J
Justin1224
Guest
I often wonder for those of us to have many years of experience of going to mass where comtemporary hymnody is used and then where some things are done that might not always follow the rubrics or might not be appropriate, If we consider those things the norm, and that they are acceptable because that is what our experience has been. Since I started going to mass regularly at age 8 I have been part of two different parishes, one of which I’m part of now and then my college experience of liturgy at Magdalen.
It was the mid 80s when I started going to mass. My grandmother would take me to the Sunday morning mass. Music that morning was usually a folk group. I don’t remember many of the songs we sung, but one of my favorites was Arise, Come Sing In The Morning. Our hymnal for Sunday morning mass was “Songprayers” published by North American Liturgy Resources. It just had the lyrics. When I made my first communion the entrance hymn was We Are The World. We also sang If I Were A Butterfly. We also had girl altar servers. I became an altar server a few months after my first communion. My grandmother’s friend was the organist, she normally played for the Saturday evening mass which sang more tradtional hymns like “Faith of Our Fathers” and “Priestly People” out of the We Celebrate hymnal published by J.S. Paluch. The priest who was our pastor then was there only 2 more years and then was transfered to the church I now go to.
Our new pastor became a good friend of mine. He was more liberal but also more traditional.
He stripped the church bare for Lent and we also had Vespers on Sunday evenings, and morning and evening prayer during the Triduum. He’s the only priest I’ve experienced in my home parish that covered statues for Holy Week. The first Easter Vigil I ever went to was in 1987 (the was when our previous pastor, from whom I received my 1st holy communion, was still there). Holy Saturday was today that year and our Vigil started at 7 pm.
Our new pastor started his first Vigil (1988) at 8 pm. We only did 4 of the 7 reading but I do recall one of the readings being the story of dry bones from Ezekiel. I remember he hid all the Easter flowers before the vigil behind the altar so they couldn’t be seen and then had arranged for the santuary to to decorated with flowers during the Gloria. We had a pool set up for the font and they baptized two children (ages 7 & 8) that night. I was an altar server that night and we rang bells during the gloria too.
We had a procession on Palm Sunday, none of our other priests did, and I recall us ringing the bells during the procession.
On Holy Thursday he did the washing of the feet of 12 parishoners, he would come to each person, pick up the persons foot, kiss it (he’s the only priest I’ve seen do this), and then wash it. Our previous pastor did the washing of hands ( I have a memory of walking into the sacristy to serve mass the 1st time I ever went to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and saw a couple of people tearing paper towels off a a roll to use in the washing of hands.)
During the Easter Season we did the sprinkling every Sunday, he had me or one of the other altar servers carry a punch bowl down the aisle beside him as he sprinkled the congregation.
He loved incense. He used it all the time. I had thought that it was only used at funerals because thats the only time our previous pastor ever used it. He arrived at our parish in July 1987. When i went to serve mass on the Feast of Christ the King I remember him telling me that he was going to use incense. Then we used it during the Christmas Season, and then during Holy Week. It seemed to go that if he wasn’t wearing green or violet, he would used incense at mass.
He sometimes would use pita bread for mass instead of hosts, He usually did this on Holy Thursday. He also started celebrating a thanksgiving day mass. A few days before thanksgiving the CCD students got together to bake bread. On Thanksgiving day morning, after our first snow storm of the season I walk to mass. The loaves that had been baked were displayed in front of the altar, were blessed and then distruted to parishoners to use at dinner that day. He used one of the loaves for mass. I brought my gram a loaf and she claimed that the blessed loaf lasted her until Christmas. For the Feast of Corpus Christi he bought a loaf of Hawaiian sweet that we used for Mass. During the Lamb of God he would tear it up into small pieces for the distribution of communion. After mass when everyone had left, he and I ate the fragments that were left over.
We also had an All Hallow’s Eve mass. Everyone would gather in costume around a big bonfire outside. Father wore a black chasuble with orange cut outs of stars, crescent moons and ringed planets pasted all over it. We did the beginning of mass and the readings; Rev. 7:2-4,9-14, 1Jn 3:1-3, Mt 5:1-12 around the bonfire and then process into the church singing When The Saints Go Marching In and would continue with the liturgy of the Eucharist. The mass was later written about in the diocesan newspaper, not condeming it but praising it as a creative idea.
About in the middle of his tenure as pastor he undertook the task of renovating the church. The layout was modeled similarly to another church of the same name in another diocese, with the altar in the middle and then the pews in a U formation around the altar. the floor level of the back pews is about a foot higher than the floor around the altar.
After the renovation I remember us having a youth mass one Sunday evening during Advent. Father explained that masses come in all different shapes and sizes. We had this space in front of the altar and usually there was a large ornamental rug there, except during Lent. We sat in a circle on the floor, father included, and he celebrated Mass with us.
Our parish had the tradition of having a children’s mass on Christmas eve, started before I started going to mass regularly. We had a pageant during the mass with reading the Gospel narrative of the Nativity from Luke with the youth playing the parts of Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, the Magi, and an infant got to play the part of Jesus. Our new pastor let his dog play the role of a sheep. After communion a couple kids with pull in a wagon with a birthday cake while we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Every year one of the musicians who provided the music for Mass would sing John and Yoko’s So This Is Christmas. They still sing it every year there. Its usually only at Christmas now that I go mass there, since I’ve moved out of my mom’s house and joined another parish.
This priest left the parish in 1993. He was one of my favorites, the next two priests that came i got along with but we were not as close, they were more laid back and simple.
Thats all I have to share for now, but I will answer any questions you have.
It was the mid 80s when I started going to mass. My grandmother would take me to the Sunday morning mass. Music that morning was usually a folk group. I don’t remember many of the songs we sung, but one of my favorites was Arise, Come Sing In The Morning. Our hymnal for Sunday morning mass was “Songprayers” published by North American Liturgy Resources. It just had the lyrics. When I made my first communion the entrance hymn was We Are The World. We also sang If I Were A Butterfly. We also had girl altar servers. I became an altar server a few months after my first communion. My grandmother’s friend was the organist, she normally played for the Saturday evening mass which sang more tradtional hymns like “Faith of Our Fathers” and “Priestly People” out of the We Celebrate hymnal published by J.S. Paluch. The priest who was our pastor then was there only 2 more years and then was transfered to the church I now go to.
Our new pastor became a good friend of mine. He was more liberal but also more traditional.
He stripped the church bare for Lent and we also had Vespers on Sunday evenings, and morning and evening prayer during the Triduum. He’s the only priest I’ve experienced in my home parish that covered statues for Holy Week. The first Easter Vigil I ever went to was in 1987 (the was when our previous pastor, from whom I received my 1st holy communion, was still there). Holy Saturday was today that year and our Vigil started at 7 pm.
Our new pastor started his first Vigil (1988) at 8 pm. We only did 4 of the 7 reading but I do recall one of the readings being the story of dry bones from Ezekiel. I remember he hid all the Easter flowers before the vigil behind the altar so they couldn’t be seen and then had arranged for the santuary to to decorated with flowers during the Gloria. We had a pool set up for the font and they baptized two children (ages 7 & 8) that night. I was an altar server that night and we rang bells during the gloria too.
We had a procession on Palm Sunday, none of our other priests did, and I recall us ringing the bells during the procession.
On Holy Thursday he did the washing of the feet of 12 parishoners, he would come to each person, pick up the persons foot, kiss it (he’s the only priest I’ve seen do this), and then wash it. Our previous pastor did the washing of hands ( I have a memory of walking into the sacristy to serve mass the 1st time I ever went to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and saw a couple of people tearing paper towels off a a roll to use in the washing of hands.)
During the Easter Season we did the sprinkling every Sunday, he had me or one of the other altar servers carry a punch bowl down the aisle beside him as he sprinkled the congregation.
He loved incense. He used it all the time. I had thought that it was only used at funerals because thats the only time our previous pastor ever used it. He arrived at our parish in July 1987. When i went to serve mass on the Feast of Christ the King I remember him telling me that he was going to use incense. Then we used it during the Christmas Season, and then during Holy Week. It seemed to go that if he wasn’t wearing green or violet, he would used incense at mass.
He sometimes would use pita bread for mass instead of hosts, He usually did this on Holy Thursday. He also started celebrating a thanksgiving day mass. A few days before thanksgiving the CCD students got together to bake bread. On Thanksgiving day morning, after our first snow storm of the season I walk to mass. The loaves that had been baked were displayed in front of the altar, were blessed and then distruted to parishoners to use at dinner that day. He used one of the loaves for mass. I brought my gram a loaf and she claimed that the blessed loaf lasted her until Christmas. For the Feast of Corpus Christi he bought a loaf of Hawaiian sweet that we used for Mass. During the Lamb of God he would tear it up into small pieces for the distribution of communion. After mass when everyone had left, he and I ate the fragments that were left over.
We also had an All Hallow’s Eve mass. Everyone would gather in costume around a big bonfire outside. Father wore a black chasuble with orange cut outs of stars, crescent moons and ringed planets pasted all over it. We did the beginning of mass and the readings; Rev. 7:2-4,9-14, 1Jn 3:1-3, Mt 5:1-12 around the bonfire and then process into the church singing When The Saints Go Marching In and would continue with the liturgy of the Eucharist. The mass was later written about in the diocesan newspaper, not condeming it but praising it as a creative idea.
About in the middle of his tenure as pastor he undertook the task of renovating the church. The layout was modeled similarly to another church of the same name in another diocese, with the altar in the middle and then the pews in a U formation around the altar. the floor level of the back pews is about a foot higher than the floor around the altar.
After the renovation I remember us having a youth mass one Sunday evening during Advent. Father explained that masses come in all different shapes and sizes. We had this space in front of the altar and usually there was a large ornamental rug there, except during Lent. We sat in a circle on the floor, father included, and he celebrated Mass with us.
Our parish had the tradition of having a children’s mass on Christmas eve, started before I started going to mass regularly. We had a pageant during the mass with reading the Gospel narrative of the Nativity from Luke with the youth playing the parts of Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, the Magi, and an infant got to play the part of Jesus. Our new pastor let his dog play the role of a sheep. After communion a couple kids with pull in a wagon with a birthday cake while we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Every year one of the musicians who provided the music for Mass would sing John and Yoko’s So This Is Christmas. They still sing it every year there. Its usually only at Christmas now that I go mass there, since I’ve moved out of my mom’s house and joined another parish.
This priest left the parish in 1993. He was one of my favorites, the next two priests that came i got along with but we were not as close, they were more laid back and simple.
Thats all I have to share for now, but I will answer any questions you have.