Beautiful OF Mass - Des Moines, IA

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jwinch2

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If anyone is in the Des Moines, IA area and looking for an absolutely beautiful Mass I encourage you to check out the Basilica of Saint John. When I say beautiful, I mean chant, sung prayer, a gorgeous church building, commuion antiphons, meaty homilies, etc.

basilicaofstjohn.org/

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...8654710545_23423206_62676181_1735934295_n.jpg

My wife and I have have been going there pretty much every other day for the past few weeks while we are home visiting family. Anyone who is in the Des Moines area, moving there, or just visiting should consider checking that parish out.

Just thought I would share.

Peace,
 
TheMc said:
Nice! You say they use the propers? That’s great to hear!
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The pastor is a Benedictine Monk. I do not believe he is using the propers themselves, but he does chant the psalms, the prayers, etc.
 
domandcarols said:
WOW! That is a beautiful cathedral. 🙂
God bless
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It’s actually not the diocesan Cathedral, though that is very impressive also. We went to a Mass at the Cathedral when we first got to town, but we like the liturgy much more at the Basilica.

The picture I posted is one that I took during the concert prior to the Midnight Christmas Mass.

My wife and I both love our home parish in Texas, but that Basilica is something special.
 
YoungTradCath said:
😃 Do they use any Latin??? 🙂
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Some. It depends on the day. The Agnus Dei and the Sanctus have been in Latin more often than not. I am not too concerned with that either way. The sung prayer, the chant, etc. resonate more with me in terms of the reverence of the Mass.
 
It is a beautiful church. When I had cable (now have DirecTV), the 10:30 Sunday morning Mass would be videotaped and aired on one of the public access channels throughout the week, don’t know if it’s still done or not.
 
jwinch2 said:
Some. It depends on the day. The Agnus Dei and the Sanctus have been in Latin more often than not. I am not too concerned with that either way. The sung prayer, the chant, etc. resonate more with me in terms of the reverence of the Mass.
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Great! As a great liturgist in my life has said many times:

“The language of worship is not necessarily latin. That can change. The language of worship is chant. Look at the eastern rites. Most of their liturgies are almost completely sung.”

That’s my philosophy, and I’ll stand by it any day.
 
jwinch2 said:
The pastor is a Benedictine Monk. I do not believe he is using the propers themselves, but he does chant the psalms, the prayers, etc.
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Out of curiosity, I’m interested to know why an OSB Monk is pastoring.

Benedictines are typically cloistered.

-Tim-
 
Thank you for posting this! I live in a nearby community … too far to attend regularly, but I would love to make a point of attending sometime soon! 👍
 
LPS said:
Thank you for posting this! I live in a nearby community … too far to attend regularly, but I would love to make a point of attending sometime soon! 👍
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You won’t be sorry. Its a wonderful place and a beautiful liturgy.
 
TimothyH said:
Out of curiosity, I’m interested to know why an OSB Monk is pastoring.

Benedictines are typically cloistered.
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I’m not sure of the specifics of this situation, but historically in the US, bishops often leaned on the Benedictines to supply priests to staff parishes. Heck, the current archbishop of Dubuque (Iowa) is a Benedictine attached to a monastery in Missouri.

A quickie Google search shows that the pastor of the Basilica of St. John is, or was, the prior of St. Gabriel Benedictine Priory. And that the priory is located adjacent to the basilica. This might explain the staffing, but makes one wonder if the priory was established in its location for the purpose of maintaining the basilica.
 
TheMc said:
Great! As a great liturgist in my life has said many times:

“The language of worship is not necessarily latin. That can change. The language of worship is chant. Look at the eastern rites. Most of their liturgies are almost completely sung.”

That’s my philosophy, and I’ll stand by it any day.
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Me too! I would like to visit this Basilica sometime.
 
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