OLV & Corpus Christi
HIS:
Our Lady of the Visitation parish in Darnestown, MD was the
location for mass in this week’s installment of Roamin’ Catholics. OLV as
I will call it, is another post Second Vatican Council church design as it
appears most are in the Gaithersburg vicinity. This parish is one that we
have actually seen grow from its founding in the early 1990s. Mary and I
have attended mass at this parish previously before there was even a church
building. Upon its founding, masses were held in a Methodist church, an
elementary school and other Catholic churches in the Darnestown/Gaithersburg
area. The building itself did not hold its first celebration of the
eucharist until the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. From an architectural
stand point in general, the designs that appeal to me most are ones that
emphasize moldings. The interior of this church fits that bill. The
design is simple, light filled and elegant. As regular readers of this
blog well know, my preferences in churches lean more toward the soaring
monuments to God of old versus the modern designs constructed in the last 50
years. That said, I found a certain appeal with this design. It had
a little nautical feel to me and that could be the reason I was drawn to it.
This Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi. For those
of you a little rusty on your Latin, this means the body of Christ. The
theme this week is to celebrate the Body of Christ. The celebrant
reminded us that Jesus offered up his body as a sacrifice for our sins and in
fact continues to do so unconditionally every day. Not just if we are a
good son or husband or mother or father or husband or wife.
Unconditionally we are called to receive the Lord. Given the celebration
of Corpus Christi this week, it seemed only natural that five second graders
received their first communion at this mass. How appropriate and how
joyous for them. This brings me to the part of today’s experience that I
am struggling with. These youngsters had family joining them to share in
their celebration. It saddens me deeply, by the lack of respect and
reverence that I witnessed from many of the family members in attendance for today’s
sacrament. Given that some of the people appeared to know what was
happening in the mass, I assumed that meant they were raised Catholic.
They should know better. For those who were not Catholic, please show a
little respect for our traditions. I have been to services of other faith
traditions and watch what is going on around me as not to show any
disrespect. I think there is far too little respect in the world today
and we all could do better to listen to Aretha, R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
HERS:
Every honest Roman Catholic knows the feeling…
You walk into a seemingly “every Sunday” mass and you
see a little girl or two dressed in a white lacey or satiny dress with a veil. There is the
moment of (and I contain myself), “oh holy wafers and communion wine, there’s a
First Holy Communion today and this is going to be a long mass”! I am sure for
the five communicants and their families today was a very special occasion, but
for those of us who were not in the know, we probably would have selected a
different church. A couple "must get off my chest items" about this First Holy Communion mass and
its celebrating families.
- This is a church people. We are Roman Catholics for Heaven’s sake. There are rules. This is not a social hall. This is not a coffee clatch. This is God’s home. A little respect please. There’s a fine line between celebrating a sacrament and acting like you’re at a bingo hall.
- While four of the Communicants had one to four family members in attendance, it seemed a little over the top for the little girl who had 32 members in attendance. Yes, they were easy to count because they kept coming into the church throughout the mass. A little respect please.
- I felt a little like I was at a J. Crew meets Lilly Pulitzer fashion show. Hey, that’s fine, and I’m sure there were parties after mass, but c’mon… short shorts and off the shoulder styles (on children) are not appropriate mass attire. A little respect please.
- Ok, so I know I don’t have kids, but I was one once. I don’t remember EVER having to drink water from a fashionable water bottle during mass. I don’t remember my parents having to leave the pew with me because I was fidgeting, I don’t remember EVER going to the bathroom halfway through mass, and I certainly don’t remember EVER doing anything that would cause both of my parents to have to go to the back of the church during the mass.
- And whatever was in the blue Tiffany jewelry box for the First Communicant… I didn’t even know what a Tiffany blue box was until I was in my forties.
Anyway, back to the meat of my message. Mass was 9:00 am at Our
Lady of the Visitation in Darnestown, MD. When Lou announced last night… at
about midnight that this was his pick for the week, I remember thinking, “Ugh”.
Let me back up a bit. We’ve been to this church before and there was one
practice that did not sit well with me… open mind, open mind… maybe they don’t
do it anymore. More about that later. I happen to love the look of this church
on the inside. The church is simple and light filled with beautiful mouldings
and colorful stained glass windows. The back of the altar is composed of
windows which brings the outdoors in. I think the look of this church is one of
my favorites. This is also the newest church we’ve been to – the church was
completed in the year 2000.
So, back to the practice that irked me the first time we went
to this church… yep, they’re still doing it. When it was time for the readings,
I felt like I was watching a scripted play… it went something like this…
Everyone sits.
Pause. Very. Long. Pause.
Man stands up from the crowd. Walks to front of altar.
Man does a deep bow facing the tabernacle (where the Body of
Christ is housed)
Man does a 1/3 bow to the priest. (The celebrant was The Rev. Dr. Raymond L. Fecteau, the pastor of the
parish).
Man reaches the podium.
Pause. A little shorter than the previous pause.
Reading is read.
Man leaves podium.
Man does a deep bow facing the tabernacle.
Man returns to seat.
This process is then repeated with the Responsorial Psalm
and the Second Reading.
What irks me in this play? The bow to the priest. No. No. No.
I haven’t seen this practice in the other churches we’ve attended. Where did
this practice come from? Was it mandated by the pastor.
I don’t like this one bit.
Deep breath. Moving on to my favorite part of the mass… the
homily. I would have preferred a homily that spoke directly to the kids receiving
their First Holy Communion. The twelve minute homily was good, and after the earlier
bowing, I was pleasantly surprised. Fr. Fecteau focused on a couple themes.
First, was the belief that the priest, when consecrating the bread and wine
into the Body and Blood of Christ, as Jesus first did, was acting as Jesus. Second,
he said that we enter into a contract with Jesus when we receive the Body and
Blood of Christ, but Jesus does not specify any terms in the contract. He does not
say, “Take and eat, IF you are a good husband”. He does not say, “Take and eat,
IF you are a teenager who listens to his parents all the time”. He does not
say, “Take and eat, IF you are not a sinner”. He simply says, “Take and eat
this is my body. Take and drink this is my blood”. The last take away was a little convoluted,
but I will interpret it like this… He said something about a procession that
was going to occur at the end of mass, and that would be our walk with Jesus.
Then he went on to say that in the final years of his dad’s life, some of his
fondest memories were of taking walks with his dad. He wrapped it up by saying
that we should think of some of the walks we have taken with the people we love
and that is an indicator of just how much Jesus loves us. Uh… ok…
I recalled a time when I was on a beach in Florida early in
the morning with my mom. We took a walk together on the beach. I don’t even
remember what we talked about. But I remember feeling loved.
I felt bad for the Communicants. I think this homily was way
over their heads and this was their day. A simple message to them would have been
most appropriate on their special day. But hey, I’m not a doctor of theology.
In an effort to be relieved of this procession – there was
nowhere to process, it was raining outside – we left after Communion. I think I
would wrap up the human input upon this church with these words… Sometimes you
have to take the good with the bad.
We then went to Ted’s Bulletin, a newer restaurant
that serves breakfast in Gaithersburg. The restaurant was freezing, but fortunately,
the coffee was hot and breakfast was delicious
And as always, let's end with our Soulfie:
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