On Sunday, the Old Oligarch and I drove almost 20 miles in search of a decent mass, and praise God, we found one at St. Louis, Fr. Jim's church. Fr. Jim was not celebrating the 5 pm mass, but we were wonderfully impressed with his fellow priests Fr. Gripshover and Fr. Riley. Here's the lowdown:
1. Not that many hymns, and all were ones that you know, not Marty Haugen.
2. The pastor announced that they intend to move the tabernacle, which is currently to the right of the altar from the congregation's perspective, to the high altar so that it will be the focal point of the church. O.O. and I thought that we might actually be asleep and dreaming this part, but it was real.
3. No funny stuff in the mass. No little jokes, no introductions, nothing that attempts to mitigate the fact that something holy is happening.
4. A reverent congregation. No chatter before mass.
5. On the day that we attended, Fr. Riley gave a "state of the church"-type homily about the past year of the church as well as looking ahead. One would generally anticipate a very dry recounting of the money taken in vs. what was needed, the number of parishoners, etc etc. There was none of this administrative tone. Fr. Riley managed to deliver a spiritually based and inspiring homily, assessing the key measures of the church as a) the respect the congregation had for the Eucharist and b) receipt of the sacrament of confession. Again, I was amazed.
Thank you to the priests at St. Louis for honoring the beauty of the mass without feeling compelled to add distractions and diversions. This is the first week I can remember in a while in which the mass renewed me rather than angering and saddening me and my husband. We will be back.