Great parade to Lake Merritt (Oakland CA)

Last Sunday, Arthur and I (from the monastery in Berkeley) joined the parade in Oakland from where the old Catholic cathedral used to be (at 21st Street and San Pablo, ruined by the 1993 earthquake) to the new one overlooking Lake Merritt. A great melange of ethnic groups singing, dancing, and drumming (Koreans, Native Americans, Filipinos, Hispanics, Brazilians and what not), we marched the six blocks to the new Cathedral, under the eyes of other Sunday congregations along the way (True Faith Baptist Church had people on the steps watching). This was the first liturgical ceremony in the new building, which is now open to the general public, and I think they will be giving guided tours at some times. The ceremony included a beautiful gesture of pouring different waters into the baptismal pool: from the River Jordan, from Saint Peter's in Rome, from the healing pool at Lourdes in France, and from Lake Merritt itself (!) along with water from each of the 84 parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.