Parish shopping: St. P
I was hoping that my parish-shopping adventure would stop with the lovely 19th-structure that’s a few minutes’ drive from both my house and my weekend job. Turns out, well, no.
One of the more amusing insults for overly-liberal music and liturgy over on the DCF Board is “happy-clappy.” I thought that this was excessive until I saw it in action–the priest encouraged us to clap along with the choir/folk group during the last song. And applaud afterward. As a former pastoral musician (guitar) I have to say…I never liked getting applauded, except maybe at the end of a Christmas or Holy Week marathon of rehearsals and masses. Regular performances were what was expected of us; they weren’t worthy of applause. Just a regular day at the “office.”
The homily was short and enlightening, and I liked the priest a lot, but a lot of the details I couldn’t deal with. The picture at left is of this church in the mid-’50s. Lovely, isn’t it?
The entire interior (even the ceiling) is now painted white, and there is only a plain crucifix on the wall over the altar, a regular table-style altar, and the pews have been replaced with interlocking chairs. It’s bland and doesn’t match the church’s neat 19th-century exterior at all.
I’m not comfortable without kneelers. We always avoided mass at the church in my hometown that lacked them, except when the mass time was convenient and we had nowhere else to go.
I liked how the population there was very young (the church borders a college campus, and so draws many of the students.) It’s neat to be in a church of people close to my own age. What’s not neat is to see that both of the lectors were in jeans (one in ripped-up, worn ones) and one of the ushers was wearing jeans and an Aerosmith tour t-shirt. Maybe I’m being snobby, but that just didn’t sit well with me. We would have been peer-pressured out of doing that when I was in college–Newman was small and close-knit, and that just wasn’t done. It wasn’t expected.
There’s a difference between casualness and lack of respect, and I really think that people mean well. Casualness and a lack of what I call a “sense of the sacred” is what drove me away from the church, years ago.
In summary: St. P is a very friendly place and very close to my work and home, but so liberal and casual that I felt ill at ease. I feel bad saying so, since the priest and staff and parishoners were so nice, but I can’t help how I feel.
My shopping continues. Good thing I live in a Northeastern metro area with dozens of churches to choose from.
