I wouldn't say I was lost, but I went too far one Friday evening after Stations and, in the act of doubling back, came across the renowned, Western NJ religious goods shop, The Cross & Shamrock.

Formerly located near Quakerbridge, not so far-away sounding as it used to, since I find myself on Route 1 quite often. I never visited the shop there.

Knowing several children making sacraments, including one of my own, I dropped in for gifts. I was unprepared for the number of white First Communion gowns available! I don't need one (yet) but I looked them over anyway in dreamy anticipation. Kenny doesn't need white, so I planned just getting a sports coat from Lands End.

The traditional mass book/rosary/scapular kits seem just as impractical as ever. There's really no such thing as a children's mass book, like there's no such thing as a children's Bible. That didn't stop me from getting a couple of children's Bibles. Nothing else struck me as appropriate.

While browsing, I noticed ... to my chagrin ... that I was "out of uniform." Chris and Ella were decked out appropriately in green outfits but I had on Italian brown. Tsk-tsk. When telling my friend, Elizabeth, an Asian Catholic who grew up in an Irish neighborhood about the store, she planned a visit and I warned her of the dress code. She understood it better than I.

There's a box at the back of church with the names of First Communicants on slips of paper. Parishioners are encouraged to draw a name and pray for the child every day between now and their date, printed on the paper. Dropping them a note card through the religious education office is also requested. I took a name last week and taped it to the dashboard of my car. I peaked in the box Sat. night after mass and saw the first three letters of Kenny's name underneath another slip of paper. I reached inside and moved his paper to the top. I need to remind Father to mention the box because I've only heard it once or twice.

What if a child's name ... and there are still several in the box, I'm thinking of drawing another name ... doesn't get selected?