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January 30, 2005
New Feature at Open Book
I don't know what to call it. "Monday Morning Liturgical Quarterback?" Perhaps.
Here's the idea. On Mondays, I'm going to start a thread dedicated to the previous Sunday's liturgy. I am inviting you to post
1) the gist of the homily you heard
2)anything interesting/unique/ whacked you experienced at the liturgy
Let me explain why I'm doing this, and then lay down a couple of rules.
First, I'm not intending this to be a Thread of Complaints. We do enough of that around here, and we will undoubtedly do more. I really don't want it to be a discussion thread either. I'd rather we just post our experiences and then step back, rather than commenting on what others have posted.
I would like it to be simply a reporting thread, because, to tell the truth, I'm interested. I'm really interested to hear how different homilists in different parts of the country (or world!) deal with the same texts - or even in different denominations (when our lectionaries coincide). I'm interested, sometimes in a morbid way, in the liturgical (ahem) diversity that exists in the Churuch in this country. And really and truly, I'm not interested for the sake of pointing out "errors" or abuses. That's not my purpose here. One of the reasons I've maintained this blog is to try to present a daily digest of what the Church in the US is about and concerned with. Back a couple of years ago, when I was posting like mad (tho never at Shea levels, I admit), that was what I fascinated with - to explore, present and discuss what we were up to across the country. That's the spirit in which I'm starting this feature.
So...the rules, I guess are this: Report, with commentary if you wish. Snideness is allowed (because this is Open Book), but always with charity (charitable snideness? Well, give it a try) and so is rapturous praise. If you don't mind, at least tell us what diocese you're reporting from. Tell us the parish, if you like. I'm most interested in homilies, but if there was something else that's worth mentioning, for good or for ill, go ahead.
And as I stated, let's try not to make it a discussion thread. If something strikes me as particularly worthy of discussion, I'll tease it out and build a separate post on it.
Sound okay? Humor me. I'm nosy. If I ever get around to writing the Great American Catholic Novel, this will help me. I'll start:
Our homily today was on the last section of the second reading - that our only boasting should be in Christ. The homilist (Diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend!) completely ignored the Gospel, and offered rather mundane reflections on how we might be resistant to give God the credit for our successes, but we shouldn't be, because he gave us life, and to him be the glory. And somehow, stewardship got worked into to it too.
UPDATE: Priests, please post the gist of your homilies as well, or provide a link to what you've blogged about it, if you have a blog.
Bloggers, please spread the word on this - I'd appreciate it! It would be great if this could become as popular a post as a..torture post, for example!
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Where: Camaldolese Benedictine Monastery in Diocese of Oakland, California.
Homilist: One of the priest monks.
Central point of homiliy, which connected the Gospel (Mt 5:1-12) and both the reading from Zephaniah ("the humble of the land...humble and lowly") and 1 Corinthians ("God chose what is foolish...what is weak"): it is with the marginalized, with the "underdog," with the humble and humbled, the poor in spirit and mourning that we find God's blessing.
(My wife served as a lector, and I served as cantor for both Lauds and Ordinary of Mass, as the usual monk cantor had a cold.)
Posted by: Zhou De-Ming at Jan 30, 2005 11:56:09 PM
Where: Archdiocese of Atlanta in the suburbs
Homilist: Parochial Vicar
He talked about dying to self and to the world. Enough said. It was sooooo goood.
Posted by: Dee at Jan 31, 2005 12:07:16 AM
Where: St. Jude Chapel, downtown Dallas
Homilist: Fr. Victor Celio, O.P., the mission's pastor
Central point of homily: I'm not sure, but that's only because the baby started to make noise and I had to take him out during the homily. Fr. Celio had begun to preach on the Beatitudes, and how we are not to be conformed to the world. I wish I could have heard the whole thing.
Fr. Celio is a pretty strong homilist, and orthodox too. I think that helps account for the fact that the little chapel's congregation at the 12:10pm Sunday mass keeps growing and growing. Today after mass, he even remarked on how great it was to see the church full. He's fairly new there -- and he's great in the confessional, too.
Liturgy: Fr. Celio celebrates a wonderfully reverent liturgy, and even uses some Latin prayers. We chant the Credo in Latin, for instance.
Posted by: Rod Dreher at Jan 31, 2005 12:34:59 AM
Location: San Francisco Bay Area (suburbs)
Today was the Sunday where we do the annual pastoral/financial report, so sometimes the connections to the readings can get a little stretched. But the Gospel was actually a good fit for it, and our pastor highlighted the first reading as well. A bit of wandering from time to time, but considering this is our pastor's first Sunday back after spinal surgery, my wife and I were just happy to see him.
Posted by: Peter Nixon at Jan 31, 2005 12:42:08 AM
Diocese: Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Parish: St Peter Chanel, Hastings.
Homily: by Fr Hancy. Nice, thoughtful, gently-made points about being "poor in spirit". He used the phrase "blessed are .." in contrast to the Gospel translation "happy are ..", which was more effective.
Liturgy: Made me think that we have not gone very far after 40 years. The liturgical singing and choice of hymns were poor. Low morale in parish after becoming a pastoral area.
Lectured at the end of Mass by the woman Parish Coordinator about the need to refer all parish matters to her and not to the priest, who just happens to reside in the house next door.
Posted by: Mike at Jan 31, 2005 12:56:00 AM
Archdiocese: San Francisco
Parish: Most Holy Redeemer
Guest Homilist: Fr. John Harden, a Franciscan who is part of the community that runs St. Anthony's Foundation in SF. He tied both the reading from Zephaniah and the Beatitudes into the work that is done through and by St. Anthony's. He made an interesting point that it is appalling that they feed about 3,200 meals a day. Appalling in that it actually has to be done. He also pointed out that Glide Memorial Church, down the street from St. Anthony's, feeds even more per day.
Posted by: Jimmy Mac at Jan 31, 2005 1:13:27 AM
Location: Solana Beach, CA
Homilist: Pastor
Homily: Tied the readings together by suggesting we ask ourselves three questions: What are we happy about? What do we boast about?
What do we seek? The right answers are found in the readings
Fr. also noted that God is not looking for success from us as the world defines it but as defined by faithfulness to Him.
Good stuff--excellent as we transition to Lent. I especially liked that he didn't allow the Beatitudes to overwhelm the rest of the readings; in fact, he said he gets nervous when he gives a homily on today's Gospel because it is Christ's most well known homily.
Posted by: Cranky Lawyer at Jan 31, 2005 1:43:36 AM
Archdiocese: Vancouver, British Columbia
Parish: St. Ann's, Abbotsford
Homilist: Fr. Robert Wong, SJ
Spoke briefly on the beatitudes, and drew attention to Jesus' words on how we will be persecuted for the truth. That led in nicely to a letter to the Diocese he was asked to read by the Archbishop of Vancouver, Raymond Roussin. The Liberal Government here in Canada is attempting to force a law into effect that would change the definition of marriage to be "two people" instead of "a man and a woman". While the Gov't is swearing up and down that religious freedom will be protected and that churches will not be required to perform same-sex "marriages", the wording of the proposed law is dubious. The Archbishop restated the Church's view of marriage and encouraged Catholics to try to change the Government's mind by lobbying our MPs. Strange and scary times. We don't often have politics in the pulpit, but I'm more than happy to have some direction and strong leadership in this area.
As far as liturgy goes, we have three masses on Sundays and we attend the first one. Our organist plays traditional, reverent music. The few times we've been at the 10am mass, it's been jarring how different the music is. As converts, we appreciate the traditional hymns for their beauty and age. I can't stand singing anything that was part of a collection called "Hi God!" - way too 70s for me. So, happy that we had our regular organist. Aside from that, nothing out of the ordinary!
Posted by: Rebecca at Jan 31, 2005 1:46:19 AM
Where: St. John (the Apostle) University Parish (WVU) at Morgantown, WV.
Homilist: Associate pastor (who is from Africa)
Homily: Fr. gave a great homily juxtaposing the readings (Beatitudes of Mt 5:1-12; and 1 Corinthians "God chose what is foolish...what is weak") with Nietzsche's Will to Power. Fr. pointed out that Nietzache's philosophy was one of the foundations of fascism.
Annoying things:
1. The musical director instructing us to introduce ourselves to our new neighbors before Mass. No thanks.
2. The song board had six songs in a row posted from the OCP Gather hymnal. I knew it would be rough and it was.
2. St. John's "parish community" likes to hold hands while singing the Our Father, even crossing over the aisle to do so. Everyone moves to the center. Except me, the (hopefully not proud) nonconformer. Dear St.J Parishioners: I'm sorry, but I am not going to collaborate with cheesy liturgical innovations. If you have a problem with my nonconformance, get over it. I'm down with authentic communio based on prayer, but holding hands is redundant. Ok, trying to stay charitable here.
3. They don't kneel after the Agnus Dei before Communion.
Good things:
1. The sermon. Fr. rocked.
2. They still kneel during the consecration prayer.
Funny things:
1. After the announcements, Fr. asked if there was anyone there who could play the guitar. He noted that there was only an organ/piano player and a singer and that there were three empty chairs for more music players. He went on and on about how he needed more guitar players at Mass and that there are so many college students with so many gifts blah, blah, blah. If you ever saw the SNL skit about Blue Oyster Cult and "More Cowbell!" this was the African version of that. I wasn't the only one to think that because I hear several others talking about "More Cowbell!" on the way out. If you never saw the skit, I won't bother explaining because I'll probably butcher it, but it is really funny.
Posted by: Anthony B at Jan 31, 2005 2:22:51 AM
Where: Gonzaga University Gregorian Chant Mass (St. Aloysius parish), diocese of Spokane, WA
Homilist: Bishop William Skylstad (Bishop of Spokane, and current president of the USCCB)
Good things: I sing in the schola, so maybe I'm biased, but we're good. The whole Mass is chanted in English, though the propers and ordinaries are chanted in Latin.
Bad things: The director of the schola seems to "direct" the entire Mass, telling the acolytes when to move, giving notes to the priest (or bishop, in this case), etc. Somewhat distracting. The bishop seemed a little nervous about all the chant, and almost lapsed into speech at the final blessing.
Homily: Bishop Skylstad suggested we all should perform regular spiritual check-ups on ourselves, and made a comparison to pilots of small aircraft who check their craft before each flight, even if it's only been a few hours since the last flight. Also used a metaphor involving a GPS system, which I didn't really follow.
Posted by: Jane at Jan 31, 2005 2:44:11 AM
Diocese: Auckland, New Zealand
Homilist: New Parish Priest
Homily: Tied in all three readings with the central theme being that all our happiness is to be found in Jesus, and Jesus alone.
Liturgy: Reverent as always. Our new Pastor is a recently ordained (3years) Samoan priest who trained in Rome.
Singing was somewhat lacklustre as most members of our congregation are immigrants and therefore are not always familiar with the songs we sing.
Posted by: The Antipodean at Jan 31, 2005 3:16:05 AM
where: St. Clement's, Ottawa, Canada
homilist: Fr. Hubert Bizard, FSSP (the parochial vicar)
Homily: since St. Clement's is a Fraternity parish, the Tridentine Mass is said, so there are different readings - 2 Cor 11 and Luke 8 - parable of the seed and the sower. The parish is bilingual so the homily is usually half in English and half in French. The English half focused on the need to be heroic, like Paul, though, to be honest, I had a difficult time focusing because of the small children behind me.
Interesting events: before the homily, the pastor read a letter from Archbishop Gervais asking that people write to their MP and Senators expressing their thoughts and beliefs on the subject of same sex marriage. The pastor stressed the need for us to take the archbishop's letter seriously since a) it is a serious issue and b) we owe respectful obedience to the hierarchy of the Church.
The music was lovely, as always - Mass XI, with a little Palestrina thrown in for good measure. The children behind me, as I mentioned, were a bit distracting, but moreso was the mother, who insisted on disciplining her children without whispering. No wonder the children hadn't learned the difference between "inside voices" and "outside voices." I think next Sunday I'll sit further up towards the front....
Posted by: Tim Ferguson at Jan 31, 2005 5:35:52 AM
where: St. Francis de Sales, outside Akron, OH
who: Father Stein
when: vigil mass on Saturday
homily: Focus on first four beatitudes and their meaning in Greek. To mourn means to empathize with the suffering of others. To be meek means to be self-controlled or tamed. To be merciful means to be immediately responsive to the needs of others in the present situation. Example: donations for tsunami relief. These beatitudes are manifested in our common life in this world and are basic principles for Chirst's "kindom-builers on earth".
Music: ties closely to the readings but exclusively post V2 and mostly unsingable.
A well-dressed woman in her 30's whom I had never before seen stood next to me. She made the responses attentively and intelligently and then immediately after the dismissal shot out of the pew ahead of the procession. (?)
Posted by: Charles R. Williams at Jan 31, 2005 6:57:41 AM
Where: Northeast Phila. Parish
Homilist: Deacon from St. Charles Seminary
Topic: Fr. Robert Spitzer's The Four Levels of Happiness
Most Notable: That it was done in the first place. Phila. is not a hotbed of innovative, informative, in-depth homilies anymore. That our weekend deacon, who will return to Lincoln, Nebraska after ordination, attempted it speaks well of his development as a homilist. Or a desire to shake things up when he gets a chance.
Posted by: Gerard E. at Jan 31, 2005 6:59:37 AM
Just like to note that in my parish in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (East Coast), the same thing happened as in Rebecca's parish in Vancouver (West Coast) and Tim's in Ottawa (Central Canada)- the priest read a letter from the bishop urging Catholics to lobby our members of parliament to vote against same-sex marriage. So perhaps this was a nationwide thing. Any other Canadians care to comment?
Posted by: Robert at Jan 31, 2005 7:43:50 AM
Where: Fort Wayne, IN
Homilist: Pastor
Homily: Our pastor took a batch of Catholic High School kids to the Right to Life March in Washington D.C. and he discussed both the positive reactions and the negative reactions of those who stood on the sidelines. Our pastor nicely linked the Beatitudes, esp. "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you for my name's sake." He spoke about one of the young men making the sign of the cross and praying for those who were full of hate against the marchers.
Posted by: Eutychus Fell at Jan 31, 2005 8:09:59 AM
St. John the Evangelist, Archdiocese of Washington
The priest gave a great homily about our thirst for happiness and how the beatitudes point us toward the true path to happiness. He stated that full and perfect happiness will only come when we see God as he is in the beatific vision. I gather that this priest always ends with the same line something to effect of, "and our desire will be totally fulfilled."
The priest who must be in his late 60s or early 70s also was one of the most reverent celebrants I have ever seen. When he genuflected he remained that way for more than a brief moment. He also kept his fingers together after the consecration (I don't know how to explain it better other than to say after he had held up the consecrated host he did not move his fingers from the posture they had when he'd held our Lord up).
The music unfortunately did not match the homilist or his reverence. It was atrocious folksy tripe that was keyed up two or three octaves too high. I told my wife we need to go somewhere else. It was pretty atrocious.
Posted by: Cheeky Lawyer at Jan 31, 2005 8:20:33 AM
Our pastor again this year highlighted the meaning of those who are "poor in spirit". Last year he did the same - he spoke of the poor in spirit as being those who truly understand their need for God. He stated that in today's world, many feel that God is just something we "do" on Sundays. The problem with the world is that people have forgotten that there is a NEED for God. Good homily.
Posted by: Paul N. at Jan 31, 2005 8:29:13 AM
One other thing. The cantors at our parish have an annoying habit of saying before we receive communion: "As we receive Christ in communion with one another, let us sing . . . "
I am not quite sure where the emphasis is in that phrase but to my ear it always seems as if the cantors are saying, that we are receiving Christ in our communion as persons that we share with one another as a community of faith not that we all are receiving Christ in the Eucharist and going up to receive together.
Posted by: Cheeky Lawyer at Jan 31, 2005 8:35:02 AM
Where: St. Mary's Cathedral, Austin TX
When: 9:45 mass
Who: Bp. Gregory Aymond
What: All about the completed renovations, presumably for the sake of the folks who hadn't been at the Rededication Mass the previous day. In fact the homily seemed to be the identical one our dear Bishop gave at the Rededicaion Mass, so I took the opportunity to remove the fussy toddler for a change and refill (it was an excellent homily, but I'd heard it). So if Sunday's readings were in fact incorporated at any point, I didn't know it.
Posted by: sharon at Jan 31, 2005 8:42:12 AM
Where: Byzantine Eparchy of Parma
Parish: St. Michael Byzantine, Toledo
Homilist: Fr Jim Kubajak, pastor.
Fr Jim spoke about celebration of the Eucharist, and the necessity of participation in the Divine Liturgy. Fr Jim is always small-o orthodox and keeps our eye on the Divine part of the liturgy.
Comment: Fr has the unenviable task of training a new middle aged acolyte who is coming along slowly (me). From the far side of the iconostasis the singing was even better than I heard in the pews. Without my trusty bilingual missal I could not manage the one Hungarian prayer but the four or five dozen Magyar-Americans in the congregation sounded great.
Overall, a reverent liturgy. No complaints. Much relief.
Posted by: John Murray at Jan 31, 2005 8:44:39 AM
Archdiocese of Boston
Congregation of St. Athanasius (Anglican Use) in St. Theresa Convent chapel, West Roxbury
The chaplain, Fr. Bradford, preached on the Beatitudes. After drawing out the comparison of Christ giving the beatitudes with Moses giving the law on Mt. Sinai, he commented on how this beginning of the sermon on the mount defined the Christian character. He went on to point out how all had to do with suffering, not only the obvious ones, such as being persecuted for righteousness sake, or mourning, but also showing mercy and being poor in spirit, which are borne out of forebearance, (aka, "suffer the little children").
The music comes from the Hymnal 1940 and the Anglican Gradual (Mass propers in "traditional" English with simple Gregorian chant melodies). Hymns are sung through completely, and our organist is very good. The music is still new to me and my family, but I am heartily glad to have found a place here.
The sung Anglican use Mass is always reverent. I often feel that this is what the fathers of Vatican II had in mind when they approved Sacronsanctum Concilium.
Posted by: Steve Cavanaugh at Jan 31, 2005 8:54:33 AM
Diocese: Atlanta
Parish: Cathedral of Christ the King
Focused on "Blessed are they that mourn" - especially on mourning for the state of our nation/world, for the deterioration of values and "respect for life" in the public sphere. Then tied that into a rousing condemnation of the "personally opposed, but..." arguments of Catholics. The priest then connected that to a "separation of church and state" that creeps into our own lives - praying one thing in the Mass and living something completely different in our lives. All in all, a refreshing, direct summons to confront our personal hypocrisy and that of our leaders. ***Spine alert!***
Posted by: Phil at Jan 31, 2005 8:54:42 AM
Location: Providence, RI diocese
Parish: Our Lady of Mercy
Homelist was assistant pastor -- excellent fellow. Talked of the difference between happiness and blessedness. That to look for happiness was not to seek the anchor that would carry you through the tough stuff. Young, zealous, earnest, and orthodox. We are truly blessed.
Posted by: gsk at Jan 31, 2005 8:58:10 AM
Cistercian Abbey, Irving, TX (diocese of Dallas)
Homily was about the beatitudes being taken in order -- if you achieve poverty of spirit, then you mourn and are comforted, then the next one, and so on. Mostly about poverty of spirit being humility, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and knowing that your strengths are all from God. Good homily, wish I did a better job explaining it.
Liturgy is chanted by the Cistercian monks, mostly in Latin.
But -- I must admit, we went to the abbey because all over Dallas it was CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK, so Mass at our home parish was full of kids doing the readings, kids singing (they're all flat), a homily about how great our school is, and teachers being honored in the middle of Mass. Couldn't take it. This post would have been very different if I'd gone to that Mass...
Posted by: Martha at Jan 31, 2005 8:59:55 AM
