Enduring another Mass

After my morning transportation adventures, I got back to Columbia Heights in time to walk over to Sacred Heart for their 10 a.m. Mass.

I don't know what it is about that church, but once again, they had long "extra" stuff to drag out Mass. This time, the priest was offering healing prayers and anointing those wishing Holy Unction. The problem was that he did this after the homily and before the creed, and I do believe that nearly the entire congregation is sick and ailing, as they flocked to stand in a long, long, single file line for their sacramental reception. It must have taken at least twenty minutes to get everyone through. They really should have put some of the other priests at the parish to work and had two or three anointing stations to move things along (though I would have preferred it had they done it after Mass). I got tired of hearing the praise band sing "There Is Balm in Gilead" over and over ad nauseam.

Meanwhile, sitting through that Mass, I thought I was going to die. There was a female singer someone needed to shoot to put out of her misery.

Things at this parish are still much the same as they were at my previous visit last month. The priest needs a liturgist. The congregation, especially the children, is undisciplined; it was like Romper Room in the south transept with all the babies crying and small children running around. The acolytes are untrained and the priest kept having to direct them. And the music....Holy Mary Mother of God.....the music! I try not to cringe when I hear amateur musicians offering their "gift" to God, I promise, I really do! I am but a weak mortal, though, and there is only so much I can do!

The service music today was a setting that sounded like it was based on the old American folk hymn Land of Rest ("Jerusalem, My Happy Home"). Richard Proulx wrote a similar setting called Land of Rest Acclamations; this may have been what they did, but there were several times I wasn't sure if they weren't doing the David Haas' Mass of Light instead. It was hard to know; the Land of Rest Acclamations setting is not in the Gather hymnal the parish uses at the Anglo services. The gospel alleluia, though, was an attempt at the Celtic Alleluia. The priest didn't chant the Sursum Corda or anything else. I have no idea what the psalm responsorial setting was, since music wasn't provided, and I wasn't able to grasp a tune well enough to sing along.

Hymns included Foundation (How firm a foundation) for the processional (played much slower than I ever do), "Be Not Afraid" for the offertory, Hymn to Joy (Joyful joyful we adore you) for the recessional (the congregation starts leaving before the altar party gets out of the sanctuary!!), and I forget what contemporary ditty it was they did for communion.

They have a woman pianist/singer I suspect is the parish music director who's actually pretty good, if you like pop church tunes. She occasionally sang and played filler music. After communion, there was a second collection, and she improvised a nice piece blending Hymn to Joy (the Beethoven theme) and the Quaker tune "Tis a Gift to Be Simple." Her instrumental ensemble today included a violin, flute, bass clarinet, and guitar; I think they all play by ear, rather than read written sheet music when they play. She kept fixing her hair in between music bits....I hope she got it the way she wanted!

As we left the church, the priest stood at the back door and greeted everyone with a robotic "good morning how are you? good morning how are you? good morning how are you? good morning how are you?" not ever engaging anyone in conversation, and keeping them moving out the door.

Outside, though, it was much more festive, as the usual Sunday morning street market lined the sidewalks around the church. If I ever get around to brushing up my Spanish, I'm going to start asking the vendors what some of those food things are they have piled up on their tables.

Meanwhile, the quest for a new parish home continues. I did happen to find an Episcopal parish that's a few blocks farther away than Sacred Heart. I almost visited them this morning, but I'd read about them on the internet, and I can already tell they won't be a good fit. This morning's celebrant was some lesbian priestess (with an online bio highlighting her civil union). She probably does inclusive language liturgy and refers to God as "She." The parish is very liberal and socially active in radical liberal causes, and they even let liberal protestors "camp" in their church for housing when they come to D.C. They've also got a weird parish layman self-governance thing, with a half-time "senior priest" instead of a full-time rector, and half a dozen stray volunteer assisting priests, all with liberal credentials in their bios. Nevertheless, I will visit the parish soon and go to Mass with an open mind. Maybe they'll have a good music program. I can ignore a liberal homily so long as the music is decent and they don't have liturgical dancers.