So we had to get up early, I had had a very bad sleep the night before, being up till about 3:30 am and having to get up and be on the bus by 8:30. On the plus side it was snowing! We got a whole couple of inches as we were leaving but we had a 5 hr bus ride ahead. We had a stop over on the outskirts of Delaware and I regret the Burger King... it was bad. We arrived in DC finally straight over to the Catholic Information Centre in the middle of the city. We had a mass in the chapel there with Bishop Peter and it was the feast of St Agnes!
We hung out in the book store for a while before heading over to Starbucks and then the Hyatt Regency hotel for this Youth Rally were were attending. I confess I went a bit nuts in the bookstore. They are a lot cheaper in the States but I managed to moderate myself by buying 4 C.S. Lewis books, one for Mum on the Jewish origins on the Eucharist and a TOB book. We then hung out at Starbucks for a bit because of the free wifi! We also got chatting to bunch of the Occupy people who were in tents across the road. I would have dearly loved to probe them a bit more, but I was not mentally up for the challenge. We had to get to the Hyatt hotel anyway!
We got to the Hyatt and took some seats about mid way down. We were a little late and it seemed that things were already happening. So we sat in and listened. It was an ecumenical gathering and the spirit of unity was quite inspiring, but it was also highly emotive and very firebrand. Lots of political action talk and also lots of testimonials from people working on the 'front lines.' About an hour into it a bunch of people dispersed in the room stood up and started yelling in protest of us. I had a momentary freak out thinking back to Madrid and I was ready to throw punches if I had to. A couple of them were close to our group and I got a good look at their faces and was able to relax, there was no venom like I saw in Madrid, just a little bit of yelling and screaming. Lila Rose took to the stage and some how managed to drown them out with a prayer. They were eventually removed by security.
The rally continued on as if it never happened. I have to say it was very overlong and in such a charged environment it was not the best idea. It was a little too much for me, I'm not sure that it is the right approach. We were so tired as well which didn't help. So at 10 pm we packed it in and headed for our home stay families. Matt and Jollene took Me, Jo, Anitra, and Donabel. They had three little ones, two of whom we met. We chatted for an hour over cookies and then collapsed into bed.
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