U2charist in the Ballroom

Here is a description of the U2charist that was held in the ballroom downstairs in the Renaissance Hotel. The 500+ number is about right. I arrived too late to get past the crowd, so Icame upstairs and blogged instead.

This comes from the Daily Episcopalian, of the Diocese of Washington:

After the meeting, I headed to the U2charist. It was packed. I’d estimate that there were at least 500 people in the Renaissance Hotel ballroom, and I counted more than 100 in the doorways and in the hall.

Mary Dail from Trinity Upper Marlboro, Iris Harris and Darren McCutchen from St. Timothy’s and the Revs. Randolph Charles (Epiphany, DC), Karla Woggon (St. Andrew’s) and Preston Hannibal, canon for academic ministries, were on hand Preston and Karla even found a seat. The rest of us milled about, or sat in the hallway.

Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina preached a rousing sermon, but I couldn’t really hear it, having surrendered my seat inside after I finished taking pictures. Look for them eventually over on edow.org

The U2charist, like the Overseas Bishops’ Dinner, is an event I am going to need a little bit of time to digest. I can say, though, that there was tremendous energy in the ballroom, and a healthy minority of the crowd was currently young, as opposed to the many U2 fans who are previously young.

More about U2charists:
News report from Portland, Maine.
St. Mark's, Palo Alto,CA
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation