Is it just Dallas area or is

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave_in_Dallas
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Dave_in_Dallas

Guest
Just out of curiousity, but it’s been my experience, that Dallas-area Catholic churches are… well extremely protestant-like. Grant that it’s a newer part of the country, but I find that the Catholic churches here lack…well… uhm “beauty”. Oh there may be 1 or 2 out of the 50+ but I see virtually no paintings and limited statuary. The mass tends to sound either like Christian pop, 70’s folk music, or 19th century Proetstant standards.
My wife and I have been to many churche sin our area and we’ve settled (for now) on one where the priests appear to care for their flock and the people actually look at you when they give you peace, and the music is ok – I mean I rather hear protestant 19th centur music than 70’s catholic folk or christian pop.
Is this pretty common in other parts of the country?
The reaosn i ask is that I found the whole Dallas area (irrespective of Christian “denomination”) to be pretty rather unspiritual…
 
It’s Texas. I have been here for 10+ years now and this state has the most boring and un(name removed by moderator)iring architecture. Some of the Churches here are downright ugly and not just the Catholic ones.

As for the music, that seems to be more fluid and variable from parish to parish.
 
Houston guy here. You would be surprised there are churches out here that are aesthetically pleasing even in Texas. They are however the older ones. The nicest church I’ve been to by far is Annunciation in downtown Houston. It has a very European look with marble and beautiful stained glass windows. The church has kept everything intact. The priest told me he kept everything from being removed as was common back in the late 60s early 70s with all the changes (he’s been there for a long time). I am not very familiar with Dallas but if you like the Traditional Latin Mass the FSSP have two locations up there. I’m jealous though we might get a FSSP house later. One is in Arlington, Mater Dei Parish, and the other is St. Mary of the Assumption in Fort Worth. Give it a look, you will definitely not hear nor see any 70s pop protestant wash in these Catholic churches 😉
 
I’m not particularly interested in Latin Mass… I’ev attended mater Dei before and it was special, but my wife (former Protestant) would hate it.
 
My wife and I have been having the same problem, although the parish my in laws go, Mary Immaculate in Farmer’s Branch is nice. It looks modern, but artwork and visual beauty is not lacking.

Father Micheal Forge is a wonderful parish priest. At the present he’s seriously fighting the moral relativism that has seeped into the parish and is causing a lot of problems. Perhaps a few devout with an understanding of Catholic teaching will help out?
 
Our daughter and SIL lived in Austin for 6 years during graduate school and were parishioners at St. Austin’s, across from the UT campus. They always raved about the simply phenomenal music and just lived for the Triduum there each year.

We went to Mass there several times while visiting, and loved it. St. Austin’s is a wonderful combination of reverent liturgy, incredibly beautiful music, and a deep commitment to Catholic social teaching.
 
Texas has a wide varity of church styles from small counrty to large cathedrals. Corpus Christi has a beautiful gothic cathedral as well as the Co- Cathredral in Galveston, still recorvering from Hurrican Ike. there are balcilcas in Beaumont and Galveston. Then new Co-Cathedral in Houston combines modern strait lines and arches, but holds true to old European grandure.
Art work and stain glass cost lost of money. Part of the reason why in modern Catholic churchs you won’t find a much, unless they have wealthy benifactors.
 
Although I don’t live in Texas and I am not that familiar with how close Dallas is to Arlington, there is an Anglican Use Catholic parish, St. Mary the Virgin. The music should be very good and the liturgy is very reverent. Of course with the Ordinariate soon to be announced, Rome is revising the liturgy and it is just a rumor, but the new liturgy will be from the Anglican Missal and parts from the EF/TLM. It is sung/said in beautiful English, although some parts might be in Latin at times. I am not that familiar with the parish, however, from my understanding it is small enough for members to get to know one another.

In fact, I am attending the Anglican Use Conference at that parish in July. I have seen the inside and although it is not as lovely as Our Lady of the Atonement AU parish, in San Antonio, it is by far better than many churches. Also since your wife is a former protestant she might feel more at home in a smaller parish.

From what I have heard there is a former TEC parish who in also coming into the Ordinariate in Irving, TX. It ministers to many Hispanics.

Just a thought for you to look into.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette
 
i was wondering the same things as you because its the same where i live-churches resemble conference rooms and Mass is complete with guitar playing band. Yikes
i did go to certain church that seem to be quite beautiful in a gothic style and thank goddness they didn’t have the band but the choir. Before CC i attended OC and fell in love with Eastern style liturgy. I miss that. Modern is not always good(at least in my opinion)
 
dixieagle said:
Our daughter and SIL lived in Austin for 6 years during graduate school and were parishioners at St. Austin’s, across from the UT campus. They always raved about the simply phenomenal music and just lived for the Triduum there each year.

We went to Mass there several times while visiting, and loved it. St. Austin’s is a wonderful combination of reverent liturgy, incredibly beautiful music, and a deep commitment to Catholic social teaching.
Click to expand...
I’ve only attended St. Austin’s once. They had beautiful music - absolutely. The rest of the Mass was just so-so; not particularly reverent but not kumbaya either. The building is not a beautiful Church, IMO. It is similar to most 20th century main line Protestant buildings. Of course, I am spoiled, having grown up “back east” where the beautiful, old Gothic-style buildings were the norm.

On the other hand, the painted Churches, west of Houston are georgeous.
 
Have you checked out any of these Catholic Churches, in Dallas?
  1. Blessed Sacrament
  2. Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe
  3. Christ the King
  4. St. Edward’s
  5. St.Thomas Aquinas
These are just in Dallas. I’m not sure how many are in Fort Worth, but I know there are a few (ie: St. Patrick’s). Mater Dei is an excellent parish (FSSP) but I understand that your wife is not ready to make the jump to the TLM.
 
jj_nycguy said:
Have you checked out any of these Catholic Churches, in Dallas?
  1. Blessed Sacrament
  2. Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe
  3. Christ the King
  4. St. Edward’s
  5. St.Thomas Aquinas
These are just in Dallas. I’m not sure how many are in Fort Worth, but I know there are a few (ie: St. Patrick’s). Mater Dei is an excellent parish (FSSP) but I understand that your wife is not ready to make the jump to the TLM.
Click to expand...
These were going to be the ones I recommend as well. St. Thomas Aquinas is amazing on many levels, and if it weren’t so far away from highways and hard to get to from where I live, that would be my parish of choice. The Cathedral Guadalupe architecture and liturgy is very traditional and lovely, but there are very few social opportunities there if you don’t speak Spanish. St. Ann parish in Coppell is very lovely - I’ve never seen a Day Chapel with such beautiful statues, and they have a ton of activities for people of all ages and vocations.

As far as Mater Dei, I cannot recommend them enough. Their priests are top-notch, the homilies are rich and filling, the smells and bells at their 9a Sunday High Mass are sanctifying, and I’ve learned more in their confessionals in the past few months than I have from the pulpit of other churches in years. They have people of all ages, including lots of young families with kids, and have lots of social organizations including Legion of Mary and Knights of Columbus. They’re up to 3 Sunday masses and two Daily masses per day now, and all three Sunday masses are filled to the brim with families and people. Plus they do confession 30 minutes before AND after each service! They also have a Sunday Social after the 9a masses where you can meet other people of the parish. And did I mention the priests? Awesome!!! You may want to give it another shot before giving up on them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top