Church #101 - Holy Ghost, Providence

This church is prominently placed on Atwells Ave. I had a very strange, very beautiful Mass experience here last week. I walked here for the evening daily Mass, which I knew would be in Spanish. I originally thought I couldn't get in and I was mistaken about the Mass, which would hardly be the first time that's happened. It turns out I was the first one there - five minutes before the Mass was supposed to start.

The daily Mass room in the rectory

The priest tried to make it clear to me that the Mass would be in Spanish, and I'm not sure if I ever made it clear that I didn't mind. The Mass ended up being me, him, and one older Hispanic lady. I felt really bad because he insisted on saying the Mass in English, and I hope it didn't bother him too much. He read the Mass off a paper, and did a very good job despite the spoken language barrier. The readings were still in Spanish. It's a very sacred, intimate experience when there's that small of a congregation, and I'm so grateful to this priest for providing me the opportunity. I wrote him a note afterward thanking him for it.

The main Church is unusually beautiful, even by Providence's standards. It's made mostly of stone. It has a high ceiling with paintings on it and spectacular stained glass windows. There's a huge crucifix off to one side near the front. The organ seems unusually big to me, but I could very easily be wrong about that. I would love to return here for a Sunday Mass at some point.