In between the two speaking engagements on Tuesday and the one Wednesday night, we had…all day Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina.

So, what that means for the people with the Fort Wayne Zoo membership card….go to the Zoo! And hope it’s free! (it was).

But that was in the afternoon. First stop was downtown, where we stopped in St. Peter’s Church downtown – built in 1909 and recently renovated, and not too shabbily. I have no idea what it looked like before – there appeared to be some side altar niches that now simply held statues, and the altar was moved forward, but the tabernacle area, where the altar had probably been before, was nicely done. Joseph lit his candles and said his prayers, as he had done throughout Rome. I wish he were praying for the Holy Spirit to help him behave better, but I’m thinking…no.

There was a fellow there who seemed to me to be putting in some sort of artistic installation, but I was too distracted to ask. It seemed to start with a large, unevenly-shaped mirror laid flat on the floor in front of the altar, and he had other crates and such that he seemed to be unpacking and a drawing book, and I wish I had just asked him, but…I didn’t.

You may or may not know that in 1987, Pope John Paul II visited Columbia, and this church, as well as other spots. There’s a large plaque commemorating the visit with a passage from the Pope’s remarks, and the kneeler which he used is noted in a side chapel. It’s also the church in which Cardinal Bernardin received all of his sacraments from Baptism through confirmation.

On that visit, the Pope also presided at an interfaith service at USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium. This is a story from the Atlanta Archdiocesan paper on the event (with more linked at the bottom) and here’s the Pope’s address that evening.

Joseph and Michael the Baby played a bit on the school playground, I examined some tombstones in the church graveyard, and then it was off to find the art museum.

It was found – and a rather nice little museum it is. The Columbia Museum of Art – a few rooms upstairs with some good medieval and renaissance pieces, including a Mary Magdalene that I liked very much, a nursing Madonna, which I always appreciate, and a very startling square of stained glass which depicted St. Felix holding his severed head, blood spurting discreetly from his neck. Joseph, I am sorry to say, liked that a lot.

The special exhibit right now was excellent – pieces from the Jewish Museum in New York.  My favorite was a wonderful photograph, taken in the very early morning, of a man carrying two shoulder-fulls of bagels, threaded on ropes of some kind – for delivery. The lighting was dramatic, and the moment was real. Wish I could remember the photographer…

The arrangement of the works was helpful and educational, and it was fascinating to me to be there studying these pieces reflective of the Jewish experience in the US in a museum in Columbia, South Carolina, in the company of all different types of people that morning, ranging from a young African-American woman to an elderly white woman to two really elderly priests – RC or Episcopal, I do not know – who entered the gallery as I was leaving. Time have changed.

Except at the place where we ate lunch, which I probably should not even admit. Gashwin was rather aghast, I think, but in our defense, it was listed in the restaurant guide magazine thing, and all it said was, "if you don’t mind political controversy" you’ll enjoy the food. It didn’t say what kind of political controversy, but I suppose since it was BBQ, I should have known.

Columbia denizens will know that I’m talking about Maurice’s, and according to reports, we ate at the "worst" one of the small local chain – perhaps the original, from the sprawl of it, which seemed to include a small Bible college as well, but I’m not entirely sure. And yes, the political controversy is of the Confederate kind, marked by the titles of the books on sale in the lobby, as well as the t-shirts, as in "Lee might have surrendered but I haven’t." And so on. Oy. Well, the place was busy, and the food was really good – I had been skeptical about the mustard-based sauce (which I thought I’d had somewhere else before and hadn’t liked), but this was different. Yes, different. In a lot of ways…

And I guess if we’d gone to the website, we’d have figured that out.

The Pope Was Here, Jewish Art on Exhibit, Maurice Defends His Heritage…a complex stew as we like to say.  Wasn’t all of that in a Walker Percy novel?

It should have been.