Church #142 - Holy Family, Pawtucket

Like several other Pawtucket parishes, Holy Family has two churches. Between them they offer three weekend Masses and daily Mass, and the bulletin helpfully lists Spanish Masses at St. John the Baptist nearby, though it doesn't seem like the two parishes are affiliated in any other way. The parish's primary church is called St. Joseph church, right next to St. Ray's on Walcott street, and is pictured above. The outside picture is old, since I forgot to take one when I went back, and I have no idea why I picked such an obstructed view.

The second church is Our Lady of Consolation, pictured above and below. It has one Mass per week, early on Sunday morning, and this is where I actually attended Mass at the parish. I had no idea this church existed until I looked at the parish web site, and totally overlooked it on my April walk. It has marble pillars and some awesome paintings behind the altar. It also has the canopy-like structure over the altar and tabernacle that you see in some big old churches, which according to Wikipedia is called a Ciborium. It was the church's first Mass with its brand new pastor, Fr. Craddock, who introduced himself during his homily. 

Church #141 - St. Veronica Chapel, Narragansett

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm counting this as an "official" church to keep the total at a satisfyingly round 150. Schedule-wise, I wasn't able to make it here for the well-advertised "Last Call Mass," so I came for the Saturday afternoon Vigil Mass instead. While I missed out on seeing the vaunted Fr. Taillon, the young visiting priest did an excellent job, and the place was jam packed.

The chapel's pews form a U shape around the altar that's wider than it is long. It has white walls and unexpectedly nice stained glass windows. They were made by a man in Pittsburgh and installed very recently, as demonstrated by their featuring JPII and Mother Teresa.

Church #140 - St. Andrew, Block Island

The Summer Church

I always intended to go here on a weekend, but that never worked schedule-wise. Luckily, I realized that I could make the daily Mass here if I left on the earliest ferry, so I did just that this morning. This parish has two distinct facilities - a normal church for the summer months, and a small space attached to the rectory and parish offices for the offseason.

The summer church is just a block down the street from the "downtown" area where the ferry docks. It's pretty small, and made almost entirely with wood. There's kind of a strange, abstract corpus on the cross. It has some large and unexpectedly nice stained glass windows captioned in French. Its entrance is a designated Holy Door for the Year of Mercy.

I would love to see how small (and presumably close-knit) the parish community is during the winter, and how many people show up for daily and weekend Masses. The parish center is about a 15 minute walk from the ferry, down a quiet and winding street with very spread-out houses and hotels, and overlooks the water. The "winter church" is a small room with a pleasant wood smell, and chairs instead of pews. The tabernacle stands empty, as the Eucharist has been moved to the summer church.

The Winter Church

Church #139 - St. Charles Borromeo, Providence

This church is across the street from the Armory, my favorite building in Providence. I had no idea such a huge building existed in the city until I visited St. Charles for the first time on foot, and it felt like seeing a UFO in the distance or something. This is a very diverse parish that has a food pantry and a beautiful little adoration chapel, which is where daily Masses are held when there are few enough people.

The Adoration chapel

I visited for the parish's lone weekend English mass this morning. I always meant to go to their monthly Healing Mass to see what that was like, but never did. The 10am Mass didn't end until 11:30, thanks partly to an almost half-hour long sermon. Even as the recessional music was still playing, a bunch of people were coming in to get good seats for the Spanish Mass at noon, which I'm guessing is jam packed.

The main church is awesome, like all the big, old Providence churches. There are lots of paintings and statues in the altar area, including a fantastic mural with a bunch of saints and biblical figures gathered around the Trinity. There's a projector screen in the front for music lyrics and Mass prayers. Since I sat way in the back, I didn't see the massive Divine Mercy image in the choir loft until I was taking pictures afterward.

Church #138 - St. Mark, Jamestown

I came here for a weekday morning Mass, my first time ever visiting Jamestown. I showed up pretty early, so I got to walk down to the water, which is only a few blocks away down a little shopping street. The church has a simple rectangular layout, with a very striking golden tabernacle. Its highlight is a big stained glass window behind the altar of Jesus walking on water.

Church #137 - St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Narragansett

I visited here for Mass yesterday on the Fourth of July. This parish is in Galilee, so close to the ocean that you can smell it. The interior of the church is pretty small, with a low ceiling giving it a close and intimate feel. There's a blue rose window behind the altar, and the tabernacle is off to one side. Like everywhere else down here, the parish has an expanded summer schedule.