R
Rich_C
Guest
I know Catholics in the deep South often have trouble finding traditional liturgies. Maybe this parish is not too far from you…
**Bible Belt Parish Builds God’s Kingdom **
An ‘extraordinary’ South Carolina parish models the New Evangelization — by offering both forms of the Roman rite daily.
by BRIAN MERSHON
link: ncregister.com/daily-news/bible-belt-parish-builds-gods-kingdom/
http://www.ncregister.com/images/sized/images/uploads/ccprocession1-255x341.jpg
Prince of Peace parishioners process with the Blessed Sacrament for the Feast of Corpus Christi 2013. More than 400 parishioners took part in the procession.
– John Olson
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Deep in the heart of the Bible Belt lies Greenville, S.C., home to Bob Jones University and many devout evangelical and fundamentalist Christians with an ingrained animus against Catholicism. So that makes it even more interesting that a Catholic parish, led by a former Baptist from Greenville who converted to Catholicism as a teenager, may serve as one model example of the New Evangelization down South.
Home to two full-time priests with advanced degrees in dogmatic theology who both ably offer both forms of the Roman rite and sacraments, Prince of Peace Catholic Church has nearly 2,000 households on its parish roster. The church is attracting families from diverse ethnic and language (Spanish, Vietnamese, French, German) backgrounds, as well as some of those evangelical and fundamentalist Christians yearning for the true Faith.
The parish — with a profound and deep love for the liturgy, solid catechesis, an active apostolate to the poor through its St. Vincent de Paul Society, as well as a burgeoning Catholic school — is a beacon in this mid-size Southern city, neatly tucked between Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.
Parishioners are engaged to the fullness of Catholic Tradition through celebration of both the ordinary and the extraordinary forms of the Mass. Both forms have been offered daily at Prince of Peace since Father Christopher Smith took the helm in late 2011.
Christie Mauritz, a wife and mother, is a recent convert who was first struck by the majesty of the liturgy.
“In January 2008, I attended a Catholic Mass for the first time at Prince of Peace,” she said. “After witnessing the beautiful reverence of the priest and parishioners in this special place, I began to thirst for the real truth of Christ and the Church he said he would build through St. Peter,” Mauritz said.
“During my first Mass, I immediately felt the presence of Jesus in my heart.”
Liturgy-Evangelism Link
As a Baptist member of the same church for 43 years, Mauritz said that not only was she attracted by the liturgy and the absolute truth she found in the Catholic faith, but that the helpful and kind parishioners showed true charity to her, her husband and family as they became actively involved in the life of the parish.
“As Baptists, we were taught to really go out and evangelize others about Jesus,” Mauritz added, so she was pleased to see this zeal at Prince of Peace.
The connection between a profound awe and participation in the sacred liturgy and then going forth to live lives as evangelical Christians is a familiar one to Father Smith. He notes that Pope Francis has said that the Church cannot simply be shut up in the sacristy.
“Some people take that as some type of implicit criticism of traditional liturgy, but it really is not at all, when it is properly understood,” said Father Smith.
“The beauty of the liturgy is not just something that ‘people in the know’ do as a hobby, but it is something that is to be a school of Christian service, so that we can go out and evangelize and perform acts of service and charity in the world,” he said.
“If that doesn’t happen in the life of the faithful, it is not the fault of the liturgy, but it is the fault of the Christian world not making that link between liturgy and life that is the essence of Christianity,” he said.
Home-Schooling Families
In addition to the daily celebration of both forms of the Roman rite, Prince of Peace has a growing Catholic school, a perpetual adoration chapel, a girls’ guild headed up by Mauritz, and numerous home-school families with an active co-op following noon Mass in the extraordinary form on Fridays during the school year.
Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/bible-belt-parish-builds-gods-kingdom/#ixzz2ak2ZVA00
**Bible Belt Parish Builds God’s Kingdom **
An ‘extraordinary’ South Carolina parish models the New Evangelization — by offering both forms of the Roman rite daily.
by BRIAN MERSHON
link: ncregister.com/daily-news/bible-belt-parish-builds-gods-kingdom/
http://www.ncregister.com/images/sized/images/uploads/ccprocession1-255x341.jpg
Prince of Peace parishioners process with the Blessed Sacrament for the Feast of Corpus Christi 2013. More than 400 parishioners took part in the procession.
– John Olson
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Deep in the heart of the Bible Belt lies Greenville, S.C., home to Bob Jones University and many devout evangelical and fundamentalist Christians with an ingrained animus against Catholicism. So that makes it even more interesting that a Catholic parish, led by a former Baptist from Greenville who converted to Catholicism as a teenager, may serve as one model example of the New Evangelization down South.
Home to two full-time priests with advanced degrees in dogmatic theology who both ably offer both forms of the Roman rite and sacraments, Prince of Peace Catholic Church has nearly 2,000 households on its parish roster. The church is attracting families from diverse ethnic and language (Spanish, Vietnamese, French, German) backgrounds, as well as some of those evangelical and fundamentalist Christians yearning for the true Faith.
The parish — with a profound and deep love for the liturgy, solid catechesis, an active apostolate to the poor through its St. Vincent de Paul Society, as well as a burgeoning Catholic school — is a beacon in this mid-size Southern city, neatly tucked between Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.
Parishioners are engaged to the fullness of Catholic Tradition through celebration of both the ordinary and the extraordinary forms of the Mass. Both forms have been offered daily at Prince of Peace since Father Christopher Smith took the helm in late 2011.
Christie Mauritz, a wife and mother, is a recent convert who was first struck by the majesty of the liturgy.
“In January 2008, I attended a Catholic Mass for the first time at Prince of Peace,” she said. “After witnessing the beautiful reverence of the priest and parishioners in this special place, I began to thirst for the real truth of Christ and the Church he said he would build through St. Peter,” Mauritz said.
“During my first Mass, I immediately felt the presence of Jesus in my heart.”
Liturgy-Evangelism Link
As a Baptist member of the same church for 43 years, Mauritz said that not only was she attracted by the liturgy and the absolute truth she found in the Catholic faith, but that the helpful and kind parishioners showed true charity to her, her husband and family as they became actively involved in the life of the parish.
“As Baptists, we were taught to really go out and evangelize others about Jesus,” Mauritz added, so she was pleased to see this zeal at Prince of Peace.
The connection between a profound awe and participation in the sacred liturgy and then going forth to live lives as evangelical Christians is a familiar one to Father Smith. He notes that Pope Francis has said that the Church cannot simply be shut up in the sacristy.
“Some people take that as some type of implicit criticism of traditional liturgy, but it really is not at all, when it is properly understood,” said Father Smith.
“The beauty of the liturgy is not just something that ‘people in the know’ do as a hobby, but it is something that is to be a school of Christian service, so that we can go out and evangelize and perform acts of service and charity in the world,” he said.
“If that doesn’t happen in the life of the faithful, it is not the fault of the liturgy, but it is the fault of the Christian world not making that link between liturgy and life that is the essence of Christianity,” he said.
Home-Schooling Families
In addition to the daily celebration of both forms of the Roman rite, Prince of Peace has a growing Catholic school, a perpetual adoration chapel, a girls’ guild headed up by Mauritz, and numerous home-school families with an active co-op following noon Mass in the extraordinary form on Fridays during the school year.
Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/bible-belt-parish-builds-gods-kingdom/#ixzz2ak2ZVA00
