My recent experience attending a Slovak Catholic church

[MentalGiant]

Ah yes, Catholic relics. The card you got is a "second degree" relic, as it touched a "first degree" relic (that which belonged directly to the saint). I have a relic medal still I got as a little girl that has an encapsulated tiny pice of cloth. It is of St Lucia, the patron saint of eyes (no, it never actually did a damned thing for my eyes, my vision still sucks). Catholics pray to saints along with praying to God. There are patron saints for all kinds of things, and if you are having trouble in some area of your life (medical problems, mental illness, can't get pregnant ext..), you pray to the patron saint of whatever it is that is troubling you or you pray to other saints for protections (such as a patron saint of police officer or fire fighters). Catholics really do take the cake for wacky rituals!

And you know, you could have stayed for communion . You would've gotten a blessing from the priest you know! Non-catholics can simply cross their arms over their chest to indicate they have not received the sacrament of holy communion and receive a blessing instead. (I haven't set foot in a Catholic church in a good 15 years, why do I remember this again????)