Saint Rita, Dundalk

Saint Rita is one of my favorite saints.  She is the patron saint of impossible dreams and helped solidify my love of the movie The Rookie.  

I went to 11:15 mass Sunday morning.  The church is small and stone and sits on a corner.  It almost looks like what a church in a movie would look like.  There are stained glass windows on both sides.    Inside there are two columns of pews with pink cushions and an Infant of Prague statue.

This mass had two sign language interpreters (they switched half way through mass) and a permanent Deacon.  A nun in a habit led the kids away for Children's Liturgy.  (I like it better when the kids get to stay.)  The crowd was friendly.  They celebrated Catholic Schools Week by having kids in their uniforms bring up the gifts.  Apparently only girls at St. Rita's go to Catholic school, or the boys are just too cool for that sort of thing.  The same girls handed out invitations to visit their school this week.

There was a piano/organ/guitar/choir combo singing songs from the Gather book.  We didn't sing The Summons this week, so the streak ended at two.  It was announcement week, where the homily took a lengthy turn for the political.  It also introduced us to this year's Archbishop's Annual Appeal.  I apologize in advance to the church I visit next week.

Thanks for getting me to 1000 page views.  I hope to have a post about the New Roman Missal later this week.

St. Thomas More

Sunday morning took us to St. Thomas More.  We arrived early for 9 am mass to be greeted by two ushers in coats and ties who opened the door for us.  The sign out front cheered the Ravens.  Too bad that didn't work out.

The church itself is small.  There are two sets of long pews and two sets of short pews on the sides, all of which are about 10 rows deep.  They are covered with green cushions.  The inside of the church is red brick.  There are candles,  they kind where you push a button and a bulb lights.  Stained glass windows line one side of the church and tell the creation story.

We were reminded during the homily that repentance is about the future, not about the past.  We were also told that married men are not given permission to act like single men, even if that is what the confusing readings say.  They used the Gather Comprehensive with piano and cantor.  This is the second week in a row where we have said the Apostle's Creed and where the closing song was The Summons.  How long can that pattern keep up?  Just as I was getting the hang of the Nicene Creed too.

Saint Thomas More brings us to church 16.  I'm half wondering where the time has gone and half trying to subtract 16 from 52.   I'm striking out on resolutions so far.  Maybe I can turn it around by the end of the week.

2012 Resolutions

Seems like I should get my blog related resolutions up before the end of January...here it goes!

1.  More pictures!  I have some and never post them.  

2.  Some of my more dedicated readers (my mom) think that I have been too hard on Rick "my most grievous fault" Hilgartner.  That's true.  I have no reason to pick on him as much as I do. As I understand it, he baptized more than his fair share of cabbage patch kids as a seminarian.  I'll refrain from any more jokes.  Unless, of course, they are really, really good.

3.  Bringing me to my next point, I should post a guide to the new translation for my pseudo practicing Catholic friends.

4.  As for friends, I need to be better about picking churches in advance.  Much of the fun so far has been the company that comes along.  

5.  I make the rules here, so they are about to change.  If friends of other faith traditions are willing to take me to their houses of worship, I am willing to go.  

6.  I'm thinking of a Spiritual book and/or movie club.  In my previous drifting, one of the ways I felt connected to the church was through reading.  First it was The Life of Saint Francis, then it was My Life with the Saints.  (Thanks to James Martin's book tour, that one is now autographed.)  Both the Bishop's Conference and America Magazine have suggestions.  

7.  No more crazy ideas.  No more half marathons.  No more go to a new church every week for a year.  Who am I kidding?  

Carmelite Monastery

Today was a good day. This is the second time I've been to mass at the monastery. Both times I have been impressed by this insanely happy, welcoming, surprisingly liberal group of women.

Their chapel is like a walkout basement with lots of windows. There are beige chairs with kneelers and white carpets. I would guess there were 100 people there and maybe seating for 120. The crowd was generally older. There were a few young adults and a few children with their parents.

They use Breaking Bread and singing is practically mandated at the monastery. We sang no fewer than three verses of every hymn. And we practiced the new responses for a good fifteen minutes this morning. The church goers of the monastery are not embracing the New Roman Missal. In fact, there was actual groaning when practicing said new responses. And when the equally liberal priest discussed his concern with replacing cup with chalice, he received cheers.

Today's homily was about the willing acceptance of God's call with a focus on more listening and less talking. As Samuel is sleeping when called, today's priest noted this as the biblical foundation for nap taking. And with everyone decked out in Ravens purple, he reminded us purple is the color of repentence.

Mass at the monastery is a lot like a youth mass at the retreat house with endless prayers of the faithful and a lengthy sign of peace. It clocked in at an hour and 20 minutes, but after our song practice, things moved pretty fast.

The Carmelites were part of the Duke prayer study:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-07-31/news/0507310033_1_prayer-healing-carmelites

And I am admitely tempted to join their young adult prayer group before I am too old. Do you think I could talk them into a book club?

Maybe me and you can be wise guys too

When I was in college, I attended a lecture series about keeping the sabbath holy. In one of my favorite lectures, a rabbi spoke to us about doing things differently to make the day special.

This week brought a new challenge: Disney World. The one thing Disney is missing is church. Here I present Amanda's Epiphany prayer service with special thanks to my travel companions for being willing participants.




The Epiphany of the Lord
Lectionary: 20
Reading 1 Is 60:1-6

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.

Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.
Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.

R. (cf. 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Reading 2 Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

Brothers and sisters:
You have heard of the stewardship of God's grace
that was given to me for your benefit,
namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Gospel Mt 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage."
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled,
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea,
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel."
Then Herod called the magi secretly
and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said,
"Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word,
that I too may go and do him homage."
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed for their country by another way.









Happy Epiphany everyone!

St. Joe's, Texas (or Cockeysville if you prefer)

Happy New Year!  I was feeling lazy today and went with something easy.  I feel badly that I didn't round up my usual company for a local mass.  I'll work on blog related resolutions later this week.

The New Year started with St. Joseph's for noon mass.   As someone who grew up going to the other parish in town, I suffered a lot of trash talking from St. Joe's parishoners.  St. Joe's was where the real Catholics went becuase they had a school and CCD classes during the week and kneelers.  I had never actually been before.  I didn't know what to expect, but what I found was pretty ordinary.

St. Joe's is another t-shaped church.  It has white walls and plenty of light wood paneling, stained glass here and there.  It was a little more 1960s than I imagined from the stone outside.  It was more crowded than I would have expected for mass at noon.  It took two hymns to get through communion.  There was a cantor with a band and an excellent clarinetest.  The crowd was generally older and most everyone fled during the second verse of Angels we have Heard on High.

The homily was about coming back to church at Christmas like you send cards, as a gesture to keep in touch. The priest went on to talk about how fitting it was to start the new year with mass.  Seems fitting for me, at least for this year.