Amy Welborn recently started a "I love my parish because …" thread and I though I would pipe in also on my parish.
- First three things, beauty, beauty and did I mention beauty.
- My pastor Fr. Leon who is holy, simple, and full of common sense (but they all do go together after all)
- Fr. Keene a former organic scientist whose obvious love for patristics never fails to inform and enlighten his homilies. His saying of Mass is a joy to behold especially during the consecration.
- The various retired priest who have helped out over the years who follow in the model of Fr. Leon and Fr. Keene.
- Our DRE who was a former methodist minister and is in charge of the classes when I went through RCIA. And no I do not have any RCIA horror stories.
- Our soup kitchen and book store (which uses all profits for the poor).
- Confession before every Mass which is twice daily with four on Sundays (which starts with a Tridentine Mass.)
- Jimmy Akin’s Mass Confusion is not needed at my parish and the words liturgical abuse are totally hypothetical.
- The Alliance of the two Hearts which holds all night reparation in front of the Blessed Sacrament on first Fridays.
- The various third orders that meet there such as the Discalced Carmelites, Franciscans, Cursillio retreats, True Vine Intercessory Prayer Group, and others.
- Our various choirs which have been growing in talent and ability and capably sing pieces that are neither from an OCP or GIA hymnal. They sometimes sing some of those more modern songs prominently heard in many Catholics churches, but are more likely to sing something like "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name", "Salve Regina", or something along those lines.
The only negative thing would be distance to this church. I mentioned before that they are building the main public library only a block away from this church and I have often daydreamed how ideal it would be to have a house between the two.
10 comments
Here’s all the things I like about my parish:
Nice.
It’s great to hear about a church that’s doing all the RIGHT things for a change! We drive 40 miles to a parish that has the Tridentine Mass (courtesy of the FSSP) and it is worth that drive.
Yey! Jeff…thank you for showing off our beautiful parish. I have a pic of the church up at Una Voce of Northeast Florida’s website: http://www.latinmassjax.org. check it out 🙂
Jeff,
I was privileged to visit Immaculate Conception early this summer; you have not exaggerated the beauty of the place one iota. Other than the Clear Creek Monastery, it’s the nearest thing to heaven that I’ve ever experienced.
Our previous bishop canned our lovely Tridentine Mass as one of his first official acts. He’s gone, thank God, and we praying that B-XVI will send us a bishop who will reinstate it; if not, I’m outta here. Know any good realtors?
Meanwhile, what I love about my parish is that it’s not as bad as most. (But going to Mass is definitely a near occasion to sin.)
Pax et bonum,
Linda (A convert who could tell some RCIA horror stories…)
Sigh. Ummm… *crickets chirping*… I like that we’ve repainted our walls from hot pink to egg shell white.
St. Anthony’s in Milwaukee is an awesome parish. Awesome music too. It makes the other masses around here even more vivid in their liturgical abuse and dissent.
WOW!
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous of Amy.
Things are looking up at my parish, though, as our tabernacle is being moved from obscurity (side altar under Joseph the Worker) to the high altar against the back wall (which has a beautiful bas-relief and is built with Italian marble).
The tabernacle will sit at the CENTER of the church, where it has always belonged.
Prior, the high altar was used to hold chrism oils, plants, and STRANGE decorations.
The transfer happens tonight, Mass of the Assumption, at 6pm.
Glory to God.
Now all we need to do is USE THE HIGH ALTAR.
What I like about my parish:
1) The pastor is nice.
2) The pastor is well-intended.
Actually, those arn’t things that I like, because he’s also off his little rocker with the fluffy-bunny-ism, but I moved up to this parish because the priest at the parish I grew up at is certifyably insane and emotionally abusive. Music’s beyond bad, church is ugly, parish council is even more fluffy bunny than the priest, and my husband has left the church over it, which is depressing because I just got him all converted from being a fluffy bunny pagan about three years ago, and he can’t stand the fluffy bunny stuff in the catholic church… he feels like he’s left one meaningless religion for another.
Things that I love about my student parish-
1) Well, its getting better.
But, its not there yet: Warehouse architecture, the corpus off in the back corner, tabarnacle hidden opposite that, self-congrulatory music, a definate ‘fluffy’ priest who tries to be every students best friend (but not their pastor), a clericalized staff, a ‘student ministry’ with a definate fear of orthodoxy. . .
if it weren’t for those few students who have their heads on straight, I’d give up.