Saint Patrick Cathedral

今天到紐約第五大道Saint Patrick Cathedral, 很高興看到它不像歐洲的教堂只是觀光用，它不僅記載了歷史上人們對神和耶穌的敬崇更是現代人持續敬拜神作禮拜彌撒的地方，它代表著傳統和現代，若不是傳統，不會有這麼漂亮的歌德式建築雕刻和玫瑰窗;若不是現代，人們實際的使用讓它的價值和精神永遠流傳著。
最近很多天主教的節慶，在2月25日Ash Wednesday發現街頭有些人在額頭中心點一個黑點，正覺得奇怪因為印度教是點紅點，聽語言中心的老師說才知道這是天主教徒的傳統，周三聖灰節:
http://www.cathlinks.org/easter.htm
在復活節前的四十天是齋戒月，LENT，進入四十天的齋戒月之前，他們會大玩特玩舉辦carnival and parade，叫做Mardi Gras(Fat Tuesday)。New Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the most famous carnival celebrations in the world.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan不久前才正式被羅馬教宗派任到紐約當樞機主教，也是在St. Patrick 接風的。
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02242009/postopinion/editorials/archbishop_dolan_156668.htm
February 24, 2009 -- from new york post
New Yorkers yesterday got their first look at a man who's sure to become a fixture of the city's public life.
Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of Milwaukee, Wisc., got a warm welcome at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday morning, hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his appointment as archbishop of New York.
The new leader of 2.5 million Catholics from Staten Island to upstate Ulster County will take office on April 15, following the retirement of his predecessor, Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan.
Egan will be missed, but he's earned his retirement, and New Yorkers of goodwill hope he enjoys it.
The 59-year-old Dolan, meanwhile, built a reputation in Milwaukee as a fatherly, media-savvy prelate who maintained a frequent correspondence with Wisconsin's public figures.
Indeed, he's already evoked comparisons - perhaps prematurely - to New York's John Cardinal O'Connor, who served as archbishop from 1984 to 2000.
His style is also in striking contrast to the far more reserved Cardinal Egan.
Egan, to be sure, performed a vital service to New York during his nine-year tenure. Perhaps most important, he put the archdiocese on a sound fiscal footing after the large deficits of the O'Connor years - and managed the effective and orderly consolidation of parishes.
A fluent Spanish-speaker, he's also credited with integrating New York's Hispanic Catholics into an archdiocese with a long history of Irish leadership.
Still, to everything there is a season - and New York's Catholics can certainly hope that, after the retrenchment of the Egan years, Dolan is the right man to renew the public presence that's long been the church's gift to New York.
He certainly has a fair shot at success.
In addition to his personal charm, Dolan's a noted intellectual and historian. And he earned a reputation for honesty and compassion in the wake of the sex-abuse scandals of 2002, when he was charged with dealing with cases in St. Louis.
As he said yesterday, "I relish the blessing of spending the rest of my life as your pastor, neighbor and friend."
All New Yorkers should thank Cardinal Egan for his years of service to the entire community - and extend a warm welcome to Timothy Dolan.