Catholic Content

...which I occasionally include--there are so many others better suited to write about the Church than I.

Izzy and I visited a large Catholic church (with an "award-winning school," as the Padre reminded us several times) last Sunday. When we arrived, I looked at the Bulletin and got excited about the music. Hymns included "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" and "Church of God, Elect and Glorious" (tune Hyfrydol), and saw that we would also sing One Bread, One Body. There was an organ AND modern-style icons. Modern and conservative.

I assumed we'd found a more conservative church, which was both confirmed (by the content) and disproved (by the substitution of a guest speaker from a pro-life organization without any preaching by the priest) in the homily. I've seen guest speakers, just not the ambo turned over completely to someone non-ordained.

So, what's worth blogging about? Ad libbing.

Our home Parish is certainly not known as conservative, but even our priest adheres to the adage: "Say what is in black; do what is in red." This Msgr. read almost nothing from any book. He added to or changed the introduction to the Gospel, the Eucharistic prayer, and the final blessing. It really seemed as if he was reciting from memory. No Sacramentary was visible on the altar.

Most interesting, he performed a baptism without using any printed materials. Even as newish Catholics (Sunday was the 3rd anniversary of our reception into the Church), we recognized that bits of the form were missing. The child was not presented with a candle until the end of Mass--it was obvious that this had been forgotten. The parents were not asked what they wanted from the church; there was no litany of the saints. I'm not sure if anyone renounced Satan or his works. We did get an interesting innovation of having the congregation extend their hands towards the child while pronouncing the blessing, one phrase at a time, with the priest.

I've read a lot in St. Blogs about people's dissatisfaction with liturgical innovations. Hadn't seen it before. I think I'd rather sing melody on "On Eagles Wings" again than watch ad libbed rituals.

And now I know how I feel about that.