Sunday, November 22, 2009

Christ the King - University City

Today is the Feast of Christ the King and what better way to celebrate the last Sunday of the Catholic Liturgical Year then by going to Christ the King?  I had planned to go to Christ the King today in August, but two weeks ago, I found out the Archbishop was going to be at Mass.  I was hesitant to go, not because he's not a great guy (He's got 3! dogs.  How awesome is that?) but because the place would be a madhouse.  I decided to offer it up and go anyway.  I was correct in the madhouse aspect.  I got to church 15 minutes early and parking was an issue.  Normally, I've never had issues parking.  When I go in to church 10-15 minutes early, usually the choir and the musicians are the only people there.  It was half-full when I got there.  They expected so many people for Mass, they brought out folding chairs and made the choir sit in the choir loft (the horror).  According the the bulletin, Mass averages about 350 souls.  There was easily twice that.  Apparently, the way to get people to Mass, relatively on time and appropriately dressed is to have the Archbishop stop by.

The Church is of the same style as St. Michael and Sts. Mary and Joseph, narrow windows and exposed roof beams.  I think it is called Norman style.  The windows were patchwork like, simple colored panes.

The adult and children choirs sang together and I have to say the music was totally awesome.  I thought it was a good mix of older, more traditional hymns and contemporary music.  The choir was accompanied by a flute, a violin, a cello and a piano.  Lucky for me, there were programs so I could listen instead of scribbling furiously.

Music:
Before Mass:  A Jubilant Song, How Lovely Are the Messengers, For the Beauty of the Earth, One Faith One Hope One Love
Entrance:  Gather Us In
Gloria:  the one by Peter Jones, which has different refrains
Alleluia: Festival Alleluia (the one the Archdiocese had commissioned for when Pope John Paul II visited)
Preparation of the Gifts:  The Lord's My Shepherd
Mass Parts:  Community Mass
Lamb of God:  was in Latin! from Mass for John Carroll
Communion:  The Communion Antiphon: Ave Verum (wow) and Draw Near! and E'en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come
Recessional:  To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King (with Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat tacked on the end)

Because the Archbishop was there, in total there were 6 priests concelebrating the Mass:  the Archbishop, the Master of Ceremony, the Pastor, and 3 other priests.  I feel sorry for the Master of Ceremony, it must be so hard to be prayerful during Mass when you have to direct people and make sure everything is correct.

The Archbishop gave an awesome homily.  He basically spoke about what is kingdom and how Jesus had a different view of kingdom than Pilate.  The real power is openness to love unselfishly.  We live in an age of bumper sticker sayings.  Instead of listening, we are thinking about what we are going to say next.  There is a lack of civility.  He also mentioned Irish Alzheimer's, being mad at someone and not remembering why.  We should pray for that person instead and even apologize.

The Archbishop used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were bells at the Consecration.

I have to say it was a very nice Mass however, it just seemed really loud because there were so many people.  For instance, at one part, the congregation needed to turn a page, you could literally hear everyone turn the pages.

Pictures:

Bell Tower of Christ the King
I don't think I've seen a sculpture on a tower before.



View From Back Pew!


Lamb of God Window in the back



St. Catherine
(I'm almost positive one is St. Catherine of Siena as St. Catherine of Siena was merged into
Christ the King in 2002. )


(A nod to St. Patrick parish which was merged into Christ the King)


Lilies Window
Yes I did some photoshop work.
I draw the line at setting up my tripod on the altar.



Star Window

Links:
Christ the King Parish Website

"Let the Holy Spirit have the last word." Archbishop Robert Carlson

5 comments:

  1. Are you sure that the MC was concelebrating? Normally, they are just in a cassock and surplice, and throw a stole on from time to time...

    Also, on the prayerful part, one learns to adapt.

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  2. He had a chasuble on. He kept grabbing the Archbishop's Miter...he told the other priests where to go. He directed altar boys. Yes. Or maybe it was the Archbishop's Secretary

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  3. Thats really really weird. And it was probably his priest secretary. Normally, the (Arch)bishop's priest secretary is his MC as well.

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  4. I have seen on some occasions where the Priest of the Parish takes the role of MC, its very out of the ordinary, but has been done. I think they do it as a courtesy.

    I would challenge you to go on a non "Episcopal" mass, simply because, I mean obviously they are going to put their best step forward for his Excellency

    The Jones Gloria is a magnificent arrangement btw, a great organ piece. Did they by chance augment the choir with Cathedral people or was this all home grown?

    By the way, why was he at Christ the King, was it just a pastoral visit?

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  5. I don't know if the MC was the pastor or not. I doubt it was though, because one of the concelebrating priests said more than all the others.

    Well, of course we put our best foot forward when the Archbishop comes. We all came to church and were dressed nice. But I highly doubt the parish did a 180 for a Mass. Usually the types of parishes that are up to shenanigans are usually proud of such things and display them.

    The organ isn't in the choir loft, so it was used in today. I'm not sure if they augmented the choir or not. I highly doubt they augmented the children given there is a grade school. It is a better area of town, they may have those kinds of talented people living there.

    The Archbishop was at Christ the King because it was their patronal feast.

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