Shrine of the Little Flower

I finally made it to Shrine of the Little Flower.  This was another must see because this was my Dad's parish.   I had seen the big stone church from the outside, just like I have seen the house where he grew up.  I had never been inside, but was quickly impressed.

There is a seemingly fresh coat of paint on the beige walls.  The church is cross shaped with two long columns of pews.  There is a mural behind the altar and candles on both sides.  There is stained glass and plenty of statues.  There is a large marble communion rail that is still in use.  They had a Canadian Catholic Hymnal that I'll have to look up.  I thought that was kind of funny.  The crowd was spread out and there was a lot of waving during the sign of peace.

After mass, we made sure to stop by the Woodlea bakery for delicious bakery treats.  This was a winning combination.  And the lady who helped us was wearing an NDP class ring.

As usual, I kicked around a few crazy thoughts.    First, I think I should have a prop, just in case I'm ever up for sainthood.  Saint Peter has keys.  I learned this week that Saint Dominic has a book.  Saint Mark gets a lion and Saint Wenceslaus gets an eagle.  Now we're talking!  I'm not going to put too much thought into this because....

Bel Air Road has a lot of store front churches.  I could totally have one of those.  I'm thinking of calling it Amanda's Tabernacle of Awesome.

On a more serious note, my Dad has told me a million times that the city he grew up in doesn't exist anymore.  I'll never really understand, but here is his church, where there were six masses on Sunday, and now there are three.  His school has closed and the building is now home to a charter school.

Continuing on the family tradition, I went back one more generation and checked out Saint Wenceslaus next.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Page views are down again.  And that's a shame, because even though my post on Holy Cross was short, I think it is some of my best work.  Our Lady of Mount Carmel marks church number 40.  40 is one of those biblical-period-of-waiting numbers.  40 days in Lent.  40 years in the desert.  40 churches and I'm still not sure what the hell I am doing.

But I went to Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Do we believe in divine intervention?  I went on Saturday afternoon.  It was a mostly middle aged crowd with a few older kids.

From the outside, the church looks like in belongs in San Diego.  I don't know about the inside, because I never went inside any of those San Diego churches.  It is big and pretty and inspired my new idea to make a book of stained glass windows.  There was good music with plenty of songs about Mary.  And on the way out, I collected a new scapular.

Looking back, most churches are a lot like this one.  There are things I could take or leave, mostly nice people, and if I lived in neighborhood, I would go there without a second thought.  Looking forward, I've consulted my list of must see churches and realize there are more left than I thought.   I don't know if I can keep this up past 52 weeks, at least not at the same pace.

I can't believe I'm closing in on the final 12.  Sunday's stop was finally Little Flower...post to follow, I'm getting back on track this week.

Holy Cross

I have two posts to catch up on this week.  Two Sundays ago, I planned to go to Little Flower.  Instead I slept the morning away and went to Holy Cross for 5 pm mass.  It was another muggy Sunday afternoon and there were two fans running in the front of church that hummed away and kept the church cool enough The church is beautiful brick outside and way too pink for my tastes on the inside.  There are two sets of pews, and somehow, I am always drawn to sitting near the columns. You would think I would learn.  This one has a lot going for it, at least in the book of mass according to Amanda.

1.  The people were friendly and stragglers slipped in at 5:20 with no problems.  Sunday afternoon mass is the best.
2.  There was a cantor, piano, and Gather books.  We sang The Summons, my new favorite song.
3.  The homily was light, but relevant, more than butterflies, but less than brimstone.
4.  The crowd was young.  There were a few families, a few older couples, but it was mostly 30 somethings.  And not that I notice this sort of thing or anything, but there were single men there. And not just the ones dragged there by their girlfriends.

Of course going anywhere in Federal Hill is not without its challenges.  Did you know you can call 311 for information about stadium events and parking restrictions?  Neither did I.

This past weekend was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  And I went to Mount Carmel.  If you think I planned that, you are obviously not a careful reader of this blog.  Life is full of coincidences.  Mount Carmel makes 40 churches.

Saint Dominic's (Tropical Heat Wave)

Do you know what makes mass wonderfully short?  A power outage combined with 105 degree heat.  In the aftermath of the storm, I carefully traversed Harford Rd (Four way stops, people!) and found St. Dominic's.

It was much bigger than I thought it would be.  There were four columns of pews, with the outer ones against the walls.  I have no idea what the homily was about because I was busy checking out the stained glass windows and the ceiling and then back to the stained glass.  It looks like paper.   I continue to wonder how important paying attention is.  I realized I am no closer to knowing the new translation.  And realized that in this heat, it might be time to wash the dress I have been wearing to church every week all summer.

This mass was supposed to have a choir, but I think they made a last minute switch to cantor and piano.    There was a very talented soloist.  A little boy with an Elmo backpack (I assume his son) cheered him on.  Their website seems to need some updating, but it looks like they have both a book club (I've been looking for one of those) and a game night.

The crowd was small but friendly.  They didn't even make me relocate from my seat in the back of the church.  I learned they are part of the "Northeast Nine."  I've been to several of those churches  and planned on knocking them out in the coming weeks.  But then I slept through Sunday morning.  I didn't make it Little Flower, but hope to soon.

Next stop: Holy Cross (Catholic Community of South Baltimore)

Saint Mark's, Catonsville

I'm soon to be three posts behind if I don't catch up now.  Two weeks ago I spent the morning at the Baltimore Women's Classic 5 K.  It started at 8.  The course started and ended at Rash Field, and I was hoping to find a 10ish mass in the area. I couldn't.  Lesson learned: run faster.  Instead of milling around until 11, I decided to spend the afternoon at the pool, all brought to me by 5 pm mass at Saint Mark's.

It is a big blue church and it was wonderfully cool.  What must the cost of airconditioning be for a big open room with a pitched roof?  There were a lot of buildings too, a school, old church, a gym.  The school mascot is a lion.  That's clever.

This was one of my favorite crowds.  There were  families, older adults, babies, young couples.  I think this was  billed as a youth mass, but I'm not buying that.  I think one Taylor Swift joke isn't enough to pull that off.

I was admittedly tired when I grew impatient with church.  "That's it!" I shouted in my head.  "From now on, every church gets one hour." I turned around to look for the clock in the back of the church.  It    was 5:45.  I guess every church gets 45 minutes.  This has become a theme along the way.  If you don't pay attention, have you fulfilled your Sunday obligation?

Also, it seems churches are running out of guides to the New Roman Missal.  Through my most grievous fault, I still can't remember the words.  Will they restock?  Or am I on my own?

The next stop was St. Dominics, and I think I'm headed to Little Flower tomorrow.