On September 26, 2010, I attended the 10:30 am Mass at St. David in Arnold.
St. David was built in 1964. It has to be the plainest Catholic Church I have been in. It gives St. Matthais a run for its money. There were no Stations of the Cross. There was a tiny statue of Mary in the front. I understand in the 1960s, there may not have been funds or the inclination to decorate the Church. Surely, with all the parish closings/mergings in the last 10 or so years, they couldn't get a bigger statue of Mary from one of the closing parishes? I'm immensely curious as to why there are no Stations (and yes...they could get those from a closing parish or Archdiocesan storage.) I thought they were rather required in a Catholic Church.
The music was accompanied by a piano and a choir. One of the choir members played the saxophone for one song.
Opening: Let Us Go to the Altar
Gloria: the one with Sing Glory to God in the Highest
Offertory: Here I Am
Setting: the one with the Christ going up and down alot. The Lamb of God was the echo one that is half in Latin.
Communion: Song of the Body of Christ
Closing: Lead Me Lord
There was a seminarian in a cassock and surplice :) He's in Theology 1 at Kenrick! (Remember to pray for vocations :) )
The pastor had another commitment this morning so the priest was a chaplain from the VA. His homily was excellent. It was succinct and a good length. As Christians, we have a reality of the end times. We have an eschatological reality, eschatological meaning the end times. We get what Jesus passes on. When we die, our Faith and Action will determine what happens to us. We will face individual judgement and judgement as a group. We are all moving from this life to eternal life. There is death and judgement. Today's Gospel is a story of hope. Hope we too will be in heave with Abraham, Lazarus, Jesus and all the martyrs and saints. With hope comes responsibility. The rich man is not condemned because he is rich, but because he is selfish. He had no understanding of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We need to put Faith into Action. What do we believe and why? As Christians we are heading towards the end times. Father ended his homily with the last lines from the Funeral Rite, In Paradisum (here's a youtube)
Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.
Pictures:
View from the Back Pew!
Tabernacle Close-Up
Baptismal Font
Mary (the only statue in the church)
Window
St. David Website
St. David is in the process of remodeling the interior and actually had the stations put up this week (3/6/11). It's hard to believe you thought we choose to go with pure white primer over fresh dry wall as a sustained look. This also explains why we don't have any of our statues currently displayed. Our normal priest gives rather good homilies as well. Thanks for visiting!
ReplyDeleteAh. I did not know that. However, I'm discovering a theme that there are many underdecorated Catholic Churches out there. There are many churches that are plain white on the inside, St. Raphael I believe is pretty plain...IHM has pretty plain walls....
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the Stations are up in time for Lent.