Northern Mass

This past week we took the whole Nod clan up north to Massachusetts for my sister's wedding and a family vacation. In the middle of Cape Cod is the town of Osterville where there stands a modest little Catholic church, Our Lady of the Assumption.

I must confess to having some assumptions of my own prior to going up there. We actually live in the Arlington Diocese which is fairly conservative. My neighbor is from Massachusetts and she regularly regales me with tales of its liberality. Combine this with reports of strange liturgical abuses from the Northeast, and I have to admit to being nervous about going up there for Mass.

"Form and matter. Form and matter.", I kept muttering to myself. All we need is a priest with correct intention to say, "This is my body" over a simple wheat host and we have a properly confected Eucharist. Everything else is of lesser account, although I pray fervently not to be subjected to liturgical dancing or Wonder bread.

I don't insist on Latin only, or the extraordinary form; I don't demand organ only music, or exclusively male altar servers. I won't refuse Eucharist from an extraordinary minister who is not a priest, and I won't pitch a fit in public if people hold hands during the Our Father. I certainly have my preferences, but other than following the rubrics of Mass, most of these things are not my responsibility -- those are on the various priests and bishops.

So I was pleasantly proved wrong at Our Lady of the Assumption. (Hey, I can admit I was wrong.) The church itself has a semi-classical architecture, although I couldn't tell you what specifically. (Ask Denis McNamara, he might know.)


There is a large crucifix in the center over the altar, and a tabernacle prominently displayed. It has cute little confessionals on each side of the church with a draw curtain for privacy. One side is face to face, the other is a traditional little wooden kneeler - so little, in fact, that I slipped off it when I knelt down and made a big noise. The priest chuckled at me a little. "Maybe you should have chosen the chair."

It is simply and tastefully decorated and populated mostly by a bunch of gray-hairs. They have holy hours for vocations, a "Deus Caritas Est" Study Group to study the Pope's encyclical, and have even had a Eucharistic procession.

My only complaint is fairly minor. Some priests, like this one, have a penchant for giving an overview before the Gospel and readings are read. Rubrics aside, I find it slightly annoying and a bit tell-them-what-you're-going-to-tell-them, tell-them, tell-them-what-you-told-them Army style. To be fair, I've seen this in my own Diocese once or twice.

The most important thing is that Jesus was there. Simply, wholly, eternally. The priest absolved sins compassionately, Mass was celebrated reverently, and a wedding was performed validly. What more could you ask?

Pontifical High Mass

Pontifical Solemn Mass at the Basillica of the National Shrine tomorrow.
Q outlines it here; Msgr. Pope explains.




I'm sorry to have to miss it; somebody let me know how it goes.

Stories From The Cold: Paraliturgy

This is the Diocese of Arlington's inclement weather policy:

All baptized Catholics are obliged to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. However, there are particular circumstances or conditions that may excuse a Catholic from this obligation. If there is severe weather conditions that make attending Mass dangerous to your safety or that of others, you are excused from the obligation.

Some people in the area made it to Mass, others of us live at the bottom of a hill in a no-clout neighborhood. It didn't matter that the main roads were as clean as a whistle - we couldn't get there from here. Blynken remarked, "This is the first time we've never gone to Mass -- ever."

The Diocese goes on to say:

If you are unable to attend Mass, the Church recommends making a spiritual Communion and spending some time in prayer.

So, that is what we did. Yay, Internet.

Wynken read the first reading from his new Bible, Blynken did the Psalm, Nod-girl insisted she was big enough to read the second reading (and did surprisingly well for a first grader), and dear old Dad read the Gospel.

The toddlers ran around like it was circus time. Oh, well, you can't win 'em all.

We even got a nice video homily from the Inter-tubes, and then we talked about the readings, and I checked their understanding. Then we listened to the readings again online. Not a bad para-liturgy.

Then Grandpa Nod called to say that the Caps just won their 14th game in a row. I told him about our para-liturgy and he said over there they were praying to St. Capitals and Holy Ovechkin. He was kidding.

I think.

Requiescat In Pace: Byron Bealle

Today, Byron Bealle, a much respected member of our Church was laid to rest.

Bealle was a PGK of the Knights of Columbus, Head Usher at the church for 25 years, founder of the parking traffic program, adoptive father, youth group coordinator, and perpetual servant of the parish -- all done outside of the limelight.

Bealle succumbed to cancer last week and was buried in Fairfax Memorial Gardens in Fairfax, VA after a funeral Mass. Bealle was 63.

God rest you, Brother Byron.

A Non-Titus 2 Moment

This was an irritating moment which I just want to get off my chest so I can forget about it.

A certain lady offered some "fraternal correction meant in a loving way" to my wife after Mass today. Her advice ran along these lines:

"Your kids were terrible in Mass today [they weren't], so you should have taken them out. Since I have 5 kids the same as you [not the same], and my kids were never that misbehaved in Mass [oh, really?], therefore you should listen to what I say. Oh, and your friend was no help either." [thanks for nothing]

First of all, that lady is lucky I didn't hear what she said or she would have gotten some less-than-fraternal correction from me. My wife, being infinitely more gracious, merely thanked her and walked away.

Second, I didn't see that lady's 5 perfect kids with her in Mass today.

Third, we sit in the unofficial Kid Row in the back of our Church; it is well known for having half a hundred small children in various states of behavior who sit there and nursing mothers who need to head to the bathroom to change diapers at a moments notice. The crying room is useless for the number of families with small children in our parish; it would be more appropriate for the persons without small children to sit there given its size.

Fourth, our pastor has specifically stated that he desires that the children remain in the Church with their families and he doesn't care if they make noise (other people might, but he doesn't). Let the little children come to me, and all that.

Fifth, and finally the point: if you are going to offer "fraternal" correction to someone, you had better have a relationship with them before you try it. Otherwise your correction is not going to be kindly received, it is not going to have its intended effect, you may be meddling in circumstances that you have no clue about, and you unknowingly may be dealing a crushing blow to an unsuspecting person.

The scripture verse Titus 2:3-5 is popular among Protestants, in particular for encouraging older women to become mentors to younger women.

Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, so that they may train younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers, under the control of their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.

If this woman wants to offer her wisdom to my wife, she had better come alongside her first and offer her friendship and practical helps -- then and only then can she offer her advice and loving correction. You cannot speak to someone's life without being in relationship first.

Someone once said the steps in evangelization are: make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Jesus. The same goes for relationships and double for fraternal correction.