St. Francis of Assisi - Little Italy

Hello all!
Yesterday, I attended the 5 pm Mass at St. Francis of Assisi in Little Italy.  This church had no address. I just drove down the highway until I was there (and didn't get lost).

It's a mission church that was established in 1922.  It was a bigger church then I was expecting given the location.  Relatively plain on the inside but it did have paintings depicting the life of St. Francis on the walls.

Music was provided by an organ in the back.
Opening:  All Creatures of Our God & King
Offertory:  For the Fruits of This Creation
Communion:  Gift of Finest Wheat
Closing:  Let All Things Now Living

Mini-Homily:
The Word of God is seed planted in us, we await the bountiful harvest.

Homily:
Humans we are a beautiful imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world.  It's a car insurance ad.  De we listen to the Word?  That is important to understand.  We are imperfect because we are human.  We have so many distractions take away from the Word.  How we receive is difference.  Keeps us from listening.  If we listen, we produce much fruit. Things keep us from listening.  Right now people are not listening here and now (la..la. la. la)  We have to be attentive in order to listen to Word.  Without distractions we bear much fruit.

Pictures:

Links:
St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi - Portage des Sioux

October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, so I went to St. Francis of Assisi in Portage des Sioux on October 3, 2010 for the 8 am Mass.

I was rather surprised that the parish was not celebrating their patronal feast (you can move it to Sunday for pastoral reasons...), especially given that the parish doesn't have Mass on Mondays.  The Monday Mass is at the mission church, Immaculate Conception in West Alton.

The music was accompanied by an organ and a choir in the choir loft.
Music:
Opening:  All Creatures of Our God and King
Offertory:  We Are the Light of the World
Communion:  Instrumental of Make Me A Channel of Your Peace
Recessional:  You Are Near (with the Yahweh..)
The Gloria was spoken but the Responsorial Psalm was sung.

After the opening hymn, Father went into a mini-homily about St. Francis taking care of all creatures.

The Deacon gave the homily today.  He started off discussing what is Faith.  According to Hebrew 11:1, it is the assurance of things unseen but hoped for.  It is a gift from God that gives us the graces we need.  The Deacon then referenced the First Reading about writing down the vision and how God will take care of it.  In old times, if you wrote something down, it was assured.  How can we increase our Faith?  The Deacon then went on to tell 2 stories, one about a man who when faced with trials, lost his Faith, and a woman who when faced with trials, increased her Faith.  How does Faith grow?  Faith is strengthened like a muscle; by putting it to use.  When was the last time you read a Catholic Book, Catholic Radio, prayed, went to a Retreat, etc?  Our Faith grows each time it is tested (unless it breaks under the strain...)  Perfection comes with Faith when we practice it.  Today was also the 2nd collection for the Diaconate program.  The Deacon spoke a little bit about the diaconate:  how they were *married* clergy and were unpaid for the most part and how important Deacons were to the history of the Church.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were bells at the Consecration.  During the Liturgy of the Announcements (which was really long) Father mentioned that it is Respect Life Month and there was a Life Chain later in the afternoon.  He also reminded us that October is dedicated to the Mary and Our Lady of the Rosary, so that praying the rosary might be good idea.

After Mass there were doughnuts and everyone was friendly :)

Pictures:
(There are lots more pictures, I'll have them up on flickr in a few days and post the link.)

St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Animals

View From the Back Pew!

St. Joseph's Altar

On the left: St. Therese of Lisieux

On the right:  St. Agnes

Mary's Altar

On the left: St. Cecilia (?)

On the right: St. John

Guardian Angel

(The feast was 10/2 FYI)

St. Francis of Assisi

The Eighth Station:  Jesus Meets the Women

(That's German)

Barque of Peter

The Holy Family

Is it just me, or is it creepy that Jesus has made a cross....

St. Boniface

(They think....)

St. Francis of Assisi Receives the Stigmata

Note:  On October 10, 2010 at 1 pm, Father David Kemna, FSSP, will celebrate his first Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (Latin, TLM) at St. Francis of Assisi.  Father informs us they will move the altar back to its original position for the Mass and there will be a choir/schola.  Father David Kemna is the first priestly vocation from the parish in its 211 year history.  Also, there is a plenary indulgence for those that assist at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest ;)

Links:
Information from the Archdiocese
Pictures from Rome of the West

St. Francis of Assisi - Luebbering

Happy Feast of St. Dominic (and my birthday!)!  I had hoped to go to a Dominican Liturgy today, but Dominicans are hard to come by here.  Some one suggested I go to a parish that has my name.  Unfortunately, family legend has it I was named after a drink (Tia Maria) needless to say there aren't a great deal of churches named after drinks.  Because Jake has a CT scan tomorrow, I went to everyone's favorite Patron Saint of Animals, St. Francis of Assisi.  I went to the 10 am Mass at St. Francis of Assisi in Luebbering.

St. Francis of Assisi in Luebbering is a small brick church close to the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of cute.  There was a tiny choir loft, but the organ and choir were in the back of church.

Music:
Opening:  Faith of Our Fathers
Offertory:  Be Not Afraid
Communion:  Instrumental CD
Recessional:  How Great Thou Art

Father was quite sick.  He didn't look well at all but was a real trooper and celebrated Mass.  Father's homily focused on how we were bowls of lights; precious but heavy and our task is not to drop the light.  People of Faith are always in exile.  Father talked about Blessed Teresa and then went on to define stewardship as caring.  The Faith we have is a gift.

There were bells and Father used Eucharistic II.  There was a great deal of hand raising at the Our Father.


Pictures:

St. Francis of Assisi - Luebbering

Mary

"Behold Thy Mother"

St. Francis of Assisi and Bell

(Which was rung before Mass)

Infant of Prage

St. Francis of Assisi Painting

View From the Back Pew

Uh Wut?

This was in the Sanctuary.

St. Francis of Assisi Painting

and Ambo

The Eighth Station:

Jesus Consoles the Women

Pelican Window

Lily Window

Ecce Agnus Dei

Harp? window

Eucharistic Window

Cross Window

I'm not sure what this is.

I've seen this symbol before..

Father's Vestments

I can't decide if I like it or not...

It's rather rockin'

Father was also rockin a purply batik clerical shirt.

He wore a really wide white stole over it.

Link:
Information from the Archdiocese

Random Catholicism: St. Francis of Assisi in Forest Park

This is by the Jewel Box in Forest Park.

St. Francis of Assisi - Oakville

Continuing the theme of asking special saints for their intercession for Jake and his ears, I chose St. Francis of Assisi as the parish to visit.  There are 3 St. Francis of Assisi parishes in St. Louis.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to visit the closest one in Oakville.  On the upside, it is right next to Oberweis!

St. Francis of Assisi - Oakville has a variety of music ministries.  The Saturday 4:30 pm Mass has Guitage (???).  The Sunday 9 am Mass is the adult choir, the 10:30 am Mass is the children's choir, and depending on the Sunday of the month, the Noon Mass is Life Teen Band.  This weekend didn't have the Life Teen Band, so I went to the 10:30 am Mass on September 20.

The children's choir did a very nice job!  They were in the choir loft and were accompanied by an organ.  The children's choir was all girls and were 13 and younger.  Before Mass, they sang Anthem.

The choir sang:
Opening: All Are Welcome
Presentation of Gifts:  Eyes Have Not Seen
Communion: The Servant Song (Two songs were played by the organ: Here I Am & Say A Simple Prayer)
Closing: Companions on the Journey

There was a squad of ushers who directed the late comers to open pews and to make people squish together in pews.  Needless to say, the Church was nearly full.  This is a middle-class parish and the dress was relatively casual (Lots of shorts and t-shirts, which given it was 65 F, seems slightly inappropriate.)

Apparently the pastor was on vacation, so a retired priest filled in for him.  I didn't catch his name, but he was 84 years old (!!!) and used to be a missionary in Bolivia.  His homily was very nice; he talked about masters and apprentices.  Essentially, Jesus is the Master and we are the apprentices.

Additionally, a deacon was re-assigned to the parish and gave his testimony after the Prayer of Dismissal.  Oh and before Mass, a letter was read from the Archbishop about stewardship.

Finally, St. Francis of Assisi does have votive candles (YAY!).  However, they were electronic ones.  You press a button and it lights a little candle shaped bulb.  I'm sure this is much safer in terms of fire prevention, it just doesn't seem the same.

Pictures:

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi

With the electronic votive candles

Stained Glass Window

(The others were scenes from Mary's Life.)

View from the Back Pew!
(Thanks to Mark at Rome of the West for fixing it!)

Parish Website:  St. Francis of Assisi -Oakville