I have gone to St. Augustine's quite a few times, mostly for
daily mass, because I live about two blocks away.
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| Balcony view |
First, the positives. Its 5:30pm daily mass is great. It's
quiet and peaceful. They also have a couple of kids as altar servers for the
daily masses, which I've never seen anywhere else. The servers are very well
trained, but more importantly, they are usually hilarious to watch as they
fidget and squirm while trying to look solemn. The inside of the church is also
very nice – dark and clean, with good artwork. It's the biggest parish in the Diocese, and a
lot wealthier than many of the others because of that.
Unfortunately, I have to be honest about the negatives, and
about the reason why I go to St. Pius instead of this church, despite its being
closer. St. Augustine's approach to Sunday mass is to go through it as fast as
humanly possible, which drives me absolutely crazy. If I ever go to mass there,
for time or schedule reasons, I feel a little ashamed inside, like I didn't
worship God in the way I should. Why should anyone want to be Catholic and go
to Mass, if what they see is a bunch of people trying to get through it as fast
as they can? What kind of message does that send? If you are visiting with a
friend or loved one, and you are just trying to get it over with, what does
that say about your relationship with that person? St. Augustine's is the first
parish I've been to where I look around during mass, and a fair number of
people aren't even bothering to say the responses. Almost nobody sings, because
the songs are over so quickly it isn't worth trying to find them in the missal.
I'll get off my high horse in a minute, but I think that
this is important. If we want to evangelize and reverse the decline of the
church in America, we need to be openly, visibly excited about our faith. We need
to devote ourselves to it, and be willing to sacrifice our time for it. People
need to see that we genuinely believe this stuff, and that we take it very
seriously. Otherwise, why should anyone else?
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| Candle Room |
This might be an outdated opinion about the parish, since it
has a new pastor, and I haven't been to Sunday mass there since he took over.
One of my friends says that he's really good, and gives great sermons, so
that's a great sign.
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| I usually go to confession here |
If St. Augustine is so irreverent and a "disgraceful" in your estimation, how come it had the most people attending Mass in the diocese and raised the most for catholic charity in years past? That success speaks to the faith of the parishioners and the dedication of the priests who served there. This notion that a typical weekend Mass has to be "extra slow"in order for it to be efficacious is misguided and border line heretical. The reality is most people have busy lives and don't live in a monastery or seminary. If you want to attend a parish that offers a rambling 30 minute hyper pious sermon and sings ALL 10 verses of some appalling opening hymn from the OCP missal- hooray for you! You have a right to your opinion, but don't trash the many people who proudly call St. Augustine's a spiritual home!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been St. Augustine's parishioner for 4 years now. I moved here in Providence 5 years ago and attended several Sunday's Masses from different Catholic Churches around. I've decided to register in St. Augustine because I find the church very clean, don't get me wrong about other churches not clean. This church is exemplary very clean, well maintained. The priests, altar servers, eucharistic ministers and lectors are well trained. I don't mind giving donations to my church because I see where the money goes. The new pastor is very good, I went to one of his Masses and I can say he is really good.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a blog project! I've enjoyed reading your posts as you visit the many parishes in our Diocese!
ReplyDeleteI'm the newly appointed Director of Music at St. Augustines. I invite you to come worship with us for a weekend liturgy. Fr. Forcier & Fr. Scott are wonderful priests.
You'll find dignified, unhurried liturgies with a renewed (new) emphasis on both the spoken AND sung prayer of the church. We're working very diligently as a team to encourage greater participation....especially with regard to the music. The parishioners, for the most part, have been very positive. There's been a lot of change over the past 5 months or so. It'll take time and patience. God is good!