Waaaah. I have been looking at dancewear online and now I am all sad because not only can I not be a ballerina now, I am not shaped like one any more.

You drink the wine, wash out the cup with water, and drink that. If the wine has actually gone bad, there's a special drain you can dump the water down, but I forget what it's called. Piscina? Anyway, it has to connect directly to earth, not to the sewers.

Makes sense. In Wicca, any leftover water or wine is poured on the earth, not down a drain. Now I'm trying to think of analogous things in other religions.

I have ordered a chicken club sandwich. Oh, cool, a symposium on modern Catholicism while I wait. t settles in to absorb knowledge

Is it a sparticular kind of incense?

Yup, but I forget what. t /not really helpful

And the priest has to drink what was left of the wine after whatis....communion? Is that SOP so that something holy won't just get poured down a drain?

Uh huh. Though at a mass with grown-up, legal age servers assisting the priest, they're usually the ones who finish up the wine.

OH! Another question, rather query/observation. This mass was overseen by a archbishop and one of the altarboys' jobs was to hold the crozier, it appeared. He had what looked like a special extra flap of his robe, so that he wouldn't touch it with his bare hand.

Am I right? No touchee by the laity?

Is it a sparticular kind of incense?

It's blended from the resin of certain trees and may occasionally be blended with other perfumes to produce a thicker smoke and sweeter smell. It is always burned over charcoal. And yes, there are many who are allergic to it.

I believe Betsy's right re: the piscina.

I could smell it in my hair all day long. Wasn't bad; didn't mind.

Just all so strange to me! I was raised Baptist, and now am totally non-religious, so it's all quite interesting, academically.

Am I right? No touchee by the laity?

More like no touchee by anyone besides the (arch)bishop to whom the crozier belongs. It's a symbol of the bishop's duty to keep watch over the flock of the faithful.

Ah, so anyone besides him can't touch it. Got it.

So do Catholics learn all this stuff in cathecism (what IS cathecism) or just through, well, being CAtholic?

So do Catholics learn all this stuff in cathecism (what IS cathecism) or just through, well, being CAtholic?

Catechism is Catholic School. You've got your Hebrew School for the Jewish faith, and we have to have our own version, to keep up with the Levines down the street. Catechism classes are primarily offered to students who attend public schools and adults who are planning to convert. In a Catholic (elementary and high) school, religion class is just another subject, as I'm sure you're finding out, so attending classes outside of school is not necessary. You may also hear them referred to as CCD classes (school-age children) and RCIA classes (adults).