Well, tonight was the famed and highly anticipated Quinceañera, the celebration of a young woman’s 15th birthday and entrance into adulthood. I went to the Mass, but not to the party, so unfortunately I can’t tell you how the well-practiced waltzing and  the Cumbia went, although I might get to see a taped-delayed version eventually.

The Mass, on a Saturday evening, was this weekend’s liturgy, so no special readings. Mexico is the country of origin for the Latino half of the family, so what you read here under "Mexico" was generally what happened. Katie was one of the damas – there were six of them, and they wore cream-colored knee-length dresses. The boys, or chambelanes wore white Guayabera shirts. So sharp. Why bother with suits? Can we just switch you guys to guayaberas instead? The honoree wore, as is the custom, something that approaches the look of a wedding gown – white, with some gold embroidery on the skirt that looked to be stars, with a hoop skirt that only caused a smidgen of trouble as she started down the church aisle.

The only elements of the Mass that were unique to this celebration were:

* At the Profession of Faith, we renewed our baptismal promises, the honoree kneeling, facing the altar.

*At offertory, she was presented with a candle, a Bible and a rosary.

*Before the final blessing, she read a prayer of dedication and placed a bouqet of flowers in front of a statue of Mary.

The only thing I have left to say is that I am just too happy that this weekend I was absent from a regular parish liturgy and therefore did not have to hear this. Which I probably would have. No, "curmudgeon" is not my middle name, although you know, it could be. But you also know…there have been a few other Mary-centric tunes written over the past thousand years. Just a few. Once in a while, it would be nice to hear one of them.