The Wonderful and the Wlatsome
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Name of Parish: Queenship of Mary
Location: Plainsboro, NJ
Date and Time: Saturday Vigil 5:30pm, Sundays 7am, 8:45am, 10:30am, 12:15pm
Website: http://www.qomchurch.org/
The Wonderful: Solid orthodox pastor (who calls himself "pastor", not "administrator!) celebrates thoughtful, reverent Mass, no liturgical abuses to speak of, a growing parish with a lot of young families as well as some older folks, a music ministry that tries very hard, pastor encourages frequent Sacrament of Reconciliation as well as more active participation in one's faith, Easter week celebrated very meaningfully and reverently, Do-nut Sundays encourage new parishioners to register, have several groups/comittees/clubs one can join, weekend priests who assist give solid homilies.
The Wlatsome: Parishioners continuously showing up late to Mass (despite the pastor mentioning this at times), music ministry is inconsistent--sometimes beautiful voices as when the director of music herself sings, other times horrible off note voices (by well meaning yet misguided parishioners who want to participate) are leading the songs, 1970's style church with minimal traditional touches, Resurrected Christ at the altar instead of Crucified Christ, no crying room for unruly children and sobbing babies, hence some young parents just let them do what they want which causes distraction.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
ST LOUIS
Memphis, TN
6 PM, Nov. 15
The Wonderful: N/A
The Wlatsome: Lots of chatting before, after, and during the mass. Many people stood up in the back. Indian priest, who had little English and was hard to understand. New-age music with guitar, and low number of people participating in the singing. Lots of casual dress. Fountain-type holy water font.
HOLY ROSARY
5:15 PM, Nov 8
Memphis, TN
The Wonderful: Praying of the Rosary encouraged. Large Print in Bulletin read, "Friday is a universal day of penance: abstain from all meat." Crowded, but quiet. Bulletin suggests that they are very active in the community
The Wlatsome: Priest wandered aisle during his sermon. Brought up the DaVinci Code, and did not explain its heresy or mention that it was anti-Catholic and / or heretical.
ST PETERS
11 AM, Nov. 9
Memphis, TN
The Wonderful: Gorgeous church architecture and stained-glass windows. First church in Western Tennessee, and everything is preserved. Good attendance. Obviously a family-oriented parish. All priests are Dominican Friars.
The Wlatsome: Lots and Lots of loud chit-chat before and after the mass.
ST PATRICKS
Memphis, TN
5:15 PM, Nov. 9
The Wonderful: N/A
The Wlatsome: Church stripped of kneelers. Memphis construction makes it hard to find. Tabernacle is very low to the ground, almost hidden behind the altar. The Nicene Creed was skipped. And, the peace, which was right after the General Intercessions, was five minutes of social time-- loud conversations took place, and the priest and deacon went in and out of the pews to greet every person in attendance. In the middle of the service, there is a 'meet the visitor' time, in which visitors are encourages to introduce themselves. The Collection Plates were not passed around. Instead, those making donations had to walk to the front of the church with their money. There were several Extraordinary Ministers for only about 20-30 mass attenders. Hand holding during the Our Father--not only present, but encouraged in the preface by the priest.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Name of Parish:Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Location: Moriarty, NM
Date and Time: ?
The Wonderful:The new GIRM is mentioned at every Mass. Music is provided by guitar and includes Spanish and English music.
The Wlatsome: Hand-holding during the Lord's Prayer. Recently, parishioners were even asked to hold up their hands Protestant-style to ask for the blessings of the Lord. Music is provided by guitar and includes Spanish and English music.
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Name of Parish: Prince of Peace Catholic Church
Location: 1110 Dykstra Road, N. Muskegon Michigan 49445-2014
Time: Sunday Mass, 11:15 AM
The Wonderful: Delightfully enthusiastic parishioners! Im guessing this was a Charismatic Mass (bulletin didn't say so, but based on songs, gestures, swaying/handholding, etc, Im guessing it was). EVERYONE responded and sang loudly (but well!) - including the priest, who during the closing hymn was so into it that he started improvising! All the parishioners seemed very joyous in their worship and all were very friendly and smiling. It was also Respect Life Sunday, and before three children were baptized we were reminded of the sanctity of life, and the evil of abortion - which we so often dont hear enough of! They've got a big musical group of about 12 or 15, baby grand piano, synthesizer, violins, guitars, and many voices. Most songs were from a book I'd never seen called "People of Praise" (I looked this up and believe it is a book used by the Cursillo movement). Very modern, semi-folky. In closing, if you like Charismatic, this seems to be the place to go in the area, and for what it is, they do it extremely well; not my cup of tea, but I think if I tended towards this 'movement', I'd be going here. I was impressed by how reverent the consecration was, with the priest elevating our Lord's Body and Blood for long moments; he also knelt in adoration for several silent moments, which was a welcome change from the hurriedness with which many priests perform these acts.
The Wlatsome: Chief complaint is the architecture and interior of the Church. The stone on the Church said 1978, so its a typical modern building. Interior is the semi-circle layout around the altar, NO statuary (except for one of Mary out by the "entrance"). No Stations of the Cross, a modernists' interpretation of a Crucifix, and lots of cubist-type granite tables/stands. Tabernacle difficult to locate - off to the side and tiny. A few green plants around were really the only decoration. If I hadn't known it, it would be hard to tell by the interior of the Church that this was a Catholic Church. Only other thing I found a bit off was that sometimes the Mass felt like merely a vehicle for the musical group - even while we weren't singing there was often a tinkling of music in the background, which kind of made the Mass feel more like a movie with a background score to it. And often some of the solo singers (and even the priest) were quite overly dramatic in their singing and swaying. But having no experience with a charismatic parish myself, this might be typical - I just prefer the more traditional hymns and format.
Another Impassioned Plea
Gentle readers,
This site has not been updated in two weeks. Why? Because no one has taken the mere *five minutes* it takes to send in a brief description of his parish. It's really not so hard to do. You don't have to be eloquent; you don't even have to have anything particular to say. Just tell us -- you got a choir? How about an organ? Young priest? Long lines for confession? Really bad coffee after Mass? We want to come visit your Parish when we're in town, but if we've never been to your city before! Is there a parish where you'd warn any visitor against? Tell him here! Do you love your home parish? Then invite some passers-through to come visit! PLEASE!
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Name of Parish:The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Location:1695 Central Avenue Memphis, TN
Date and Time: 12:00 Noon Mass, Sunday
The Wonderful: A "renovated" Cathedral which manages still to be pretty. An ethnically diverse group of friendly parishioners in a lovely old downtown neighborhood. Lovely organ and a cantor with a strong voice at the 12:00 PM Sunday Morning Mass. Beautiful painting on the ceiling, beautiful original stained glass windows. Semi-informal, rubrically correct liturgy, with typical modern Catholic hymnody: "Gather Us In."
The Wlatsome: Whenever I travel, I always seek out Cathedral Parishes, knowing, however, that Cathedrals are prime targets of "Church Renovation" (read: wreckovation). And so it is that I have a little measuring stick by which I can tell immediately the state of the interior of a Cathedral. If when I walk in, I run smack dab into a giant "baptismal pool" (also used as a giant Holy Water Font) then I'm prepared: it's been "renovated." And so it is that this Cathedral has been "renovated." All in all, though, it isn't as bad as many I've seen. At this Cathedral in Memphis, the de rigeur removal of the high altar with replacement in the middle of the nave by a "Table" with pews (at least there are pews and not chairs) circling round is typical. The Blessed Sacrament is tucked to the side, but at least fairly visible, in a separate room. This makes for awkward genuflecting unless one happens to sit to that side of the Cathedral. There are only two statues -- I don't know if there were more before or not. The Mass itself featured, for one, the extremely common abuse of using too many extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. The only really bothersome thing was that the priest VERY OBVIOUSLY refused to say "For us MEN and our salvation" in the Creed; with microphone on to amplify his omission, he clearly stated: "For us (pause) and our salvation." He also delivered a homily on Dorothy Day as saint/Catholic Church as social justice institution, urging the congregation to sign the petition against capital punishment on the way out of Mass.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
A Liturgist Sends His Concerns
My objections to anonymity and on-going liturgical battles:
As cruel as liturgists and priests can be in their viciousness to lay people, I've seen the same kind of cruelty from semi-informed liturgical busybodies. The priest who did FOCCUS for me and my wife before we married (admittedly a good friend) , was the target of a rather ruthless tattle campaign. Jack is a gregarious, informal guy. He takes liturgy and preaching seriously, but he didn't take being "overstuffed" in a vestment too seriously if you get my drift. He also has bad knees. Not even in his parish three months, someone videotaped a Mass from the choir loft and sent it to the bishop. They objected to his bowing, not genuflecting.
Not knowing the whole story, he might have been asked during week 2 why he didn't see fit to genuflect. He might have mentioned bad knees. Even if Jack had blown off the EWTN groupie, I still don't think tattling was merited. It's often, though admittedly not always anonymous. And occasionally quite cruel.
I think Catholics of different stripes need to set aside the vigor with which they approach the "liturgy wars." "Abuses" are described in your blog which aren't abuses at all. Steven, the guy who hosts Flos Carmeli has a far better approach in blogdom. I respect and admire his calm approach, I wish I were better at following it. If I were to start a blog, I hope I would not waste the lessons I've learned from visiting others. Unity is a virtue many, if not all Catholics should work harder at. Charity in dealing with people who fall short of perfection/holiness/beauty/pick-your-virtue is a mark of strength, not weakness. . . .
As a liturgist in my 16th year of ministry, I know there are many ways in which I do not measure up to the ideal: mine or someone else's. I cannot speak for my colleagues at these reviewed churches, but I feel a strong need to defend a best effort. Certainly, if I were in their shoes, some aspects would be better, perhaps, some worse. But after I work hard at liturgical ministry, I get to the point at which I must rely on God's grace to fill the gap between my weak efforts and the people's needs. Sadly, most critics are more concerned with the surface things (even surface reverence) rather than the faith of a parish struggling to emerge and be expressed.
Editor's comment: I think that the correspondent here raises some real concerns, though I take some issue with the term "EWTN groupie". I invite other readers to respond! (and everyone, keep sending in comments on parishes!)
