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.

First Mass at St. Francis

Last night was the first Mass I attended at St. Francis, and the first English Mass I'd been to since I was very young. I went to the Saturday vigil because we had a family event early on Sunday and would be traveling in the morning. I enjoyed it, although I did notice some of the changes and I found myself mentally translating parts of the liturgy back into Latin in my head, because it was more familiar.

I had gone to the Tridentine Mass over an hour away as much as I could, but the cost of gas and time from home was too much and was really bothering my husband, so I am looking for a "home" parish nearby. I was hesitant to do this at first because I have more traditionalist leanings, but I am not totally comfortable in traditionalist circles either because I see some people edging closer and closer to sedevacantism.

Some of my more ardent SSPX friends had me a little nervous about it, because some of them absolutely refuse to attended the Novus Ordo Mass and I had gotten warnings that I shouldn't either. Ultimately though, I decided that if the Church and the Holy Father approve of a Mass, then I should not criticize it (so long as it follows the ordinary form and doesn't make illicit changes) or consider one form "better" than another. After all, if I wanted to second-guess the Pope or do church my way, then I could have remained Protestant.

Still, I was not sure what an ordinary from mass would be like, but I know from my attendance at Adoration and from what I could found out online that the people in this parish are reverent and respect God, the Church, and the Sacraments. That turned out to be true. Although I still have a personal preference for TLM and for the traditional Mass music, instead of the newer hymns, this Mass was still beautiful. It still had that worshipful feel, like the people in the congregation knew that Christ was present there and respected His presence, and  the sacrifice and presence of Christ is what really matters the most -  not the music, language or aesthetics.

The priest's homily was about the value of tradition and the need to follow the teaching and counsels of the Church, even submitting our wills and consciences to Her decrees in areas where we may be divided or have conflicting opinions. I thought that was sort of ironic, considering the misgivings I had at first about departing from Tradition.