Fact: Missa Cantata at St. Ann's Charlotte - Ascension Thrusday, May 21st

Official communication has come out from internal sources at St. Ann's in Charlotte that there will be a Missa Cantata on Ascension Thursday, May 21st, at 7.00pm.

What a fantastic blessing on the flock of city of Charlotte, to not only have a Mass offered on the actual day of Ascension itself, but a Mass in the Extraordinary Form Missa Cantata!!

Please share with all of your firends and family to support Father Reid in this wonderful grace-fill event!

Viri Galillaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in caelum? (Introit of Ascension Thursday)

Grapevine: Missa Cantata at St. Ann's??

I am hearing that there may be a Missa Cantata at St. Ann's for Ascension Thursday. There have been more than enough servers trained at St. Ann's in Charlotte, and I understand a Schola Cantorum has been practicing... please pray that this can soon be reported as a "fact" on our blog.


Introibo ad altare Dei.... ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam

Fact: Resurrexit sicut dixit!

Identity: Veiling of Images for Passiontide

As we are deep into Passiontide, I thought that I would share a small element of our lost Catholic Identity that is starting to make a bit more of a comeback. The covering of statues and sacred images beginning with the First Passion Sunday (i.e. the Sunday before Palm Sunday).

As with all the sacramentals of the Catholic Church, the imagery and focus that it creates for the faithful is amazing. An old priest I knew used to describe it as the Church, as the Body of Christ, dying in a physical way. Father Z on his blog as also described it similarly in that Holy Mother Church begins to slowly "take things away" from us, with the lacking making us more away of what is missing the deeper we get into the Triduum until Holy Friday when the silence and bareness of the church gives a stunning symbolism of the dying and suffering Saviour.

To put it another way... it is the same feeling I get after the Feast of the Epiphany when I take down all the Christmas decorations and the tree... the emptiness created in the house is amazing. That is the same feeling that the Church is trying to create in us... a feeling of emptiness and loss... until that glorious moment of the Great Easter Vigil... the Gloria in Excelsis and the opening of the lights, the lighting of the candles, and yes, the unveiling of the images! All that was lost in returned to us and more!

In my old beloved Italian parish of San Leonardo in Boston, we move from Friday's statue in the crypt church of Gesu' Morto (the dead Jesus statue) last seen as the "burial cloth" is pulled over it to the Easter Vigil uncovering on the high altar of the grand statue of Gesu' Risorto! (the risen and glorious Christ).

Some of our protestant brothers dislike our use of statuary and sacred images, but we Catholics do not worship the images themselves , but use them in helping a human with five "physical" senses to create the mental and "spiritual" imagine.

As I mentioned, the more liberal or "modern" parishes have shunned this veiling practice, but it should not surprise us, at least here in Charlotte, that where the more traditional and orthodox priest lead their flocks... namely St. Ann's and St. Michael's... the images are veiled! (Note: I understand that St. Michael's images are not covered this year, but have been in the past).

So as we move into this Holiest of weeks... and "die" with Christ & his Holy Church let us pray in the Holy Friday song of the Italians...

Sono stato, io l'ingrato; Gesu' mio, perdon, pieta'!

Identity: Male Altar Servers

Once again I must beg the indulgence of my dear Readers for my long absence from posting. Much of the goings-on in our economy have hit hard in the Banking industry of which I am remain quite proud to work for. That said, I may have a few future posts that will express my absolute horror of the governmental direction of this country, but that is for the future if I decide I want to wade into potential political controversy.

Although today’s posting may not be so uncontroversial either, but it goes to the heart of a key element of Catholic identity that we have lost: Male-only altar servers! No I am sure this will upset some folks who will immediately take issue with the central thesis of post, but to you say in advance, get your own blog and share your failed ideas there (I know, perhaps I bit uncharitable there, but I feel strongly on this one.)

Young men and boy altar servers were once the norm of our Faith. Unlike what you see in most parishes today, it was the only norm, and it was often the key to the call of a sacred priestly vocation. The development of a bond between priest and server in the old rite was very important in sparking the instillation of education and understanding of the priest’s role in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The boys who had to get up early before school, even on Saturdays to help serve Father at Mass, especially for private Masses, was key to showing the young man that even without a church-full of people, the offering of Mass was a constant need to be lifted up to God! It gave new meaning to Christ’s words “where 2 or more of you are gathered in my name, there am I also!”

The server’s role at Adoration and Benediction, his preparation of the priestly attire and holy accruements, the server’s responses on behalf of the people naturally brought the young man into a role as an intermediary not unlike that of the priest, but obviously to a lesser degree. However it was in these encounters of serving and assisting the priest in the mystery of the sacraments, that if there was a calling, the young man could begin to explore it, advancing his involvement in serving and more importantly, sharing his discernment with his pastor.

Now, some folks will say… “Yeah right, so if I even agree with your principle premise that proximity to the priest in the offering of the Sacraments leads to vocations, then there are still male altar servers who can have that calling take place.”

And now we get to the crux of the controversy. (Disclaimer: I am not a researcher, and I will not for the sake of a part-time blog bother to find the citations that will prove my point, because what I will be stating is all too readily known by those who have or know young people.) When we think of the typical age of an altar server, perhaps 8-18 years old, we all know a couple of facts…1) girls develop faster at younger ages that do boys, and 2) boys want very little to do with girls at these younger ages. We must clearly face the facts that boys and girls are different (so are men and women, and that is the way in which God made us!)

By allowing girls to serve at the altar, we cause harm to the cause of vocations and general confusion of the faithful in the following ways:

• The faster developing girls “catch on faster” to the tasks of serving and fill a natural leadership role which leads to the girls being “in charge” and that boys, who want little to do with them in general at this age, will decide not to be a part of a group where the girls are doing and leading.

• By having girls at the altar, they too, as with a boy, get to see up close the priest’s life and have a natural desire to want to emulate or become it (as we would hope for a boy) but which is a totally false vocation for the girl. It sets her, and the faithful that see her at the altar, up for a confusion of roles.

I am not out of my tree or in another universe here. And those individuals who are honest with themselves and have seen parish life outside of the comfort of perhaps their own parish know what I am saying is true. A mixed server parish has a majority ratio of their servers as girls, and the excuse is always “we cannot get enough boys who want to serve.” (hmm, I wonder why?)

Parishes that use boy-only servers are full of young men and boys willing to serve. Why at St. Michael’s parish in Gastonia, NC, near Charlotte, the 10.00am Sunday Mass (Novus Ordo) can have as many as 17 servers for that one Mass alone! All dressed in their cassocks and cotta, and the mother of 3 of the boys has told me that her boys love to serve because “it makes them feel like men”. Isn’t that a nice thing to see… a positive role model for your young men in today’s society?

Also, at the weekly Mass in the Extraordinary form held at St. Ann’s parish at 6.00pm on Wednesday nights, while it is a still a Low Mass with only two servers, there can been as many as six additional boys “sitting in choir” (a total of 8), ready and waiting for the time that Father Reid can progress the Low Mass to a Missa Cantata. And listen to this...there are boys standing in the back of the church longing for their opportunity to be serving the altar…LONGING to be closer to the priest and to Christ on the altar. My dear Readers… this is from where our future priests will come!

If you doubt the power of God’s call on our young or of those you who consider it an honor to serve the priest, I would ask you to go over to the blog of an incredible young man whom I have referenced before. His journey of discernment and his call to faith is heart-warming, and I ask all of you to pray for him that God’s Will be done, whatever path that may be for him.

Lastly, if anyone doubt to power and draw of serving at God’s altar, and being around other religious and reverent minded boys, please take the time to read St. John Bosco’s biography on the life of St. Domenico Savio. As part of my Lenten journey this year, I was moved to read it again, and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes when one sees the faith and innocence of this saintly youth, who grew up in as difficult and evil a time as what we feel now, but managed to live by his motto of “Death, but not sin!” I feel so unworthy when I measure myself against this young boy!

But the key to my point regarding St. Domenico Savio is not just his holiness, but through his closeness of serving St. Don Bosco, and inspiring others of his age to also participate, vocations grew, from which came the entire Salesian order! The key to any generation’s future is dependent on its youth. The future of our priesthood is likewise dependent on the male youths of our parishes. We must do all that we can to help any calling that God may be sending to be heard amongst the din of debauchery that society surrounds our youth with…the true work of the Devil to deprive us of the lifeblood that the sacred hands of priest are concentrated for… the Eucharist!

Ss Domenico Savio e Luigi Gonzaga, Patrons of Catholic Youth, pray for our young people and for holy priests!

Identity: Priestly and Religious Attire

I have written many times before about those key elements of Catholic identity that used to just "scream" Catholicism... Fish on Fridays, Reverent Silence, the Real Presence, etc. One that has been burning in the back of my mind for quite some time is the topic of today's post: Priestly & Religious Attire.

This has recently bubbled to the top of my mind because of a two recent events... 1) I saw an example that screamed out to me and 2) a very long airport delay that has provided me with that precious commodity of time.

After many, many months of business travel, I was finally able to steal a weekend back home in Boston and went to my beloved immigrant parish in which I grew up and have so often shared with you as a model of maintaining much of it's Catholic identity. As I finished kneeling before the tabernacle before Mass, a number of old and dear friends noticed me and gave a nod or wave.

Then two young men came up the aisle in their jeans, turtle-neck sweaters, and back-packs, waltzed pass the tabernacle and into the sacristy. I said to myself, "Well, Father must have gotten some new servers since I had left, but they need a bit of a lesson on reverence and dress."
Father then came out of the Sacristy, in his Franciscan habit and came over to say hello to me. I thought this was a bit odd, since Mass was very near starting, but then it happened...

To my horror, the two young men reappeared from the Sacristy, one in a rose chasuble, the other in a rose Deacon's stole! The priest had his turtle neck sweater sticking out of the neck of the alb. After Mass, back in the "civilian" clothes, back-packs on... and out to "mission" to the masses!

But exactly what mission? I find it no small coincidence that shortly after this happened, our Holy Father addressed the priests of Rome and told them that they need to be visibile in the world. If they are seen leaving the church, and walking into the caffe, the priest and deacon that I described above bear no witness to their sacred office.

And I do not mean to only speak of priests, but other religious too, who have "kicked the habit" and moved into their stylish business suits with a lapel cross. We have children today that have never seen a nun in habit which gives the horrible impression that they "no longer exist". Who would ever desire to be a nun when they have never "seen" one.

One can say..."clothes not make the man" ... but I differ strongly with that line of argument. When I dressed as a kid in my "Sunday best" I knew I could not do the "normal" things that would get them dirty... it was different. When dressed for a wedding or business meeting... there is an air of difference in those attending. Even now there is a "corporate" uniform that I must wear.

Taking this discussion outside of the religious context... what is more reassuring (unless you are speeding!) than the site of policeman in uniform? The uniform that they wear immediately broadcasts their vocation and role in society. The only time that they do not wear it is when "under-cover" to try to hide their identity. The witness of priestly and religious attire does make a difference. The lack of its display gives an air of contempt and shame for the sacred office for which they should be happy and proud to have been called.

It is amazing to me just how inter-related so many of our stuggles withing the Church are directly related to each other and to the loss of our Catholic identity. A priest or religious not wearing religious attire has a direct impact on vocations.... the same as allowing the loss of male-only altar servers.... and the loss of sacred reverence as we have discussed in an early post.

So, I hope and pray this is all a passing "fad" of those priest and religious raised in the turbulent 60's when distain for authority and "uniformity" was in clear ascendance. I pray for all priest... I pray for more priests... I pray for many more holy priests.

St. John Vianney, Patron of all Priests, pray for our holy priests!

Identity: The Saints

Gentle Readers... I must beg your forgiveness for my long silence, but alas, my day job is in banking, and if you have been following the news these last number of months, to say that things have been busy lately would be the understatement of the year. (St. Matthew, Patron of Bankers, Pray for me)

I am a bit late in posting for All Saints, but given that we are still in November, when Holy Mother Church asks us to pray throughout the month for our Dead, I think the timing will remain appropriate.

As I discussed in my last post regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary, if dedication to her remains strong, our dedication to the rest of the Communion of Saints is beyond waning. When was the last time you heard the Litany of Saints sung or when the life of a Saint was preached from the pulpit. When was the last time that the patron saint of your church was celebrated on his feast day with a special Mass and a procession around the church?

In a time when mankind thinks that they themselves are gods, what need to we have of mere imitators of Christ? But it is exactly this hubris of our modern society that cries out that we more than ever look to the saints of the Church as a model of humility and love of the one true God!

Stand up in your parish and form a society for your parish's patron saint! Organize an annual carnival or bazaar in honor of your saint's feast day and organize a procession... Here is St. Anthony festival in Boston: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sd87gaz9Uw and for continuity, here it is in 1956!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRJwLMDfnsg&NR=1 )

Hold other fundraisers to raise money to award scholarships to students who study and write a paper on the life of a saint of their choice. Have your confirmation students do studies on the confirmation names that they choose.

It is up to all of us, and the parish priests to again bring these holy models and imitators of Christ back into focus so that we sinful and weak humans might have comfort in fact that there is hope for us a well, since the saints were human too.

Santa Maria, San Giuseppe, e San Orante... Orate pro nobis!