My wife and I attended the reception for the opening of the "Catholics in New York 1808-1946" exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York last night. It was enjoyable with perfect weather to enjoy some wine and Brooklyn Lager outside under a tent. The Museum is right across the street from the northern part of Central Park. I spotted Fr. James Martin, Fr. George Rutler, and Bill Donohue among the crowd. My wife and I, after enjoying some wine and cheese, went into the exhibit while most of the crowd was coming out to hear Cardinal Egan's talk. This enabled us to browse the exhibit with plenty of room to check out all the objects. The exhibit itself was a bit small but interesting. There was a great vestment on loan from St. Patrick's Cathedral, pictures of First Communions and a very intricate chalice. A ceramic dish featured an Irish priest who preached temperence (insert own joke here). Interestingly, this small dish was exhumed from the part of lower Manhattan made famous in the movie Gangs of New York and was the only remaining artifact from that exhumation as the rest were all stored at the World Trade Center and were destroyed on 9/11. Another section featured the Catholic orphanages, Catholic social groups, and of course, the Catholic politicians of the "old days". The exhibit, which runs until Dec. 31st., is worth a visit and there are upcoming events related to it at the link above.