Recommendations for a Dallas area church?

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heavenlyhost

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Hello,

We are looking for a Catholic church, preferably within a 30 minute drive from Plano that has solid conservative teaching, beauty and reverence, well spoken homilies, edifying music, friendly people who are striving to live their lives in a Godly manner, and opportunities for devout families with preteens and teens to get to know one another and have fellowship.

Does such a place exist?

I am a Catholic revert who appreciates the faith of my youth now more than ever, but misses some of the above characteristics since reverting from evangelical protestantism.

Thank you,

Rachel
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Plano has a number of good Catholic churches-Prince of Peace, Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Mark’s to name few. For High School Ministry, you cannot beat St. Ann’s in Coppell. There are many young men from there in priestly formation, and God willing, my daughter is discerning her call to be a nun or sister. There is also All Saints in Richardson and St. Patricks in Lake Highlands, I believe.
Were it me, I would give a strong preference to the church I live closest to–makes it a lot easier to get involved and stay involved, beyond meeting your weekly obligation.
 
WHOAAAA! This sounds like protestant church shopping!

TXSTM, do you know that if you go to a parish that is not yours, you are still required to financially support your own parish, AND the one you are attending?
 
Thank you for the reccomendations. Do you know St Thomas Aquinas in Dallas? We really liked it when we visited, for a number of reasons, especially the homilies and music. We were also delighted to meet several people on our initial visits, seems like a welcoming place.

Rachel
 
fencersmother said:
WHOAAAA! This sounds like protestant church shopping!

TXSTM, do you know that if you go to a parish that is not yours, you are still required to financially support your own parish, AND the one you are attending?
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I’ve never heard this before. Do you have any proof?

Also, very uncharitable thing to say in the first line, both towards the OP and our Protestant brothers and sisters. Catholics are more than welcome to attend a parish they like over the one closest to them.
 
St Thomas Aquinas used to have daily & Sunday FSSP TLM, but no longer…cancelled by the pastor in about 2007.
Mater Dei Parish is in Irving, about 25min from Plano and all highway travel.
They have a TLM by the FSSP priests on Sunday at 7:30a (Low);9:00a (High Mass);11:30a (Low). Masses also during the week.
Confessions before Mass. See Schedule HERE . Give it a try. Come 20min. early because it’s FULL++ at every Mass.

BTW: You may join any parish you prefer, and support only that parish. If you change parish membership, you should notify the parish that you exit, and let them know your new parish.
Support is required only to the parish you join.
The requirement to belong to the parish closest to your kitchen has long been abolished.
heavenlyhost said:
Hello,

We are looking for a Catholic church, preferably within a 30 minute drive from Plano that has solid conservative teaching, beauty and reverence, well spoken homilies, edifying music, friendly people who are striving to live their lives in a Godly manner, and opportunities for devout families with preteens and teens to get to know one another and have fellowship.

Does such a place exist?

I am a Catholic revert who appreciates the faith of my youth now more than ever, but misses some of the above characteristics since reverting from evangelical protestantism.

Thank you,

Rachel
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TNT,

Thank you for the feedback and for the clarification on the local parish issue. This is America, right? Glad to know we still have some freedoms;)

I am intrigued by the Latin mass, but not so sure my two boys (age 12 and 15) and husband will be. Though it may be worth checking out Mater Dei. Do you happen to know when they offer youth catechesis? Best I could glean from their website, it looks like Sundays at 1 pm? - until ? (what time does it end?)

Right now St Thomas Aquinas is my first choice, but will seriously consider making a trip out to Mater Dei, especially if the catechesis for the boys there could work out.

Thanks,

Rachel
 
Didn’t mean to offend anyone, but it really does sound like the same logic, to my untrained ear, as my protestant friends and family use when church shopping: they don’t like the building of this one, the minister of that one, the organist, the youth group, the …

Here’s a thread on this subject:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=297401

Don’t know if the rules were actually “abolished” or if it’s a case of just no one cares any more.
 
fencersmother said:
Didn’t mean to offend anyone, but it really does sound like the same logic, to my untrained ear, as my protestant friends and family use when church shopping: they don’t like the building of this one, the minister of that one, the organist, the youth group, the …

Here’s a thread on this subject:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=297401

Don’t know if the rules were actually “abolished” or if it’s a case of just no one cares any more.
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And there certainly are Catholics who move from parish to parish for similar reasons. This really isn’t a uniquely Protestant thing. Furthermore, there are also Protestants who are firmly opposed to such a mentality, as are some Catholics.
 
Well, someone’s doing it because I didn’t make up the phrase “church shopping.”

It’s not an uncommon thing for Protestants or Catholics or Mormons (less so, since they have more control by their bishops). It’s bound to happen, especially in urban & suburban areas where there may be several churches available. And there are many reasons to attend one parish over another.

I am not judging anyone for going to a different parish.
 
It is hard enough to raise a Godly family these days, and harder still a Godly Catholic family, with teenagers without having a strong church beside you with like minded families to turn to for support and encouragement.

We families need all the supports that the church has to do this remarkable task of raising up Godly teens. We have tried numerous times at the local parish and even tried to change things, but the irreverence on multiple levels, the awful wasted homilies, the cringe worthy music, and sappy fluffy faith formation program are just not even close to adequate in helping to supporting the faith goals for our family.

So I make no apology in my efforts to get my family to the best the area has so we can grow in faith with like minded others who are serious about Jesus Christ.

Rachel
 
We do not attend our local parish either, for many of the same reasons (not all). Our parish has had seven pastors in 15 years, and we’ve experienced priests who leave to start their own churches, priests marrying the sisters in our local school, you name it.

It is difficult to raise kids to grow up and be devoted to the Church. We found that homeschooling was more influential than our local parish in training up the kids (who are all now adults, attend daily mass, one discerning the priesthood).

But, we were told by our local pastor that our obligation was still to support the local parish, because it is still our local parish.

I don’t know what the official “rules” are regarding all this…

Again, didn’t mean to offend.

I’ll butt out now.
 
Already am homeschooling one child, and the other moving to a private Christian school. So gotcha there.

Things get a lot more challenging when you have teenagers. Keeping them true to the faith takes every bit of dedication, wisdom, influence, and of course prayer! Having a wonderful parish by your side and if you are lucky enough to find Godly peers is almost a necessity in my book in order to not either be isolated or surrounded with negative influences constantly.
 
fencersmother said:
WHOAAAA! This sounds like protestant church shopping!

TXSTM, do you know that if you go to a parish that is not yours, you are still required to financially support your own parish, AND the one you are attending?/QUOT

Source, please?
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Our parish priest told us - that’s my only source.

This was from another thread on CA, written by FrDavid96:

First, you have to understand how Catholic parishes work. A parish is a territory. It is all of the people living within a certain geographic area. Therefore, the parish where you are a member is the parish where you live. It doesn’t matter where you lived before, and it doesn’t matter what parish you “prefer” (whatever the reason). I can quote the relevant parts of canon law if you need them.

It also makes no difference where you happen to be “registered” because parish registration has absolutely nothing to do with parish membership. You are a member where you live, regardless of whether or not you’re registered there, or whether you’re registered somewhere else. I know you didn’t ask about this, but I bring it up because there’s a bit of misinformation that often gets posted here at CAF telling people to register at a parish of choice.

He continues:

Yes, Catholics do have an obligation to support their parishes, but that’s really not the point at the moment. The point is that your parish is the parish where you live, not the parish that you happen to choose; unless of course, you decide on a house based on the parish.

The only exceptions to the above would be what the Church calls “personal parishes.” No, that doesn’t mean “someone’s private property” despite the name. What it means is that the parish is determined by “persons” instead of territory. These are usually parishes established for a certain nationality, or parishes established for the Extraordinary Form (the “Latin Mass”), or the Anglican use. From what you’ve posted, these don’t seem to apply.

Just to reinforce what I wrote above. Keep in mind that if you attend a parish that is not your own proper parish, you are opening yourself up to many, many potential problems in the future–especially with a little one on the way.

No doubt, there are going to be some responses here suggesting that you ignore canon law and just do as you please. This question comes up fairly often. Before you consider their advice, ask yourself a simple question: When I encounter problems six months, or five years in the future because I followed the advice of some stranger on CAF, and ignored canon law, will that stranger be there to support me when I do have problems?

Edit: You may visit any Catholic parish anywhere. You’re always free to do this.
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Here’s the whole thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=638880
 
I live in Denton, northwest of Plano. The only real experience I have with parishes in that area is St. Francis of Assisi in Frisco. This parish is pretty solid and they just built a new traditional-styled church building. However, I also love St. Thomas Aquinas and Christ the King, both of which are in the city of Dallas.

If you are more traditionally minded and can’t make it to Mater Dei in Irving, you might want to try St. Sophia Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. It would be a neat experience.
 
NorthTexan88 said:
I live in Denton, northwest of Plano. The only real experience I have with parishes in that area is St. Francis of Assisi in Frisco. This parish is pretty solid and they just built a new traditional-styled church building. However, I also love St. Thomas Aquinas and Christ the King, both of which are in the city of Dallas.

If you are more traditionally minded and can’t make it to Mater Dei in Irving, you might want to try St. Sophia Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. It would be a neat experience.
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There is also St. Basil the Great Byzantine Catholic Church in Irving. I know the pastor, and I visited the parish once when I was in Dallas. I definitely recommend visiting.
 
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