Feeling at Home In My New Home Parish

I went to Mass at St. Charles today. It's a little bit further away than St. Francis, but it took me a little less time to drive. It's also the parish I should be in based on my address, as I recently found out.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. The church has a reputation for being very involved in social justice and with our local immigrant community, but I didn't know much about their worship style. I was very pleasantly surprised.

They have a wonderful choir and the propers and antiphons were sung, with most of the ordinary in Latin. They also had plenty of altar severs and used the incense, bells, etc that I associate more the Tridentine Mass. It was great seeing the respect given to the Word of God during the gospel reading, which was read (chanted!) from the middle of the aisle, Anglican-style, the congregation turning to face and follow the Bible.

I also really like the way the church itself is set up. In addition the the crucifix and statues at the front, they have several icons on the walls on both sides behind the altar, very similar to the icon corners I have seen in Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic homes. They also have images of the stations of the cross around the church. From where I was seated, I could see a large painting of St. Monica, which was very reassuring to me because she is one of the saints I feel like I have a special connection with.

The people were also very nice and very welcoming. I tend to be a bit on the shy side but I still had several people introduce themselves to me and a few start conversations. I asked one lady where the nursery was, so I could bring my son with me until he's old enough to sit still and be quiet through the whole Mass, and we started talking a little. When I told her I was going to be starting RCIA soon, she asked more about my background and offered to be my sponsor. It seems like we have some things in common.

I will be starting RCIA tomorrow night. Instead of starting at a certain time each year, they are pretty open and just invite you to drop by. I have done a lot of reading and study on Catholicism and have worked through the Baltimore Catechism, so at least I won't be jumping in totally ignorant.