, a wheelchair dude getting salsa. Third look, is that wheelchair dude getting salsa super-religious or something? Suffice it to say, the last take resulted in a look of utter consternation and salsa all over the floor.

Let's hope nobody spills his or her food tomorrow. But it is a good feeling to get odd looks for clericals, rather than just being in the chair, at least once in a while.