Christ the King - Little Rock (visit #1)

What's better than going to Mass once in a day?  Why going twice of course!

I'll confess.  My new territorial parish is Christ the King in Little Rock.  On the 2nd Sunday of the month, the young adult group does all the Mass things like Lector and Usher at the 6 pm Mass.  For the most part...the group was pretty incognito... The parish is upper middle class.

I can tell you I'm contemplating finding a new parish already.  I just can't go to Mass in some place without windows to the outside and looks like an auditorium converted to a church as an afterthought.  (I understand that has happened but to intentionally build it that way???)

Announcements were read 8 minutes before Mass...before everyone got there...and Mass was full.

The music was lead by a cantor and a pianist.  Apparently the organ was dedicated in 2006.
The cantor only lead the 4 hymns and the responsorial psalm..the Mass parts will all spoken.  I'm not sure how Catholics managed before there were cantors...but I distinctly remember no cantors when I was growing up...(back in the day...)
Music:
Opening:  I Am the Bread of Life (uhmmm...this is a Communion song...not a gathering song...)
Offertory:  Shepherd Me O God
Communion:  I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (I head Him say less banal music...)
Closing: Mine Eyes Have Seen (or as it is more properly known:  The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  And don't even get me started on the word change in verse 4 thanks to Gia/Worship/Gather/OCP.  The original line is "As He died to make men holy, Let us die to make men free." It has been changed to "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make all free"  I'm sorry this totally changes the meaning of the song.  This song was written during the Civil War..which was about ... a bunch of people dying to set other people free...why why why....why are we so afraid of our past??? I was actually surprised the Rebels were singing the Union's battle march...)

Homily:
At the beginning of the homily, Father recognized all the veterans.
We are at the end of the Church year.  December 1 is the beginning of the Church year.  The Readings will speak to us about the End Times.  It is a message of warning and preparation.  It is easy to give uplifting homilies (Oh Father...if only that were true)  It is hard to give a homily about the gate known as death.  The Church remembers the dead in November.  Veterans Day is to remember those who have sacrificed (uhm...no it's not...that's Memorial Day or Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth.)  There are seven books in the Bible that only Catholics have.  The First Reading is from Maccabees, one of those books.  Judea was being persecuted.  The Jews were being persecuted and humiliated such as being forced to violate Jewish dietary laws.  The Reading today was preceded by a story about Eliezer.  Eliezer was a very old and respected.  If he would eat pork, he would be spared the sword.  His friends tried to get him to pretend to eat pork.  He refused because it would betray the life he lived.  Why do we care about whether or not Jews eat pork?  The dietary laws were about discipline (and disease prevention...but let's not quibble)  Why do we recall this event?  What are the fundamental questions?  Is there anything in my Faith life I would change before I die?  In these last days of the Church year, it symbolizes the Coming of Christ.  When will He come?  One of you, at least, will be up here (refers to the shrine of the people who have died in the past year that covered the altar...at least I assume there is an altar under there...).  Death will come for you.  Not to be scary.  This season is to jar us that now is the time to change.  Not later as there may not be a later.  Death is the gate by which we enter eternal life.  Is the way we live our life going to get us eternal life?  Good news, God is bigger.  God calls us.  What would Jesus say to you to change in your life?  Now is the time.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer III and there were bells.  The congregation stood during Communion, from the end of the Agnus Dei to when Father sat.

Pictures:  (I'm going back...don't worry...)

View From the Back Pew

This is the real reason I can't go to Mass here...

The eye...it looks at me...

it examines me...

It creeps me out.... 

I think this is Mary...

St Who Am I???

(I'm Jean Val Jean!)

I actually like this...

Jesus and Joseph

Station VIII

Link:

Christ the King

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. Therese of Lisieux

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. )

St. Patrick

(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