Photographers Scott Maentz and Stephanie Richer took hundreds of photos at the Diocese of Knoxville Homecoming Celebration on Saturday. My wife and I are in several of their pictures. I was the emcee during the day’s family-oriented activities. My wife was the cantor for the Mass that closed the event. Scott got a great picture of my wife leading the responsorial psalm. Cardinal Justin Rigali can be seen behind her.
Scott also photographed Jim Wogan and me as Jim was preparing to go in the dunk tank. Jim said he knew that Bishop Stika wouldn’t dunk someone wearing a St. Louis Cardinals jersey. The Cardinals are Bishop Stika’s favorite team. Jim went on to confess that he was really a Pirates fan, which made it very easy for the bishop to dunk him. Later in the day, after I had soaked up more sun than expected, Scott spied me behind the soundboard during Mass.
If you look at Scott’s photo gallery, you’ll see several aerial shots from his drone. He had a smartphone mounted on his controls. The phone showed what the drone’s camera was seeing. Meanwhile, Stephane got a nice shot of the drone hovering behind me.
Stephanie was positioned at the finish line of a tricycle race between Bishop Stika and three of his employees. The bishop defeated Jim Wogan, John Deinhart and Deacon David Lucheon. David recently retired from his job as Chief Financial Officer.
When Stephanie posted the picture on Facebook, some folks joked about the boss winning the race. Blogger Frank Weathers noticed that the bishop rode a trike that was a different from the others. I originally thought he chose that trike because it was Cardinals red but now I realize that it had better rear wheels and handlebars. No matter the outcome, the race was a lot of fun. You can see me describing the action into the microphone.
