Saints Philip and James

The best laid plans for Saturday afternoon mass took me to Saints Philip and James on Sunday afternoon. Somehow, my Saturday filled up fast.   I had to double check my cheat sheet to make sure there were a few Sunday afternoon masses left.  There are.

Sts. Philip and James is the parish for Hopkins.  Now that school is out, there were only a few dozen people at mass.  In fact so few, I was asked to give up my seat in the back of the church and move forward.

It is a beautiful cross shaped church full of domes and stained glass and columns.  (And like many other pretty churches, linoleum floors.)  It was dark and cool which was welcome on a hot afternoon.  Their contemporary group was talented, but too mellow for me.  They seemed to belong in a hipster coffee shop.  The crowd was mostly young adults.  I wonder what the vibe is like when the school year is in full swing.

I've learned over the past few months that there are cycles of expectation and disappointment associated with this journey.  There are churches, like this one, in which I place unfair and unrealistically high hopes.     If this were my neighborhood church, I think I would be there most weeks.  Though I plan to see this year through, I'm not sure I have it in me to church hop forever.

On the funny side of things, I asked my sister why Philip and James are always paired.  After giving me a blank "you godless heathen" type stare, she told me they were both apostles.  I didn't believe her.  Then she told me to name the apostles.  It's hard to get all twelve when you are insisting that Philip is not one of them.   I learned a trick, in case you are on Jeopardy one day.  If you can remember baptism, and use the "I" for all the "J" names, you get them all.

There's much left out there.  I won't bother guessing weekend plans.  See you next week.

Saint Charles Borromeo Church

I'm officially catching up!  I spent Sunday morning at Saint Charles Borromeo for 11 am mass.  In an unexpected blog twist, this is the first overlapping priest of the year.  Could that priest shortage we hear so much about actually be real?

The church is small and stone and sits on a narrow street.  Inside, the pews form a V with the point leading to the altar.  There are cream colored walls and long stained glass windows.  Ten minutes before mass started, there were a dozen or so people quietly praying inside.  Ten minutes after mass started, the place was packed.  Mass started five minutes late.  (There is a clock on the back wall.)  And if it weren't for an audio message from our old bishop, I would have been out in an hour flat.  

The contemporary choir sung some of my old favorites from the Gather Comprehensive.  I think there were more guitars than singers.  There was also a harp.  I haven't heard a tambourine in months.

An about to be ordained priest gave the homily.   Basically he was always interested in being a priest but when it was time to go to seminary he resented doing what he thought was expected of him.  He started seminary in Oklahoma, dropped out,  and joined the Army.  He went to Iraq, met a priest from Baltimore and enrolled in seminary here.  Next month, he'll be ordained.  

The crowd was one of the more diverse crowds I've seen so far.  I picked up a Bishop Lori trading card.  And I learned how to say Alleluia in sign language.  

I'm still leaning toward something on Saturday afternoon.  

Saint Ignatius

Saint Ignatius was last week's church.  As you can see, I'm still behind.  I was tired last week after a long Saturday, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go to church.  Stupid blog.   The day and afternoon passed, and I was left to consult my list of Sunday afternoon masses.   St. Ignatius won out because it was the latest one.  I  have only been inside this church once before, and not for mass.  Sunday evening mass is in the basement chapel.  Good thing there is a sign on the door.

The chapel is pretty and dim and full of comfortable chairs.   There are 100-120 chairs in a semi circle.  There are stained glass windows of Jesuits.   There was a cantor and organ and suitable music.  The crowd spanned the generations.  The was one usher from Camden Yards and one usher from Center Stage.  There were also several members of the blind community, including a lector who read braille. For my amusement, there is a red digital clock on the back wall.  Mass started at 6:02.  The homily was 7 minutes long. Mass ended at 6:54.  See, mass with music can be less than one hour.  I'm just going to go ahead and say it, I like this one.  

People have asked what I am looking for, but besides my gimmicky way of getting into the habit of going to church, I'm not still not sure.  Every church is a little bit different.   Most have been okay, and every once and a while, I stumble across something interesting.  

Yesterday was Saint Charles Borromeo.  Next weekend I'm thinking of something on Saturday.  

St. Joseph Medical Center Chapel

The Sister Alvina Alumni Memorial Mass was held at Saint Joseph Medical Center on May 6, I assume to coincide with Nurses' week.  I have confirmed that Sister Alvina is, in fact, a real person.  My mom went to nursing school at St. Joe's and it's where my parents met.  How could I not make a stop here? (Okay, for the sake of accuracy, those things happened before the hospital moved to Towson.)

The chapel was full.  It is small, seating about 100 people.  There were people like me, who came for the morning.  There were a few nurses and doctors, a few nuns.  There are of course hospital visitors, and it seems people who are regulars.  I wasn't expecting that, even though I consider myself in search of  alternative communities.

The chapel is made of red bricks with pastel glass.  The stations of the cross in stained glass line both walls.   A cross of Saint Francis hangs behind the altar.  The chapel is part of the spiritual center which also includes a meditation garden and a multi faith prayer room.

I read up on the spiritual care program at St. Joe's. (Well, I read the website.)   There's the usual daily masses and Eucharistic ministers who bring communion.  They offer memorial masses twice a year for those who died in the hospital and have another program for pregnancy loss.  And apparently you can request that a harpist come to your room.  If any of you have the misfortune of being sick enough to be hospitalized,  please ask for the harpist.  And then call me to tell me all about it.  

There were plenty of Mary themed songs for May. The priest challenged us to spend one month praying for the person who annoys us the most.  (I have to pick just one?)  

A Nurse's Prayer (from the program)

Oh my God, teach me to receive the sick in your name.

Give success to my efforts for the glory of your name.

Without your help, I cannot succeed.

Fill me with your spirit of joy and peace.

Keep my mind and memory alert, my heart warm, and my body filled with energy.

Gracious God, let your healing energy move through me without resistance, 

so that each patient with whom I work might be touched by your love.

Bless each of my companion of nurses.  

Let us know your presence in and about us, as we try today to do all for your glory

and for the health of your people.

Amen

I'll be posting again this week to catch up.  Just to let you know, it was St. Ignatius for win.  

Catechic!

Hello readers!  Yes, I am behind on posts this week.  I have no good reason for that, but I'll try to make up for it.  I see my readership is dwindling and I hear people like it when I'm mean.  We'll see.  Sunday's stop was the chapel at the St. Joseph Medical Center, which I think is part of what is now the Cardinal William Keeler Spiritual Center.  But before we get to all that, I want to introduce you to my new favorite board game, Catechic.

I found this game at the Nearly New Sale with a price tag of $2.  How could I resist in the middle of a year of blogging and crazy church visits?  The game retails for something like $48 on Amazon, so I turned quite the profit here.  Cathechic (pronounced cat-a-sheek) bills itself as The Catholic Trivia game.  The box also tells me that this is the first time the Vatican authorized the representation of Pope John Paul II on a game.

So like all good Catholic families, we settled in for a Saturday night game of Catechic.  You know, before we prayed the rosary, dusted our statues, and made sure there is a Crucifix on every wall.  The game took about an hour to play, and was worth every penny of that two dollars.

It is a four player game (or a game for teams) and you can choose to be Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  I was Luke, who had the hardest questions.  You answer questions to advance to your chapel and then back, crowned with glory.  There's some sneaky moves in there too, where you can send your opponents backwards on the board.  The board layout puts Mark and Luke at a disadvantage.  I lost and badly.   For next time, I'll be sure to brush up on my famous Catholics, Graham Greene novels, and Joyful mysteries. Oh, and it's still 1991.

How would you fare?

When were the first Catholic priests ordained in Indochina?

Name the Morris West novel that depicts a priest who becomes pope after being imprisoned in the Soviet Union.

What is the Fifth Station of the Cross?

What Jesuit priest served in the United States' Congress?

A few more games, and I'll be more than ready to teach RCIA.  Send me a note if you want to play.

Shrine of the Sacred Heart

Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a stone church that sits on that crazy Smith Avenue intersection in Mount Washington.  It is another medium sized church with two columns of pews.  In the Venn diagram of churches, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart would be where "churches you would like to use for your wedding" intersects with "churches where you are likely to get in an accident in the parking lot."  (As you'll recall, Sacred Heart in Glyndon also falls in that overlap.)

I went to 11:30 mass on Sunday.  I tend not to like late morning masses.  I think they mess up your day.  And they tend to be long (an hour and twenty minutes!).  When I walked in, I got the stink eye from a priest who I assume to be the pastor.  He did not say mass, but I think he deemed me harmless enough and let me in.  In fairness, I didn't exactly blend here.  I had never given the matter much thought, but it turns out I am not Filipino.  There was a brief moment where I wondered if mass would be in Tagalog, and then a moment where I was disappointed it wasn't.  That would have made for an awesome blog.

The church is pretty with dark brown pews and lots of stained glass and statues.  There was a cantor and organ and lots of singing. (It takes some effort to make it to an hour and twenty minutes.)   The church was full and there were a lot of families with kids of all ages.  The younger ones were pulled away for children's liturgy.  Communion wasn't done even after singing all the verses of "One Bread, One Body."  The homily was something about being a willing shepherd.

Sometime this week, their young adult group will be having a Catholic trivia potluck.  Lucky for me, I have a copy of Catholic Bingo unearthed from my grandmother's house.  And because I couldn't resist, I bought Catechic The Catholic Trivia game by Tyco at the Nearly New Sale.  Is it a sin to cheat at Catholic trivia?

This brings us to week 30.  And for those keeping track, church 29.  Yes dear readers, I am now one church off pace.  Don't worry, I'm good for it.  And have big plans.

Have a good week.